Transport Number -. Name ship Elsa Essberger. Company John T. Essberger, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 1942. Harbour which was left -. Date arrival 1942.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number -. Name ship Feldberg (ex-Portland). Company Hapag= Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 26 February 1942. Harbour which was left Yokohama, Japan. Date arrival 10 May 1942. Harbour of arrival Bordeaux, France. Deadweight 9,684 tons.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number -. Name ship Bodensee (ex-Münsterland). Company Hapag= Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 18 February 1942. Harbour which was left -. Date arrival 18 May 1942. Harbour of arrival Bordeaux, France. Deadweight 11,409 tons.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number -. Name ship Fusijama. Company Lloyd Triestino/Hapag= Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 7 February 1942. Harbour which was left Kobe, Japan. Date arrival 26 April 1942. Harbour of arrival Bordeaux, France.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
This newspaper wondered how naval battles in the Next Great War were fought. Certain scientists stated that ‘high-powered planes carrying monster bombs and torpedoes’ were battling with what they called ‘phantom battleships”. While torpedo aircraft would attack the battleship drive in to the enemy fleet was the latter protected by common warships with anti aircraft guns. The battleship in the meantime disappeared in a smoke screen at the same time opening huge panels in her sides showing her torpedo armament of 2x32=65 torpedoes which were immediately fired and destroying he enemy fleet. In other words””Imagine a battleship capable of destroying a great fleet at on blow! A grey monster, riding deep in the water, which steams into the centre of the enemy fleet, obscured by a smoke screen: which suddenly drops the steel panels of its sides and discharges simultaneously sixty-four torpedoes of a size never known before in warfare. The torpedoes find their mark, the fleet is wiped out.” The British author E.V. Spanner(1) described the events in a novel using findings of British and American naval experts and the strong belief by many world’s leading military scientists that the era ruled by ordinary battleships and battle cruisers was coming to an end. In his imaginary war between England and Japan he described what happened. The Japanese battle fleet is full speed underway towards Singapore. Coming into the range of the heavy torpedo aircraft they taken with them is Singapore bombed staring with the oil tanks leaving a burning town. The British battle fleet is going to the east. There waits them a naughty surprise. The Japanese converted in secret an ordinary battleship into a 2x32 giant torpedoes battleship. Off Sumatra, Dutch East Indies where the battle starts, happens what is above described and slaughtered the British fleet. The British Admiralty believed in the meantime that torpedo aircraft could sink anything afloat. Four “Hussies” (giant torpedo aircraft called battle cruisers) were ordered to serve in the Australian waters at a navigation base. When a Japanese invasion fleet is nearby attack and destroy the”navigation” torpedo aircraft the Japanese ships.(2)
Notes
1. Edward Frank Spanner (6 February 1888 Portsmouth, Hampshire, England-3 August 1953 Streatham, London, England), naval architect in service of the Royal Corps of Naval Construction wrote the Future War novels The Broken Trident in 1926 (torpedo aircraft attacking warships), The Naviators in 1926 and in 1927 The Harbour of Death with as background the Mediterranean. Spanner wanted to make England clear not to depend only on a navy for her defense. Founded in 1935 Spanner Thimble Tube Boiler Co. In 1929 he published About Warships and in 1934 The Fire-Proof Ship.
In the 1920s was a world wide debate over aircraft versus battleships with the main question could aircraft replace the traditional battleships and the latter becoming obsolete. The Second World War answered this question. Not battleships but aircraft carriers were the leading naval weapons. Battleships became suddenly a prey for torpedo aircraft as the disastrous Japanese air attack on the British HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse proves.
2. The article also published a sketch of world’s largest torpedo (bomb) to be carried by the giant planes and the phantom battleships to be built in the future. With a weight of 4,000 pounds and a length of nearly 14 feet was this weapon suitable to destroy a battle cruiser. This wireless guided missile torpedo with which cities over a distance of 100 miles could be attacked and which was in possession of the British government. Fitted out with small wings, invented by the New Zealander Captain Allan J. Roberts.
Transport Number -. Name ship Pietro Orseolo. Company Lloyd Triestino/Hapag= Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 24 December 1941. Harbour which was left -. Date arrival 24 February 1942. Harbour of arrival Bordeaux, France.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
An item reported that an agent reported 3 August that ships of the merchant shipping company New Zealand which in the past used the Suez Canal going to and coming from the Middle East and Far East from now on would sail via Capetown, South Africa.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM-40-622
Transport Number -. Name ship Elsa Essberger. Company John T. Essberger, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure (further prescribed) 1 October 1943. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East. Bomb damage of November 1942 repaired.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number -. Name ship Dresden. Company Norddeutscher Lloyd (N.D.L.), Bremen, Germany. Date departure (further prescribed) 1 September 1943. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number -. Name ship Kurmerland. Company Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure (further prescribed) 15 September 1943. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East. Hit by a bomb and sunk on 23 September 1943, salvaged and under repair.(1)
Note
1. Launched by Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, Germany with yard number 109 on 1 August 1928, completed on 16 March 1929, scuttled as block ship in the Loire by retreating German forces in 1945 salvaged in 1945 and broken up in 1950.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number Name ship Tannenfels. Company D.D.G. Hansa, Bremen, Germany. Date departure (further prescribed) 1 August 1943. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number F 1. Name ship Fusijama. Company Lloyd Triestino/Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure (further prescribed) 15 August 1943. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number D. Name ship Himalaya. Company Lloyd Triestino/Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure (further prescribed) 5 July 1943. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number K. Name ship Aisterufer. Company Robert Sloman jr., Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 23 March 1943. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East. Part of 2. Action “Pfastermundkoch”.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number N. Name ship Portland. Company Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 23 January 1943? Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East. Deadweight 7,729 ton. Part of 2. Action “Pfastermundkoch”.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number M. Name ship Corteliazzo. Company Lloyd Triestino/Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 23 November 1942. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East. Lost on 1 December 1942. Part of 2. Action “Pfastermundkoch”.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound (1) acting as First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff informed the Committee that the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean (2) supplied sailing dates of the convoys which were to leave the Mediterranean destined for the Far East. He feared for a possible delay of the departure of the first convoy if an adequate escort was lacking. The armoured brigade was part of the convoy and the War Cabinet accepted the risks if the convoy left without escort as far as Ceylon [nowadays Sri Lanka]. However the Australian formations which were to transported with the later convoys were to have priority in the way of escorts. Pound was to inform the involved Commanders-in-Chief.
Notes
1. Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound (29 August 1877 Ventnor, Isle of Wight-21 October 1943 London, England), served between 1891-1943 in the Royal Navy. First Sea Lord 12 June 1939-15 October 1943. Between October 1940-March 1942 he was chairman of the Chiefs of Staff.
2. That must be admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cummingham 7 January 1883 Rathmines, Ireland-12 June 1963 London, England) who was in April 1942 replaced by admiral Sir Henry D. Pridham-Wippell. Cummingham served in the Royal Navy between 1897-1946 with as end rank Admiral of the Fleet. As Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean he hoisted his flag on 6 June 1939 on board of the battleship HMS Warspite after arriving the day before at Alexandria, Egypt. At that moment was his main issue to keep the convoys destined for Egypt and Malta safe.
Source
The National Archives. CAB 79-17-20. War Cabinet. Chiefs of Staff Committee. Minutes of meeting held on Monday 19 January 1942 10:30 a.m.
The Chiefs of Staff Committee considered the telegram No. D. 3/2 dated 18 January sent by general Wavell (1) in which he asked for landing craft suitable for combined operations in the Far East. The Prime Minister asked in the meantime to get a report later the same day. The Committee instructed the Joint Planning Staff to consult the adviser on Combined Operations to advice as soon as possible what to do with the telegram.
Note
1. Field marshal Archibald Percival Wavell (5 May 1883 Colchester, England-24 May 1950 Westminster, London, England). Appointed to Commander-in-Chief of ABDACOM (=American-British-Dutch-Australian Command) on 1 January 1942. The command was formed on 15 January.
Source
The National Archives. CAB 79-17-20. War Cabinet. Chiefs of Staff Committee. Minutes of meeting held on Monday 19 January 1942 10:30 a.m.
Transport Number R. Name ship Elsa Essberger. Company John T. Essberger, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 6 November 1942. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East. Returned at Bordeaux with bomb damage. Part of 2. Action “Pfastermundkoch”.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
Transport Number E. Name ship Anneliese Essberger. Company John T. Essberger, Hamburg, Germany. Date departure 5 November 1942. Harbour which was left Bordeaux, France. Destination Far East. Date lost 21 November 1942. Part of 2. Action “Pfastermundkoch”.
Source
Bundesarchiv RM 7/1419 Ausarbeitung "Wirtschaftsfahrten im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (Zusammenstellung der Fahrten von Blockadebrechern nach Ostasien, 1941-1945).
