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RMS Laconia (1921)
Encyclopedia
The second RMS Laconia was a Cunard
ocean liner
built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson
as a successor to the Laconia
of 1911 to 1917. Like her predecessor, sunk during the First World War, this Laconia would also be destroyed by a German
U-boat
, whose commander Werner Hartenstein
then staged a dramatic rescue effort for its passengers and crew, which involved additional German U-boats sent for assistance. It became known as the Laconia incident
. The new ship was launched on 9 April 1921, and made her maiden voyage on 25 May 1922 from Southampton
to New York
.
s of 2,561 nhp, which drove twin screw propellors via double reduction gearing. The turbines were made by the Wallsend Slipway Co Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne
. In addition to her passenger accommodation, Laconia had 10920060 cubic feet (309,221.7 m³) of refrigerated cargo space.
, Newcastle upon Tyne. Launched on 9 April 1921, she was completed in January 1922. Her port of registry was Liverpool
. The code letters
KLWT and United Kingdom Official Number 145925 were allocated. As a Royal Mail Ship, Laconia was entitled to display the Royal Mail "crown" logo as a part of its crest.
In January 1923 Laconia began the first around-the-world cruise, which lasted 130 days and called at 22 ports.
In 1934, her code letters were changed to GJCD. On 24 September 1934 Laconia was involved in a collision off the US coast, while travelling from Boston to New York in dense fog. It rammed into the port side of , a US freighter. Both ships suffered serious damage but were able to proceed under their own steam. Laconia returned to New York for repairs, and resumed cruising in 1935.
and converted into an armed merchant cruiser. By January 1940 she had been fitted with eight six-inch guns and two three-inch high-angle guns. After trials off the Isle of Wight
, she embarked gold bullion and sailed for Portland
, Maine
and Halifax
, Nova Scotia
on 23 January. She spent the next few months escorting convoys to Bermuda
and to points in the mid-Atlantic, where they would join up with other convoys.
On 9 June, she ran aground in the Bedford Basin
at Halifax, suffering considerable damage, and repairs were not completed till the end of July. In October her passenger accommodation was dismantled and some areas filled with oil drums to provide extra buoyancy so that she would stay afloat longer if torpedoed.
During the period June–August 1941 Laconia returned to St John
, New Brunswick
and was refitted, then returned to Liverpool to be used as a troop transport for the rest of the war. On 12 September 1941, she arrived at Bidston Dock
, Birkenhead
and was taken over by Cammell Laird and Company to be converted. By early 1942 the work was complete, and for the next six months she made trooping voyages to the Middle East. On one such voyage the ship was used to carry prisoners of war
, mainly Italian. She travelled to Cape Town
and then set a course for Freetown
, following a zigzag course and undertaking evasive steering during the night.
On 12 September 1942, at 8:10pm, 130 miles north-northeast of Ascension Island
, Laconia was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo fired by U-boat
U-156. There was an explosion in the hold and many of the Italian prisoners aboard were killed instantly. The vessel immediately took a list to starboard and settled heavily by the stern. Captain Sharp, who had also commanded another famous Cunard liner, Lancastria
when she was sunk by enemy action, was gaining control over the situation when a second torpedo hit Number Two hold. At the time of the attack, the Laconia was carrying 268 British soldiers, 160 Polish soldiers (who were on guard), 80 civilians, and 1,800 Italian prisoners of war.
Captain Sharp ordered the ship abandoned and the women, children and injured taken into the lifeboats first. By this time, the ship's stern deck was awash. Some of the 32 lifeboats had been destroyed by the explosions and some surviving Italian prisoners tried to rush the lowering of the ones that remained. The efforts of the Polish guards were instrumental in controlling the chaotic situation on board and saved many lives.
At 9:11pm Laconia sank, stern first, her bow rising to be vertical, with Sharp himself and many of the Italian prisoners still on board. The prospects for those who escaped the ship were only slightly better; sharks were common in the area and the lifeboats were adrift in the mid-Atlantic with little hope of rescue.
However, before Laconia went down, U-156 surfaced. The U-boat's efforts to rescue survivors of its own attack began what came to be known as the Laconia incident
.
When Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartenstein
, commanding officer of U-156, realized civilians and prisoners of war were on board, he surfaced to rescue survivors, and asked BdU
(the U-Boat Command in Germany) for help. Several U-Boats were dispatched; all flew Red Cross flags, and signalled by radio that a rescue operation was underway.
The next morning, a U.S. B-24 Liberator
plane sighted the rescue efforts. Hartenstein signaled the pilot for assistance, who then notified the American base on Ascension Island
of the situation. The senior officer on duty there, Robert C. Richardson III
, unaware that it was a Red Cross-sanctioned rescue operation, ordered that the U-boats be attacked. Despite the Red Cross flags, the survivors crowded on the submarines' decks and the towed lifeboats, the B-24 then started making attack runs on U-156. The Germans ordered their submarines to dive, abandoning many survivors. After the incident, Admiral Karl Dönitz
issued the Laconia Order
, henceforth ordering his commanders not to rescue survivors after attacks. Vichy French ships rescued 1,083 persons from the lifeboats and took aboard those picked up by the four submarines, and in all around 1,500 survived the sinking. Other sources state that only 1,104 survived and an estimated 1,649 persons died.
Amongst the French ships involved in the rescue were , and .
broadcast The Sinking of the Laconia
, a two-part dramatisation of the sinking of the Laconia
.
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson
Swan Hunter
Swan Hunter, formerly known as "Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson", was one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the world. Based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century — most famously, the RMS Mauretania which...
as a successor to the Laconia
RMS Laconia (1911)
RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, launched on 27 July 1911, delivered to the Cunard Line on 12 December 1911, and began service on 20 January 1912...
of 1911 to 1917. Like her predecessor, sunk during the First World War, this Laconia would also be destroyed by a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
, whose commander Werner Hartenstein
Werner Hartenstein
Gustav Julius Werner Hartenstein was a Korvettenkapitän with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and commander of . He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military...
then staged a dramatic rescue effort for its passengers and crew, which involved additional German U-boats sent for assistance. It became known as the Laconia incident
Laconia incident
The Laconia incident was an abortive naval rescue attempt in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. On 12 September 1942, , carrying some 80 civilians, 268 British Army soldiers, about 1,800 Italian prisoners of war, and 160 Polish soldiers , was struck and sunk by a torpedo from Kriegsmarine...
. The new ship was launched on 9 April 1921, and made her maiden voyage on 25 May 1922 from Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Description
Laconia was 601 in 3 in (183.26 m) long, with a beam of 73 in 7 in (22.43 m). She had a depth of 40 in 6 in (12.34 m) and a draught of 32 in 8 in (9.96 m). She was powered by six steam turbineSteam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s of 2,561 nhp, which drove twin screw propellors via double reduction gearing. The turbines were made by the Wallsend Slipway Co Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. In addition to her passenger accommodation, Laconia had 10920060 cubic feet (309,221.7 m³) of refrigerated cargo space.
Early career
Laconia was built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson LtdSwan Hunter
Swan Hunter, formerly known as "Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson", was one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the world. Based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century — most famously, the RMS Mauretania which...
, Newcastle upon Tyne. Launched on 9 April 1921, she was completed in January 1922. Her port of registry was Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. The code letters
Code letters
Code letters were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of radio, code letters were also used as radio callsigns.-History:...
KLWT and United Kingdom Official Number 145925 were allocated. As a Royal Mail Ship, Laconia was entitled to display the Royal Mail "crown" logo as a part of its crest.
In January 1923 Laconia began the first around-the-world cruise, which lasted 130 days and called at 22 ports.
In 1934, her code letters were changed to GJCD. On 24 September 1934 Laconia was involved in a collision off the US coast, while travelling from Boston to New York in dense fog. It rammed into the port side of , a US freighter. Both ships suffered serious damage but were able to proceed under their own steam. Laconia returned to New York for repairs, and resumed cruising in 1935.
Drafted into war service
On 4 September 1939, Laconia was requisitioned by the AdmiraltyAdmiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
and converted into an armed merchant cruiser. By January 1940 she had been fitted with eight six-inch guns and two three-inch high-angle guns. After trials off the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, she embarked gold bullion and sailed for Portland
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
on 23 January. She spent the next few months escorting convoys to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
and to points in the mid-Atlantic, where they would join up with other convoys.
On 9 June, she ran aground in the Bedford Basin
Bedford Basin
Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour on Canada's Atlantic coast.-Geography:Geographically, the basin is situated entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality and is oriented northwest-southeast, measuring approximately 8 kilometres long and 5...
at Halifax, suffering considerable damage, and repairs were not completed till the end of July. In October her passenger accommodation was dismantled and some areas filled with oil drums to provide extra buoyancy so that she would stay afloat longer if torpedoed.
During the period June–August 1941 Laconia returned to St John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
and was refitted, then returned to Liverpool to be used as a troop transport for the rest of the war. On 12 September 1941, she arrived at Bidston Dock
Bidston Dock
Bidston Dock, was a dock at Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, England. It was situated to the west of the Great Float, between Bidston and Poulton.-History:...
, Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
and was taken over by Cammell Laird and Company to be converted. By early 1942 the work was complete, and for the next six months she made trooping voyages to the Middle East. On one such voyage the ship was used to carry prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, mainly Italian. She travelled to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and then set a course for Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
, following a zigzag course and undertaking evasive steering during the night.
Final moments
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
, Laconia was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo fired by U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
U-156. There was an explosion in the hold and many of the Italian prisoners aboard were killed instantly. The vessel immediately took a list to starboard and settled heavily by the stern. Captain Sharp, who had also commanded another famous Cunard liner, Lancastria
RMS Lancastria
The RMS Lancastria was a British Cunard liner sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with the loss of an estimated 4,000 plus lives. It is the worst single loss of life in British maritime history and the bloodiest single engagement for UK forces , in the whole conflict and claimed more lives...
when she was sunk by enemy action, was gaining control over the situation when a second torpedo hit Number Two hold. At the time of the attack, the Laconia was carrying 268 British soldiers, 160 Polish soldiers (who were on guard), 80 civilians, and 1,800 Italian prisoners of war.
Captain Sharp ordered the ship abandoned and the women, children and injured taken into the lifeboats first. By this time, the ship's stern deck was awash. Some of the 32 lifeboats had been destroyed by the explosions and some surviving Italian prisoners tried to rush the lowering of the ones that remained. The efforts of the Polish guards were instrumental in controlling the chaotic situation on board and saved many lives.
At 9:11pm Laconia sank, stern first, her bow rising to be vertical, with Sharp himself and many of the Italian prisoners still on board. The prospects for those who escaped the ship were only slightly better; sharks were common in the area and the lifeboats were adrift in the mid-Atlantic with little hope of rescue.
Laconia incident
The Laconia incident was an abortive naval rescue attempt in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. On 12 September 1942, , carrying some 80 civilians, 268 British Army soldiers, about 1,800 Italian prisoners of war, and 160 Polish soldiers , was struck and sunk by a torpedo from Kriegsmarine...
.
When Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartenstein
Werner Hartenstein
Gustav Julius Werner Hartenstein was a Korvettenkapitän with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and commander of . He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military...
, commanding officer of U-156, realized civilians and prisoners of war were on board, he surfaced to rescue survivors, and asked BdU
BDU
The abbreviation BDU may refer to:*Battle Dress Uniform, United States' combat uniforms.*Befehlshaber der U-Boote , commander-in-chief of Germany's submarine fleets in WW-II.*FAA location identifier for Boulder Municipal Airport...
(the U-Boat Command in Germany) for help. Several U-Boats were dispatched; all flew Red Cross flags, and signalled by radio that a rescue operation was underway.
The next morning, a U.S. B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
plane sighted the rescue efforts. Hartenstein signaled the pilot for assistance, who then notified the American base on Ascension Island
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
of the situation. The senior officer on duty there, Robert C. Richardson III
Robert C. Richardson III
Robert Charlwood Richardson III was an officer, first of the United States Army Air Corps, then with the United States Air Force, eventually attaining the rank of Brigadier General. A leader in the early days of the U.S. Air Force, he was a renowned expert in tactical nuclear warfare, NATO, and...
, unaware that it was a Red Cross-sanctioned rescue operation, ordered that the U-boats be attacked. Despite the Red Cross flags, the survivors crowded on the submarines' decks and the towed lifeboats, the B-24 then started making attack runs on U-156. The Germans ordered their submarines to dive, abandoning many survivors. After the incident, Admiral Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
issued the Laconia Order
Laconia Order
The Laconia Order was issued by German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz during World War II as a result of the Laconia incident....
, henceforth ordering his commanders not to rescue survivors after attacks. Vichy French ships rescued 1,083 persons from the lifeboats and took aboard those picked up by the four submarines, and in all around 1,500 survived the sinking. Other sources state that only 1,104 survived and an estimated 1,649 persons died.
Amongst the French ships involved in the rescue were , and .
Media
On 6 and 7 January 2011, BBC2 in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
broadcast The Sinking of the Laconia
The Sinking of the Laconia
The Sinking of the Laconia is a two-part TV film, first aired on 6 and 7 January 2011 on BBC Two, about the Laconia incident; the sinking of the former British ocean liner RMS Laconia during World War II by a German U-boat, which then, together with three other U-boats and an Italian submarine,...
, a two-part dramatisation of the sinking of the Laconia
Laconia incident
The Laconia incident was an abortive naval rescue attempt in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. On 12 September 1942, , carrying some 80 civilians, 268 British Army soldiers, about 1,800 Italian prisoners of war, and 160 Polish soldiers , was struck and sunk by a torpedo from Kriegsmarine...
.
See also
- List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines
- Maritime disasters
- The Sinking of the LaconiaThe Sinking of the LaconiaThe Sinking of the Laconia is a two-part TV film, first aired on 6 and 7 January 2011 on BBC Two, about the Laconia incident; the sinking of the former British ocean liner RMS Laconia during World War II by a German U-boat, which then, together with three other U-boats and an Italian submarine,...
- List of ship launches in 1921
- List of shipwrecks in 1942