MS Gruziya: Difference between revisions
| Line 68: | Line 68: | ||
On the night of 12/13 June, ''Gruziya'' was bound for Sevastopol with a cargo of ammunition on board that included chemical shells filled with [[Lewisite]] and [[mustard gas]]. Escorted by a pair of minesweepers, she was unsuccessfully attacked by Italian [[MAS (motorboat)|MAS boats]]. The following morning the convoy was attacked by German aircraft. One bomb landed in the aft cargo hold where all the ammunition was stored, detonating it. The resulting explosion blew the ship in half; there were no survivors.<ref>Rohwer, p. 172; Forczyk, pp. 160–161</ref> |
On the night of 12/13 June, ''Gruziya'' was bound for Sevastopol with a cargo of ammunition on board that included chemical shells filled with [[Lewisite]] and [[mustard gas]]. Escorted by a pair of minesweepers, she was unsuccessfully attacked by Italian [[MAS (motorboat)|MAS boats]]. The following morning the convoy was attacked by German aircraft. One bomb landed in the aft cargo hold where all the ammunition was stored, detonating it. The resulting explosion blew the ship in half; there were no survivors.<ref>Rohwer, p. 172; Forczyk, pp. 160–161</ref> |
||
== Wreck == |
|||
The Soviets tried to salvage ''Gruziya'' in 1949, but after the wreck surfaced, the salvors found a large number of unexploded gas shells and bombs in her cargo hold which had not exploded when the ship sank seven years earlier. After deciding it was too dangerous to salvage the wreck, the salvors placed the wreck back on the sea floor. |
|||
However, the Soviets tried to salvage the wreck again in 1956 or 1960. But when she was being lifted to the surface, the ship broke in two and sank to the seabed again. All attempt to salvage the ship and her cargo were abandoned and her wreck and dangerous cargo still lie on the bottom of the Black Sea. |
|||
==References== |
==References== |
||
Revision as of 13:07, 17 November 2022
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | SS Gruziya |
| Owner | Black Sea State Shipping Company |
| Port of registry | Odessa, Soviet Union |
| Builder | Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Completed | 1928 |
| In service | 1928 |
| Fate | Sunk by German aircraft, 13 June 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Krim-class ocean liner |
| Tonnage |
|
| Length | 115.9 m (380 ft 2 in) |
| Beam | 15.6 m (51 ft 1 in) |
| Draught | 5.8 m (19 ft) |
| Depth | 7.7 m (25.3 ft) |
| Decks | 2 |
| Installed power | 1,163 nhp |
| Propulsion | 2 screw propellers; 2 diesel engines |
| Speed | 13 or 15 knots (24 or 28 km/h; 15 or 17 mph) |
| Capacity | 450 passengers |
MS Gruziya was one of six Soviet Krim-class ocean liners during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company. She was sunk by a German aircraft while she was travelling from Novorossiysk to Sevastopol in mid-1942 with 4,000 troops and a cargo of ammunition on board.
Construction
Gruziya was constructed in 1928 at the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel, Germany. The ship had an overall length of 115.9 metres (380 ft 2 in), with a beam of 15.6 metres (51 ft 1 in) and a draught of 5.8 metres (19 ft).[1] She had two decks and a depth of hold of 7.7 metres (25.3 ft). The ship was assessed at 4,857 gross register tons (GRT), 2,661 net register tons (NRT),[2] and 1,520 tons deadweight (DWT).[1] She had a pair of six-cylinder,[2] M.A.N. two-stroke diesel engines, each driving a screw propeller,[3] and the engines were rated at a total of 1,163 nominal horsepower.[2] Sources differ about her maximum speed, quoting speeds of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)[1] or 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[3] The ship had a designed capacity of 450 passengers.[3]
Operations
After completion Gruziya was assigned to the Black Sea State Shipping Company by Sovtorgflot with its port of registry at Odessa.[2][1]
After the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) by Nazi Germany and its allies, Gruziya was used for military tasks. On 16–21 September, she served as a troopship ferrying part of the 157th Infantry Division from Novorossiysk, to Odessa. A day after commencing the voyage, the convoy of which she was a part was fruitlessly attacked by German aircraft. The following month, the ship arrived in Odessa on 14 October in preparation to evacuate the city's defenders and was damaged by a German bomber. Gruziya loaded some troops and the convoy of which she was a part arrived at Sevastopol on the 16th despite repeated German air attacks.[4]
After repairs were completed, the liner transported troops and supplies to the besieged garrison of Sevastopol on 18 and 20 May 1942 and evacuated wounded men on the return voyage. Gruziya and the destroyer Tashkent ferried 2,734 reinforcements to Sevastopol and transported 1,200 wounded on 28 May. Together with the minesweeper T-401/Tral and four patrol boats, the ship took 750 troops to Sevastopol and evacuated 850 wounded men and 724 civilians on 7 June.[5]
On the night of 12/13 June, Gruziya was bound for Sevastopol with a cargo of ammunition on board that included chemical shells filled with Lewisite and mustard gas. Escorted by a pair of minesweepers, she was unsuccessfully attacked by Italian MAS boats. The following morning the convoy was attacked by German aircraft. One bomb landed in the aft cargo hold where all the ammunition was stored, detonating it. The resulting explosion blew the ship in half; there were no survivors.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d Jordan, p. 376
- ^ a b c d Lloyd's Register of Shipping (PDF). Vol. II: Steamers and Motorships of 300 Tons Gross and over (1937–1938 ed.). London: Lloyd's of London. 1937. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
- ^ a b c Wilson, p. 20
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 100, 108
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 166, 169–170
- ^ Rohwer, p. 172; Forczyk, pp. 160–161
Bibliography
- Jordan, Roger W. (1999). The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 ships. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-023-X.
- Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Wilson, Edward A. (1978). Soviet Passenger Ships, 1917–1977. Kendal, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-04-5.
