Sauer supports traditional ship MS DRESDEN
For more than 50 years, the engine room of the traditional GDR ship MS DRESDEN, which is part of the Rostock Maritime Museum, was at a standstill. Now, at least one of the three auxiliary diesel engines is to be given a new lease of life, ...
Now, at least one of the three auxiliary diesel engines is to be given a new lease of life, with a crew of volunteer ship enthusiasts putting their heart and soul into refurbishing it. Sauer Compressors has contributed a SAUER Mistral WP45L Marine for this project, which was already put into commission in mid-March by an experienced Sauer service technician.
Commissioning of the SAUER Mistral WP45L Marine
The MS DRESDEN was built in 1956/57 at the Warnowwerft shipyard in Warnemünde in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) and sailed until 1969 for the Deutsche Seereederei Rostock (DSR) in liner service to East Asia, Indonesia, Africa, India and Latin America. It belonged to a fleet consisting of fifteen 10,000-tonne general cargo freighters of type IV, which were built at shipyards in the GDR at the time. These quickly had legendary status and are still considered engineering art of the 1950s. They also played a central role in the GDR's trade and transported a wide variety of goods such as rice and coffee, as well as animals for the zoos, including actual elephants and rhinos. A legendary reputation also preceded the ship's crews, who were considered particularly tough and resourceful when it came to solving technical problems.
In 1969, the MS DRESDEN was taken out of service after the defective engine system could only have been restored at disproportionately high repair costs. As early as 13 June 1970, she was opened as a culture and museum ship with, among others, the "Shipbuilding Museum Rostock" on board.
During the conversion phase, the DRESDEN also acted as a spare parts store for the sister ships, which continued to sail until the 1980s.
