SS City of Bradford was a Britishpassenger and cargosteamship that was built in Yorkshire in 1903, renamed Donau in 1916, reverted to City of Bradford in 1919 and became Hanne in 1936.
City of Bradford' registered length was 256.5 ft (78.2 m), her beam was 34.5 ft (10.5 m) and her depth was 15.7 ft (4.8 m). As built, her tonnages were 1,341 GRT and 735 NRT. She was registered at Grimsby. Her UK official number was 118913 and her code letters were VFRM.[5]
GCR and LNER career
City of Leeds and City of Bradford ran scheduled services between Grimsby and Hamburg. In 1913 City of Bradford's tonnages were revised to 1,349 GRT and 739 NRT.[6]
When the First World War began at the end of July 1914, City of Leeds was caught unawares. The German Navy captured her off Heligoland[citation needed] and took her to Hamburg as a prize. She was converted into a naval repair ship, then a tender ship and finally an escort ship. By 1916 she had been renamed Donau. In 1919 she was returned to Grimsby and her name was reverted to City of Bradford.[4]
In 1923 City of Bradford's tonnages were revised again to 1,360 GRT and 677 NRT.[7] In the same year the Great Central became part of the new London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), and City of Bradford became part of its fleet.[8]
In 1936 the LNER sold City of Bradford to the Near East Shipping Co, which was managed from Haifa in Palestine.[11] Her new owner renamed the ship Hanne and registered her in London.[12]
Convoy AT 29 comprised only three merchant ships: the Palestinian Alisa, Danish Bintang, and Hanne. It had no naval escort. The three ships left Alexandria on 20 February 1942.[14] Two days later German aircraft attacked the convoy, sinking Hanne off the coast of Egypt and Bintang off the coast of Libya. Four members of Hanne's crew and 19 members of Bintang's crew were killed.[15][16]
