- Yes
- No
Hello everyone! Today I’m going to suggest a little derpy armed freighter.
This is the Andarta-class Freighter, INS Hannah Szenes (SH-29)
Source: File:INSHanna Senesh.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
History
Spoiler
The history of this boat, or any other small guard ship of the early Israeli navy are quite obscure and uneventfull. But I will try my best to put as much information as I can in here.
INS Hannah Szenes (SH-29) started her life as the ship named “Andarta”. Her carreer during this time is unknown to me. She was purchased from the Italians by Israel in 1945, and would be given the name Hannah Szenes with the number SH-29.
Her early carreer was that of a refugee ship, where she brought Israeli people (Most of them survivors of the Holocaust) to Israel. The ship made a single journey from Italy to Israel, where she was packed with refugees and very poor conditions. When she arrived at her destination she ran herself aground and all the refugees got of the sinking ship. She would remard beached here for quite some time.
In 1946 the ship was rescued and put back into service. She was to be repaired as a cargo ship, but in 1948 she was leased to the navy which would see her recieve some improvised weaponry. She took part in the War for Independence where she transferred weapons and reinforments.
She would serve the navy untill 1951.
As a militairy landing and cargo ship Hannah Szenes was equipped with two 20mm autocannons for use against other small boats or light targets, And two anti-aircraft machine guns. Something that is interesting about the 20mm guns is that they are Oerlikon autocannons, but not the variant used by the allied forces of WW2. No, instead of those, Israel can be seen using the surplus of 20mm Flak 29 Oerlikon guns left over from Germany after they lost the war.
They are ofcourse identical in performance to the Allied variants. But their mounting is slightly different and it’s a cool little detail I thought I point out.
As for the machine guns it’s unclear which model of guns these are. They could be 12.7mm M2 machine guns, or maybe a 7.62 or 7.92mm machine gun. Anything is possible really.
Specifications
Spoiler
Displacement: 260 tons
Length: Unknown
Breadth: Unknown
Draught: Unknown
Machinery: 2 x Diesel engines
Max speed: 8 knots (14,8 km/h)
Complement: Unknown
Armament:
2 x 1 20 mm Oerlikon Flak 29
2 x 1 Anti-aircraft gun (Model is unknown)
Well that is all for this little boat. Many more suggestions like these to come in the future!
See you on the battlefield!
Source: File:Shipwreck of immigrant ship Hannah Szenes.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Sources