SS St Petersburg

SS St Petersburg was a North Sea passenger ferry that was built in Scotland in 1908 for the Great Eastern Railway (GER). In the 1923 railway grouping she passed to the new London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). She was sunk by enemy action in 1941.

The Admiralty requisitioned her in both world wars as a troop ship. In 1915 she was renamed Archangel.

Building
St Petersburg was the third of three sister ships that John Brown & Company of Clydebank, Dumbartonshire built for the GER. She was preceded by SS Copenhagen (1907), launched in 1907, and SS Munich, launched in 1908. Brown built St Petersburg as yard number 397. A Miss Green launched her on 25 April 1910. She was the daughter of Frederick Green, a GER director.

St Petersburg's registered length was 330.8 ft, her beam was 43.2 ft and her depth was 18.8 ft. Her tonnages were and. She had three steam turbines and three screws. Each turbine drove its respective screw by direct drive. She was equipped with submarine signalling and wireless telegraphy.

Career
The GER registered St Petersburg at Harwich. Her United Kingdom official number was 123940 and her code letters were HRFS. Her regular route was between Harwich and Hook of Holland.

By 1913 St Petersburg's wireless telegraph call sign was PQP. By 1914 it had been changed to GPK.

In 1915 the Admiralty requisitioned St Petersburg as a cross-Channel troop ship, and renamed her Archangel. After the First World War she was returned to the GER, which in 1923 was absorbed by the new LNER.

On 20 January 1925 she ran aground at the Hook of Holland. Three tugs brought her passengers ashore.

By 1930 Archangel's call sign was GRNV. By 1934 this had superseded her code letters.

Loss
In the Second World War Archangel was again requisitioned as a troop ship. On 16 May 1941 she embarked 182 and 196 batteries of 65th (The Manchester Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade at Kirkwall to take them to Aberdeen. The destroyer HMS Blankney escorted her.

Just before midnight that night, three German Heinkel He 111 bomber aircraft attacked the two ships in the North Sea at position 57.91667°N, -2.05°W. One aircraft, flying at an altitude of 50 ft, dropped two bombs, one of which hit Archangel in her engine room and boiler room, caused a boiler explosion, and severed communication between the fore and aft of the ship. The same aircraft returned at an altitude of 500 ft to strafe Archangel, as the other two He 111s engaged Blankney. Both ships returned fire, and Blankney circled Archangel at speed. The He 111 that attacked Archangel made three runs, and was then damaged and crashed into the sea. The other two aircraft then withdrew.

Blankney launched her boats to rescue survivors, and went alongside Archangel to complete the evacuation. Blankneys surgeon came aboard to assist Archangels medical officer. Blankney reached Aberdeen about 0800 hrs on 17 May. Casualties included 38 killed and 18 wounded in 182 battery; and three killed and 24 wounded in 196 battery; all suffering from burns. Archangel's Master, Captain AP Sutton, was badly wounded. Accounts differ as to the number of casualties in his crew.

Also on 17 May, either Blankney or a tug (accounts differ) took Archangel in tow. The troop ship beached at Blackdog, just north of Aberdeen, and broke into four pieces.