MS Seattle
{{otherships|Seattle (disambiguation)#Ships}}
{{Short description|German cargo ship sunk in 1940}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image = Seattle 1928 HAPAG 1933-02-08.jpg |Ship caption = Seattle at anchor in 1933 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header = |Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Weimar Republic|civil}} {{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany}} |Ship country = Germany |Ship name = Seattle |Ship namesake = Seattle |Ship owner = Hamburg America Line |Ship operator = |Ship registry = Hamburg |Ship route = Hamburg – Vancouver |Ship ordered = |Ship builder = Deutsche Werft, Hamburg |Ship original cost = |Ship yard number = 104 |Ship laid down = |Ship launched = 28 March 1928 |Ship completed = 7 June 1928 |Ship maiden voyage = |Ship refit = |Ship identification = *1928: code letters RGTD
|Ship fate = sunk 1940 |Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header = |Header caption = |Ship type = cargo liner |Ship class = |Ship tonnage = {{GRT|7369}}, {{NRT|4355}}, {{DWT|9773}} |Ship length = {{cvt|461.6|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship beam = {{cvt|61.6|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship draught = |Ship depth = {{cvt|27.7|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship decks = 2 |Ship power = 1,845 NHP |Ship propulsion = *1 × two-stroke diesel engine
|Ship speed = {{convert|13|kn|km/h}} |Ship capacity = *{{convert|88200|cuft|0}} refrigerated |Ship crew = 57 |Ship sensors = *submarine signalling
|Ship notes = sister ship: Portland }} |
MS Seattle was a Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) cargo liner that was launched in 1928. Her regular route was between Hamburg and Vancouver via the Panama Canal and the West Coast of the United States.
She spent the first six months of the Second World War sheltering in the Netherlands Antilles. She then tried to reach Germany via the Norwegian Sea, but ran into the first day of the German invasion of Norway and was sunk. Her wreck is now a popular but hazardous wreck diving site.
Building
In June 1928 HAPAG took delivery of a pair of new motor ships for its Hamburg – Vancouver route. Deutsche Werft in Hamburg launched Seattle on 28 March 1928 and completed her on 7 June. Bremer Vulkan in Bremen launched her sister ship Portland on 19 April 1928 and completed her on 30 June.{{sfn|Kludas|1989|p=192}}
Seattle{{'}}s registered length was {{cvt|461.6|ft|abbr=on}}, her beam was {{cvt|61.6|ft|abbr=on}} and her depth was {{cvt|27.7|ft|abbr=on}}. Her tonnages were {{GRT|7369}}, {{NRT|4355}},{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1928|loc=SEA–SEB}} and {{DWT|9773}}. {{convert|88200|cuft|0}} of her cargo space was refrigerated.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1930a|loc=List of vessels fitted with refrigerating appliances}}
Seattle had a single screw, driven by an MAN seven-cylinder two-stroke diesel engine. It was rated at 1,845 NHP{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1928|loc=SEA–SEB}} and gave her a speed of {{convert|13|kn|km/h}}.{{sfn|Haws|1980|p=158}}
Career
HAPAG registered Seattle at Hamburg. Her code letters were RGTD. Her navigation equipment included submarine signalling.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1928|loc=SEA–SEB}} By 1930 it also included wireless direction finding.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1930b|loc=SEA–SEC}} By 1934 her wireless telegraph call sign was DIFA, and this had superseded her code letters.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1934|loc=SEA–SEB}}
Seattle{{'}}s regular route was between Hamburg and Vancouver. Regular ports of call on the route were Bremen, Antwerp, Curaçao, Cristóbal, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Tacoma.{{cite web |url= https://timetableimages.com/maritime/images/hapag.htm |last=Larrson |first=Björn |date=24 June 2019 |title=Hamburg–American Line |work=marine timetable images |access-date=15 March 2024}} HAPAG advertised that a voyage from Vancouver to Hamburg took about 26 days.
Loss
File:HAPAG Hamburg-American Line 1930.jpg
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2024}}
In August 1939, shortly before the Invasion of Poland, Germany ordered its merchant ships to either return to a German port or seek refuge in a neutral port as soon as possible. Seattle was returning from Tacoma, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, so on 29 August she put in to Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles. At first she and a number of other German ships were in port in Willemstad, but then the Dutch authorities made them move {{convert|8|km|nmi|0|disp=flip}} up the coast to St Michael's Bay. Allied warships picketed outside Dutch territorial waters to prevent the German ships' escape.
On 4 March 1940 Seattle and another German motor ship, H. C. Horn's Mimi Horn, left St Michael's Bay undetected. They headed north to try to reach German waters via the Norwegian Sea. On 28 March the armed merchant cruiser HMS {{RMS|Transylvania|1925|2}} intercepted Mimi Horn in the Denmark Strait. The German crew scuttled their ship to prevent her being captured as a prize.{{cite web |url= https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?165883 |last1=Allen |first1=Tony |last2=Lettens |first2=Jan |title=MV Mimi Horn (IV) (+1940) |work=Wrecksite |access-date=14 March 2024}}
Seattle evaded Allied patrols, and on 31 March reached Tromsø in northern Norway. Royal Norwegian Navy destroyers escorted her southward through Norwegian coastal waters. {{HNoMS|Draug|1908|6}} took her as far as Stavanger, where {{HNoMS|Gyller|1938|6}} took over. On the evening of 8 April {{lang|no|Gyller}} instructed Seattle to anchor off the islet of Oksøy, off Kristiansand in the southernmost part of Norway.
Early the next morning Germany invaded Norway. As Seattle got underway, she sighted warships. Her Master assumed they were Allied, so he turned Seattle back toward Kristiansand. In fact they were {{lang|de|Gruppe 4}} of the German invasion force, led by the {{ship|German cruiser|Karlsruhe}}.
The garrison of the Norwegian coastal defence fortress on Odderøya opened fire on Seattle with its {{convert|150|mm|adj=on}} guns, setting her on fire. Her crew abandoned ship, and the Norwegians took them prisoner. {{lang|de|Gruppe 4}} captured Kristiansand, and on 10 April freed Seattle{{'}}s crew. Seattle drifted, still burning, until 13 April, when she sank at position {{coord|58|2|19.6|N|8|1|25.4|E|source:wikidata|display=inline,title}}
The wreck
Seattle{{'}}s wreck lies at a depth of {{convert|25|to|72|m}}. It was found in 1988,{{cite web |url= https://oneocean.no/en/ms-seattle/ |title=MS Seattle |publisher=OneOcean dive resort |access-date=14 March 2024}} and is listed by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.{{cite web |url= https://kulturminnesok.no/minne/?queryString=https%3A%2F%2Fdata.kulturminne.no%2Faskeladden%2Flokalitet%2F139365 |title=Seattle, Shipwreck (139365-1) |lang=no |publisher=Kulturminnesøk}} Large numbers of sea squirts, sponges, and cnidaria such as dead man's fingers have colonised it, along with fish and starfish. It is popular with divers, but it is hazardous, and there have been several fatal accidents.{{cite web |url= http://dykkepedia.com/wiki/Seattle |title=Seattle |lang=no |work=Dykkepedia}} Divers are encouraged to view the wreck from outside, and not to go inside it.{{cite web |url= https://www.visitnorway.com/things-to-do/outdoor-activities/diving/ |title=Scuba diving and snorkeling |work=Visit Norway |publisher=Innovation Norway |access-date=14 March 2024}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Haws |first=Duncan |year=1980 |title=The Ships of the Hamburg America, Adler and Carr Lines |series=Merchant Fleets in Profile |volume=4 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |isbn=0-85059-397-2}}
- {{cite book |last=Kludas |first=Arnold |year=1989 |title=Vernichtung und Wiedergeburt 1914 bis 1930 |lang=de |series=Die Geschichte der deutschen Passagierschiffahrt |volume=IV |place=Hamburg |publisher=Ernst Kabel Verlag |isbn=978-3822500408}}
- {{cite book |year=1928 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II.–Steamers and Motorships |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1929ST/page/n1277/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1928}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=I.–Steamers and Motorships under 300 tons. Traslwers, tugs, dredgers, &c. Sailing Vessels. Shipowners, &c. |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Southampton City Council |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30a0616.pdf |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1930a}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Southampton City Council |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30b1065.pdf |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1930b}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1934 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Southampton City Council |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/34/34b0754.pdf |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1934}} }}
{{April 1940 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seattle, MS}}
Category:Maritime incidents in April 1940
Category:Passenger ships of Germany
Category:Ships built in Hamburg
Category:Ships of the Hamburg America Line
Category:Ships sunk by coastal artillery