''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 List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

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

Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in 1945 and then salvaged and towed to

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

for repairs. She was then seized as a war prize) and ownership passed to the UK's

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 ...

(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, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

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

Description

The ship was built by Norderwerft AG,

Wesermünde Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the city-state of Bremen. The River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Bremerhaven was founded in 1827 as ...

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 heat ...

, 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 Germany, 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 1,4 ...

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 ...

History

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

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 ...

. 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 ...

RDVL were allocated and her port of registry was Hamburg. On 13 September 1928, she collided with the Italian cargo ship at

Glückstadt Glückstadt (; ) is a town in the Steinburg district of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Lower Elbe at the confluence of the small Rhin river, about northwest of Altona. Glückstadt is part of the Hamburg ...

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 Nazi 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 military branch, branche ...

for use as a

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typic ...

. 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 Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

, Latvia. She was refloated and repaired. On 21 October 1944 the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

cargo ship , struck a mine off Stora Pölsan,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. ''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 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 ...

. ''Hohenhörn'' was on a voyage from

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

, Norway to

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

, Germany with a cargo of 4,000 tonnes of

iron pyrites The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue g ...

. On 9 January 1945, ''Claus Rickmers'' was damaged in an Allied air raid on Lervik, Norway. On 15 January 1945, a formation of sixteen

Mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

aircraft of the Banff Strike Wing, comprising aircraft from 143,

235 __NOTOC__ Year 235 ( CCXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday 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 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 2 ...

248 __NOTOC__ Year 248 ( CCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday 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 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

and 333 Squadrons,

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, led by

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...

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, the ...

s of 9 Staffeln, Jagdgeschwader 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 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 renamed ''Andrian''. In 1949, ''Andrian'' was sold to Compagnia Navigazione Yaviza,

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

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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