Alba-Julia

On 28 May 1943, the NMS Regele Ferdinand and the NMS Regina Maria and two R-boote picked up the Birgit in front of the straits at 1320 hours and arrived at Constanta in the morning of 30 May.

On 7 June, the same two destroyers and two R-boote rendezvous-ed with the German tanker Firuz near the Bosphorus and escorted it to Constanta together with two R-boote.

On 12 June, the R-class destroyers and 3 R-boote escorted the Celeno from Constanta to the straits. The BV-180 that was overseeing the convoy had one malfuntioning engine and one R-boot had to tow it to Varna. They arrived at the destination on 13 June and met up with the German tanker Wilhelmsburg, which had just exited the Bosphorus. From Cape Kaliakra, the escort was joined by UJ 116 and Siegfried (this ship is unknown to me).

On 24 June, at 0930 hours, the tanker Firuz left Constanta under the escort of the R-class destroyers and of 3 R-boote and arrived at the straits on 25 June at 0610 hours. One hour later the German tanker Gerda Troft came out of the Bosphorus and was taken to Burgas, at 2000 hours, when the destroyers left it behind with the R-boote and sailed for Constanta.

Between 5-6 July, the NMS Regele Ferdinand and the NMS Regina Maria and two R-boote escorted the Wilhelmsburg and the Gerda Troft (the latter was picked up from Varna) to the straits. On 8 July, the Wilhelmsburg was sunk by a Royal Navy sub in the Aegean.

In fact Wilhelmsburg [7 020 GRT] was sunk by British Rorqual on 08.VII.1943 at 09:30 in position 39°55' N / 25°50' E

Two more things:
(1) Where was exactly Alba-Iulia on 7.I.1944?! Constanca?!
(2) I have found some info regarding Brunhilde and her trips to Romania.
3.VIII.43 - ? trip Piraeus - Black Sea.

31.X.43 - 12.XI.43 trip Piraeus - Constanca
3.XII.43 - 8.I.44 trip Constanca - Piraeus

7.II.44 - ? trip Piraeus - Black Sea
? - 17.IV.44 trip ? - Piraeus

Can you confirm the data or add some details?! Thank you in advance!

Cheers,
crolick

This post has been edited by crolick on January 20, 2006 10:13 am

The first trip made by Alba-Iulia in 1944 was on 25 February to Sevastopol.

Thank you.
Any details on the trip of Bacchus / Brunhilde ?!

Right. I misssed that one. The last convoy on the Bosphorus route in 1943 was not the one of the Alba Iulia. On 11-12 November, the NMS Regele Ferdinand and the NMS Marasesti brought three German vessels to Constanta: the tanker Bacchus and the cargo-ships Johanna and Santa Fe.

The Bacchus was escorted back to the straits by the NMS Regele Ferdinand and one R-boot on 4-5 January 1944. On 16 January 1944, the same destroyer, one R-boot and one UJ escorted the German cargo-ship Peter from Burgas to the Bosphorus.

Going back to July 1943, on 21, the NMS Regina Maria and the NMS Regele Ferdinand rendezvous-ed with three R-boote and four KFKs (with Croat crews) in front of the Bosphorus. At 1000 hours the tanker Firuz and the cargo-ship Le Nantais exited the straits and the convoy was formed. At 10:10 hours, the Regina Maria spotted a periscope 1,500 m away. It fired the 37 mm guns in that direction and then went over and launched 11 depth charges, chasing the Sch-216 away from the convoy. The KFKs remained behind to search for it. At 2200 hours, 40 nautical miles South of Varna, Le Nantais and two R-boots headed towards the Bulgarian port and the rest of the ships continued the trip to Constanta, where they arrived on 22 July at 0830 hours.

On 28 July, the NMS Marasesti and two R-boote took Le Nantais from Varna to the straits, where they arrived in the afternoon of 29 and rendezvous-ed with the German tanker Thiesbe, which they escorted to Varna.

On 5 August, the R-class destroyers left Constanta with the Firuz. Near Varna, they met up with the Thiesbe escorted by the UJ-116 and two R-boote. The following day, in the vicinity of the Bosphorus, at 1327 hours, the Regele Ferdinand spotted three torpedoes fired by Sch-216heading to the convoy from its port side. The alarm was sounded and the destoyer turned right, while the Firuz turned left. The tanker was hit by one of them in the bow, while the other two missed the destroyer by 3 and 30 meters. The Firuz was still floating and moving with 4-5 knots. The Regele Ferdinand turned left and launched 15 depth charges in the area the torpedoes came from, while the Regina Maria hunted for an non-existant submarine on the starboard side of the convoy. Both the tanker and the cargo-ship passed into Turkish waters around 1400 hours. UJ-116 and the R-boote remained in the area to search for the submarine and the destroyers returned to base.

On 8 August 1943, the NMS Regele Ferdinand and the NMS Marasesti, with three R-boote from Varna escorted the Gerda Troft from the Bosphorus to Varna.

On 30 August 1943, the NMS Regele Ferdinand and the NMS Marasesti and three R-boote from Varna went to the straits to pick up the Thiesbe. They arrived at 1700 hours and until 1740, when the vessel exited the straits, the escort searched for submarines in the area launching one depth charge every ten minutes. At 1755, it was noticed that the Thiesbe was heading directrly north and it was signalled to come meet the destroyers in teh area where they waited for it. THe signal was repeated at 1758 and then again at 1800 hours, but the Thiesbe continued on the route it was on. So, the escort went after it and the convoy was formed at 1825 hours. At 1836 hours torpedoes were spotted on the port side of the Regina Maria and one minute later two of them hit the Thiesbe in the bow and the third one, which was aimed at the Marasesti, then hit the wreck. The ship went down in ubdera minute and 27 survivors were picked up. The BV-180 spotted the submarine, the Sch-215, commanded by M.V. Greshilov, and droppeda depth charge. The NMS Marasesti came round and dropped another nine. The Sch-215 had submerged to 40 meters after firing the last torpedo and remained there. At 1856, the destroyers headed for Constanta, where they arrived early on 31 August.

Hello Victor,

thnx for the information. Here are some some additional informations to your post:
(1) Arca [2 238 GRT] was sunk on 26.X.42 by British Taku [not Taki] in position 38°04' N / 25°27' E
(2) Szcz 215 attacked Thiesbe in position 41°22' N / 29°09'6'' E with 4 torpedos. According to Russian sources 25 D.C. were dropped
(3) Szcz 216 attacked Firuz in position 41°23' N / 29°11' E with 3 torpedos. According to Russian sources 37 D.C. were dropped.

Cheers,
Andrzej

Thanks, for the corrections.

I went through the first volume of Koslinski & Stanescu and eventually found the Torcello event (and several other convoys to the Bosphorus) in another chapter not related to the Bosphorus route. I will post more tommorow.

Here is the last part on the Bosphorus route.

On 18 October 1941, the German tanker Le Progres left Burgas for the Bosphorus. In the vicinity of Burgas, it was attacked by Sch-210, without effect, and it took refuge in Sozopol.

On 30 October, the German cargo-ship Cordelia, which had recently just entered the Black Sea, was escorted to Constanta from Cape Shabla by the torpedo-boats NMS Zmeul and NMS Sborul.

On 1 November, the Italian tanker Tampico left Burgas, heading for the straits.

On 5 November, the Torcello exited the Bosphorus and, not finding the escort, headed for Burgas. It was torpedoed by the Sch-214 (captain B. Vlasov) at 18 miles NW Burnu and sank after 40 minutes. The escort, made up of the NMS Regele Ferdinand, NMS Regina Maria and NMS Marasesti arrived at the rendezvous point 24 hours later and after waiting for 2 hours returned home. It seems there was a misunderstanding in the communications between the allied commands regarding the tanker's arrival. The destroyers were attacked by S-33 at 0757 hours (6 November) near the Bosphorus, without effect, and by another submarine at 1338 hours, near Cape Shabla.

Thank you Victor for this interesting piece of information!

I found an original negative, taken by a German soldier, of Alba-Julia.



Interestingly, there is a Soviet merchant vessel nearby, Berezina, with home port in Odessa. I am wondering when was this photo taken? In late 1940 perhaps?

Gen. Dénes

P.S. If anyone is interested in this original negative, it's available as trade for a similar negative of a Rumanian or Axis airplane.

This post has been edited by Dénes on December 26, 2009 05:38 pm

You can see "Berezina" has the "red" flag of the USSR and also hoists a small flag of Romania at the front mast, as she is guest. So, it still was peace-time. The germans started to come in Romania Oct.1940...
I will search to find what I remember : "Berezina" has been scuttled at Odessa to block the entrance in port.
http://www.teesships.freeuk.com/1berezina.htm

This post has been edited by Petre on December 27, 2009 07:19 am

Wow, I just learned that Berezina was transferred to Navrom in 1959, becoming Berezina-Constanta (later on renamed Eforie)!

Gen. Dénes

I found only this : In the firs half of 1942, the Sov.Rescue and Damage Service has lifted from the beaches...the steam ships Dimitrov and Berezina (stormy weather)... On 10 Sep.1943 the ships took part with the landing forces at Novorossiysk... Dimitrov again refloated after Aug.1944.

This post has been edited by Petre on December 27, 2009 10:43 am