5th August 1934
S.S. 'Hertha'
RPC depicting the salonschnelldampfer S.S. 'Hertha' (unaddressed). Featuring special on-board cancellation. Note that the image predates the Nazi regime resulting in one the flags being manipulated by the platemaker (whilst the aft flag remains that of Imperial Germany). Ref: 05.08.1934
Salonschnelldampfer S.S. Hertha
From Wikipedia.de
The Hertha, built on the Stettiner Oderwerke with construction number 547, was put into service on 7th June 1905 by the Stettiner Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft JF Braeunlich.
It was initially used in the postal service on the Sassnitz – Trelleborg line, the forerunner of the so-called Royal Line, then from 1909 in the seaside resort service from Stettin and Świnoujście to the seaside resorts on the east coast of Rügen.
The Imperial Navy requisitioned the steamship on 6th August 1914 and initially had it converted into an auxiliary hospital ship E. However, it did not start sailing as such, but, after another renovation, was used as an auxiliary mining ship from September 1914.
After the First World War, the shipping company got its ship back and used it in sea service in East Prussia and on occasional trips to Bornholm and Copenhagen.
From October 1939, the Hertha was used by the Kriegsmarine as a residential and target ship for the 25th and, from 1943, the 23rd submarine flotilla.
After the end of the Second World War she was delivered to Great Britain. As a reparation, she sailed under the Greek flag as Heimara (Χειμάρρα) from 1946 and sank on 19th January 1947 in fog at around 5:40 a.m. about an hour and a half after making contact with the rocky reef Derakotos, northwest of the island of Parthenopi (Parthenopi: main island of the Verdougia Islands) in the south Gulf of Euboea between Aghia Marina on Attica and Styra on Euboea. There was a boiler explosion and power outage. The accident, the largest in Greek shipping, killed more than 380 people out of 544 passengers and 86 crew members. It was only hours later that other ships arrived at the scene of the accident to help. Because of bad weather at Cavo Doro (southern tip of Euboea), the captain chose the route from Salonika to Piraeus through the Gulf of Euboea via the port of Chalkis. The British magazine Parade reported that the Heimara had sunk due to a sea mine, which later turned out to be incorrect.
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