liner MEKNES

Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, 1914 - 1940

Design features

Meknes (steel liner) 1914 - 1940
hull material : ...................steel
previous name(s) of ship : ........puerto-rico
detailed type : ...................steel liner
type of propulsion : ..............2 propellers
building year of ship : ...........1913
name of shipyard : ................Chantiers de Normandie
place of construction : ...........Grand Quevilly
year of entering the fleet : ......1914
length (in meters) : ..............131,50
width (in meters) : ...............15,54
gross tonnage (in tons) : .........6127
deadweight (in tons) : ............3456
type of engine : ..................inverted, triple expansion 3 cylinders
engine power (in HP) : ............5000
nominal speed (in Knots) : ........14,5

History

Brought into service in March 1914 on the line Le Havre-Haïti under the name of Puerto Rico. White hull. Sistership : HAITI / MARRAKECH. In 1929, receives new boilers in Hamburg, by way of war compensations, following what she is renamed MEKNES and placed, in October, on the Bordeaux-Casablanca line. Black hull. In 1936, during the summer, she inaugurates a new line connecting Le Havre to the Baltic. In 1940, is transformed into transport of troops. July 24, 1940, whereas she repatriated to France the refugees gathered together in Southampton, she is torpedoed by the German coastal motor boat S-27. Her shipwreck makes 422 victims. The survivors are rescued by English destroyers DRAKE, WOLVERINE, SABRE and SHIKARI. To explain torpedoing, the German government will assert that the departure of the steamer had not been officially notified by the British authorities.