''Arsterturm'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Betzdorf'' in 1945 by

Deutsche Werft Deutsche Werft (English: German Shipyard) was a shipbuilding company in Finkenwerder Rüschpark, Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 1918 by Albert Ballin and with Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH), ''Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) and ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

for Unternehmen der Eisenstahlindustrie,

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

. She was seized as a

prize of war A prize of war (also called spoils of war, bounty or booty) is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 1 ...

in 1945, passing to the

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transpor ...

and renamed ''Empire Gaffer''. Sold in 1947, renamed ''Baltrader'' then ''Baltic Fir'' in 1952, she was sold to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1956, rebuilt and renamed ''Arsterturm''. She was sold in 1969 to India and renamed ''Unigoolnar''. A further sale in 1976 saw her renamed ''Sudarsan Shakti'', serving until 1981 when she was scrapped.

Description

As built, the ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of , and a draught of . She was assessed as , , . She was equipped with 1x20-tonne, 1x10-tonne and 9x5-tonne cranes. 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 42 cm (16 inches) and two cylinders of 90 cm (35 inches) diameter by 90 cm (35 inches) stroke. The engine was built by Ottensener Eisenwerk AG,

. Rated at 1,200 IHP, it drove a single screw propeller and could propel the ship at .

History

''Betzdorf'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship built in 1945 as

yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

450 by

for Unternehmen der EisenStahlindustrie,

. She was launched on 15 January 1945 and completed on 28 February. With a complement of 35 men, ''Betzdorf'' was operated under the management of Friedrich Krupp & Co., Bremen. Her port of registry was Bremen and the Code Letters DOZE were allocated. ''Betzdorf'' was seized as a

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

on 8 May 1945, and was passed to the

. She was renamed ''Empire Gaffer''. 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 ...

GJCB and United Kingdom

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

180643 were allocated. Her port of registry was

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 ...

and she was operated under the management of T. L. Duff & Co. In June 1947, ''Empire Gaffer'' was sold to the United Baltic Corporation, London and was renamed ''Baltrader''. She was renamed ''Baltic Fir'' in 1952. In January 1956, ''Baltic Fir'' was sold to Partenreederei Dampfer Arstenturm, which was 95% owned by Bohlen & Behn and 5% by DDG Hansa Linie, both of

. She was rebuilt at

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

and renamed ''Arsterturm''. On 18 June, she was bought by DDG Hansa. Her port of registry was Bremen and the Code Letters DLCF were allocated. With their introduction in the 1960s, ''Arsterturm'' was allocated the

IMO Number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term with two distinct applications: * the IMO ship identification number is a unique ship identifier; or, * the IMO company and registered owner identification number is u ...

5025433. On 29 March 1969, ''Arsterturm'' was sold to Universal Shipping & Coastal Trading Pte Ltd,

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, India and was renamed ''Unigoolnar''. Her port of registry was Bombay and the Code Letters ATEK were allocated. She was sold in 1976 to Sudarsan Liners Ltd,

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, India and was renamed ''Sudarsan Shakti''. Damaged at

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

in 1980, she was scrapped in March 1981 by City Steel, Bombay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arsterturm 1945 ships Ships built in Hamburg World War II merchant ships of Germany Steamships of Germany Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of West Germany Steamships of West Germany Steamships of India Arsterturm