Cargo steamer BAYERN 1914

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beppe
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Posts: 18
Joined: 18 Jul 2006, 14:18
Location: ITALY

Cargo steamer BAYERN 1914

#1

Post by beppe » 23 May 2008, 10:55

Hi to all

I am researching the history of the German cargo steamer BAYERN which was laid up in Neapel on 2 August 1914 and confiscated by the Italian in June 1915.I know this ship was full of artillery and explosives of Austrian origin, but I do not know all the details of this rather obscure topic.Can you help me ? Thanks in advance.

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Tanzania
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Location: Benghazi / Libya

Re: Cargo steamer BAYERN 1914

#2

Post by Tanzania » 28 Nov 2017, 10:48

Hi beppe,

I have responded to this older thread because I think it fits better to this part of the forum, even if this is newer here:
Military & Collecting - German steamer SS "Bayern" viewtopic.php?f=10&t=168346


I see that you are interested since a few years in this interesting question.
SS BAYERN: http://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/in ... f204787e5d
I like and admire such tenacity. It is not much that I have found, and I think the most part already known to you.


The Australian newspaper “Sydney Morning Herald” mentioned on Tuesday 11 August 1914:
The Austrian steamship Bayern has been ordered to leave Naples owing to her cargo containing
dynamite and live projectiles. She was trying to reach the Adriatic under cover of darkness,
but it is suspected that her real mission was to replenish the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau.

01.jpg
Source: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15528940
Strangely, the ship is called Austrian and not German. Furthermore, the newspaper reports that the ship was ordered
to leave the port of Naples, although it was launched there after start of the war. Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary
on May 23, 1915. The declaration of war between Italy and Germany took place only one year later, on August 27, 1916.
If the BAVARIA was a German cargo ship, there was no legal reason for the Italians to seize the ship already in 1915.

02.jpg
Sources: https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... FKDw6okvRq

Bayern SS (1911~1916): https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?144658

SS Alessandria (+1917): https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?134624


To get straight to the point, I think the chance is very low to get a detailed charge list of BAVARIA. Surely you have
researched in this regard over the years in many sources. You wrote that the BAYERN left Hamburg on July 24, 1914.
Furthermore, it was mentioned by you, that under the cargo also some Skoda mountain guns were located. As is well
known, Skoda was an Austrian company that probably did not deliver weapons to Germany (Hamburg) before the war
because there was no need for it. The danger of an immediate attack on Tsingtao initially did not exist, since Japan
was not yet determined as a rival at this time. Furthermore, if the BAVARIA had been loaded in Hamburg with weapons
this would certainly have been officially noted. In the sources, however, I could not find this.

What I want out of that I suspect these weapons were first taken on board in a Mediterranean port. So, is it possible that
the BAVARIA has previously visited Trieste or another Austrian port? In 2011, I was able to inspect the secret files in the
German State Archives of the Foreign Office in Berlin about the 37 German and 22 Austrian ships seized during the war
in Italian ports. However, my main interest at that time was the 11 ships that were interned in Massawa / Italian Eritrea
on the Red Sea. There were a number of documents, culminating to loading lists of the ships. Unfortunately, I did not find
any documents for the BAYERN in my copies and photos of that time



Regarding your question about the 7,5-cm Guns and the aims China (and Japan) I found the following Information:

7.5cm FeldKanone (Field-Gun) Skoda M 11 'China'
http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/Ca ... ffiche=644
http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/Ca ... ffiche=813
03.jpg
Translation of the lowest German text passage:
Remarks:
The second shipment of 24 guns destined for China was confiscated at the outbreak of World War I and used by
the Austro-Hungarian army on the Russian front. The guns remained until 1938 in the Czechoslovak artillery reserve.

If at that time ships were seized by the Italian Government, then certainly also the On-board weapons. I suspect these
weapons were later handed over, and were used by the Italian Army



If you live in Italy, I would try the following institution. There you will certainly find more information, possibly even loading
lists. However, this Italian naval service carries out no searches for third parties, so you have to personally audition or hire
a specialist with the investigation. The Historical Affairs Department is open to view the full documentation for the public from
Monday to Friday.
"Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare" Via Taormina 4, I - 00100 Roma, Telefon/Fax:0039/06/3680-7220,
E-Mail: ufficio [email protected]
Telefon 0039/06/36807233 oder 0039/06/36807226(für das historische Archiv) 0039/06/36807234 (für das Bildarchiv).


I wish you luck for your further search. Let us know about your future results.

Cheers Holger
“Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. . . . All History was a
palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary” – G. ORWELL 1984


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