MS Chrobry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Poland | |
| Name | Chrobry |
| Namesake | Bolesław I Chrobry |
| Owner | Gdynia-America Line – GAL |
| Port of registry |  Gdynia |
| Builder | Nakskov SV |
| Yard number | 89 |
| Launched | 24 February 1939 |
| Completed | July 1939 |
| Commissioned | 1939 |
| Out of service | 14 May 1940 |
| Fate | Scuttled in 1940 by British torpedo from HMS Ark Royal after being damaged by German aircraft a day before |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 154.2 m (505 ft 11 in) |
| Beam | 20.3 m (66 ft 7 in) |
| Draft | 8.3 m (27 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power | 11250 hp |
| Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Capacity | 1167 passengers total |
MS Chrobry was a transatlantic passenger liner, and was the last pre-war new build for the Polish Merchant Navy. She was built for the Gdynia-Ameryka Linie Żeglugowe S.A. (Gdynia-America Line – GAL).
The ship was intended for the Poland–South America route to replace the aging SS Kościuszko and the SS Pułaski. Built in Denmark, it was the second (and larger) of a pair of ships, the other being the MS Sobieski. The MS Chrobry was named in honour of the first Polish king Bolesław I Chrobry. The name of the King means "Braveheart".
Maiden Voyage & Exile
On its maiden voyage from Gdynia to Buenos Aires, it carried 1,167 passengers. The ship sailed on the 29 July 1939 and arrived uneventfully in Buenos Aires on the 19 August 1939. Among the Polish personalities on board were Senator Jan Rembielinski, the ambassador Władysław Mazurkiewicz, author Bohdan Pawłowicz, and the young writers Witold Gombrowicz and Czesław Straszewicz, who had been invited along to promote the ship.[1][2]
The ship left Buenos Aires on the 24th of August on the return leg of its maiden passenger voyage and was near Pernambuco in Brazil, when World War II broke out. Initially the ship stayed at the Brazilian port for 40 days with the passengers having disembarked in Brazil rather than return to Poland. Then the essentially stateless ship sailed with her crew of 264. There were 20 women and 14 boy apprentices from a Polish sea school, aged between 16 and 18, among the party.[3] After wandering the Atlantic for three weeks the ship diverted to Southampton in the UK.[4]
As a transatlantic liner she made only one transatlantic voyage, never returning to her home port of Gdynia.
