ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The Ubena was a combined ship of the German East Africa Line (DOAL). It was named after the land of Bena, an ethnic group in Tanzania, and was commissioned on 31 July 1928. Its sister ship Watussi was put into service on 30 May 1928 by the Woermann line, which had been merged with DOAL since 1922, but still has legal autonomy.

History

Construction and technical data
Since the African traffic of the participating German shipping companies developed very well after concluding a conference contract with British and Dutch shipping companies in 1924, the DOAL and the Woermann line ordered two new buildings at Blohm & Voss in 1927. With around 9500 GRT and space for 325 passengers, they should be considerably larger than the ships used in Africa traffic to date. The Watussi was the first new building to be launched on February 2, 1928. On March 31, 1928, she was followed by her sister ship Ubena, building number 482, which was delivered to DOAL on July 31, 1928. The ship was 144.1 m long (Lüa) and 18.3 m wide, had 9.1 m draught and was measured with 9554 GRT. Its steam turbines provided 4200 hp and enabled a service speed of 13.5 knots (kn). There were 124 places in Class I, 78 in Class II and 132 in Class III. Class.

Africa service
The two new ships sailed on a new main line set up for them in 21 days from Hamburg via Rotterdam and Southampton to Las Palmas and from there via Whale Bay and Lüderitz Bay to Cape Town, then via Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban to Lourenco Marques. On the return trip, the trip from Cape Town led directly to Europe without a further stopover. In the following years, however, the routes were changed several times.

In 1934, the two sister ships were converted. They were extended by 7 m, which increased their service speed by one node; During a test drive conducted in July 1934, the Ubena reached a speed of 15.8 kn. At the same time, the previous II. and III. Classes combined into a tourist class.

In 1939, the Ubena and the Watussi were also used on the so-called “Hansafahrten”, which had been designed for the new passenger ships Windhoek and Pretoria. Since the departure required several loading days in Hamburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp, an eight-day advance trip to the two Benelux ports was introduced, which included as “Hansa trips” also an offer for German tourists: excursions to Delft, The Hague, Scheveningen and Amsterdam respectively. Mechelen, Lions, Tervuren, Brussels and Ghent, as well as visits to the battlefields of Ypres and a three-day trip to Paris. After returning to Hamburg, he left for South Africa.

Second World War
Only a few days before the start of the Second World War, Ubena succeeded on the 30th. August 1939 the return to Hamburg. She was soon replaced by the Kriegsmarine