''Saar'' was a

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. ...

that was built in 1937 by

Stettiner Oderwerke Oderwerke or Stettiner Oderwerke was a German shipbuilding company, located in Stettin. History Oderwerke was founded on January 28, 1903, and built 154 ships prior to World War I. During World War II Oderwerke built two German Type VII submar ...

AG,

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

for German owners. She was seized by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

Kolding Kolding () is a Denmark, Danish seaport city located at the head of Kolding Fjord in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the seat of Kolding Municipality. It is a transportation, commercial, and manufacturing centre and has numerous industria ...

, Denmark in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed ''Empire Congleton''. In 1946, she was passed to the Soviet Union and renamed ''Donetz'' (Донец).

Description

The ship was built in 1937 by Stettiner Oderwerke AG, Stettin. The ship was long, with a beam of a depth of . She had a GRT of 1,026 and a NRT of 560. The ship was propelled by a

compound steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

which had two cylinders of and two cylinders of diameter by stroke. The engine was built by Ottensener Maschinenbau

GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

, Altona.

History

''Saar'' was built for R C Gribel. Her port of registry was Stettin and she used the

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of ...

DAYW. In February 1945, ''Saar'' was one of the ship involved in the transportation of refugees from

Pillau Baltiysk ( ); ; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; ; ; is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separ ...

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

to Swinemünde, Germany. In May 1945, ''Saar'' was seized by the Allies at Kolding, Denmark. She was passed to the MoWT and renamed ''Empire Congleton''. Her port of registry was changed to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She was allocated the Code Letters GNML and the United Kingdom Official Number 180703. In 1946 she was passed to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and renamed ''Donetz''.

References

External links

Photo of ''Donetz''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saar 1937 ships Ships built in Stettin Steamships of Germany Merchant ships of Germany World War II merchant ships of Germany Ministry of War Transport ships Empire ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the Soviet Union Merchant ships of the Soviet Union Soviet Union–United Kingdom military relations Germany–Soviet Union military relations