HMT Ypiranga
From Our Contribution
 | |
 Stabilising water tanks | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | HMT Ypiranga |
| Owner | Hamburg-America Line (Hapag-Lloyd) |
| Builder | Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel, Germany |
| Yard number | 134 |
| Launched | 3 May 1908 |
| Completed | 14 Oct 1908 |
| In service | 14 Oct 1908 |
| Out of service | 1950 |
| Fate | ran aground (wrecked) 1950 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | passenger / cargo ship |
| Tonnage | 8,142 tons |
| Length | 448.4 ft (136.65m) |
| Beam | 55.3 ft (16.84m) |
| Depth | 29.8 ft (9.07m) |
| Propulsion | Twin Screw |
| Speed | 14 knots (25.93 km/h) |
| Capacity | 136 crew & 1,311 passengers |
Contents
Remarks
S.S. Ypiranga was a German-registered cargo-steamer owned and operated by Hamburg-America Line shipping company. After launch Ypiranga was found to be notoriously unsteady at sea. This was remedied by installing two water tanks near the fore and after masts on the upper deck, connected by a flying bridge. The flow of water between the tanks, controlled by regulating the movement of the air in the side branches, served to steady the ship in rough water, and it gained the reputation of being particularly steady after installation. On April 15th, 1912, Ypiranga was one of the many ships in contact with the RMS Titanic as Titanic was sinking. She spent the war years laid up in Germany.
Ypiranga served until 1919, when it was ceeded to the United Kingdom as a war reparation and placed under management of the White Star Line, before an ownership change wich saw it renamed Assyria, used on the London/Bombay run. She was the first ship to enter Sydney Harbour flying the flag of the League of Nations. Sold in 1929 to a Portuguese company, Companhia Colonial de Navegação which renamed her Colonial for ue on their Lisbon - East Africa routes.
In 1950 there were plans to scrap the ship, but during the trip to the scrapyard under tow she broke free of her tug and was wrecked near Campbeltown, Scotland.