SS Lichtenfels

SS Lichtenfels was an early example of a modern heavy-lift ship. She was launched in 1929 in Germany for DDG Hansa. She was equipped with a 120 t boom crane capable of lifting fully assembled railway locomotives, which were shipped to India.

In 1941 Lichtenfels was scuttled in the Red Sea as a blockship. In 1950 her wreck was raised and scrapped.

Building
After the First World War a Norwegian company, Skibs A/S Christen Smiths Rederi, developed heavy-lift ships to carry locomotives from Great Britain to Belgium. The company began by having existing ships adapted, but in 1924 Armstrong Whitworth completed the first purpose-built heavy-lift ship for Christen Smith. By the end of 1926 Christen Smith had a fleet of several heavy-lift ships.

With Lichtenfels DDG Hansa began to compete in the heavy-lift market to take fully-assembled locomotives to India. Deschimag built Lichtenfels at its "Weser" yard in Bremen.

Lichtenfels was built with a Maierform bow with a convex profile, which was meant to improve both her speed and her handling. She had a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine plus a Bauer-Wach low-pressure exhaust steam turbine. Exhaust steam from the low-pressure cylinder of the triple-expansion engine powered the turbine. The turbine drove the same shaft as the piston engine by double-reduction gearing and a Föttinger fluid coupling. The combined power of her piston engine and turbine was 785 NHP.

As demand for locomotives from India continued, DDG Hansa ordered three sister ships from Deschimag: Freienfels launched in 1929, Geierfels launched in 1930 and SS Uhenfels launched in 1931.

Identification
Lichtenfels' code letters were QMKB until 1933. In 1934 they were superseded by the call sign DOFY.

Scuttling
On 25 October 1939, while off the Port Sudan Lichtenfels was ordered to Massawa in Italian Eritrea. During the East African campaign she stayed here for 18 months with nine other German merchant ships: Bertram Rickmers, Coburg, Crefeld, Frauenfels, Gera, Liebenfels, Oder, Oliva and Wartenfels.

On 4 April 1941 Lichtenfels and other German and Italian merchant ships were scuttled in an attempt to blockade the harbour. Her wreck was raised and scrapped in 1950.