SS Ashkhabad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- SS War Hostage (1917–1919)
- SS Milazzo (1919–1924)
- SS Aldersgate (1924–1925)
- SS Mistley Hall (1925–1934)
- SS Kutais (1934–1935)
- SS Dneprostroi (1935–1938)
- SS Ashkhabad (1938–1942)
- Shipping Controller, London (1917–1919)
- Società Italiana di Navigazione Transoceanica, Naples (1919–1922)
- Navigazione Generale Italiana, Naples (1922–1924)
- City Gate Line, London (1924–1926)
- Charles G Dunn Shipping Co Ltd, Liverpool (1926–1934)
- Sovtorgflot, Moscow (1934–1942)
- Anglo-Saxon Petroleum, London (1917–1919)
- Black Sea Shipping Company, Odessa (1934–1940)
- Far East State Sea Shipping Company, Vladivostok (1940–1942)
 Ashkhabad being shelled | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Builder | Harland & Wolff, Govan |
| Yard number | 525 |
| Launched | 16 October 1917 |
| Completed | December 1917 |
| Fate | Sunk on 30 April 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage |
|
| Length | 400.7 ft (122.1 m) |
| Beam | 52.3 ft (15.9 m) |
| Depth | 28.5 ft (8.7 m) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion | Triple expansion steam engine |
SS Ashkhabad was a merchant ship of the Soviet Union sunk in 1942. She had been built as a British merchant ship in 1917 in Glasgow, Scotland as War Hostage. Over the next three decades she passed through a number of owners and had several different names; Milazzo (1919–1924), Aldersgate (1924–1925), Mistley Hall (1925–1934), Kutais (1934–1935), Dneprostroi (1935–1938) and finally Ashkhabad from 1938 to 1942. Originally designed as a freighter, she was at several points converted to a tanker to carry fuel oil. At the time of her loss the four hundred foot tanker was owned by the Soviet Union's Sovtorgflot organisation.[1] She was torpedoed on 29 April 1942, and then sunk as a hazard to navigation on 3 May 1942. The wreck is now a popular dive site.
Ashkhabad was built by Harland & Wolff, Govan and launched on 16 October 1917 as War Hostage for the Shipping Controller, London. She was one of a large number of ships built to a standardised design, called Type 'A', to maintain shipping levels in the face of heavy losses in the First World War. She was altered while under construction to serve as a tanker, with the fitting of cylindrical tanks in her holds. The Shipping Controller assigned her management to Anglo-Saxon Petroleum, London, and she spent some time as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship. In 1919 she was sold to the Italian company Società Italiana di Navigazione Transoceanica, of Naples, who converted her to a dry cargo ship and renamed her Milazzo. She was transferred to the Navigazione Generale Italiana in 1922, and in 1924 was sold to the City Gate Line, who renamed her Aldersgate. She was renamed Mistley Hall in 1925, and in 1934 was sold to the Soviet company Sovtorgflot and renamed Kutais. Sovtorgflot assigned her management to the Black Sea Shipping Company, of Odessa, and she was renamed Dneprostroi in 1935 and then Ashkhabad in 1938. From 1940 she was managed by the Far-Eastern Shipping Company, Vladivostok.[2]
