''Masuren'' was a 2,385 ton

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 1935. She was seized by Britain in 1945 and renamed ''Empire Annan''. In 1950 she was renamed ''Thomas N Epiphaniades'' and then ''Helga Böge'' in 1952. In 1959, she was renamed ''Fuhlsbüttel''. She served until 1964 when she was scrapped in

Bremerhaven 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 Riv ...

Building

F Schichau GmbH built ''Masuren'' at its Danzig shipyard as yard number 1349. Her launch date unrecorded but she was completed in October 1935. Schichau made her engines at its works in Elbing. ''Masuren'' was powered by a four-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 he ...

plus 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 ...

. Together they were rated at 358

NHP Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

and gave her a speed of .

Service history

Her first owner was Kohlen-Import & Poseidon Schiffahrt AG and she was registered in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

. ''Masuren'' served for ten years until she was seized in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

at the end of the

Second World War 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 ...

in 1945. Her port of registry had been changed to

Nordenham Nordenham () is a town in the Wesermarsch district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located at the mouth (on the west bank) of the Weser river on the Butjadingen peninsula on the coast of the North Sea. The seaport city of Bremerhaven is located ...

in that year. Ownership passed to the

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 Transport ...

, who renamed her ''Empire Annan'', and contracted Crosby, Sons & Co to manage her. She was registered in London. In 1947 ''Empire Annan'' passed to the

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

who sold her in 1948 to Fanmaur Shipping & Trading Co, New York in 1948. They sold her in 1950 to Thomas N Epiphaniades,

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

who renamed her ''Thomas N Epiphaniades''. In 1952 ''Thomas N Epiphaniades'' was sold to Johann MK Blumenthal,

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

and renamed ''Helga Böge''. She served with them for seven years and was auctioned in 1959 to Koehn & Bohlmann Reederei KG, Hamburg. She was renamed ''Fuhlsbüttel'' in 1960, serving for a further four years until 1964 when she was scrapped in

Identification

''Masuren''s

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

was DADE when she was registered in Königsberg and DHQZ when she was registered in Nordenhamn. ''Empire Annan'' had the UK

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 ...

180633 and call sign GLTG. Official numbers were a forerunner to

IMO number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term covering two distinct meanings. The IMO ship identification number, is a type of hull number used as a unique ship identifier, and the IMO company and registered owner ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masuren 1935 ships Ships built in Danzig Steamships of Germany Merchant ships of Germany World War II merchant ships of Germany Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United States Steamships of Greece Merchant ships of Greece Ships built by Schichau