SS Ussukuma
{{Short description|German passenger ship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= Ussukuma 1921 Deutsche Ostafrikalinie.jpg |Ship caption= SS Ussukuma }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship name=Ussukuma |Ship namesake= |Ship owner=File:DOAL house flag.svg Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route=Europe-Africa |Ship builder=Blohm + Voss |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=20 December 1920 |Ship completed=8 July 1921 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Commandeered by Abwehr, scuttled 1939 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type=Passenger ship |Ship tonnage= {{GRT|9000}} |Ship length={{cvt|127.6|m|ftin}} |Ship beam={{cvt|17.1|m|ftin}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power=Steam turbine |Ship propulsion=2 × steam turbines SR geared to a single shaft, one screw {{cite web|title=SS Ussukuma [+1939]|url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?111240}} |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed={{convert|14|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship boats= |Ship troops= |Ship complement= |Ship crew= 107 |Ship capacity= 264 passengers |Ship armament= |Ship notes= }} |
File:Usukuma Ostafrika Deutsch Ost-Afrika 1892 Tansania.jpg
Ussukuma was a German passenger ship named after a location in the central highlands of German East Africa (now Tanzania).{{cite web |url=http://www.ub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankfurt.de/Bildprojekt/Lexikon/php/suche_db.php?suchname=Ussukuma |title=Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon |date=1920 |volume=III |page=595 |access-date=13 January 2011 |archive-date=19 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719103441/http://www.ub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankfurt.de/Bildprojekt/Lexikon/php/suche_db.php?suchname=Ussukuma |url-status=dead }} On 6 December 1939, only a few months into the Second World War, she was scuttled off the coast of Argentina.{{in lang|de}} [http://dal-jte-sammlung.de/home/index.php?page=DAL/doalvor1945/ussukuma TS Ussukuma Deutsche Ostfrika-Linie] In January 2008, her wreck was identified by the Argentine Navy in {{convert|70|m}} of water, {{convert|62|mi}} off Necochea.{{cite news |last=Faries |first=Bill |date=31 January 2008 |title=Wreckage of Scuttled Nazi Ship Identified Off Argentine Coast |newspaper=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics?pid=20601086&refer=latin_america&sid=a6b1_kHnYbqc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104101651/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a6b1_kHnYbqc&refer=latin_america
|archive-date=4 November 2012}}[http://www.maplandia.com/argentina/buenos-aires/necochea/necochea/ Lage von Necochea]
Construction and career
Ussukuma had a crew of 107, could carry 264 passengers and was powered by steam turbine. Her building number was 389 and her home port was Hamburg. Her sister ships were the {{ship||Usaramo}} of the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie and the {{ship||Wangoni}} of the Woermann-Linie.
She was launched on 20 December 1920 at the Hamburg shipyard of Blohm + Voss and entered service with the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie on 8 July 1921. Ussukuma used 13 ports in Europe, 38 in Africa and 1 in Aden. Her last round trip to Africa began from Hamburg on 15 July 1939. On 19 August, she left Cape Town and by 26 August had reached Lorenço Marques.
Action in World War II
File:Ingeniero White Necochea Argentina Ussukuma.jpg
On the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939 she was lying off Lorenço Marques and was taken over by the Abwehr for service in the South Atlantic. In late September she went to South America and on 11 October reached Bahía Blanca in Argentina, where she stayed until 4 December{{in lang|de}} [http://www.maplandia.com/argentina/buenos-aires/bahia-blanca/ingeniero-white/ Location of Bahía Blanca]{{in lang|de}} [http://www.nuestromar.org/noticias/mar_calmo_04_2008_la_increible_historia_del_ussukuma_el_buque_nazi_que_convuls_15 Sergio Gabriel Alcalá Die unglaubliche Geschichte der USSUKUMA] Her captain Karl Schulte fell ill there and was replaced by Hugo Wilmsen from the Nienburg.
On 4 December 1939, the Ussukuma left Bahía Blanca in the direction of Montevideo in Uruguay, possibly to help the pocket battleship {{ship|German cruiser|Admiral Graf Spee||2}}, also heading for Montevideo.Position of the Admiral Graf Spee between 3 and 6 December 1939 On 5 December, towards evening, the Ussukuma met the British cruiser {{HMS|Ajax|22|6}}. Ajax had been looking for the Admiral Graf Spee (later meeting her in the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December) and had been informed of the departure of the Ussukuma by the British naval attaché in Montevideo and by a Dutch ship which had met the Ussukuma shortly after the latter's departure. The Ajax threatened not to rescue the German crew if they left their ship but also ordered them not to sink it. Captain Wilmsen decided to scuttle her nevertheless and the Ajax fired three rounds at her, the first across the bows, the second whilst she was lowering her lifeboats and the third when the boats were dropped into the water, 62 miles from the coast. The Ussukuma sank during the night of 5 December or morning of 6 December.
The 107 passengers and crew members were rescued by the Ajax and interned as enemy civilians. The cruiser {{HMS|Cumberland|57|6}} took them first to the Falkland Islands, then in 1940 to Camp Baviaanspoort near Pretoria in South Africa,[http://www.maplandia.com/south-africa/guateng/wonderboom/baviaanspoort/ Lage von Baviaanspoort] from which they were released at the end of the war.{{Cite web |url=http://sixtant.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=512&Itemid=2 |title=Internierung in Baviaanspoort |access-date=13 January 2011 |archive-date=5 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305061707/http://sixtant.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=512&Itemid=2 |url-status=dead }}
The vessel's remains appeared on charts as an unnamed wreck for years and in January 2008 became "the first Nazi wreck to be identified in Argentine waters in decades."
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{in lang|de}} [http://dal-jte-sammlung.de/index.php?page=DAL/doalvor1945/ussukuma TS Ussukuma Deutsche Ostafrika-Linie]
- [http://sixtant.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=512&Itemid=2 Sixtant WAR II IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC USSUKUMA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305061707/http://sixtant.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=512&Itemid=2 |date=5 March 2012 }}
- [https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a6b1_kHnYbqc&refer=latin_america Wreckage of Scuttled Nazi Ship Identified Off Argentine Coast]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100404114436/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/woermann.htm Ussukuma in TheShipsList]
{{coord|39|24|S|57|15|W|display=title}}
{{December 1939 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ussukuma}}
Category:Ships built in Hamburg
Category:World War II auxiliary ships of Germany
Category:Passenger ships of Germany
Category:World War II shipwrecks in the South Atlantic
Category:Maritime incidents in December 1939
Category:Maritime incidents in Argentina
Category:Battle of the River Plate