The Polish motor vessel PREZYDENT GOTTWALD moored in the port of Gdynia.
The Prezydent Gottwald (4965 GRT / 8248 tdw) was the former German steamer WARTHE, launched in August 1939 by the Lübecker Flender Werke AG, yard number 274, and originally built for the Norwegian owner A/S Borgestad (Gunnar Knudsen), Porsgrunn under the name BRATTLAND. In April 1940 the still incomplete vessel was requisitioned by German authorities and completed for a German owner as Warthe. On 30 April 1940 taken over by the Kriegsmarine for Operation Seelöwe, the never carried out invasion of Great Britain.
The Warthe damaged her bottom on 9 Nov 1942 en route to Hangö, Finland when she hit some rocks off the port. On 31 Dec 1942 transferred from Leth & Co. to Hapag and used by the Kriegsmarine as troop transport.
On 1 Nov 1944 the Warthe was damaged by an air-laid mine in the Baltic Sea and towed to Gotenhafen/Gdynia where she laid awaiting repairs. She sank partly in shallow water in the port on 18 Dec 1944 when the Sqn. No 5 of the RAF Bomber Command, consisting of 236 planes, raided the city. The wreck was still in Gotenhafen when the city was taken back by Polish troops on 28 March 1945. It was raised by a Dutch salvage company on 6 Sept 1946, rebuilt at Gdansk, and taken into Polish service in the Gdynia-Ameryka Linie Zeglugowe SA as WARTA on 6 May 1949 as the first Polish post-war cargo vessel. Its maiden voyage to China began on 1 July 1950, arriving on 2 October.
On 19 March 1953 the vessel was renamed PREZYDENT GOTTWALD, honoring the late Czech president Klement Gottwald (1896-1953). During a further voyage to China, the Prezydent Gottwald was seized by Taiwanese naval foces on 13 May 1954 in the Straits of Formosa and forced to enter a Taiwanese port. She never returned into Polish hands and was later put into service by Taiwanese authorities as TIEN CHU. Broken up in Taiwan in November 1968.
