Usukuma Ostafrika Deutsch Ost-Afrika 1892 Tansania

''Ussukuma'' was a German

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

named after a location in the central highlands of

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; ) was a German colonial empire, German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Portugu ...

(now

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

). On 6 December 1939, only a few months into the

Second World War 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 ...

, she was

scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...

off the coast of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

.TS Ussukuma Deutsche Ostfrika-Linie
/ref> In January 2008, her wreck was identified by the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...

in of water, off

Necochea Necochea is a port and beach city in the southwest of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast, along the mouth of the Quequén Grande River, from Buenos Aires and southwest of Mar del Plata. T ...

Construction and career

''Ussukuma'' had a crew of 107, could carry 264 passengers and was powered by steam turbine. Her building number was 389 and her home port was Hamburg. Her sister ships were the of the ''

Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie (''German East Africa Line'', or DOAL) was a shipping line, established in 1890 as an alternative to the existing shipping services to East Africa, including German East Africa (1891–1919), then dominated by United Ki ...

'' and the of the

Woermann-Linie The Woermann-Linie was a German shipping company that operated from 1885 to 1942. History It was founded on 15 June 1885 by Adolph Woermann and developed as one of the leading shipping companies between Europe and Africa. From 1899 the company ...

. She was launched on 20 December 1920 at the

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 ...

shipyard of

Blohm + Voss Blohm is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Hans Blohm C.M. (born 1927), photographer and author * Hermann Blohm (1848–1930), German businessman and co-founder of German company Blohm+Voss * Irma Blohm (1909–1997), German pol ...

and entered service with the

on 8 July 1921. ''Ussukuma'' used 13 ports in Europe, 38 in Africa and 1 in

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

. Her last round trip to Africa began from Hamburg on 15 July 1939. On 19 August, she left

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

and by 26 August had reached Lorenço Marques.

Action in World War II

Ingeniero White Necochea Argentina Ussukuma

On the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939 she was lying off Lorenço Marques and was taken over by the

Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...

for service in the South Atlantic. In late September she went to South America and on 11 October reached

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: ''White Bay''), colloquially referred to by its own local inhabitants as simply Bahía, is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires province of Argentina, centered on the northwestern end of the eponymous Blanc ...

in Argentina, where she stayed until 4 December Her captain Karl Schulte fell ill there and was replaced by Hugo Wilmsen from the ''Nienburg''. On 4 December 1939, the ''Ussukuma'' left Bahía Blanca in the direction of

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

in Uruguay, possibly to help the

pocket battleship The class was a series of three (armored ships), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The ships of the class, , , and , were all stated to displace in a ...

, also heading for Montevideo. On 5 December, towards evening, the ''Ussukuma'' met the British cruiser . ''Ajax'' had been looking for the ''Admiral Graf Spee'' (later meeting her in the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December) and had been informed of the departure of the ''Ussukuma'' by the British

naval attaché A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

in Montevideo and by a Dutch ship which had met the ''Ussukuma'' shortly after the latter's departure. The ''Ajax'' threatened not to rescue the German crew if they left their ship but also ordered them not to sink it. Captain Wilmsen decided to scuttle her nevertheless and the ''Ajax'' fired three rounds at her, the first across the bows, the second whilst she was lowering her lifeboats and the third when the boats were dropped into the water, 62 miles from the coast. The ''Ussukuma'' sank during the night of 5 December or morning of 6 December. The 107 passengers and crew members were rescued by the ''Ajax'' and interned as enemy civilians. The cruiser took them first to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

, then in 1940 to Camp Baviaanspoort near

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

in South Africa, from which they were released at the end of the war. The vessel's remains appeared on charts as an unnamed wreck for years and in January 2008 became "the first Nazi wreck to be identified in Argentine waters in decades."

References

External links

*
TS Ussukuma Deutsche Ostafrika-Linie

Sixtant WAR II IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC USSUKUMA

Wreckage of Scuttled Nazi Ship Identified Off Argentine Coast

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ussukuma 1920 ships Ships built in Hamburg World War II auxiliary ships of Germany Passenger ships of Germany World War II shipwrecks in the South Atlantic Maritime incidents in December 1939 Maritime incidents in Argentina 1939 in Argentina Battle of the River Plate Shipwrecks of the Argentine coast Abwehr operations