Adolf Vinnen (ship, 1929)
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The Adolf Vinnen was a German side trawler that was used by the Navy as a weather observation ship during World War II and was lost in the process.
construction
The ship, named after the Bremen shipowner Adolf Vinnen , ran in 1929 on the work of Seebeck the Deschimag in Wesermünde for the North German sea fishing from the stack . It was 45.3 m long and 7.7 m wide, had a 3.8 m draft and was measured at 391 GRT . His home port was Geestemünde , his fishing license number PG 478.
Navy service
Like many other fish steamers, the Adolf Vinnen was requisitioned by the Navy soon after the start of the war in order to meet their rapidly growing need for small, ocean- going ships. After corresponding modifications, the ship was put into service in March 1940 as a weather observation ship with the designation WBS 5 . The crew consisted of up to 15 men and a five-man squad of meteorological specialists. WBS 5 was assigned to the Marinegruppenkommando West (MGK West) and left Wilhelmshaven on March 20, 1940 , to work together with Fritz Homann (WBS 3) and Hinrich Freese (WBS 4), who were also positioned along the planned route, in the so-called "Operations Area 1 “ To support the breakout of the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis through the Denmark Strait into the North Atlantic with weather reports. After about 25 days at sea, the Adolf Vinnen returned to Wilhelmshaven in mid-April.
Towards the end of the month she moved to now occupied Norway . Already on May 5th she left Bergen to support the planned breakthrough of the auxiliary cruiser Widder ( Ship 21 ) through the Denmark Strait with weather and ship traffic reports in "Operation Area 2" northeast of Iceland , disguised as a Belgian fish steamer . This mission ended after three weeks when the ship was relieved from its position by the Hinrich Freese . Such changes of watch of the available units were then the rule for the weather observation ships operating from Norway.
On July 22nd, the Adolf Vinnen left Bergen and drove to "Operation Area 3" north of Jan Mayen to support the trade war operations there, in particular of the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, with weather reports. After being replaced by the Hinrich Freese on August 20 , she returned to Bergen. At the time of this mission, the creation of the Marine Group Command North and the associated change in command in the North Sea from MGK West to MGK Nord, which means that Adolf Vinnen was now subordinate to MGK Nord , took place at the beginning of August .
Sinking
On September 22, 1940, she ran again from Bergen, this time to take position north of Iceland for the next four weeks. When they return one month later it in the night from 23 to 24 October from the three British destroyers Somali , Punjabi and Matabele about 25 nautical miles northwest of the peninsula Stadlandet discovered and artillery bombardment on the position 62 ° 29 '0 " N , 4 ° 23 '0 " O sunk. Only seven of the 14 crew members were able to save themselves on a life raft when the ship sank, but two of them died before they were found by the Norwegian trawler Odin on October 25 and brought to Ålesund .
literature
- Franz Selinger: From "Nanok" to "Eismitte": Meteorological ventures in the Arctic 1940-1945. Writings of the German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven, Volume 53. Convent Verlag, Hamburg, 2001, ISBN 3-93461-312-8
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ PG = Prussian Geestemünde.
- ↑ The note in the war diary of the Kriegsmarine that the ship was sunk by artillery fire from a submarine is based on a false report from the senior survivor, a radio operator who was probably unable to recognize the attackers from his radio cabin.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Weather observation ship Adolf Vinnen WBS 5. Accessed on May 15, 2019 (English).
- ↑ http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-02BC-Repulse.htm