SM Schiff "Pola"

[Alan Baker]

This postcard was one I bought from Martyn Lynes a year or two back. It is from German U-Boot UB48 in the Adriatic. It bears the bilingual franking Sibenik - Sebenico.

What puzzles me is the stamp at top right. The only reference to a ship of this name dates back to the end of the Nineteenth Century, when the Austrian SMS Pola undertook an expedition to the Red Sea.

Presumably, the stamp denotes an accommodation ship for U-Boot crews, but was it the same one as the expedition ship? Where was it based?

Martyn noted on the card that he had not been able to trace the connection either. Any ideas?

[Frank Schofield]

Alan
The only Austrian "Pola" I can find is a Collier commissioned 21.1.16. to Italy at the end of the war in 1919 renamed "Fianona"
The Austrian destroyer "Orjen" was taken by Italy in 1920 and renamed "Pola" served in the Italian Navy until 1937
Hope of some use
Frank Schofield

[Alan Baker]

I picked up the collier but cannot think why a German U-Boot man's postcard would bear a stamp from this ship. The one I have found was a sailing/steamship but the books I have seen are all in German. Still doesn't explain the WWI connection

[Nick Colley]

Hi, Alan,

I think your best bet might be to write to Keith Tranmer. He's probably the best authority we have on Austro-Hungarian forces WW1. I don't think he indulges in this new-fangled internet malarky, so you may be obliged to resort to paper mail..... :o

chrs
N

[akennedy]

John Leathes knows almost everything there is to know about German U boats, so might be able to throw some light on this. He probably does not normally view the forum, but does have e-mail.

Alistair

[akennedy]

I have now had a chance to look at Keith Tranmer's 1957 book Austro - Hungarian APOs 1914 - 1918.
This includes a section on ships, where Pola is listed as a Hospital Ship.

Alistair