SS ''Commissaire Ramel'' was a French

cargo liner A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

that was launched in 1920 and sunk in the Indian Ocean by the in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Ship history

Building

The ''Société Provençale de Construction Navale'' built the ship in La Ciotat as ''General Duchesne''. Before she was launched she was renamed ''Commissaire Ramel'' in honour of Paul Ramel, the purser of the ship , who was lost when his ship was torpedoed on 11 February 1917, and posthumously awarded the

légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. The ship was long, with a beam of . As built, her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on ''tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically ref ...

s were 16,620

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

and . She was powered by a three-cylinder

triple expansion engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...

with coal-fired boilers that delivered 4,450 hp, driving a single propeller and giving her a speed of .

Service history

''Commissaire Ramel'' was launched on 20 March 1920, and entered service with the Compagnie des

Messageries Maritimes ''Messageries Maritimes'' was a French merchant shipping company. It was originally created in 1851 as ''Messageries nationales'', later called ''Messageries impériales'', and from 1871, ''Compagnie des messageries maritimes'', casually known as ...

on 24 April 1921, as a

, sailing between France and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. In 1926 she was refitted in La Ciotat as an

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

, receiving a promenade deck, lifeboat deck, and an additional boiler. This gave her the capacity to carry up to 552 passengers, and increased her tonnages to 20,323 tonnes displacement and 10,092 GRT. The additional boiler increased her power to 5,000 hp, giving her a speed to . On 19 January 1927 she returned to service, sailing between France and Australia. In 1931 she was refitted again. Her boilers were converted from coal to oil fuel, and a low-pressure

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

was added alongside her triple-expansion engine. Exhaust steam from the low-pressure cylinder of her piston engine powered the turbine, which was geared onto the same propeller shaft as her piston engine. The addition of the turbine increased her total power to 6,250 hp. Until 1933 the ship's

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 ...

were OEXC. In 1934 these were superseded by the

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FOAR. In 1935 she was transferred to a new route, sailing between

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

and

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in the South Pacific, via the Panama Canal. On 19 May 1940 she left Marseille under the command of Captain Sabouret, bound for Tahiti. She arrived at

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeete'', pronounced ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. The Communes of France, commune of Papeete is located on the isl ...

on 28 June 1940, five days after the signing of armistice between France and Germany that ended the

battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

. On 18 July 1940 she arrived at

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Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

to refuel, but was

requisitioned Requisition may refer to: *Purchase requisition, a document issued by a buyer to a seller indicating types, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services *Requisition in military logistics *Requisition of property by a government under e ...

by the authorities there. She was taken to Sydney, Australia, where 26 members of the crew, including the captain, volunteered to serve aboard.

Sinking

Under the management of the

Shaw, Savill & Albion Line Shaw, Savill & Albion Line was the trading name of Shaw, Savill and Albion Steamship Company, a British shipping company that operated ships between Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. History The company was created in 1882 by the ama ...

she sailed from Sydney on 1 September 1940 bound for Britain via Cape Town, under the command of Captain R MacKenzie. Just after midnight on 19 September she was attacked by the commerce raider . After the crew abandoned ship, they were picked up by ''Atlantis'', who then finished off the ship, sinking her at position . Three of her crew were killed and 63 taken prisoner. 200 prisoners taken by ''Atlantis'' from several ships were later transferred to the captured Yugoslavian ship ''Durmitor''. The captain of ''Durmitor'' reported after the war that the cook from ''Commissaire Ramel'' was employed to cook for the German prize crew and that the captain of ''Commissaire Ramel'' managed to hide a bottle of poison with which he intended to neutralize the Germans, but after determining the ship's course and position, learning about the poor fuel situation from the captain of ''Durmitor'' and considering the possibility that ''Atlantis'' might re-appear once the ship was taken over by the prisoners and take revenge, he gave up his plan. The prisoners were landed at

Warsheikh Warsheikh ( so, Warsheekh, Warshiiq, Warshiikh , translit=Warshiiq, ar, ورشيخ,) is an administration center and coastal town of Warsheikh district. Warsheikh is located in the southeastern Middle Shabelle region of Hirshabelle State of Som ...

Italian East Africa Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the Seco ...

on 22 November 1940. They were held in a camp at Merca until liberated by British troops on 25 February 1941 during the East African Campaign. ''Durmitor'' survived the war and was returned to Yugoslavia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Commissaire Ramel 1920 ships Maritime incidents in September 1940 Passenger ships of France Ships built in France Steamships of France World War II merchant ships of France World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean