Ammerland (ship, 1921)
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The Ammerland was a former cargo steamer named August Schulze , which was converted into a submarine tender by the German Navy and used in World War II .
Construction and technical data
The ship was launched on 22 June 1921 in the North German shipyard (Rickmers shipyard) in Wesermünde with the hull number 197 for the Oldenburg-Portuguese Steamship Rhederei in Hamburg from the stack and was put into service on August 21, 1921st The 2,452 GRT ship was 84.86 m long and 12.35 m wide, had a draft of 7.93 m and was powered by a 3-cylinder steam engine. The top speed was 11 knots .
fate
On March 23, 1937 chartered the Navy the ship for use as supply and depot ship for operating on the Spanish Mediterranean coast German warships there during the Spanish Civil War in the international naval blockade to enforce a weapons embargo against Spain were involved, or to camouflaged transport of weapons and ammunition for the coup plotters.
The Navy bought the ship on September 17, 1938, took it over on November 9 and put it into service on December 17. The commandant was Corvette Captain Metzger. At the Stettiner Oderwerke and at F. Schichau in Königsberg it was then converted into a submarine escort ship. The ship was armed with two 8.8 cm rapid fire cannons, a 10.5 cm anti-aircraft gun on a Utof mount, a 7.5 cm rapid fire cannon and four machine guns. On February 28, 1939, it was renamed Ammerland .
On October 13, 1939, the ship was under the cover name Sandhörn for a special mission as a submarine supplier z. b. V. and weather ship prepared in the Iceland / Greenland sea area ; for camouflage it was transferred to the Hanseatic company Aschpurwis & Veltjens in Hamburg on November 28th and entered in the merchant ship register, and the crew was dressed as civilians. On February 29, 1940, the transfer back to the Kriegsmarine-Dienststelle (KMD) Hamburg followed. In April 1940, the name was again changed to Ammerland and the ship was assigned to the 1st submarine flotilla. The new commandant was First Lieutenant zur See dR Gottfried Pohl. In the same year a VES system was installed and the armament changed; the ship now had two 10.5 cm Utof anti-aircraft guns; one 3.7 cm flak and three 2 cm flak. In August 1941, the ship changed to the 5th submarine flotilla as an escort ship and target ship and on October 1, 1941 to the 27th submarine (training group of Italian submarines). From April 1942 the ship served with the 26th U-Boat Flotilla, from June 1944 on with the 24th U-Boat Flotilla.
The End
The ship was damaged by a mine on July 28, 1943 off Pillau , but it was repaired. In August 1944, the Ammerland came to the 14th Security Flotilla ( 9th Security Division ) in the eastern Baltic Sea as a tender and mine destruction ship . There she collided with an outpost boat on February 10, 1945 during an attack by the Soviet submarine SC 318 southwest of Libau and sank in 40 m water depth to position 56 ° 26 ′ 0 ″ N , 20 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ E, .
The wreck is still off Liepāja, at about 30 m depth on its port side, and can be dived.
literature
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 4: Auxiliary Ships I: Workshop Ships, Tenders and Support Ships, Tankers and Suppliers. Bernard & Graefe, 1986, ISBN 3-7637-4803-2 .
- Dieter Jung, Martin Maass, Berndt Wenzel: Tanker and supplier of the German fleet 1900–1980 . Motorbuch-Verlag, 1981, ISBN 3-87943-780-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.divernet.com/wrecks/p298419-treasures-of-latvia.html Treasures of Latvia, at www.divernet.com