Westfalen

[shipstamps]

I think the classification given by Lloyd's to the vessel shown on the Gambia 2d. stamp of 1969, "Aeroplane Service Ship", must be unique. Certainly, the service which the stamp commemorates was unique, for it was the first seaplane or flying-boat station in the South Atlantic. Perhaps just as strange is the fact that the vessel chosen for this task was not a new, specially-built ship for the job but a 30-year-old steamship, the Westfalen, which must have been nearing the end of her days. She was built for the Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1906, by J. C. Tecklenborg, A.G., Wesermunde, a ship of 5,367 gross tons and 3,200 net, her dimensions being 409 ft. 4 in. x 52 ft. 8 in. x 28 ft., with engines of 386 n.h.p., supplied by the ship's builders.
The Deutsche Lufthansa apparently bought the vessel late in 1934 for she appears in Lloyd's Register for 1935 under their ownership. The interesting stamp design shows the position of the Westfalen station in the South Atlantic, with a Dornier "Wal" seaplane being catapulted from the ship's deck. Two other stamps in the set show a Dornier "Wal" flying-boat (1s.) and the airship Graf Zeppelin (1/6d.), the set commemorating the 35th anniversary of this first attempt to speed up the ocean mail services. Gambia was the eastern tip of the transocean flight. SG259 SB 4/71

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a general cargo vessel under yard no 208 by J.C.Tecklenborg, Geestemünde for the Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), Bremen.
14 Nov. 1905 launched under the name WESTFALEN.
Tonnage 5.097 gross. Dim. 130.54 x 16.08m.
Triple expansion steam engine 2.750 hp., speed 12 knots, one screw.
Crew 50.
30 December 1905, delivered to owners.

She was built for the cargo service between North Europe and Australia.
Late July 1914 was underway from Newcastle N.S.W., Australia to Batavia with a full cargo of coal, when the captain got information that war had broken out between the U.K and Germany, still with the Australian pilot on board, he altered course and sailed around New Zealand to Valparaiso, where the coal was unloaded.
After unloading she stayed in Valparaiso.
But when United States put pressure on South American countries harboring German ships, the crew of the WESTFALEN damaged the vessel that she was not more useful.
On 23/24 July 1919 she was heavily damaged during a hurricane when her stern moorings broke, she turned and drove in the hulk PIZARRO, she in turn drove in the hulk MAIPU, and both hulks drove in the hulk CHILOE after which all three hulks sank. The WESTFALEN got heavy stern damage.
After the war and after small repairs she was towed to Germany where she arrived on 05 June 1920 at Bremerhaven.
She was repaired, and in 1921 she made one voyage.
03 January 1922 reopened NDL service to the Far East.
01 July 1932 sold to the Deutsche Lufthansa, managed by the NDL.
She was rebuilt in a catapult ship at Deschimag, Bremen. Got a airlifting crane, more powerful W/T and direction finding installations, two additional Diesel driven generators and the accommodation, store rooms extended, she got new workshops and aviation fuel tanks.
A Heinkel-K-6 catapult was installed on the foredeck , and a landing sail was installed at her stern.
To recover a flying boat the plain had to slip onto the landing sail at slow speed. The WESTFALEN then would increase speed and the flying boat was lifted from the water, after it was picked up by the crane and put on deck. The crane was on the stern and the plane had to airborne on the bow; this required a somewhat strange procedure. The plane was put on a turntable trolley, which ran on a railway along the deck. The plane could only put on the trolley with the tail ahead, then between mast and funnel, the plane was turned around before she was placed on the catapult.
After trials in May and October 1933, she sailed from Kiel for a station in the mid South Atlantic on the 04 May 1934. Her gross tonnage increased to 5.367 gross.
02 June 1934 the first plane was launched, the plane was under command of Flight Captain Baron von Studnitz, who was coming from Gambia.
Late 1934 she sailed to a station off the Brazilian coast where she served until February 1938.
Laid up till the German Luftwaffe requisitioned her in 1940.
First attached to Seefliegershorst Hornum/Sylt.
1941 She went to Trondheim as a catapult ship for long-range reconnaissance groups.
1942 Stationed in the Alta-Fjord, and in 1943 again in Trondheim.
During the war she was rebuilt in a flush deck vessel, with no masts and bridge, her funnel was replaced on the port side.
07 September 1944 after she lost her convoy contact, she ran in a Swedish minefield near Stora Pölsan (Skagerrak) on a voyage from Oslo to Germany, and hit two mines after she sank with the loss of 150 persons. At that time she carried some 200 German military personnel and 50 Norwegian prisoners, only 5 of the prisoners were rescued.

Source: Die Schiffe und Boote der Deutschen Seeflieger by Jung/Wenzel/Abendroth. Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen by Edwin Drechsel. Register of Merchant Ships Completed in 1906.

[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

Gambia 1984, 85 b. StG.560