EL MANSOUR (Cie de Nav. Mixte)

postcard by Marius Bar, 

used, not posted, minor knocks/wear, 

5.5" x 3.5", 140mm x 90mm (approx)

our ref: SRZ191

EL MANSOUR (Cie. de Navigation Mixte)

Passenger liner built in 1933 at La Seyne (with 2 funnels) as El Mansour for the Cie. De Navigation Mixte services from Marseilles to North Africa. Requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser, she took part in the Norway Campaign in 1940 and later helped ship the French gold reserves to Dakar. Seized by the Germans in 1943, allocated to Italy and renamed Amagni. Re-taken by the Germans following Italy's capitulation, she was scuttled at Marseilles 8/1944. Raised in 1946, she was rebuilt, with a single funnel, and returned to service as El Mansour in 1948 at first operating out of Port Vendres before returning to Marseilles in 1950. In 10/1963 she was sold to the French Navy and renamed Maine, to become a depot ship for French atomic tests in the Pacific. She was a hotel ship at Mururoa, Tahiti, until 1/1974 and sunk at sea 4/1974 by gunfire by the sloop Doudart De Lagree.