Titan, better known by its former nickname Herman the German (US Navy designation YD-171), is a large floating crane currently serving in the Panama Canal Zone performing heavy lifts for lock maintenance. Prior to its move to Panama in 1996, the crane was based at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard (LBNSY) from the end of World War II until the closure of LBNSY in 1995. It was seized from the German Kriegsmarine following the end of World War II as part of war reparations. The crane was built by Demag Cranes AG as Schwimmkran nr. 1 in 1941 for the Kriegsmarine, where it had served in the Baltic Sea tending German U-boats.
The crane was one of four sister ships, two of which are still afloat and in service.
Origins
Schwimmkran nr. 1 was built by Demag AG in Bremerhaven for the Kriegsmarine.
It was captured along with a sister ship by British forces at Kiel.
“Herman the German” was seized as a war prize following the end of World War II. “Herman” was dismantled and transported across the Atlantic through the Panama Canal to Long Beach, where it subsequently served at the Long Beach NSY from 1946 (following its reassembly) to 1994 (when the shipyard was closed). YD-171 was reassembled on-site by ex-Kearsarge, a former battleship converted to a large floating crane.
Panama Titan
Following the closure of the shipyard, the crane was sold to the Panama Canal Commission and it was transported on the semi-submersible ship Sea Swan ( IMO number: 8001000) in 1996 to the Panama Canal Zone, where it currently serves as the floating crane Titan. Titan retired Ajax and Hercules that has served the Panama Canal since construction in 1914.
Selected service history
Over the years, “Herman the German” performed numerous notable heavy lifts, including:
- Refitting of the battleships USS Missouri and New Jersey in the 1980s
- Lifting the Hughes H-4 (“Spruce Goose”) from its original hangar in Long Beach when it was relocated to its geodesic dome from 1980 to 1982 for tourist display by the Wrather Corporation.
Design
The jib is equipped with a level luffing linkage which keeps the main hook at approximately the same horizontal level through its operating radius.
Animation of main and jib boom articulation
Capacity
Titan is a large self-propelled crane vessel with the tip of its main boom standing at 374 feet (114 m) above the typical water line and a lifting capacity of 385 short tons (349 t).
In 1957, it was claimed to be the largest floating crane in operation. Its rated capacity is 350 tonnes (340 long tons; 390 short tons) at up to 114 feet (35 m) from the center of rotation; the lift capacity drops to 50 tonnes (49 long tons; 55 short tons) at 210 feet (64 m) from center, and a single rotation about its pedestal takes 10 minutes.
Sister ships
Of the four Schwimmkräne built by Demag, one was destroyed during World War II by bombs, and the remaining three were seized by the Allies as war reparations. One went to the Americans, and was transported to Long Beach, where it was renamed YD-171.
Hamburg Schwimmkran
The crane stationed at Hamburg served in the Blohm & Voss shipyards and was presumed to be damaged beyond repair during the July 1943 Operation Gomorrah bombing raids. It was reportedly raised after the war and rebuilt with a lower capacity, eventually serving Hamburger Hafen & Logistik AG (HHLA) as HHLA III ( MMSI number: 211339980).
British Schwimmkran
The crane eventually seized by the British was initially stationed at Gdynia, then moved to Denmark in 1943–44 to raise Danish Navy ships scuttled during Operation Safari on August 29, 1943. It was subsequently moved back to Gdynia, then Kiel, where it was seized by the British Army at the conclusion of the war. Later, it was sold to France, but it capsized and sank in the North Sea approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) off the coast of Denmark while under tow on 25 June 1951. It was being towed without disassembling the heavy mast structures.
Soviet Schwimmkran
A partially-assembled crane was sent to the Soviet Union. It had been ordered by the Soviet government when the governments of Germany and the Soviet Union were friendly, and was reportedly sent to Leningrad, where the Demag technicians sent with the crane to help assemble it were recalled before it could be completed. The partially-assembled structure served as an artillery spotting tower. It was presumed lost after the war until it was spotted in 2015 working in the Admiralty Shipyard at Saint Petersburg.
Victors became vultures feeding off the dead bodies.
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You are absolutely right.
Did anybody say space program, jet planes and car industry.
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About the Hamburg Schwimmkran:
Actually this crane was the 2nd exemplar of the two floating cranes ordered by the USSR in 1939. Finished in 1942 or 1943 the crane was preliminary put in service for the harbour of Hamburg. It was not sunk during the Gomorrah raid but later in 1944 by another British bombing action. The pontoon was sunk in shallow water, the crane itself mostly remained intact.
After the end of the war the Soviets claimed successfully for that wreck but they were unable to salvage and repair the crane on site.
So the sunken floating crane stayed until March 27th 1949 when a British demolition squad made two shots. All attempts of the Hamburg Senate to retrieve the crane for wreck salvaging and bridge ruins removing were in vain.
A first shot on the morning of that day resulted in a big burst cloud and an unimpressed, still standing crane structure. A second shot on the afternoon let the crane finally sink down.
This demolition is documented by film and can be seen in a 2 minute sequence on: Christian Mangels, ‘Hamburg damals – Die Jahre 1945 – 1949’, NDR Hamburg, 2009, DVD from http://www.ardvideo.de
Additional inormations:
The mentioned 100 ton HHLA crane is a predecessor of the four 350 ton cranes and has been brought into service in 1937.
The first Soviet (Leningrad) crane has been finished some day in the 1950-60ies on the base of the original DEMAG-drawings which were in the scope of delivery of the 1939 contract. Three or Four? other floating cranes based on this design were erected by the Soviets, possibly with the aid of the GDR company Bleichert, (later VTA) in Leipzig.
The following three Soviet cranes of this family are known to me:
1. Leningrad (today St. Petersburg), based on the DEMAG pontoon with inner tower
2. Wladiwostok, reproduction
3. Sewerodwinsk, reproduction
Best regards
Norbert
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Norbert
Thank you, for sharing the information. It is all new to me, I appreciate it.
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