Bernhard von Tschirschky (ship)
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The Bernhard von Tschirschky , ex Krischan III , was an air traffic control ship of the German Air Force . She was named after Bernard of Tschirschky (1888-1918), naval officer and commander of Seeflieger the Naval Corps in the First World War .
context
With the expansion of the Air Force after the beginning of the National Socialist rule in Germany, the establishment of an efficient Air Force Sea Emergency Service began, which had to be equipped with appropriately equipped boats and ships. The first so-called air traffic control ship built for this purpose was the Krischan , a small motor ship weighing 196 tons . The Krischan was followed by two more ships of a similar type in 1935, each considerably larger than the previous one, the 375 t Gunther Plüschow and the 880 t Bernhard von Tschirschky ; the two were initially also referred to as Krischan II and Krischan III and, although they were not sister ships, considered together with their predecessor as generally belonging to the Krischan class.
Construction and technical data
The Krischan III (the service ship K III) was in 1935 with the hull number 684 in the Norderwerft Köser & Meyer in Hamburg from the stack . After the end of the test drives, it was taken over by the Reich Aviation Ministry on November 7, 1935 . On August 13, 1936, the ship was named Bernhard von Tschirschky .
The ship was 77 meters long and 11 m wide, had a draft of 3 m and displaced 880 tons (standard) and 960 tons (maximum). Three 10-cylinder four-stroke MAN - diesel engines with a total of 4800 hp enabled him three waves a top speed of 20 knots (excluding aircraft loading). 70 t of fuel enabled a range of 1500 nautical miles . The vessel was at the forward end of the aft long working deck located with a mobile Kampnagel - Portal rotary luffing crane equipped by 12 t lifting force in order to lift aircraft on deck. On the aft deck there was space for two aircraft up to the size of the types Arado Ar 196 , Heinkel He 60 or Heinkel He 114 , which could be serviced or transported there. Aircraft could also be pulled on board with a winch over a slipway at the stern . In addition to ammunition and fuel supplies, there was also a room for clearing torpedoes on board. The ship was originally armed with three 20mm Fla - MG C / 30s. In 1943 this was replaced by three 3.7 cm anti-aircraft guns and two 20 mm anti-aircraft machine guns. In August 1940 the ship was provided with an MES system and in June 1944 equipped with a KKG mine clearing device. The crew consisted of 7 officers and 54 men.
fate
The Bernard of Tschirschky was at her commissioning on November 7, 1935 or as Krischan III assumed the air District Command VI (lake). From July 1937 she belonged to the List Sea Emergency District Office (SNB) and was stationed in List . After the start of the war, she was involved in the recovery of various aircraft and their crews that had been forced into the German Bight . In April 1940 she took part in the Weser Exercise Company , the occupation of Norway , and was then stationed in Trondheim from June 1940 under the Sea Emergency Service Leader (SNDF II) . After the occupation of France , the ship was stationed at the SNDF I in Cherbourg on August 30, 1940 . With his help, the so-called "Udet buoys" were laid along the French coast . On April 8, 1943, it switched to SNDF 5 (North) and operated from different Norwegian ports. At the beginning of December 1943, the ship moved through the Kattegat to the Baltic Sea .
On June 20, 1944, the ship, lying in the Norderwerft, was damaged in an air raid on Hamburg. Five crew members were killed, including the commander and the first officer. The widespread representation that the ship was sunk by aerial bombs in Kiel on January 4, 1944, is obviously based on a confusion with the Krischan (I).
literature
- Dieter Jung, Berndt Wenzel, Arno Abendroth: Ships and boats of the German sea pilots 1912-1976. 1st edition, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-469-7 .
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung and Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 - Volume 7: The ships and boats of the German sea pilots . Bernard & Graefe, Munich, 1982.
- Volkmar Kühn (di Franz Kurowski ): The sea emergency service of the German Air Force 1939–1945. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3879435642 , ISBN 978-3879435647 .