SS Ursus

SS Ursus was a tugboat operated by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique from 1922 to 1940.^[1]

The tugboat Ursus at Le Havre.
History
Name	HMT Cynic
Operator	The Admiralty
Port of registry
Builder	Bow, McLachlan and Company, Paisley
Yard number	306
Launched	28 September 1916
In service	1917
Out of service	1922
Fate	Sold to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
Notes	Laid down as Juan Soverny for Chile and purchased by the Admiralty while under construction
History
Name	Ursus
Owner	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
Operator	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
Port of registry	France
Acquired	1922
In service	1922
Out of service	29 April 1945
Fate	Bombed and sunk 1945, raised and scrapped several years later
Notes	Tug at Le Havre
General characteristics
Type	Tugboat
Tonnage	472 GRT
Length	141.6 ft (43.2 m)
Beam	29.1 ft (8.9 m)
Depth	14.9 ft (4.5 m)
Installed power	1,200 hp (890 kW)
Propulsion	Twin screws
Speed	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)

Early history

She was built by Bow, McLachlan and Company in Paisley for Chile in 1916, and laid down under the name Juan Soverny, but was purchased by the Admiralty while still under construction and renamed Cynic. The tug was launched on 28 September 1916 and entered service a year later as a towing vessel.^[2]

French Line service

Cynic was sold to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in 1922 and was converted into a tender for Le Havre service, and renamed Ursus. The tug served with fellow CGT tug Titan, assisting the largest of the company's liners.

On 8 October 1926 Ursus was accidentally rammed by SS Paris at the entrance of the harbor in Le Havre, where she sank. The tug was raised in February of the following year and returned to service.

Titan and Ursus were joined by the newly purchased Minotaure, ex-Romsey in 1929 as Le Havre tenders. The three tugs assisted in the launch of the ocean liner Normandie on 29 October 1932, and later participated together in the rescue of the battleship Jean Bart in mid-June 1940. While under construction at Saint-Nazaire, Germany won the Battle of France and the battleship had to be evacuated to evade advancing German troops. Minotaure, Titan, and Ursus towed her to Casablanca, where she would remain until late 1945.^[3]

Ursus was seized by the Germans on 30 July 1940 at Bordeaux, and used by the Kriegsmarine. On 29 April 1945 the tug was bombed by Allied aircraft and sunk in the Baltic Sea, near Brunsbuttel. She was declared a war loss in 1947 and in the early 1950s was raised and subsequently scrapped.^[4]