''Fairwood'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Celia'' in 1943 by Lübecker Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft, Lübeck, Germany for A. Kirsten, Hamburg, Germany. She was seized as a prize of war in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed ''Empire Gallant''. She was sold in 1947 and was renamed ''Richard Borchard''. She was sold in 1960 to West Germany and was renamed ''Fairwood''. She served until 1963 when she was scrapped.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of . She was assessed as , , . The ship was propelled by a compound steam engine, 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 Waggon- und Maschinenbau GmbH,

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, :de:Ostlausitzer Mundart, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and ...

. Rated at 1,200

IHP Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

, it drove a single screw propeller and could propel the ship at .

History

''Celia'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship built in 1943 as yard number 402 by Lübecker Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft, Lübeck, Germany for A. Kirsten, Hamburg. She wascompleted in January 1944. Her port of registry was Hamburg. In May 1945, ''Celia'' was seized as a prize of war at Kiel. She was passed to the Ministry of War Transport. She was renamed ''Empire Gallant''. 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 and today also. Later, with the i ...

GJGX 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 ...

180613 were allocated. Her port of registry was London and she was operated under the management of the London & Edinburgh Shipping Co. Ltd, Leith. In 1947 ''Empire Gallant'' was sold to Borchard (UK) Ltd and was renamed ''Richard Borchard''. Following the

Israeli Declaration of Independence The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel ( he, הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708) by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive ...

and the start of the Arab–Israeli War, Egypt instigated a policy of confiscating goods in transport to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

that would be of use to the Egyptian military effort. ''Richard Borchard'' was at Alexandria on 17 May. Her cargo of aluminium, dried fruit, machinery,

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as motorized vehicle or automotive vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on Track (rail transport), rails (such as trains or trams) and is used for the transportation of pe ...

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

and tin was confiscated. It was claimed that she was a Zionist vessel owned in Italy. On 1 January 1949, ''Richard Borchard'' was intercepted off Haifa, Israel by an

Egyptian Navy The Egyptian Navy ( ar, القوات البحرية المصرية, El-Quwwāt el-Bahareya el-Miṣriyya, Egyptian Navy Forces), also known as the Egyptian Naval Force, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy ...

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

and minesweeper. She stopped after a shot was fired across her bows and was allowed to proceed after a rudimentary search for contraband goods had been made. In 1960, ''Richard Borchard'' was sold to Fairplay Schleppdampfschiffahrt Reederei, Hamburg and renamed ''Fairwood''. She was operated under the management of Richard Borchard GmbH. With their introduction in the 1960s, ''Fairwood'' was allocated the IMO Number 5111854. She served until January 1963 when she was scrapped at Sarpsborg, Norway by Østfold Skipshopphugging.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairwood 1943 ships Ships built in Lübeck 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 1948 Arab–Israeli War 1949 in Israel Merchant ships of West Germany Steamships of West Germany