“Imme Oldendorff” and others - SD 14 dry cargo ships

SD-14 - a replacement for the “Liberty” class ships, designed in the 1960s at the “Austin & Pickersgill” shipyard in Southwick, Great Britain, to replace the aging “Liberty” and “Victory” class cargo fleet. Construction continued until the end of the 1980s. The name SD-14 stands for "Shelter-Decker 14,000 tons". A total of 211 ships of this type were built over two decades. They had five cargo hatches, a cargo capacity of 21,424 m³ (bulk cargo) or 19,648 m³ (general cargo). Their cargo handling equipment consisted of ten 5/10-ton booms and one or two 30-ton heavy-lift booms. In the mid-1960s, about 700 “Liberty” and “Victory” class cargo ships were still operating in the world's merchant fleet, as well, as some other cargo ships built during the Second World War. Even the youngest of these ships were then 20 years old or older, so both shipping companies and shipyards were faced with the question of how to replace these ships, which were soon to end their service. At that time, it was not yet possible to foresee the major revolutions in maritime shipping, caused by the advent of container ships and bulk carriers, which later almost completely replaced general cargo ships. The classic general cargo ship, which had been built in its current form with relatively little change since the turn of the century, therefore still seemed relevant. It is therefore not surprising that “Austin & Pickersgill”, in its plans to replace the “Liberty” and “Victory” ships, like many other shipyards, that had successful German “Liberty”, “Trampko”, “Seebeck 36L”, “Freedom“ and “Fortune”, focused mainly on dry cargo ships with their own cargo handling equipment and a deadweight of around 14,000 tons. This conservative design undoubtedly also resulted in the fact, that most of the “Liberty” and “Victory” ships still in operation at that time, were operated by relatively small shipping companies with limited resources. Basil M. Mavroleon, the Greek-born chairman of A&P's main owner, London and Overseas Freighters, who had good connections with the Greek shipping industry, had a great influence in this regard. The shipyard focused on these small, often Greek, shipping companies, who at the time would have found it difficult to finance the construction of a completely new or much larger type of ship, such as the “Pioneer” class, introduced by “Blohm & Voss”. Even in the early stages, A&P invited other British shipbuilders to apply for licenses to build the SD-14, provided they met the requirements, including a sale price of no more, than £915,000. Initially, only neighboring “Bartram's shipyard” felt it was capable of doing so. The “Nicola”, the first ship of its type, was laid down at “Austin & Pickersgill” Dock on 8 June 1967. However, the first SD-14, the “Mimis N. Papalios”, was launched on 1 December 1967 at “Bartram & Sons”, a Sunderland-based company, that built the ship under license, at the “South Dock”. “Austin & Pickersgill” completed the first SD-14, the “Nicola”, on 14 February 1968, and “Mimis N. Papalios” “Bartram's” was completed just one day later. The 100th order was received on 6 April 1971. The last ship of the class was the “Tucurui”, launched at “CNC Estaleiro Mauá” in Niterói, Brazil, on 22 December 1983. However, its construction was not completed until 22 June 1988. Most of the SD-14s were built at “Austin & Pickersgill's” shipyards, where sometimes two ships of the type were built per month. As had been planned in the early stages of the project, the main customers were Greek shipping companies. A total of 211 SD-14s were built between 1968 and 1988. Like the original “Liberty” and “Victory” ships, which were originally supposed to be dismantled after the war, many SD-14 ships also served for a long time and can still be found in large numbers, especially in Asian and South American ports even in the early 21st century.

A well-designed and richly detailed model of a medium-complexity, small ship without an underwater part for medium-experienced and experienced modelers. Since You can make one of as many, as 7 (!!!) named models from the publication, and the details are different for almost everyone, it is very important not to get lost among the variety of markings, names, colors and details. The text instructions in Polish and English are large, detailed and will really help You assemble this not a big model and will perfectly complement the excellent graphic instructions. There is a little color reserve, the sides have a reserve length in the middle, which is very good, when something does not fit - it is always easier to cut, than to "add". The publication is equipped with 1 mm laser-cut frame parts, which will facilitate the assembly of the model body. The publication can be used to assemble the models "Imme Oldendorff", "Togo", "Rupert de Larrinaga", "I Congreso del Partido", "Ebo", "Tina" and "Sin Hueng I".