SS ''Rio de Janeiro'' was a German cargo

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

, owned by the

Hamburg Süd Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft A/S & Co KG, widely known as Hamburg Süd, is a German container shipping company. Founded in 1871, Hamburg Süd is among the market leaders in the North–South trade. It also serves a ...

amerikanische shipping company and registered in Hamburg. She was built as ''Santa Ines'' in 1914, and renamed ''Rio de Janeiro'' in 1921. Until World War II she carried passengers and freight between Germany and South America. On 7 March 1940 Nazi Germany's ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of 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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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 branches, along with the a ...

'' requisitioned her to carry troops and equipment, before Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway and Denmark, began on 9 April 1940.Historisches MarineArchiv (Rio de Janeiro)

Building and identification

Bremer Vulkan Bremer Vulkan AG was a prominent German shipbuilding company located at the Weser river in Bremen-Vegesack. It was founded in 1893 and closed in 1997 because of financial problems and mismanagement. All together Bremer Vulkan built about 1100 s ...

built ''Santa Ines'',

launching Ceremonial ship launching involves the performance of ceremonies associated with the process of transferring a vessel to the water. It is a nautical tradition in many cultures, dating back thousands of years, to accompany the physical pro ...

her on 3 April 1914 and completing her later that year. Her registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . She had three decks, and her tonnages were and . She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder

triple-expansion 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 h ...

that was rated at 380

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 ...

. Hamburg Süd registered the ship in Hamburg. Her

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 ...

were RBVH until 1933–34, when they were superseded by the call sign DHUC.

Invasion of Norway

The secret plan for the ship was to arrive at Bergen immediately after German troops had captured the city. Aboard ''Rio de Janeiro'' there was a total of 50 crew and 330 soldiers. Her cargo consisted of six

2 cm FlaK 30 The Flak 30 (''Flugzeugabwehrkanone 30'') and improved Flak 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout World War II. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun but by far the most numerously prod ...

and four

10.5 cm FlaK 38 The 10.5 cm FlaK 38 was a German anti-aircraft gun used during World War II by the Luftwaffe. An improved version was introduced as the 10.5 cm FlaK 39.Bishop, Chris. The encyclopedia of weapons of world War II. Sterling Publishing Comp ...

anti-aircraft guns, 73 horses, 71 vehicles and 292 tons of provisions, animal feed, fuel and ammunition.

Sinking

The ship left

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

on 6 April 1940 at 3 AM. Two days later, at 11.15, less than a day before the attack on Norway began, a surfaced

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

was sighted off Lillesand. At first it was thought to be a German submarine, but it turned out to be the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

submarine , operating with the British Royal Navy. It had ''85 A'' painted on the tower. The submarine signalled for ''Rio de Janeiro'' to stop, which she did. The Polish submarine commander, Lieutenant Jan Grudziński, then ordered the ship to surrender or it would be sunk, but ''Rio de Janeiro'' did not reply. The Polish submarine then torpedoed the ship, which took in water and began sinking. The crew and soldiers on board began to jump into the sea. Grudziński informed the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

about the sinking of this northbound transport ship with German troops. At 12.00, an aircraft from the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service started circling around the sinking ship. At 12.50 the submarine torpedoed the ship a second time, from a submerged position. The torpedo hit the ammunition store, causing an explosion. About 180 men survived the sinking, and were rescued from the sea and taken by local vessels to Lillesand and Kristiansand. About 200 died.Tyskernes angrep på Norge startet 8. april (The German attack on Norway started on April 8 1940)
Levende historie (article)

Norwegian authorities notified

Survivors told Norwegian officials that the ship's destination had been Bergen. The fact that there were horses aboard and that many of the dead and survivors were wearing military uniforms, led to alerting of the central authorities. However, the government did not realize that a German invasion was imminent.

The wreck

The exact location of the wreck of ''Rio de Janeiro'' was unknown for many years. Fishermen over the years caught parts from the wreck in their fishing nets in this area, and the Royal Norwegian Navy tried to find the wreck. In June 2015, more than 75 years after the torpedoing, the wreck was finally located by a Norwegian diving company at about depth off Lillesand. The wreck is considered a war memorial and thus protected by Norwegian law.Tysk krigsskip funnet etter seks års leting

Fædrelandsvennen ''Fædrelandsvennen'' is a regional newspaper based in Kristiansand, Norway. It covers the southernmost part of the country, ( Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder), focusing especially on the area between Mandal and Lillesand (west and east of Kristians ...

Retrieved 23 June 2015.

References

Literature

* Kristen Taraldsen: ''Ti i krig'',

(1998) * Kristen Tallaksen:
Da krigen kom til Lillesand. Den dramatiske Torpederingen av Rio de Janeiro 8. April 1940
', Fædrelandsvennen (1984) * Carl Herbert: ''Kriegsfahrten deutscher Handelsschiffe''. Broschek & Co, Hamburg 1934 . * Arnold Kludas: ''Die Schiffe der Hamburg-Süd 1871 bis 1951''. Gerhard Stalling Verlag, Oldenburg 1976,

External links

Den ukjente historien om Rio de Janeiro
Stiftelsen Arkivet (''The unknown history of the Rio de Janeiro'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Rio de Janeiro (1914) Ships built in Bremen (state) World War II merchant ships of Germany World War II auxiliary ships of Germany Troop ships of Germany Ships sunk by Polish submarines World War II shipwrecks in the North Sea Maritime incidents in April 1940 1914 ships Lillesand Cargo liners