An item reported the sighting on 31 July heading to the east of 1 British cable steamship, 2 armed British steamships, 1 Dutch steamship, 16 ships, 1 armed steam transport, 1 armed Portuguese steamship and 3 Italian steamships each armed with 2 guns from Gibraltar.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM-40-622
©Warshipsresearch.blogspot.com
Call sign DJUL. Homeport Hamburg, Germany. Owner in 1939 Deutche Ölmühlen-Rohstoffe GmbH, manager Hamburger Walfang-Konto GmbH. Launched as British cable layer CS Colonia by Wigham Richardson Ltd. at the Neptune, Low Walker shipyard with yard number 398 on 14 February 1902, completed on 6 May 1902, sold to the Norwegian whaling company Thor Dahl in 1928, converted into the whale factory ship Torodd, bought by Oelmuhlen Walgang Konsortium, Berlin, Germany in 1937, renamed Südmeer, purchased by the German navy in 1940 and sunk by Russian naval Douglas A-20 Havoc aircraft in the Porsangerfjorden, Norway on 14 October 1944.(1) Gross tonnage 8,133 tons, under deck 5,863 tons, net tonnage 4,355 tons and as dimensions 487.3 x 56.1 x 27.6 feet.
Note
1. Report dealing with the available repair ships, base ships and shipyards in early February 1942 mentioned the base ship Südmeer which was a German whale factory ship. Lying at Kirkenes, Norway. Fitted out with an expanded workshop and 40 labourers of which 10 submarine specialists.A letter dated Berlin 5 November 1942 2308/42 mentioned her tank capacity heating oil 3,503 M4, V.f.t.oil 1,168 M3 and diesel oil 1,699 M3.
Sources
Bundesarchive RM 7-223.
Lloyds Registers
An item reported that on 4 August in Gibraltar were lying 1 British warship type Foresight cruiser (1), 1 cable steamship, 2 minelayers, 2 guardships, 3 auxiliary cruiser-yachts, 15 merchant steamships and in the dry dock 1 Italian passenger steamship.
Note
1. The Forward-class scout cruisers consisting of the Foresight and Foreward preceded by Adventure-class succeeded by Pathfinder-class built between 1903-1905.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM-40-622
Report dealing with the available repair ships, base ships and shipyards in early February 1942 mentioned the base ship Südmeer which was a German whale factory ship. Lying at Kirkenes, Norway. Fitted out with an expanded workshop and 40 labourers of which 10 submarine specialists. A letter dated Berlin 5 November 1942 2308/42 mentioned her tank capacity heating oil 3,503 M4, V.f.t.oil 1,168 M3 and diesel oil 1,699 M3.(1)
Note
1. Built as British cable layer CS Colonia by Swan, Hunter Wigham Richardson Ltd. in 1902, sold to the Norwegian whaling company Thor Dahl in 1928, converted into the whale factory ship Torodd, bought by Oelmuhlen Walgang Konsortium, Berlin, Germany in 1937, renamed Südmeer, purchased by the German navy in 1940 and sunk by Russian naval Douglas A-20 Havoc aircraft in the Porsangerfjorden, Norway on 14 October 1944.
Source
Bundesarchive RM 7-223.
Nieuwe Waterweg, Netherlands May 205
Panama-flagged, IMO 7349807, MMSI 249119000 and call sign 3EWN4. Built by Flender Werft, Lubeck, Germany in 1974. Owner/manager Allseas Engineering, Delft, Netherlands.
©Warshipsresearch.blogspot.com
The US Navy Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OpNav) asked on 18 August 1921 the Bureau of Construction and Repair to develop the required potential characteristics of an ocean going ship capable of carrying and laying undersea communications cable. The Bureau considered the Golden State type passenger and cargo ship to be the most promising existing commercial type available for conversion. Never built. Displacement 21,300 tons and as dimensions 534 (waterline) x 72.0 (waterline) x 30.6 feet. Speed 17 knots/12,000 shp. Range 10 knots/8,000 nautical iles. Propulsion red. geared turbines. Cable carry capacity 2,700-3,000 miles ofunderwater cable.
Source
U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command 1911-1925 Spring Styles Book. S-584-181
An item reported that the Japanese 950 ton cable layer Tzugaru launched by Mitsubishi, Yokohama, Japan in July 1955 was handed over to the Maritime Self Defence Force on 16 December 1955. Crew numbered 85 men and armament consisted of 1-3” anti aircraft gun and 2-2cm machine guns. Japanese 1953-1954 Budget.
Source
Website Royal Australian Navy, Sea Power Centre.
An item reported that the Japanese 1953-1954 Budget authorized the building of 2 destroyer escorts, 3 frigates, 1 cable layer, 1 minesweeper annex mine layer, 3 large and 3 small minesweepers, 8 submarine chasers and 9-60 tons type C patrol boats.
Source
Website Royal Australian Navy, Sea Power Centre.
Schelde off Vlissingen, Netherlands 5 July 2024
Belgium-flagged, homeport Vlissingen, IMO 9776925, MMSI 205735000 and call sign ORSS. Earlier Netherlands-flagged and call sign PBXN. Launched on 18 September 2016 as NORTE 345 by Dredging Environment and Marine Engineering N.V. (DEME) at the La Naval Shipyard/Santurtzi Ship Yard, Bilbao, Spain. Cable installation and trenching vessel. Managed by the DEME Group Zwijndrecht, Belgium and delivered to Tideway BV, Breda, Netherlands.
A report from Op-16-FT, Washington, USA dated 1 July 1944 serial FT-49-44 described all Soviet merchant ships active in the Pacific. On 15 June 1944 were 207 Russian merchant ships with a total gross tonnage of 891,591 tons active in transpacific and coastal waters.This number included for instance 36 Liberty ships. 70% or 627,649 gross tons participated in regular transpacific traffic destinated for Siberian harbors and 95 vessels or 264.942 gross tons in the coastal waters. The 207 vessels excluded 7 icebreakers.
Gross tonnage 9,179 tons. Type combination. Built in 1926. Speed 13 knots. Fuel oil. International call sign USCH. Service Transpacifix. Remarks Dalstroi ownership.
Note
1. Russian passenger-cargo ship (ex-Dominia 1926-1937, Nikolai Yezhov 1937-1938) Felix Dzerjinski 1938-1955. Russia-flagged, call sign USCH. Stricken in or after 1955.Built by Swan, Hunter&Wigham Richardson Ltd. for account of the Telegraph Construction&Maintenance Company, London, England. Former cable layer Dominia sold an transferred at Amsterdam, Netherlands on 1 January 1937 to be used in the Dal’stroi Gulag Fleet transporting prisoners towards the Gulag slave camps. Overhauled at San Francisco, USA during the Second World War. Deck strengthened for transport of locomotives. Fitted out with refrigerating machinery. Gross tonnage 9,179 tons and as dimensions 489 (between perpendiculars) x 59 x 28 (loaded) feet. Normal cruising speed 13 knots.
Source
Map Room Papers (Roosevelt Administration), 1942 - 1945. MR450(7) Sec 2 Location of Russian Ships, 1942-1945
Schelde off Vlissingen, Netherlands 28 April 2024
Barbados-flagged, homeport Bridgetown, IMO 8710871, MMSI 314199000 and call sign 8PSH. Owned and managed by IT International Telecom Marine Barbados. Renamed on 10 August 205. Built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilder, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom in 1989.
Schelde, Vlissingen, Netherlands 6 June 2023
France-flagged, IMO 9230414, MMSI 228417900 and call sign FMRA. Ex Knight renamed 23 February 2005, Polar Queen renamed 30 March 2011 and Seven Mar renamed June 2021. Built by Hundai Mipo Dockyard, Ulsan, South Kores in 2001. Owner and manager ASN Marine Sasu, Nozay, France.
Netherlands-flagged, homeport Rotterdam, Netherlands, IMO 9934840, MMSI 2455630000 and call sign PDNV. Earlier Norway-flagged, MMSI 258131000 and call sign LATC8. Casco built by Vard Tulcea yard Romania and completed by Vard Brattvaag yard, Norway in 2023.
France-flagged, IMO 9282144, MMSI, MMSI 228371900 and call sign FLWI. Built by Xinlian Shipbuilding, Wuhu, China in 2006. As Toisa Voyager owner Toisa, Athens, Greece and managed by Sealion Shipping, Farnham, United Kingdom, Bahamas-flagged, homeport Nassau, MMSI 228371900 and call sign C6UM9.
Built with yard number 189 by Mitsubishi Dockyard&Engineering Works, Nagasaki, Japan in 1906 and sunk by the Russian submarine L-12 off the west coast of Hokkaido, Japan on 22 August 1945. Gross tonnage 1,404 tons, under deck 1,282 tons, net tonnage 600 tons and as dimensions 74.1 x 10.4 x 6.8 metres or 243.2 x 34.0 x 22.3. Propulsion consisted of 2-3 cylinder triple expansion steam engines supplying 176 nhp. Call sign JOGD.
Clipper bow and cruiser stern. Fitted out with 4 cable tanks. None passenger accommodation. Dimensions 362.0 (over all) x 47.0 (molded) x 33.9 (molded depth) x 25.0 (load draught molded) feet, deadweight 4,330 tons, gross tonnage 3,940 tons , net tonnage 1,690 tons and bale cubic capacity 49,642 cubic feet. The reciprocating steam propulsion supplied 4,000 shp normal horsepower allowing a speed of 14 knots. Prewar domestic cost 3,400,000 US dollars, domestic war cost 4,482,851 US dollars, unadjusted statutory sales price 1,720,000 US dollars and floor price 1,568,998 US dollars
Source
Federal register dated 17 August 1946 vol II, no. 79.
Russia-flagged, call sign USCH. Stricken in or after 1955.Built by Swan, Hunter&Wigham Richardson Ltd. for account of the Telegraph Construction&Maintenance Company, London, England. Former cable layer Dominia sold an transferred at Amsterdam, Netherlands on 1 January 1937 to be used in the Dal’stroi Gulag Fleet transporting prisoners towards the Gulag slave camps. Overhauled at San Francisco, USA during the Second World War. Deck strengthened for transport of locomotives. Fitted out with refrigerating machinery. Gross tonnage 9,179 tons and as dimensions 489 (between perpendiculars) x 59 x 28 (loaded) feet. Normal cruising speed 13 knots.
An item reported that the Dutch government ordered the N. German Marine Cable Works to deliver 1,500 miles submarine cable to be realize telegraphic communication with the Dutch East Indies. (1) Germany had handed over her two cable layers to the Allies with a result that a German tramp steamship was to converted into a cable layer to start with cable laying in the Dutch East Indies on short notice.
Note
1. The cable made by Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke A,G., Nordenham was to be used for the connection Makasser-Dongola-Menado and for the connection Makasser-Surabaya. The cable was transported from Germany to the Dutch East Indies by the Flint which was a Norwegian cargo ship chartered by the plant and converted into a cable layer. Within a month were both cables laid.
Source
The National Archives, Kew Gardens, England CAB/24/118/41
Built by Zwolsman, Workum, Netherlands in 1915 as a cargo vessel, rebuilt in the 1950-60 into a shrimps cutter, afterwards as the cable layer Amigo, sold and converted into a pleasure craft. Tonnage 30 tons and as dimensions 18 x 3,60 x 1,25 metres.
Schelde off Vlissingen, Netherlands 6 November 2021
France-flagged, homeport Marseilles, IMO 9694505, MMSI 22804600 and call sign FIIZ. Owned and managed by Orange Marine, Puteaux, France. Built by Vard Brattvaag, Brattvaag, Norway in 2014.
