''Khalda'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Tiefland'' in 1943 by Lübecker Flenderwerke AG,

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

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 Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft A/S & Co K,

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 ...

. 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 British

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 Gatehouse''. She was sold to Canada in 1947 and was renamed ''Gulfport''. She was sold to Liberia in 1964 and was renamed ''Stefani'', then ''Agia Marina'' in 1966. She was sold to Greece in 1967 and renamed ''Bright''. Sold in 1969 to Panama and renamed ''Khalda'', she was

arrested An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be Interroga ...

in 1974. Sold to Ethiopia in 1977, she was scrapped in 1982.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of , and a draught of . She was assessed as , , . 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 inches stroke. The engine was built by Ottensener Eisenwerke AG, Hamburg. Rated at 1,200 IHP, it drove a single screw propeller and could propel the ship at .

History

''Tiefland'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship built in 1943 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 ...

344 by Lübecker Flenderwerke AG,

for Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft A/S & Co K,

. She was launched on 15 July and completed on 26 October. Her port of registry was Hamburg. In May 1945, ''Tiefland'' was seized as a

Brunsbüttel Brunsbüttel (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Bruunsbüddel'') is a town in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany that lies at the mouth of the Elbe river, near the North Sea. It is the location of the western entrance to t ...

. She was passed to the

and was renamed ''Empire Gatehouse''. 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 ...

GSPL 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 ...

180737 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 Brown, Atkinson & Co. Ltd.,

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

. In 1947, ''Empire Gatehouse'' was sold to the Gulfport Steamship Co.,

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada and was renamed ''Gulfport''. The Code Letters VYDR were allocated. With their introduction in the 1960s, ''Gulfport'' was allocated the Lloyd's Register Number 5137846. In 1964, ''Gulfport'' was sold to the Alma Shipping Co., Liberia and was renamed ''Stefani''. She was sold to M N Arcadis, Liberia in 1966 and was renamed ''Agia Marina''. In 1967, ''Agia Marina'' was sold to the Bright Shipping Co., Greece and was renamed ''Bright''. In 1969, ''Bright'' was sold to the Khalda Shipping Co., Panama and was renamed ''Khalda''. She ran aground in the

Gulf of Suez The Gulf of Suez (; formerly , ', "Sea of Calm") is a gulf at the northern end of the Red Sea, to the west of the Sinai Peninsula. Situated to the east of the Sinai Peninsula is the smaller Gulf of Aqaba. The gulf was formed within a relative ...

in December 1970 and was refloated on 1 January 1971.

Arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...

ed at

Massawa Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea Region, Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for ...

, Ethiopia in 1974, she was sold by Court Order in 1977 to A W & Y F Obeid. Reported to be in a damaged condition at the time of sale, she was scrapped in 1982.

References

External links

Colour photograph of ''Gulfport''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalda 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 Merchant ships of Canada Steamships of Canada Merchant ships of Liberia Steamships of Liberia Merchant ships of Greece Steamships of Greece Merchant ships of Panama Steamships of Panama Merchant ships of Ethiopia Steamships of Ethiopia