 Justicia in wartime grey | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | 1917:Lady Justice |
| Owner | Oceanic Steam Navigation Co |
| Operator | White Star Line |
| Port of registry | Liverpool |
| Builder | Harland & Wolff,Belfast |
| Yard number | 436 |
| Laid down | 1912 |
| Launched | 9 July 1914 |
| Completed | 7 April 1917 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk by six torpedoes, 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Troop ship |
| Tonnage | 32,120 GRT, 19,699 NRT |
| Length | 740.5 ft (225.7 m) |
| Beam | 86.4 ft (26.3 m) |
| Depth | 43.1 ft (13.1 m) |
| Installed power | 2,903NHP, 22,000ihp |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Troops | About 4,000 |
| Crew | 600 |
| Armament | Naval gun onpoop deck |
SSJusticia was a Britishtroop ship that was launched inIreland in 1914 and sunk offCounty Donegal in 1918. She was designed and launched as thetransatlanticlinerStatendam, a newflagship for theHolland America Line (NASM), but the outbreak ofFirst World War delayed her completion. In 1915 NASM agreed to let theUnited Kingdom acquire her and have her completed as a troop ship.
The ship was completed in 1917 and renamedJusticia, with the intention thatCunard Line would crew and operate her. However, Cunard was unable to raise a crew for her, so theShipping Controller appointedWhite Star Line tomanage her.
Justicia entered service in April 1917, carrying troops from North America to Europe. She escaped aU-boat attack in January 1918, but sank that July off the coast of Ireland after two U-boats hit her with a total of six torpedoes.
The ship was 90 ft (27 m) longer and 9 ft (3 m) broader than NASM's then flagship, the 24,149 GRTRotterdam, which Harland & Wolff had completed in 1908.Statendam would have been by far the largest NASM had yet owned. OnlyHAPAG'sImperator class, White Star Line'sOlympic class and Cunard'sAquitania were larger. As it was,Justicia she became the second largest ship sunk by enemy action in the First World War. The only one larger thanJusticia was the 48,148 GRTHMHS Britannic.[1]
Justicia shared the same combined propulsion system as several other H&W liners of her era includingLaurentic andBelgenland.
Justicia's wreck is in theterritorial waters of theRepublic of Ireland and protected byIrish law.
NASM and H&W plannedStatendam to be a modern ship with berths for 800 passengers infirst class, 600 in second and 2,030 in third, with a crew of 600. The first class saloon was to be 20 ft (6 m) high, making it the largest of its type on an ocean liner of its era.[2] Décor was to be modern, in contrast with thehistoricist styles then commonly favoured by British and German shipping lines.
As a troop ship,Justicia was reconfigured to carry 4,000 or 5,000 men, but in practice this was sometimes greatly exceeded. Her holds had capacity for 15,000 tonnes of cargo.[3] Her registered length was 740.5 ft (225.7 m), her beam was 86.4 ft (26.3 m) and her depth was 43.1 ft (13.1 m). Hertonnages were 32,120 GRT and 19,699 NRT.[4]
Justicia was one of a series of H&W steamships that were propelled by a combination of reciprocating steam engines and asteam turbine. She had threescrews. A pair of four-cylindertriple expansion engines drove herport and starboard screws. Exhaust steam from those engines powered one low-pressure turbine that drove her middle screw.[4] H&W had used this arrangement first onLaurentic forWhite Star Line.Justicia had three funnels, only two of which were flues for her boilers. The third was a dummy, included purely for aesthetic reasons.
With the exception of the threeOlympic-class liners,Justicia was one of the largest and most powerful ships ever built with this combination of reciprocating and turbine engines. Her reciprocating engines were the same size as those inBelgenland, but her total power rating was higher. Between them,Justicia's three engines were rated at a total of 2,903NHP[5] or 22,000ihp[6] and gave her a speed of 17 knots (31 km/h).[7] This was an economical speed for peacetime service, but not quick enough for her to sail unescorted in wartime.[3]
Harland & Wolff builtStatendam on slipway number 3 (the same asTitanic from 1909 to 1911) as yard number 436. Her keel plates werelaid down in 1912 and she was launched on 9 July 1914.[7] However, the First World War broke out on 28 July, and the UK joined on 4 August. Work onStatendam was slowed down to let H&W concentrate on more urgent war-related work.[8] However, the fact that her construction was well advanced offered potential for her to be completed for war service.[9]
In October 1914, theUK Admiralty offered NASM £1,000,000 for use of the ship, with a guarantee to return it at the end of the war. Decorative elements already installed were removed, as was customary when converting passenger liners into troop ships. InStatendam's case they were sent toRotterdam for storage.[10] H&W completed the ship slowly, taking special measures to adapt her to war service. Unlike her contemporariesBelgenland andOrca, H&W completedJusticia with her dummy funnel. However, the size of all three funnels was smaller than their original design, in order to conserve steel.[11]
In 1915 the UK government requisitioned the still-incomplete ship. It offered her to Cunard to replaceLusitania, which had been sunk in May 1915. The nameJusticia means "justice", and conforms with Cunard policy of giving its ships a name ending with-ia. However, Cunard was unable to raise a complete crew for her.[2]
In November 1916, amine sank thehospital shipHMHS Britannic, which left White Star Line with enough crew to workJusticia.[2] White Star's engineer officers and men, unlike those of Cunard, were experienced with "combination machinery" such as that inJusticia. The Shipping Controller therefore transferredJusticia to the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (White Star Line).[4][5] However, the ship was not renamed to conform with White Star policy of giving its ships names ending with-ic.[9]
Justicia was completed in plain grey paint.[7] On 7 April 1917 White Star Line took delivery of her.[3] She wasregistered inLiverpool in 1917. Her UKofficial number was 137544 and hercode letters were JPFL.[5]
White Star Line ranJusticia across the North Atlantic, bringing troops to Liverpool first fromHalifax, Nova Scotia and then fromNew York. At the beginning of 1918 she was painted withdazzle camouflage developed byNorman Wilkinson. She was attacked soon after, on 23 January 1918, by a German submarine in theNorth Channel, but no torpedo hit her, and she was undamaged.[12]
On 19 July 1918Justicia leftBelfast for New York, escorted bydestroyers. She was unladen, and herMaster was John David. 20 miles offSkerryvore, Scotland,UB-64 hit her with one torpedo, at first mistaking her for USSLeviathan.[13]Justicia developed a list, but the watertight doors in herbulkheads were closed in time and kept her afloat.UB-64 fired two torpedoes, butJusticia's guns destroyed one of them, and the other missed. The tugSonia tookJusticia in tow, heading forLough Swilly.UB-64 fired a fourth torpedo, butJusticia's gunners destroyed it.UB-64 then fired a fifth torpedo, which hitJusticia but did not sink her. Part ofJusticia's crew was evacuated, andSonia continued to tow her.[14] The escorts damagedUB-64, which withdrew, but reportedJusticia's position viawireless telegraph.[citation needed]
The next morning, 20 July,UB-124 foundJusticia and hit her amidships with two torpedoes, killing either 10[6][13] or 16[7] of her engine room crew (sources differ). Her surviving crew were evacuated, and by noon she rolled onto her starboard side and sank. The destroyersHMS Marne,Milbrook, andPigeondepth chargedUB-124, forcing her to the surface, and then sank her by gunfire.[15]
The German press celebrated the sinking.[16] TheRoyal Navy held an inquiry to establish how the U-boats could have sunk a ship that was escorted by at least three destroyers. The inquiry concluded that the German submariners' determination and bravery were "beyond belief".[7]
The UK government compensated NASM with 60,000 tonnes of steel, which it used to build a fleet ofcargo ships.[17] In 1921 NASM ordered a newStatendam from Harland & Wolff. She was launched in 1924 but her completion was delayed until 1929.[18]
Justicia's wreck lies at a depth of 230 ft (70 m), 21 nautical miles (38 km) northwest ofMalin Head at55°39′47″N7°43′13″W / 55.66305°N 7.72031°W /55.66305; -7.72031. The wreck is orientated north – south, and has an average height of 10 ft (3 m). It is very broken, but her bow is largely intact, with its starboard anchor still visible in its hawse. Her bridge superstructure is collapsed to port. Her 12Scotch boilers, two reciprocating engines and single steam turbine are visible. Her stern is fairly broken up, but her rudder quadrant and the gun on herpoop deck remain visible.[19]
Being in the territorial waters of the Republic of Ireland and more than a century old, the wreck is automatically protected by theNational Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1987, section 3, sub-section (4).[20] Divers must obtain a licence from theDepartment of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media before diving on the wreck.
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in July 1918 | |
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