.jpg) Pennland inRed Star Line service | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Namesake |
|
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry | |
| Route |
|
| Yard number | 457 |
| Laid down | November 1913 |
| Launched | 11 November 1920 |
| Completed | 25 May 1922 |
| Maiden voyage | 6 June 1922 |
| Reclassified | 1940:troop ship |
| Refit | 1935 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk 25 April 1941 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 575.4 ft (175.4 m) |
| Beam | 67.8 ft (20.7 m) |
| Depth | 41.2 ft (12.6 m) |
| Decks | 4 |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Capacity |
|
| Crew | as troop ship: about 300 |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
| Notes | sister ships:Westernland,Doric |
SSPennland was atransatlanticocean liner that was launched asPittsburgh inIreland in 1920 and renamedPennland in 1926. She had a succession ofUK,German andDutch owners and operators. In 1940 she was converted into atroopship.
In 1941 aLuftwaffe air attack crippled her in theMediterranean, so herRoyal Navy escort sank her by gunfire. She is now a shipwreck in theSaronic Gulf.
Harland & Wolfflaid downPittsburgh in itsBelfast shipyard in November 1913 for theInternational Navigation Company (IMM).[1] She was to be asister ship forRegina, which Harland & Wolff was building in itsGovan shipyard inScotland.[2]
On 28 July 1914 theFirst World War began, and in August work onPittsburgh was suspended. Work resumed after the war and she was launched on 11 November 1920. On 22 May 1922 Harland & Wolff completed her and delivered her to theInternational Navigation Company, which was an IMM subsidiary.[1] Her UKofficial number was 145933 and she was registered inLiverpool.[3]
Pittsburgh's registered length was 575.3 ft (175.4 m), herbeam was 67.8 ft (20.7 m) and her depth was 41.2 ft (12.6 m).[4] As built she had berths for 2,100 passengers: 600 cabin class and 1,500 third class.[1]Regina andPittsburgh were among the first ships to offer cabin class accommodation.[5] Her holds had 19,920 cubic feet (564 m3) ofrefrigerated space for perishable cargo.[6] As built, hertonnages were 16,322 GRT and 9,856 NRT.[3]
Pittsburgh had threescrews. A pair of four-cylindertriple-expansion steam engines drove herport and starboard screws. Exhaust steam from their low-pressure cylinders powered a low-pressuresteam turbine that drove her middle screw.[4] Between them the three engines gave her a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h).[7] She had two funnels and two masts.[1]
Harland & Wolff launched a third sister,Doric, in 1922.[8] She differed fromRegina andPittsburgh by having twin screws and pure turbine propulsion.[9]
White Star Line, which was another IMM subsidiary, wasPittsburgh's first operator. On 6 June 1922 she left Liverpool on her maiden voyage, which was toBoston andPhiladelphia.[1]
On 14 November 1922 theItalian 7,434 GRT steamshipMonte Grappa transmitted adistress signal that she was in danger of sinking.Pittsburgh rescued her 45 Italian crew when they abandoned ship.[10][11]
After less than six months White Star Line changedPennland's route. On 1 December she leftBremen on her first voyage viaSouthampton andHalifax, Nova Scotia toNew York.[1]
In a gale early on the morning of 30 March 1923Pittsburgh was in mid-Atlantic east by south ofNewfoundland when a huge wave struck her. It wrecked herbridge, wheelhouse,chart room andMaster's cabin. Water entering through her ventilators flooded eight cabins in the forward part of her superstructure. The wave was so high that it flooded thecrow's nest on her main mast, drenching theable seaman who was on watch as lookout.Captain Thomas Jones was injured by broken glass, and one of his crew was injured by broken glass and splintered wood.[12]
Pittsburgh stopped for her crew to clear the wreckage and improvise anengine order telegraph. The impact damaged hercompasses and knocked them out of adjustment, which impeded navigation, but on 4 April she safely reached Bremen.[12]
In November 1923 the German terminus ofPittsburgh's route was changed from Bremen toPort of Hamburg.[1]
In 1926Pittsburgh was renamedPennland to conform with the naming style ofRed Star Line, whose ships all had names ending in "-land". In 1928 IMM transferred her ownership to another of its subsidiaries,Frederick Leyland and Company. She was transferred to the route betweenAntwerp and New York via Southampton andCherbourg.[1] Her sister shipRegina, now renamedWesternland, joined her on the route.[2][13]
In 1934 IMM sold Red Star Line toArnold Bernstein.[14] Her last Red Star Line voyage for IMM was on the same route and began on 16 November that year.[1]
_30-05-2012_13-45-49.jpg)
In 1935 Bernstein hadPennland refitted atKiel[1] as a one-class ship with berths for either 486[10] or 550[15] tourist class passengers. She was registered in Hamburg.[16] She continued to sail between Antwerp and New York, but calling atLe Havre, Southampton and Halifax. She began her first voyage for Bernstein from Antwerp on 10 May 1935.[1]
In 1939Nazi Germany exiled Bernstein, and his German businesses were dissolved.Holland America Line (NASM) bought the Red Star Line fleet includingPennland,[17] which it registered inRotterdam.[18]Pennland remained on the same route.[1]
After theSecond World War began in September 1939,Pennland continued her usual service between Antwerp and New York via Southampton. On 19 October she called atPlymouth, which was not one of her usual ports of call.[19]
On 26 April 1940Pennland left Antwerp for New York as usual.[1] On 10 May Germanyinvaded the Netherlands andBelgium.Pennland reached New York on 16 May.[19]
TheMinistry of War TransportcharteredPennland from NASM and had her converted into a troop ship.[15] She spent a month in New York, leaving on 26 June for Halifax. There she joinedConvoy HX 54, which reached Liverpool on 14 July. She spent six weeks in Liverpool, leaving on 31 August under escort[19] carrying 1,200 Free French troops[11] viaFreetown[19] inSierra Leone toDouala inFrench Cameroon.[11]
Pennland spent a month in Freetown and then sailed toBathurst inSouth Africa, where she arrived on 31 October. She then returned to West Africa, where her ports of call includedLagos inNigeria andTakoradi on theGold Coast.[19]
On 21 NovemberPennland left Freetown and crossed the Atlantic to theCaribbean. She reachedBarbados on 29 November, spent 2–7 December inKingston, Jamaica, and then sailed to Halifax.[19] On 16 December she left Halifax carrying 1,856 troops with joined Convoy TC 8, which reached theFirth of Clyde onChristmas Day 1940.[20]
On 12 January 1941Pennland left Belfast forEgypt. She sailed with Convoy WS 5B to Freetown, called atDurban 11–15 February and reachedSuez on 3 March. She sailed through theSuez Canal, reachedPort Said on 23 March andAlexandria the next day.[19]
On 1 April 1941Pennland left Alexandria with troops forGreece. On 4 April she leftPort of Piraeus and returned to Alexandria. On 6 AprilGermany invaded Greece andYugoslavia, and on 12–15 AprilPennland was in Piraeus for a second time.[19]
_IWM_FL_013646.jpg)
German forces advanced deep into Greece, and theAllies started to evacuate their troops. On 23 AprilPennland left Alexandria[19] forMegara[15] inAttica, where thousands ofAustralian troops were to be evacuated.
An attack by German dive-bombers on 25 April off the island ofAgios Georgios in the Saronic Gulf preventedPennland from reaching Megara.[15] Her master, Captain Johann van Dulken, was wounded, and her threecompasses were smashed. One bomb penetrated her deck and exploded in herengine room, killing four of her crew.[21] Herpurser, Albert la Grange, was below decks inspecting damage when a bomb hit the ship, extinguishing her lights and puncturing her hull.[22]
Pennland'schief officer, Pieter van Beelen, took command and ordered her crew to abandon ship.[21] Purser la Grange rallied the crew and helped to ensure they all got clear in the lifeboats. When the last boat was launched, la Grange carried an unconscious steward to the boat.[22] Seven bombs damagedPennland[11] but she did not sink, so herdestroyer escortHMS Griffin sank her by gunfire.[15]Griffin also embarked survivors and took them toCrete, where they were joined an overcrowdedcargo ship that took them to Alexandria.[22]
Captain van Dulken was awarded the BritishDSC in December 1941 and the DutchBronze Cross on 18 May 1942.[23] In New York on 10 July 1942 the Dutch consul-general awarded Purser la Grange theCross of Merit.[22] Also in New York, in August 1942 QueenWilhelmina of the Netherlands awarded Chief Officer van Beelen the Cross of Merit.[21]
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in April 1941 | |
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