MBT Cargo-passenger ship ss "Westerdam" (1946) - HAL - Construction Drawing Scale 1 : 200 (10.10.009)

The M.S. Westerdam was a cargo ship of the Holland America Line that also offered space for 134 passengers. During the German attack on the Netherlands in 1940, the Westerdam was under construction at the Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard in Schiedam.

The Westerdam was launched on 27 July 1940. On 27 August 1942, the ship was damaged and sank during an Allied bombing raid. The Westerdam was seized by the Germans and was intended to block the port of Rotterdam at the end of the Second World War.

On 9 September 1944, the National Assault Groups (Landelijke Knokploegen) received orders from Allied High Command to sink these blockade ships before they could block the Nieuwe Waterweg or the Nieuwe Maas. On 11 September, the Westerdam was sunk at the Wilhelminakade by opening its outboard appendages.

The Westerdam was salvaged by the Germans and moored in the Merwehaven. After several failed attempts, the Westerdam was finally sunk with a limpet mine on the night of 16-17 January 1945. Subsequently, the same men sank a barge and a floating crane, the Titan, in the Dokhaven.

After the war, the Westerdam was salvaged and entered service in 1946. In 1964, the ship was laid up in Rotterdam and in 1965 sold for scrap to Compañía Española de Demolición Naval in Alicante, Spain.

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