SS Masuren

Masuren was a 2,385 ton cargo ship which was built in 1935. She was seized by Britain in 1945 and renamed Empire Annan. In 1950 she was renamed Thomas N Epiphaniades and then Helga Böge in 1952. In 1959, she was renamed Fuhlsbüttel. She served until 1964 when she was scrapped in Bremerhaven.

History
Masuren was built by Schichau GmbH Abt. Schiffswerft, Danzig as yard number 1349. The exact date of her launch is unrecorded although she was completed in October 1935. Masuren was powered by a four-cylinder compound steam engine and could make 12 knots. She was owned by Kohlen-Import & Poseidon Schiffahrt AG and homeported at Königsberg. Masuren served for ten years until she was seized in Copenhagen by the United Kingdom at the end of the Second World War in 1945. Her homeport had been changed to Nordenham in that year. Ownership passed to the Ministry of War Transport and she was renamed Empire Annan. She operated under the management of Crosby, Sons & Co and was homeported in London.

In 1947, Empire Annan passed to the United States Maritime Commission, New York who sold her in 1948 to Fanmaur Shipping & Trading Co, New York in 1948. They sold her in 1950 to Thomas N Epiphaniades, Volos, Greece who renamed her Thomas N Epiphaniades. In 1952, Thomas N Epiphaniades was sold to Johann M K Blumenthal, Hamburg and renamed Helga Böge. She served with them for seven years and was sold at auction in 1959 to Koehn & Bohlmann Reederei KG, Hamburg. She was renamed Fuhlsbüttel in 1960, serving for a further four years until 1964 when she was scrapped in Bremerhaven.

Official number and code letters
Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers.

Masuren used the Code Letters DADE when homeported in Königsberg and DHQZ when homeported in Nordenhamn. Empire Annan had the UK Official Number 180633 and used the Code Letters GLTG.