MV was a French merchant ship. She was the first motor ship in fleet of Chargeurs . She was built in Nantes in 1924 as the cargo ship Camranh, and rebuilt in Saint-Nazaire in 1927 as the cargo liner . A U-boat sank her in 1940, killing 379 of her passengers and crew.
She was the first of two ships to be named after the French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. The second was a motor ship that was launched in 1947, sold to the French Navy in 1965, renamed Maurienne, and scrapped in 1975.
Camranh Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in Nantes built the ship in 1923. As built, her registered length was , her beam was , her depth was , and her tonnages were , . She had twin screws, each driven by a Sulzer four-cylinder, single-acting, two-stroke diesel engine. The combined power of her twin engines was rated at 1,002 NHP, and gave her a speed of .
The ship was named Camranh, after the city of Cam Ranh in French Indochina. registered her at Le Havre. Her code letters were OUWS. She was the first motor ship in 's fleet. By January 1925, she had travelled .
In 1927, had Ateliers et Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire Penhoët refit as a cargo liner. Her superstructure was enlarged, with the addition of berths for 358 passengers: 178 first class, 90 second class, and 90 third class. Dyle et Bacalan supplied equipment to refrigerate of her cargo space. used the J & E Hall refrigeration system, in which carbo dioxide is the coolant, and cork and brine are the insulating materials. As refitted, she had twin funnels; her tonnages were increased to and ; and she was renamed .
In 1927, 's route was advertised as Bordeaux to Matadi in French Congo; via Dakar; Conakry; Tabou; Grand-Bassam; Lomé; Cotonou; Souellaba (now Douala); Libreville; Port-Gentil; Pointe-Noire; Banana; and Boma.
By 1931, was equipped with wireless direction finding. By 1934, her wireless telegraph call sign was FNLS, and this had superseded her code letters. In 1936, had her hull lengthened to . This increased her tonnages to and .
In 1936, 's route was advertised as Bordeaux to Pointe-Noire via Funchal; Tenerife; Dakar; Conakry; Tabou; Sassandra; Port Bouët; Accra; Lomé; Cotonou; Souellaba; Libreville; and Port-Gentil. However, no sailing dates were listed.
Loss On 26 May 1940, during the Battle of France, left Bordeaux for New Caledonia in the South Pacific, via Casablanca, Dakar, and ports in West Africa. Her Master was Captain François Pierre Marie Rébillard, CdG. She carried 132 crew and 444 passengers. Her passengers were a mixture of French Navy and French Army personnel, and civilians. She also carried 850 tons of general cargo, including wine, spirits, and 1,000 bags of mail. The aviso escorted her.
On 28 May, the two ships were about west of Cape Finisterre, making and steering a zig-zag course in a rough sea. At 09:24 hrs (Berlin time), fired two torpedoes from its stern tubes. Both hit 's starboard side, just aft of her second funnel. She caught fire, and rapidly listed ten degrees to starboard. Within minutes, this increased to 40 degrees, making it impossible to launch the lifeboats on her port side. Within five minutes of being hit, she sank at position , stern first, with her bow almost vertical.
launched her whaleboat and dinghy to find and rescue survivors in the water. The boats were hampered by the rough sea, and by survivors being widely dispersed. Nevertheless, 197 survivors were found; many of them clinging to wreckage. 52 crew members; 47 civilian passengers; and 98 armed forces passengers were rescued. The civilian survivors included 19 women and eight children, and the armed forces passengers were 56 members of the French Navy; 17 from the French Army; and 25 troupes coloniales.
The Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser was on patrol off Vigo, and was diverted to assist . Cheshire arrived after four hours, and screened the aviso until the last survivors were rescued at 13:50 hrs. Captain Rébillard, 79 members of his crew, and 299 passengers were lost. landed survivors at Lorient on 30 May.
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