SS Dwinsk

History
Name: SS Rotterdam
Namesake: Rotterdam
Operator: Holland America Line
Route: Rotterdam-New York City
Builder:
Yard number: 312
Launched: 18 February 1897
Completed: 29 July 1897
Maiden voyage: 18 August 1897
Fate: sold 5 April 1906 to Scandinavian America Line
 
Name: SS C.F. Tietgen
Namesake: Carl Frederik Tietgen
Operator: Scandinavian America Line
Acquired: 5 April 1906
Fate: sold to Russian American Line 1913
 
Name: SS Dwinsk
Namesake: Dwinsk, Latvia
Operator:
Acquired: 1913
Maiden voyage: 10 February 1914
Fate: sunk 18 June 1918 by U-151
General characteristics
Tonnage: 8,173 gross tons[1]
Length: 469.5 ft (143.1 m)[1]
Beam: 53.1 ft (16.2 m)[1]
Depth: 22.7 ft (6.9 m)[1]
Propulsion: triple-expansion steam engine[1]
Speed: 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Capacity:
as built[1]
200 first class passengers
150 second class
2000 third class
later refitted to[1]
191 first class
90 second class
610 third class

SS Dwinsk was a British-flagged ocean liner sunk by SM U-151 in World War I. The ship was previously the third Rotterdam for the Holland America Line, C.F. Tietgen for the Scandinavian America Line, and, as Dwinsk, for the Russian American Line. The ship was put under Cunard Line management in 1917, and sailed under the British flag until sunk on 18 June 1918.

History

SS Rotterdam was launched 18 February 1897 by Harland & Wolff in Belfast for the Holland America Line, the third ship by that name for the line. She sailed from Rotterdam, her namesake city, to Boulogne and New York on her maiden voyage 18 August 1897. The ship began its final voyage on this route on 17 February 1906.[2]

The first lifeboat of two from SS Dwinsk is rescued by crew of USS Siboney on 21 June 1918.

Purchased by the Scandinavian America Line on 5 April 1906, the ship was renamed C.F. Tietgen after Carl Frederik Tietgen, a Danish merchant. The ship operated primarily on a Copenhagen-Kristiania-Kristiansand-New York route through 1913. On 28 June 1906 the Tietgen collided with and sank the E. C. Hay a 70 ft Schooner built in 1873 and owned and sailed by captain William Hay Denbigh. without loss of life. In July 1913 the ship was chartered to Nordisk Film A/S for the filming of Atlantis.[1]

Later in 1913, the ship was sold to the Russian American Line and renamed Dwinsk, and operating between Libau and New York from 10 February 1914. On 20 September 1914, Dwinsk began sailing on an Archangel-Hammerfest-New York route.[2]

In 1917, control of the ship passed to Cunard Line who reflagged her under the British flag, and retaining her existing name. On 18 June 1918, under the command of Captain Henry Nelson, while steaming from France to Newport News, Virginia, Dwinsk was torpedoed by U-151 about 400 miles (640 km) from Bermuda.[2] After the ship sank, U-151 remained in the area, using the survivors in seven lifeboats as a lure to try to sink additional Allied ships.[1]

Later the same day, USS Von Steuben spotted wreckage and the seven lifeboats, and as it approached the survivors, narrowly averted a torpedo strike launched by U-151.[3]

Six of the lifeboats were rescued by other ships; the seventh lifeboat, in the charge of the Second Officer, Joseph William Coppin (born 1881, St Neot, Cornwall), with 22 men aboard was never heard from again.[1] USS Siboney rescued two boats on 21 June, and USS Rondo picked up the final boat on 28 June.[4][5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "S/S C. F. Tietgen, Scandinavian America Line". Norway-Heritage. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "SHIP DESCRIPTIONS - R: ROTTERDAM / C.F.TIETGEN / DWINSK 1897". TheShipsList. 4 April 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  3. ↑ "Von Stueben". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. United States Navy. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  4. ↑ "Siboney". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. United States Navy. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  5. ↑ Gleaves, Albert (1921). A History of the Transport Service: Adventures and Experiences of United States Transports and Cruisers in the World War. New York: George H. Doran Company. p. 214. OCLC 976757.

Coordinates: 39°10′N 63°10′W / 39.167°N 63.167°W / 39.167; -63.167

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