MS Batory
MS Batory in the 1960s
| |
History | |
---|---|
Poland | |
Name | Batory |
Namesake | King Stefan Batory |
Owner |
|
Operator |
|
Port of registry | Gdynia |
Ordered | 29 November 1933 |
Builder | Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone |
Yard number | 1127 |
Laid down | 1 May 1934 |
Launched | 3 July 1935 |
Acquired | 23 April 1936 |
Maiden voyage | 18 May 1936 |
In service | 1936 |
Out of service | 1 July 1969 |
Identification |
|
Nickname(s) | Lucky Ship |
Fate | Became a hotel ship in Gdynia, 1969. Sold back to Polish Ocean Lines in 1970, scrapped between 1971 and 1972 in Hong Kong. |
General characteristics | |
Type | Ocean liner |
Tonnage | |
Length | 160.4 m (526.25 ft) |
Beam | 21.6 m (70.87 ft) |
Draught | 7.5 m (24.6 ft) |
Decks | 4 + 3 in superstructure |
Installed power | two Sulzer 2SSA 9-cylinder diesel engines, 12 680 hp (12 500 hp from April 1947) |
Propulsion | 2 propellers |
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
Capacity |
|
Crew |
|
MS Batory was a Polish
History
Construction
Gdynia America Line (Gdynia–Ameryka Linie Żeglugowe, GAL), a Polish-Danish partnership based in Gdynia, was formed in 1934 as successor to Polskie Transatlantyckie Towarzystwo Okrętowe (PTTO), an enterprise originally dedicated to transporting Polish migrants to the USA. It changed its focus to leisure travel and for that purpose decided to commission a new vessel. Batory was built in 1934–5 at the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico Monfalcone shipyard in Trieste, Italy,[1] under an arrangement where part of the commission was paid in shipments of coal from Poland.
She was among the best-known Polish ships of all time. She was launched on 3 July 1935. She was powered by two Sulzer diesel engines driving two screws giving a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h). She began regular service in May 1936 on the Gdynia — New York run, and by 1939 had carried over 3,000 passengers.
World War II
Mobilized at the outbreak of
She was involved in the allied invasion of Oran, Algeria in 1942 (Operation Torch). That same year she took troops to India and later took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily and southern France (Operation Dragoon), where she was the flagship of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army. She came under attack several times from the ground and the air, but managed to escape serious damage.
Dubbed the Lucky Ship for her military career during World War II, she was a sister ship to the less fortunate Piłsudski which sank in November 1939 off the east coast of Scotland.
Postwar career
Returned to post-war Poland in 1946, she resumed civilian service after a refit, transporting such eminent people as Ryszard Kapuściński. From May 1949 through to January 1951, she was the subject of several political incidents in which American dockers and shipyard workers in the United States refused to unload her cargo, or to service the ship.
After these incidents, she was withdrawn from the North Atlantic route, refurbished at
She was replaced by a larger vessel Stefan Batory, which operated from April 1969 until 1988.
Gallery
-
Batory in Gdynia, 1937
-
Batory arriving in New York City
-
Batory in 1962
-
Unloading in Gdynia wharf, 1960s
-
A scale model of Batory in Gdynia, 2007
-
One of the engines of the ship, taken out before scrapping
-
Batory postcard
-
Batory in 1965
-
Batory in 1965
Citations
- ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motor Ships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1945. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
- ^ Jones, Helen, "Doris Anne Beeston (1897–1940)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2023-11-13
- ^ Maclean, Meta (1941). The singing ship: an odyssey of evacuee children. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
References
- ts/s Stefan Batory. Gdynia: Polish Ocean Lines. 1971.
- Mitchell, WH; Sawyer, LA (1967). Cruising Ships. New York: Doubleday.
Further reading
- Swoger, Gordon (2004). The Strange Odyssey of Poland's National Treasures, 1939–1961: A Polish-Canadian Story. Toronto: Dundurn Press.
External links
- Peter Wieslaw Grajda: M/S BATORY, the Polish Ocean Liner - History & Photographs
- History of M/S Pilsudski and M/S Batory
- A photo of MS Batory at Suez Canal Zone 1953
- M/S Batory, the Polish Ocean Liner - History & Photographs