German hospital ship Berlin
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The Berlin was a German passenger ship, built in 1925 and serving both as a passenger ship in peacetime and as a hospital ship during World War II.
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[edit] Civilian Passenger Service, 1925 to 1939
The Berlin was a steam passenger ship built for Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen in the Bremer Vulkan Shipyard of Vegesack (Yard 614). She was launched on March 25, 1925, and commissioned on September 17, 1925. Her weight was 15,286 GRT, length 174.3 meters, and beam 20.98 meters. The Berlin had two 4 cylinder triple acting expansion engines with two shafts and six boilers producing 120,000 hp and travelling at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h). The ship's range was 12,500 nautical miles (23,150 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h), using 4,115 tons of coal.
The ship's main route was between Bremerhaven, Southampton and New York, which she began on September 26, 1925 and operated until May 1939 when she was laid up in Bremerhaven for refitting. During her service as a passenger ship the Berlin provided aid to the British passenger steamer Vestris (Lampert & Holt), which sank off Virginia Capes during a storm on the November 12 1928, rescuing 23 survivors. [1] After being withdrawn from international passenger service the Berlin took part in the propaganda campaign KdF (Strength through Joy) cruise until suffering from a boiler explosion in Swinemunde.
[edit] War service
The Berlin was one of eight German ships commissioned as hospital ships (Lazarettschiffe) at some point during World War II. Most, if not all, of these ships also served in other capacities during the war after being decommissioned as hospital ships, mainly as accommodation or transport ships for military personnel. All German hospital ships were given alphabetic identifiers, the Berlin's being 'A'. On July 16, 1939, Berlin began her conversion to hospital ship and entered service with the Kriegsmarine as Lazarettschiff A, Sanitätsamt Ost on Aug 23, 1939. The ship had berthing for 400 patients, with a crew of 165. Initially serving in Norwegian waters, she was identified as “Field Post Number 07520”. By January 1945, the Berlin began taking part in Operation Hannibal, the transport of refugees and soldiers from the Eastern Baltic. On January 31, 1945, while forming up in convoy to head east, the Berlin struck a mine off Swinemünde, and was put in tow for Kiel.[2] She then hit another mine and was beached (23.53 hr*, at position 54°02.6 N/14°19 E, in shallow waters). There was one fatality. All usable equipment was salvaged by Feb 5, 1945, and the ship was abandoned.
[edit] Post war Soviet service
After the war, the Berlin was raised by the USSR in 1948. Between September 3, 1951 - May 2, 1957 Berlin was repaired at Warnowwerft, and later entered service as the Soviet ship Admiral Nachimov for the Soviet state shipping line. Her home port was then Odessa, and she served in the Black Sea on the Odessa-Batum route.
The Berlin continued service until she collided with M/S Pjotr Wassjew and was sunk off Novorossiysk on September 1, 1986 with 398 dead.
[edit] References
- ^ Newspaper account of Vestris disaster.
- ^ Koburger, Charles, Steel Ships, Iron Crosses, and Refugees, Praeger Publishing, NY, 1989, p.84.
