1. Mine sweeping squadron

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Coat of arms of the 1st 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

Coat of arms of the 1st MSG
  • 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