SS Westfalen 1944
Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | SS Westfalen | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1944 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | steamboat, steamship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Wikidata P828 has cause (on P793 event): naval mine |
| Nationality / flag | Nazi Germany | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Imperial German Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War II | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Kattegat | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Sweden | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 16 km from land |
| Position | 57.7797, 11.4561 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
SS Westfalen was a German ship launched on 14 November 1905 at Joh. C. Tecklenborg in Geestemünde (today Bremerhaven).
In the early 1930s Westfalen was converted into a seaplane tender to serve as a weather reporting and refueling station for Dornier Wal flying boats of Deutsche Luft Hansa carrying mail across the Atlantic between Europe and South America. The conversion of the Westfalen consisted of a large retractable stern mounted canvas drag apron for the flying boat to taxi on (i.e. for use in heavy seas and so the ship did not have to come to dead stop), cranes to lift the flying boats out of the water to be refueled and serviced, and a large compressed air catapult for launching the aircraft. When in operation, Westfalen cruised 900 miles in the middle of the South Atlantic between Bathhurst, Gambia (now Banjul) and Pernambuco, Brazil. The first test trans-Atlantic flights by Lufthansa Wals began in 1933 and the first commercial mail flights in 1934.
Location
- Recorded position: 57.7797, 11.4561 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Kattegat
- Nearest coast: Sweden
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SS Westfalen (1905) (revision 1339820356), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off Sweden · Kattegat · Second World War