''Palmyra'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Fangturm'' in 1944 by

Deutsche Werft Deutsche Werft (English: German Shipyard) was a shipbuilding company in Finkenwerder Rüschpark, Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 1918 by Albert Ballin and with Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH), ''Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft'' ( AEG) and ' ...

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

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for

Hansa Line DDG Hansa, short for Deutsche Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft Hansa (German Steamship Company Hansa; in modern orthography, Deutsche Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft Hansa) was a major German shipping company specialising in heavy freight and schedul ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Germany. She was seized as a prize of war in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed ''Empire Gallop''. She was sold in 1947 and renamed ''Baltonia'', the ''Baltic Oak'' in 1953. She was sold to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 1957 and renamed ''Palmyra''. She served until 1962, when she was sunk in a collision with another ship.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of , and a draught of . She was assessed as , , . The ship was propelled by a compound steam engine, which had two cylinders of 42 cm (16 inches) and two cylinders of 90 cm (35 inches) diameter by 90 cm (35 inches) stroke. The engine was built by Deutsche Werft. Rated at 1,200 IHP, it drove a single screw propeller and could propel the ship at .

History

''Fangturm'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship built in 1944 as

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

448 by

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

for

, Germany. She was launched on 23 October 1944 and completed on 29 December. Her port of registry was Bremen, and 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 and today also. Later, with the i ...

DOYT were allocated. In May 1945, ''Fangturm'' was seized as a prize of war at

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

. She was passed to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed ''Empire Gallop''. Her 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 ...

was 180674 and her

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 GJKM. She was registered in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and managed by PD Hendry & Sons. on 26 November 1946, ''Empire Gallop'' was sold to the United Baltic Corporation, London. She was renamed ''Baltonia'' in 1947. Her port of registry was London. She was renamed ''Baltic Oak'' in 1953. ''Baltic Oak'' was sold to Bock, Godeffroy & Co,

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

in 1957 and was renamed ''Palmyra''. Her port of registry was Hamburg and the Code Letters DIQF were allocated. She was operated under the management of the Deutsche Levant Linie. On 27 March 1962, she collided with the British merchant ship and sank west of Ouessant,

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

, France. ''Palmyra'' was on a voyage from Hamburg to

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey with a cargo of vehicles, steel and general cargo. ''British Mariner'' put in to the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

for inspection. She was deemed a

constructive total loss Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance is the sub-branch o ...

and was scrapped.

References

External links

Monochrome photograph of ''Palmyra''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmyra 1944 ships Ships built in Hamburg World War II merchant ships of Germany Steamships of Germany Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of West Germany Steamships of West Germany Maritime incidents in 1962