SS Kielce
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Namesake | City of Kielce, Poland |
| Owner | War Shipping Administration (1943–1944), Żegluga Polska (1944–onwards) |
| Builder | Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc, Beaumont, Texas |
| Launched | September 1943 |
| Completed | 1943 |
| In service | 11 March 1944 |
| Out of service | 5/6 March 1946 |
| Fate | Sunk after collision with the steamer Lombardy |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Type N3-S-A2 |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Beam | 41.3 ft (12.6 m) |
| Draft | 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) |
| Depth | 20.4 ft (6.2 m) |
| Decks | 1 |
| Installed power | 1,300 SHP |
| Propulsion | 6-cylinder steam engine |
| Speed | 10.2 knots (18.9 km/h) |
| Range | 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km) |
| Crew | 26 (in Polish service) |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
SS Kielce was a Polish-operated cargo ship. She was a Type N3-S-A2 steamship, built in the United States in 1943 as SS Edgar Wakeman.
In 1946, while laden with a cargo of munitions, she sank in the English Channel after colliding with the British or French steamer Lombardy.
In 1967, an attempt to salvage her wreck inadvertently detonated some of her cargo; the resulting explosion was measured to be equivalent in force to a minor earthquake.