''Possehl'' was a

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 ...

that was built in 1921 by

Howaldtswerke Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (often abbreviated HDW) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is part of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) group, owned by ThyssenKrupp. The Howaldtswerke shipyard was founded in Kiel in 183 ...

, Kiel, Germany for a German shipping line. She was seized by the British in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed ''Empire Exe''. In 1947, she was transferred to the Greek Government and renamed ''Hermoupolis''. She was sold into merchant service in 1948 and used as a depôt ship. Following a sale in 1966, she was renamed ''Pilion''. In 1967, she was sold to a Cypriot company and renamed ''Nigma''. Laid up in November 1967 following boiler damage, she was scrapped in 1969.

Description

The ship was built in 1921 by

, Kiel. The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of . She was assessed at , . The ship was propelled by a 155

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 ...

triple expansion steam engine, which had cylinders of 20 inches (51 cm), 32 inches (82 cm) and 51 inches (130 cm) diameter by 35 inches (90 cm) stroke. The engine was built by Howaldtswerke and drove a single screw

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

History

''Possehl'' was built for Possehl's Eisen-und Kohlenhandel GmbH, Lübeck. 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 ...

PBVC were allocated and her port of registry was Lübeck. In 1934 the Code Letters DRAQ were allocated. In 1935 Possehl's shipping fleet including the ''Possehl'' was transferred to Lübeck Line, Lübeck. In May 1945, ''Possehl'' was seized by the British at Lübeck. Declared a prize of war, she was passed to the MoWT and renamed ''Empire Exe''. The 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 ...

180637 and Code Letters GLTV were allocated. Her port of registry was London. (Enter GLTV or Empire Exe in relevant search box) In 1947, ''Empire Exe'' was transferred to the Greek Government and renamed ''Hermoupolis''. She was sold to T J Lavrangas & Co in 1948 and used as a depôt ship. In 1966, ''Hermoupolis'' was sold to P Perdikis and renamed ''Pilion''. She was sold to Tina Shipping Co, Cyprus in 1967 and renamed ''Nigma''. In November 1967, she was laid up at

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

South Yemen South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...

with boiler damage. ''Nigma'' arrived under tow at Karachi, Pakistan in November 1969 for scrapping.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Possehl, SS 1921 ships Ships built in Kiel 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 Steamships of Greece Merchant ships of Greece Steamships of Cyprus Merchant ships of Cyprus