place

SS Pruth (1916)

1916 shipsMaritime incidents in 1923Ship infoboxes without an imageShips built on the River WearShipwrecks of Papua New Guinea
Use British English from July 2012

SS Pruth was a 4698 gross register ton steamship built by J.L. Thompson and Sons, Sunderland for the Hain Steamship Company in 1916. The ship was on a voyage from New York to Cairns, via Port Moresby when she was wrecked upon Nateara Reef near Port Moresby on 31 December 1923. Attempts to salvage her failed. Her wreck became known as the "Moresby Wreck". Her wreck was used for strafing and bombing practice by the United States Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942 and 1943 during World War II. Six Allied aircraft crashed while undertaking the strafing and bombing practice.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article SS Pruth (1916) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -9.5477777777778 ° E 147.17972222222 °
placeShow on map

Address

Port Moresby District



Central, Papua New Guinea
mapOpen on Google Maps

Share experience

Nearby Places

Battle of Port Moresby
Battle of Port Moresby

The Battle of Port Moresby was an aerial battle fought between the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and United States Army Air Force (USAAF) on one side and the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy on the other between 3 February 1942 and 17 August 1943 over Port Moresby, Papua. At the start, the defenders consisted only of Australian Army anti-aircraft batteries and machine-guns, but by late March had been strengthened by the arrival of Kittyhawk fighters from No. 75 Squadron RAAF. However, in just nine days they lost 11 aircraft and only the arrival of replacements enabled the unit to maintain ten serviceable machines. According to the Australian government: On 31 March, the Australians were joined by the American 8th Bombardment Squadron with A-24 bombers and for two weeks in May by six P-39 Airacobras of the American 36th Pursuit Squadron. Despite the American assistance, the daily air battles over and around Port Moresby by 1 May had reduced No. 75 Squadron RAAF to just three airworthy machines. The American 35th, and the full 36th, Pursuit Squadrons arrived to relieve the Australian squadron. During their time in Port Moresby 75 Squadron had lost 21 aircraft and 12 pilots. The Battle of the Coral Sea, which was fought mostly in the waters south-east of Papua in early May, diverted a Japanese naval attack against Port Moresby and removed the immediate threat. However, by May 1942 the Japanese had established themselves in the arc of islands north and east of the island of New Guinea as well as in the region around Lae and Madang on the north coast of the mainland.

Port Moresby
Port Moresby

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: Pot Mosbi), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II, it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas. As of the 2011 census, Port Moresby had 364,145 inhabitants. An unofficial 2020 estimate gives the population as 383,000. The place where the city was founded has been inhabited by the Motu-Koitabu people for centuries. The first Briton to see it was Royal Navy Captain John Moresby in 1873. It was named in honour of his father, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Fairfax Moresby. Although Port Moresby is surrounded by Central Province, of which it is also the capital, it is not part of that province but forms the National Capital District. The traditional landowners, the Motu and Koitabu people, are represented by the Motu Koita Assembly. Port Moresby hosted the APEC summit in November 2018. However, there were concerns about security given the capital's reputation for violent crime.