1. Mine sweeping squadron
The 1st minesweeping squadron (1st MGschw) was set up in the new Federal Navy in 1956 . It belonged to the flotilla of the mining forces and was disbanded in 2005.
Foundation of the squadron
The first minesweeping squadron was - initially under the name "1. rapid minesweeping squadron ”- put into service on June 5, 1956 in Bremerhaven by Admiral Wolfgang Wegener . The four boats Orion , Rigel , Merkur and Sirius were the foundation of the squadron , which formed the basis of the new mine forces of the German Navy . After the squadron was relocated to Wilhelmshaven the next day , the number of boats increased by a further four boats before it was completed with another four boats at the end of July 1956. All twelve boats were former R-boats of the Kriegsmarine, which had previously been used under British supervision in the German mine clearance service and later came under the control of the United States Navy .
In December 1956 the squadron was relocated to Flensburg , where it was to be its home port for around 32 years. After the supply company Oste joined the group on January 21, 1957 , the squadron was fully operational and subordinated to NATO and assigned to it in June of the same year.
History of the squadron
In the first years the boats were mainly used in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea . There were early encounters with units of the Warsaw Pact . Only after the opening of the Iron Curtain was cooperation with the countries of the alliance possible, which was also realized in numerous maneuvers in the 1990s, such as the Open Spirit that has been taking place on a regular basis since 1993 .
With the decommissioning of five old boats in February 1959, the first generation change within the squadron began. From November 1960 to October 1963 it was modernized by replacing the old R-boats in favor of the new fast minesweepers (SM-boats: Schütze class , type 340/341); the names of the predecessor boats were largely adopted. The Saar tender , which was put into service on May 11, 1963 , replaced the supplier Oste . In addition, two more ships were incorporated in 1970 and 1972 with the mine transporters Sachsenwald and Steigerwald . The new MS boats, with a construction price of 7.3 million DM each, were rather "cheap" boats, but caused problems: because of the use of poor construction material in the manufacture of the transverse bulkheads , extensive repairs had to be carried out. In addition, signs of putrefaction occurred again and again.
With the decommissioning of the SM boat Rigel in 1990, the second generation change was initiated. Four more boats followed by the end of the year, and in 1991 the mine transporter Sachsenwald was also decommissioned. In November 1993 the Steigerwald was decommissioned . When the squadron moved to Olpenitz, the future type base , on September 7, 1992, the Frankenthal class (class 332) boats began to be commissioned (the Steigerwald remained at the Flensburg base until it was decommissioned ). This class represented a trend-setting renewal of the existing boat stock. This applies in particular to the use of the building materials used, because for the first time in the history of the squadron, an amagnetic shipbuilding steel was used here. The Werra was henceforth the new tender of the squadron .
In October 1999, the individual squadrons of the minesweeping flotilla were reorganized. From the original twelve boats of class 332 only nine were now subordinate to the squadron; the other three boats were assigned to the 3rd Mine Sweeping Squadron.
Dissolution of the squadron
The squadron was disbanded on December 21, 2005 - five months before its fiftieth anniversary - by its squadron commander, frigate captain Volker Richter, in Olpenitz for organizational reasons. The remaining boats - the mine-hunting boats Weiden and Frankenthal were sold to the United Arab Emirates - were assigned to the 3rd and 5th minesweeping squadrons and moved to Kiel in spring 2006 . The Olpenitz naval base was closed when the boats left in February 2006.
Commanders of the 1st Minesweeping Squadron
commander | Start of service | End of service |
---|---|---|
Corvette Captain Adolf Graef | June 1, 1956 | February 15, 1958 |
Corvette Captain Ulrich Albrecht | February 16, 1958 | August 29, 1958 |
Corvette Captain Oswald Duch | August 30, 1958 | October 31, 1958 |
Corvette Captain Walter Klemm | November 1, 1958 | October 31, 1960 |
Frigate Captain Ernst-August Gerke | November 1, 1960 | February 15, 1962 |
Frigate Captain Franz Kleemann | February 16, 1962 | March 31, 1963 |
Frigate Captain Horst Mertineit | April 1, 1963 | March 31, 1965 |
Frigate Captain Hans-Helmut Anschütz | April 1, 1965 | July 31, 1967 |
Frigate Captain Gernot Dietze | June 1, 1970 | March 31, 1973 |
Frigate Captain Joachim Petersen | April 1, 1973 | June 30, 1975 |
Frigate Captain Rainer Christmann | July 1, 1975 | September 31, 1978 |
Frigate Captain Jan-Eike Wolf | October 1, 1978 | September 30, 1982 |
Frigate Captain Harald Dräger | October 1, 1982 | September 25, 1986 |
Frigate Captain Detlef Hoepner | September 26, 1986 | September 26, 1988 |
Frigate Captain Klaus-Peter Hirtz | September 27, 1988 | September 30, 1991 |
Frigate Captain Wolf Christian Bäßler | October 1, 1991 | September 26, 1994 |
Frigate Captain Jörg Rings | September 27, 1994 | September 30, 1996 |
Frigate Captain Jürgen Giese | October 1, 1996 | September 30, 1998 |
Frigate Captain Thomas Jugel | October 1, 1998 | March 29, 2000 |
Frigate Captain Michael Mann | March 30, 2000 | February 18, 2003 |
Frigate Captain Gerald Koch | February 19, 2003 | December 21, 2004 |
Frigate Captain Volker Richter | December 22, 2004 | December 21, 2005 |
coat of arms
On the coat of arms of the 1st Minesweeping Squadron, a red image of the Naval Memorial in Laboe is depicted on a white background . From the bottom left to the top right there are three black bar crosses . The depiction of the naval memorial is intended to document that the squadron has a share in German naval history. The coat of arms is borrowed from the 1st clearing flotilla of the Kriegsmarine, but the coat of arms existed at that time without the three iron crosses. This was later added to this flotilla in memory of the three knight's cross bearers.
1st generation boats
- Orion
- Rigel
- Mercury
- Sirius
- Pollux
- Castor
- Capella
- Mars
- Saturn
- Spica
- Jupiter
- Regulus
- Oste (January 21, 1957–1964)
2nd generation boats
- Sagittarius (April 14, 1959– January 26, 1992)
- [Cancer] (January 20, 1961 – October 1973)
- Pollux (April 28, 1961– May 26, 1992)
- Spica (May 19, 1961– September 30, 1992)
- Mars (July 18, 1961– September 30, 1992)
- Sirius (October 5, 1961– October 1, 1990)
- Libra (March 19, 1962– June 20, 1992)
- Regulus (June 20, 1962– September 27, 1990)
- Rigel (September 19, 1962– March 29, 1990)
- Castor (December 11, 1962– August 15, 1990)
- Scorpio (October 9, 1963– May 10, 1990)
- Saar (May 11, 1963– February 14, 1991)
- Sachsenwald (August 20, 1969– September 26, 1991)
- Steigerwald (August 20, 1969– November 4, 1993)
- Orion (ca.1962–1973) M 1053
3rd generation boats
- Weiden (March 30, 1993-2005)
- Rottweil (July 7, 1993–2005), converted into a mine diver service boat
- Bad Bevensen (December 9, 1993–2005)
- Werra (December 9, 1993–2005)
- Grömitz (August 23, 1994-2005)
- Dates (December 8, 1994-2005)
- Dillingen (April 25, 1995-2005)
- Homburg (June 26, 1995–2005)
- Fulda (June 16, 1998-2005)
- Weilheim (December 3, 1998-2005)
- Bad Rappenau (April 19, 1994–1999)
- Frankenthal (February 16, 1992–1999)
- Sulzbach-Rosenberg (January 23, 1996–1999)
With the dissolution of the 1st MSG in December 2005, the boats were divided between the 3rd and 5th mine sweeping squadrons.
literature
- Commemorative publication of the 1st mine sweeping squadron . Mönch, Koblenz 1984.
- Hendrik Killi: Minesweeper of the German Navy. ES Mittler & Sohn 2002, ISBN 3-8132-0785-4 .
Web links
- Chronicle of the 1st minesweeping squadron ( memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- SM boat cancer