History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | Manistee |
Owner | Elders & Fyffes Ltd |
Operator |
|
Port of registry | ![]() |
Route | Bristol – Jamaica – Central America |
Builder | Cammell Laird, Birkenhead |
Yard number | 884 |
Launched | 28 October 1920 |
Completed | January 1921 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Sunk by torpedo, 24 February 1941 |
General characteristics | |
Type | banana boat |
Tonnage | 5,360 GRT, 3,288 NRT |
Length | 400.2 ft (122.0 m) |
Beam | 51.1 ft (15.6 m) |
Depth | 30.3 ft (9.2 m) |
Installed power | 447 NHP |
Propulsion | triple expansion steam engine |
Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h) |
Capacity |
|
Crew | 141 (in Royal Navy service) |
Sensors and processing systems |
|
Armament |
|
Notes | third of 16 sister ships |
SS Manistee was an Elders & Fyffes Ltd banana boat that was launched in 1920. She was one of a numerous class of similar banana boats built for Elders & Fyffes in the 1920s.
In 1940 the British Admiralty requisitioned Manistee and had her converted into an ocean boarding vessel. She was a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic until a U-boat sank her in 1941. None of her 141 crew survived.
She was the second of four Elders & Fyffes ships called Manistee. The first was built in 1904 and sunk by a U-boat in 1917. The third was built in 1932 as Eros, bought in 1946 and renamed Manistee, and scrapped in 1960. The fourth was built in 1972, transferred out of the Elders & Fyffes fleet in 1983, renamed Fleet Wave in 1984 and Mimoza in 1990.[1]
Cammell Laird launched Manistee in Birkenhead on 28 October 1920 and completed her in January 1921.[2] She was the third of 16 similar banana boats launched for Elders & Fyffes between 1919 and 1929. Ten were built by Cammell Laird,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] two by Workman, Clark in Belfast[12][13] and four by Alexander Stephen and Sons in Glasgow.[14][15][16][17]
Manistee's registered length was 400.2 ft (122.0 m), her beam was 51.1 ft (15.6 m) and her depth was 30.3 ft (9.2 m). Her tonnages were 5,360 GRT and 3,288 NRT.[18] Her holds had 190,000 cu ft (5,380 m3) of refrigerated cargo space.[19]
Manistee had a triple expansion engine that was rated at 447 NHP[18] and gave her a speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h).[20]
Manistee's navigation equipment included submarine signalling and wireless direction finding.[18] In 1934 an echo sounding device was added, and the call sign GDCX[21] superseded her code letters KLBH.[18]
Elders & Fyffes' main route was from Central America and Jamaica to Bristol.[22][23] It also served Avonmouth, Liverpool, Swansea, Barbados, Trinidad, Panama and Costa Rica. Elders & Fyffes ships carried mail, general cargo and first class passengers as well as bananas.[24]
For the first year of the Second World War Manistee remained in merchant service. Between October 1939 and August 1940 she made trips from Britain to Jamaica, Santa Marta in Colombia, Freetown in Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Sydney, Nova Scotia.[25]
On 7 July 1940 Manistee was in the Southwest Approaches southwest of Ireland, returning unescorted from Cameroon, when U-99 fired one torpedo at her. It missed, so U-99 surfaced and opened fire with her 88 mm deck gun. Manistee returned fire with her DEMS armament. Neither vessel scored any hits, and U-99 broke off the attack.[26]