Albatros (ship, 1926)
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The Albatros was a torpedo boat of the Raptor class (Torpedo Boat 1923). In service with the Reichsmarine since 1927 , the boat was used in World War II , but was lost on April 10, 1940 as part of the Weser Exercise company .
history
The Albatros was born on October 5, 1925 at the Imperial Naval Shipyard Wilhelmshaven , together with its sister boats grip and eagle to put Kiel , all running on 15 July 1926 by the stack. It was put into service with the Reichsmarine on May 15, 1928. The boat was named after the albatrosses , very large seabirds mainly over the southern oceans. A mine cruiser (1908–1919, 2506 t) and a gunboat (1871–1898, 786 t) of the Imperial Navy had already borne the name.
Mission history
When it was commissioned, the Albatros replaced the type ship of the class, the Möwe in the 4th torpedo boat semi-flotilla in Wilhelmshaven. After completion of their test drives, the boat from the Falke took over the duties of the guide boat of the semi-flotilla, whose boss at that time was Corvette Captain Karl Dönitz , who later became Grand Admiral . The boat's first trip abroad took place in the spring of 1929 with the fleet in Spanish waters. When leaving Wilhelmshaven, the Albatros collided with the seagull . After necessary repairs, both boats followed the fleet after four days. The sister boats Greif and Kondor also took part in this trip . In 1930 the fleet made a similar voyage with the Albatros in Spanish and Portuguese waters. In 1931 the Commander of the Reconnaissance Forces (BdA), Rear Admiral Conrad Albrecht , took part in the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the Latvian Navy in Libau with his flagship Königsberg and the 4th torpedo boat semi-flotilla ( Albatross , Falcon , Griffin and Seagull ) . In 1932, the association represented the German Reich at the celebrations for the engagement of the Swedish Hereditary Prince Gustav Adolf with the German Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha with the light cruiser Königsberg and the torpedo boats Albatros , Falcon , Seagull , Sea Eagle and Condor . On December 7, 1932, the Albatros was taken out of service and was replaced by the sister boat Greif as the guide boat of the 4th Half Flotilla.
On October 5, 1933, the Albatros was put back into service by Lieutenant Werner Hartmann , who later became the submarine commander and bearer of the Knight's Cross . The boat replaced the pre-war boat T 151 in the 2nd torpedo boat semi-flotilla in Swinoujscie . In 1934 the boat with the semi-flotilla was the only foreign port to visit Vyborg , which was then still Finnish, from July 13th to 17th . On October 1, 1934, the semi-flotilla became the 2nd torpedo boat flotilla, which in addition to the Albatros also included the sister boat Seeadler as the guide boat of the flotilla and the two boats of the predator class lynx and leopard . The latter was since October 1933 the leader boat for the newly created position of the leader of the torpedo boats (FdT). Both boats had traded 12.7 cm cannons for their 10.5 cm guns in 1933.
From July 1936 to October 1937, the boat was used four times as part of the so-called neutrality patrols off the Spanish coasts. During their first deployment from July 28 to August 27, 1936, the four boats of the 2nd Flotilla with the light cruiser Cologne followed the armored ships Deutschland and Admiral Scheer, which had first sailed, to the northern Spanish coast, where the ports of both civil war parties were called and German and other refugees followed France were evacuated. The warships not only took over refugees, but also secured the many merchant ships chartered by the Reich for the repatriation of Germans. A second mission to Spain was carried out by the 2nd Flotilla with Albatros from September 28 to November 29, 1936.
For its third mission, the flotilla was in May and June 1937 in front of the section off the Spanish east coast assigned by the Non-Interference Commission and used the Balearic Islands as a supply area. On May 25th, Red Spanish machines flew a mock attack on the Albatros , which was followed on the 26th by a bomb attack on the boat in the roadstead in Palma de Mallorca , which caused no damage. On May 29, another attack took place on the ironclad Germany, which was lying off Ibiza . Two bomb hits killed 31 men on the German flagship and another 75 suffered serious injuries. As a retaliatory measure, the Admiral Scheer under Captain Otto Ciliax shelled the fortified Almería , in whose port there were no republican warships. The ironclad was accompanied by the four boats of the 2nd Flotilla, which themselves shot at a Spanish coastal battery. On June 24th, the Albatros was replaced by the seagull and began the march back, which took place from El Ferrol together with the cruisers Cologne and Leipzig .
The last deployment of the Albatros off Spain took place from July 30th to October 7th 1937. When the 2nd torpedo boat flotilla was disbanded at the end of autumn 1937, the boat then served as a school boat in the training department of the 3rd and 5th. Destroyer Division until it was decommissioned on February 16, 1938.
The third service period of the Albatros began July 1, 1938 in the 6th torpedo boat flotilla. On November 1, 1938, the boat changed to the 5th flotilla, which at the outbreak of war in 1939 consisted of the Greif as the guide boat as well as the seagull , condor , falcon and albatross . The sixth boat in the bird of prey class, the Seeadler , belonged to the 6th flotilla.
War missions
The 5th torpedo boat flotilla was subsequently used in the mining operations in the North Sea that began on September 3, 1939 . This was followed in October as part of the trade war in the Skagerrak and Kattegat .
At the Weser Exercise Company in April 1940, the boat was part of the Warship Group 5 under Admiral Kummetz on the Blücher , which sailed with parts of the 163rd Infantry Division against Oslo . On April 9, the Albatros was unable to maneuver the Norwegian guard boat Pol III . On the same day, the torpedo boat with the condor , two clearing boats and a whaler was involved in the landing operation against the Norwegian naval port Horten . The following day, Norwegian coastal batteries fired at the Albatros near Bolaerne in the Oslofjord . Due to incorrect ship handling, the damaged boat ran aground off the city of Fredrikstad on the same day and had to be abandoned.
The wreckage, which was broken in two parts, lies at the position: 59 ° 5 ′ 40 ″ N , 10 ° 47 ′ 30 ″ E at a depth of 20 and 40 m respectively .
Shortly thereafter, the crew of the Albatros took over the Norwegian destroyer Gyller of the Sleipner class , which was captured in Kristiansand and which was put into service by the Navy as the torpedo boat Löwe . The whale catcher Pol III (214 BRT, 1926-2011, most recently Arnøytrans ), which was set on fire by the Albatros, was brought in by the Germans and was used as the outpost boat NO-05 Samoa , V-6105 and finally the NH-05 .
technical description
see also: Bird of Prey Class - Technical Description
The boat belonged to the series boats of the type 1924. These had a type displacement of 924 ts and a construction displacement of 998 t . In use they displaced 1290 t. The bunker capacity was 321 m³ of oil for a range of 2000 nautical miles at 20 knots . The drive power of the geared turbine system from Schichau was 23,000 PSw , which allowed a top speed of 33 knots. The length was 88.5 meters above all and 85.7 meters in the waterline. The width was 8.3 meters and the mean draft 3.65 meters.
When commissioned, the armament consisted of three 10.5 cm guns, two 2 cm anti-aircraft guns and six torpedo tubes .
Commanders
| May 15 to September 1928 | KL Ernst Fischer | 1894– | last: KzS |
| September 1928 - September 1930 | First Lieutenant Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer | 1900-1981 | Rear admiral |
| October 1930 - September 1932 | OLzS / KL Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs | 1899-1972 | KzS |
| September 7th - December 7th 1932 | OLzS Alfred Schemmel | 1900–1942 † | KzS |
| October 5, 1933 - October 1935 | KL Werner Hartmann | 1902-1963 | KzS |
| October 1935 - September 1936 | KL Hubert Freiherr von Wangenheim | 1904-1973 | Flotilla admiral |
| September 1936 - April 1937 | KL Georg Langheld | 1905-1973 | KzS |
| April to October 1937 | KL Hans Erdmenger | 1903–1943 † | KzS |
| November 1937 - February 16, 1938 | KL Heinrich Wittig | 1905-1974 | FK |
| July 1, 1938 - November 1939 | KL Herbert Max Schultz | 1908-1997 | KzS |
| December 1939 - April 10, 1940 | KL Siegfried Strehlow | 1911–1943 † | KK |
Known crew members
- Robert Gysae (1911–1989), was from 1967 to 1970 as Flotilla Admiral in command of the North Sea Marine Division
Individual evidence
- literature
- ↑ MJWhitley: Destroyer in World War II . Motorbuch Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 , page 29
- ↑ a b c d e Hildebrand u. a .: The German Warships, Volume I, p. 86.
- ↑ Harald Fock: Z-before! International development and war missions of destroyers and torpedo boats, vol. 1. 1914 to 1939. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0762-9 , page 83
- ↑ Harald Fock, Vol. I, p. 274
- ↑ Hildebrand et al. a .: The German warships, vol. I, p. 85f.
- Web pages
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War , August / September 1939, viewed on January 24, 2009
- ^ Chronicle of the Naval War , October 1939, accessed on January 24, 2009
- ^ Svend E. Hansen: Larvik-hvalbåt først i kamp for Norge in Østlands-Posten
- ↑ Details of Pol III wartime and post-war career
- ^ Chronicle of the Naval War , April 1940, accessed on January 24, 2009
- ↑ dykkepedia: Albatross
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