Christian VIII (ship, 1841)

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Christian VIII
Liner Christian VIII at anchor (right) with Gefion during the bombardment of the Eckernförde beach batteries
Liner Christian VIII at anchor (right) with Gefion during the bombardment of the Eckernförde beach batteries
Ship data
flag DenmarkDenmark (naval war flag) Denmark
other ship names
  • Christian the Ottende
  • Prins Christian Frederik
Ship type Ship of the line
Shipyard New Royal Shipyard on Nyholm, Copenhagen
Launch May 22, 1841
Commissioning May 11, 1841
Whereabouts Exploded on April 5, 1849 after fire
Ship dimensions and crew
length
56.96 m ( Lüa )
width 14.67 m
Draft Max. 6.59 m
displacement 1398 loads, approximately 2800 tons
 
crew approx. 665 men
Rigging and rigging
Rigging Full ship
Number of masts 3
Armament
  • 30 × 30 pounder
  • 54 × 18 pounder

The Christian VIII was a Danish ship of the line that was set on fire by German beach batteries during the Schleswig-Holstein War in 1849 in the battle near Eckernförde and then destroyed by an explosion.

The ship

The two- decker line ship was built according to plans by the commanding officer Andreas Schifter at the Copenhagen naval shipyard on Nyholm. As a factory master , Schifter built six ships of the line, six frigates and, in addition to 14 smaller vehicles, 37 gunboats .

Originally the ship was to be named Prins Christian Frederik , in the tradition of a ship of the line destroyed by English ships of the line near Ydderby in 1808, but it was named after the reigning King Christian VIII when it was commissioned .

history

Ship explosion

The ship made only two trips in its eight years of service. Once she sailed from May to August 1841 in the North Sea under command C. Lütken on a cruise. The Danish Crown Prince was in command until May 23rd. On May 24th, the king was on board with his family. At the end of the voyage, the ship brought the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince to Copenhagen.

Full equipment is only known from March 12, 1849, when the ship was equipped for a war voyage under command Frederik August Paludan . In the battle near Eckernförde , Christian VIII was set on fire by German coastal batteries and had to drop the flag. Then both sides tried to get the crew off board. During the rescue operation, the ship exploded, causing deaths on both sides.

The warpanker of Christian VIII.

Afterlife

During the war, the wreck was dived with the help of a diving bell.

A cargo ship yacht in Thurö on Fyn was built from the wood of the wreck .

On the outer wall of the St. Nicolai Church in Eckernförde is a kedge to visit with plaque.

At the Stadtkaje in Brake there is a stick anchor on loan from the Deutsches Museum in Munich .

The ship's figurehead , a portrait of King Christian VIII , was kept in Fort Wilhelm in Bremerhaven until it was acquired by Duke Ernst II of Coburg-Gotha in 1853 and placed on the Coburg Fortress. The sculpture has been in the possession of the Schleswig-Holstein State Museum in Gottorf Castle / Schleswig since 1958.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Szymanski: German sailing ships. The history of the wooden cargo sailors on the German Ost- u. North Sea coast, from the end of the 18th century to the present . (Publications by the Institute for Oceanography at the University of Berlin, B., Historisch-Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe, no.10). Mittler, Berlin 1934. P. 133, N. 83.
  2. ↑ Image on the Brake Touristinfo website
  3. ^ Georg Bessell: History of Bremerhaven . F. Morisse, Bremerhaven 1927, p. 392 .

literature

  • Gerd Stolz: The Schleswig-Holstein Navy 1848–1852. Heide in Holstein, 1978, ISBN 3-8042-0188-1 .

Web links