V 102 ''Cressida'' was a German cargo ship which was converted into a ''

Vorpostenboot ''Vorpostenboot'' (plural ''Vorpostenboote''), also referred to as VP-Boats, flakships or outpost boats, were German patrol boats which served during both World Wars. They were used around coastal areas and in coastal operations, and were tasked ...

'' for 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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Description

Cressida was long, with a beam of and a depth of . The ship was powered by a 4-cylinder

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 stroke. The engine was built by Christiansen & Meyer, Harburg. It was rated at 160 nhp. The ship was assessed at , .

History

''Cressida'' was a cargo vessel built in

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 ...

in early 1939 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 ...

380 by the shipbuilder Lübecker Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft, for A Kirsten,

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 ...

, which was its port of registry. The ship was allocated 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 ...

DJZB. On 1 October 1939, the ship was requisitioned by the

as V 102 and was placed in the ''1 Vorpostenflotille''. The ship participated in the

German invasion of Denmark German invasion of Denmark may refer to: *German invasion during the First Schleswig War (1848–1852) *German invasion during the Second Schleswig War (1864) *German invasion of Denmark (1940) The German invasion of Denmark (), was the German ...

in April 1940, escorting the steamer ''

Rugard The Rugard, at , is the highest elevation in the central region of the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen. This push end moraine was formed in the Weichselian glaciation, last ice age and lies on the northeastern perimeter of the town of Bergen ...

'' and tugs ''

Monsun Monsun (4 March 1990 – 9 September 2012) was a bay Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion bred in Germany by Gestüt Isarland and owned by Baron Georg von Ullmann. Background Monsun was a son of Germany's first triple crown winner and champion ...

'' and '' Passat'' alongside V 103 ''Sylvia'' and several

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

s. The group landed three companies of the 170th Infantry Division at Middlefart. On 20 June 1940, the ship was converted into a ''

Sperrbrecher A ''Sperrbrecher'' (German; informally translated as "pathfinder" but literally meaning "mine barrage breaker"), was a German auxiliary ship of the First World War and the Second World War that served as a type of minesweeper, steaming ahead of o ...

'', or a ship with a reinforced hull designed to clear a path through minefields. It was designated as Sperrbrecher 32 and was moved into the ''3 Sperrbrecher-flotille'', where it served for the duration of the war, being renamed ''Sperrbrecher 132'' in 1945. After the war, the ship was given into the control of

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and was officially transferred on 5 September 1947, delivered by the German tugboat '' Nestor'' to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

from

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

. The ship was renamed ''Elsenburgh''. It was owned by Wm. H. Müller & Co. NV,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. The Code Letters PDXK were allocated. In 1952, the ship was completely renovated by the Koniklijke Maatschappij te Velde,

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...

Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...

, receiving a new Sulzer

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

. The engine was a

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a four-stroke engine which re ...

single acting engine which had five cylinders of diameter by stroke. It was rated at 1,500 rhp and could propel the ship at . In November 1961, ''Elsenburgh'' was sold to the Seven Seas Shipping Corporation,

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

, Liberia and was renamed ''Gernik''. It was operated under the management of Niksa Sekulovich,

Lugarno Lugarno is a suburb situated in the St George area of southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the local government area of the Georges River Council, 23 kilometres south of the Sydney central business distr ...

, Switzerland. On 23 December 1962 while carrying cargo from

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, ''Gernik'' ran aground on

Karpathos Karpathos (, ), also Carpathos, is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Together with the neighboring smaller Saria Island it forms the municipality of Karpathos, which is part of the regional unit ...

off the coast of Greece during a storm. While all of the crew made it safely ashore, the ship was declared a total loss.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cressida 1939 ships Merchant ships of Germany Steamships of Germany World War II merchant ships of Germany Auxiliary ships of the Kriegsmarine Merchant ships of the Netherlands Steamships of the Netherlands Merchant ships of Liberia Maritime incidents in 1962