SS ''Tanais'' (), mistakenly referred to as ''Danae'' or ''Danais'' (Δανάη / Δαναΐς), was a British-built, Greek-owned

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

requisitioned by the German occupation forces in Greece in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. On 9 June 1944,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

submarine HMS ''Vivid'' torpedoed it off

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, with ''Tanais'' sinking in just 12 seconds. Almost everyone onboard died, including hundreds of

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its Sovereignty, sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or ...

Cretan Jews and Christians as well as Italian

PoWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

who were onboard. Sources differ as to the number of people who perished in the sinking; estimates vary between 425 and 1,000.

The ship

John Blumer and Co Ltd of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

built the ship as ''Holywood'' for William France, Fenwick and Company of London. She was launched on 14 December 1906 and completed in January 1907. She was a

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

, and France, Fenwick operated her in the

tramp trade A boat or ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule, itinerary nor published ports of call, and trades on the spot market as opposed to freight liners. A steamship engaged in the tramp trade is sometimes called ...

. A Greek shipowner, Stefanos Synodinos, bought her in 1935, renamed her ''Tanais'' after the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

city of

Tanais Tanais ( ''Tánaïs''; ) was an ancient Greek city in the Don river delta, called the Maeotian marshes in classical antiquity. It was a bishopric as Tana and remains a Latin Catholic titular see as Tanais. Location The delta reaches into the ...

in the Don delta and registered her in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

. On 26 May 1941 during the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (, ), codenamed Operation Mercury (), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May ...

, the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

sank ''Tanais'' in

Souda Bay Souda Bay () is a bay and natural harbour near the town of Souda on the northwest coast of the Greek island of Crete. The bay is about 15 km long and only two to four km wide, and a deep natural harbour. It is formed between the Akroti ...

. She was raised, repaired and taken over by (MMR), a company controlled by the

German government The Federal Government (, ; abbr. BReg) is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany and exercises executive power at the federal level. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Ministers. The fundamentals o ...

that operated merchant ships in the Mediterranean theatre of the war. MMR used her to carry cargo and people between the Aegean Islands and Greek mainland.

Sinking

On late 8 or early 9 June 1944 ''Tanais'', escorted by the submarine hunter ''UJ 2142'' and

guard ship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...

s ''GK 05'' and ''GK 06'', sailed from

bound for

. In her holds were three groups of prisoners: about 265 Jews deported from

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

who had been rounded up a few days before, up to 400 Cretan

gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

s linked with the

Cretan resistance The Cretan resistance (, ) was a resistance movement against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek resistance, it lasted from 20 May 19 ...

, and between 100 and 300 pro- Badoglio Italian

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

who had been arrested after the

Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile ( Italian: ''Armistizio di Cassibile'') was an armistice that was signed on 3 September 1943 by Italy and the Allies, marking the end of hostilities between Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was made public ...

. Sources differ as to the numbers of Cretan and Italian prisoners. On 20 May 1944, 276 Cretan Jews were arrested and loaded together with Greek underground fighters aboard ''Tanais'' which made her way to the port of Piraeus. The plan was to transfer the community to the

Haidari concentration camp The Haidari concentration camp (; ) was a Nazi concentration camps, concentration camp operated by the German ''Schutzstaffel'' at the Athens suburb of Haidari during the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II. Operating from September 1943 unt ...

and from there to deport them to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. On the morning of 9 June, the

submarine sighted ''Tanais'' northwest of the islet of Dia at . ''Vivid'' fired a spread of four torpedoes at a range of . Two hit ''Tanais'', sinking her in just 12 seconds. The number of people who died in the sinking is unknown, but it is believed to include most of the people aboard. One source mentions only 14 people survived; another puts the total of those rescued at 51.

Citations

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanais sinking 1906 ships 1941 in Greece 1944 in Greece Crete in World War II Maritime incidents in May 1941 Maritime incidents in June 1944 Ships built on the River Wear Ships sunk by British submarines Shipwrecks of Greece Steamships of Germany Steamships of Greece Steamships of the United Kingdom World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War II merchant ships of Germany World War II merchant ships of Greece World War II shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea

The ship

Sinking

See also

Citations

References

External links