Overview
SS was a passenger and cargo steamship. She was launched in Germany in 1939 as for Turkish owners, but taken over by the German government and renamed . Toward the end of the Second World War she was renamed Duala. At the end of the war, the United Kingdom seized her and renamed her Empire Ock. In 1946 she was transferred as war reparations to the USSR, who renamed her . In 1947 she was transferred to Poland, who renamed her . For a year Cosulich Line ran Jagiełło on a route between Genoa, Italy and Colón, Panama. In 1949 she returned to Soviet ownership, and her name reverted to . She was scrapped in Spain at the end of 1973.
Building
In 1939, Blohm+Voss in Hamburg was building three sister ships for the Turkish government DenizBank and Denizyollari Idaresi. Yard number 520 was launched on 15 March as ; which is Turkish for "East"; and completed on 31 August. Yard number 521 was to have been called Egemen (Turkish for "Sovereign"), and yard number 522 was to have been called ("War"). 's lengths were overall and registered. Her beam was , and her depth was . Her tonnages were and . She had a slightly flared bow, and a cruiser stern. She had twin screws, and her main propulsion was by a pair of three-cylinder triple-expansion engines, built by Blohm+Voss. She also had a pair of Bauer-Wach exhaust steam turbines, which drove the same propeller shafts, but via double-reduction gearing and a Föttinger fluid coupling. She was capable of .
She was equipped with wireless direction finding; echo sounding device; gyrocompass; and submarine signalling.
Second World War
On 1 September 1939, the day after was completed, Germany invaded Poland. The German government halted the delivery of and her two sisters. was renamed , after Lüderitz Bay in South West Africa; she was registered in Hamburg; In 1940 she was transferred to the Kriegsmarine, who used her as a barracks ship. In March 1940, the German government told the Turkish government that it would allow delivery of the three ships on two conditions. Firstly, Turkey would have to confine the ships to short-sea shipping, along the Turkish coast and within the Black Sea, until the end of the war. Secondly, Turkey would have to supply Germany with at least 110,000 tons of chromium. Agreement was not reached, and the three ships remained in German ownership. Early in 1945 the ship was renamed Duala, probably after Douala in Cameroun.
Post-war career
After Germany's unconditional surrender in 1945, UK forces seized Duala at Flensburg. Other renditions include In 1947 the USSR gave the ship to Poland, where the Gdynia America Line became her owners, and she was renamed , after King Władysław II Jagiełło. She was registered in Gdynia, and her call sign was SPEN. She never visited Gdynia. She spent a year being refitted in Genoa, and then in 1948 entered service under Cosulich Line management; and with a mostly Italian crew; and just a few Polish officers and specialists. Her route was between Genoa and Colón, Panama, via ports of call including Lisbon and Havana.