''Claus Rickmers'' 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 seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

which was built in 1923 for Rickmers Reederei AG. She was sunk by Allied bombing at

Larvik Larvik () is a List of cities in Norway, town and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in 1945 and then salvaged and towed to

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

for repairs. She was then seized as a war prize) and ownership passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), being renamed ''Empire Carron'' on completion of repairs in 1947. She was then sold and renamed ''Andrian''. In 1949, she was sold to

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

nian owners and renamed ''San Nicolas'', serving until scrapped in 1964.

Description

The ship was built by Norderwerft AG,

Wesermünde Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Rive ...

as yard number 193. She was launched on 23 November 1923 and completed on 22 February 1924. The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She had a GRT of 5,125 and a NRT of 3,170. Her DWT was 8,040. She was propelled by a

triple expansion 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 he ...

, which had cylinders of , and diameter and stroke. The engine was built by

AG Weser Aktien-Gesellschaft „Weser" (abbreviated A.G. „Weser”) was one of the major German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built about 1,400 ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

History

''Claus Rickmers'' was built for Rickmers Reederei AG,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. 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 ...

RDVL were allocated and her port of registry was Hamburg. On 13 September 1928, she was in collision with the Italian cargo ship at Glückstadt and was beached. In 1934, her Code Letters were changed to DHEE. On 4 May 1940, ''Claus Rickmers'' was requisitioned by the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

for use as a troopship. The

Pennant Number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

A 10 was allocated. She was returned to her owners on 20 October 1940. On 26 June 1941, she was sunk at Ventspils, Latvia. She was refloated and repaired. On 21 October 1944 the Germany, German cargo ship , struck a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

off Stora Pölsan,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. ''Hohenhörn'' sank in no more than eight minutes. The entire crew was rescued by ''Claus Rickmers'' and landed in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. ''Hohenhörn'' was on a voyage from

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

, Norway to

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...

, Germany with a cargo of 4,000 tonnes of iron pyrites. On 9 January 1945, ''Claus Rickmers'' was damaged in an Allied air raid on

Lervik Lervik is a village in the municipality of Fredrikstad, Norway, located by the Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to ...

, Norway. On 15 January 1945, a formation of sixteen Mosquito aircraft of the Banff Strike Wing, comprising aircraft from

143 143 may refer to: *143 (number), a natural number *AD 143, a year of the 2nd century AD *143 BC, a year of the 2nd century BC *143 (EP), ''143'' (EP), a 2013 EP by Tiffany Evans *143 (album), ''143'' (album), a 2015 album by Bars and Melody *143 (2 ...

235 __NOTOC__ Year 235 ( CCXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Quintianus (or, less frequently, year 988 '' ...

248 __NOTOC__ Year 248 ( CCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Severus (or, less frequently, year 1001 '' ...

and 333 Squadrons,

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, led by Wing Commander Max Guedj attacked the damaged ''Claus Rickmers''. Also attacked were the flak ships ''Seehund'' and ''O B Rogge'' and Räumboot ''R 34''. Five Mosquitos and three

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (" Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, ...

s of 9 Staffeln,

Jagdgeschwader 5 Jagdgeschwader 5 (JG 5) was a German Luftwaffe fighter wing during World War II. It was created to operate in the far north of Europe, namely Norway, Scandinavia and northern parts of Finland, all nearest the Arctic Ocean, with ''Luftflotte'' 5 ...

were shot down in the attack. ''Claus Rickmers'' was towed to

for repairs. In May 1945, she was seized as a war prize and passed to the MoWT. Repairs were completed in 1947 and she was renamed ''Empire Carron''. The 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 ...

181642 was allocated. She was then sold to S G Empiricos Ltd,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and renamed ''Andrian''. In 1949, ''Andrian'' was sold to Compagnia Navigazione Yaviza,

and renamed ''San Nicolas''. She served until 1964, arriving at Spezia,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in December 1964 for scrapping.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Claus Rickmers 1923 ships Ships built in Bremen (state) Steamships of Germany Merchant ships of Germany Maritime incidents in 1928 World War II merchant ships of Germany Maritime incidents in January 1945 Ministry of War Transport ships Empire ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of Panama Merchant ships of Panama