Eider class
The Eider class was a class of two ships that were used in various functions in the British Royal Navy , the German Maritime Border Guard and the German Navy . In Germany they were called Eider and Trave .
origin
Both ships were 1941 Davie Shipbuilding in Lauzon set to Kiel in the Canadian province of Quebec and the end of 1942 as a Naval Trawler ( patrol boat provided) of Isles-class for the British Royal Navy in service. They were named HMS Flint (T287) and HMS Dochet (T286). The class consisted of 197 ships that were used in addition to the British in the Canadian, New Zealand, Portuguese and Italian navies. They were crewed by about 40 men. The class was designed to be used as a fishing trawler after the war ended.
Little is known about Flint and Dochet's fate between 1947 and 1951. In 1951 both were owned by Belgium and were to be converted into fish steamers with the names Catherina (ex- Dochet ) and Cornelia (ex- Flint ). The German Maritime Border Protection, which is currently under construction, acquired the two ships in February 1952 after the conversion that had begun had proven too costly.
Service in the maritime border protection
The sea border protection had the conversion of the ships into escort and transport ships according to their specifications at the Atlas works in Bremen to completion. They were named after north German rivers and put into service in September 1953 ( Eider , ex- Dochet ) and February 1954 ( Trave , ex- Flint ). Both ships were directly under the command of the Sea Border Protection Association in Kiel . Eider was stationed in Neustadt in Holstein to support the 1st watchboat and P-boat flotilla . Trave supported the 3rd and 4th watchboat flotilla in Kiel. The ships had commanders with the rank of first lieutenant in the BGS or captainleutnants in the BGS. The crew was 39 men with additional accommodation for a further 31 people.
In January 1956, the construction of the Federal Navy began and it was decided that the maritime border protection would be transferred to it on July 1, 1956 with personnel and material. In the transition period, the Eider and Trave , which were still part of the maritime border protection, supported the German Navy as training ships, with the crew being supplemented by naval instructors. The first officer candidates of the German Navy, newly hired as Crew I / 56 , received their nautical training in the spring of 1956 on the Eider and Trave .
Service in the German Navy
On July 1, 1956, both ships became part of the German Navy and were assigned to the Baltic Sea School Squadron in Kiel as class 319 school boats. They kept their names and assigned the NATO IDs A 50 ( Eider ) and A 51 ( Trave ). After its dissolution, on October 1, 1958, they moved to what was then the 1st Escort Squadron, which was renamed the School Squadron on July 1, 1960 . After its dissolution on September 30, 1963, both boats were converted for different tasks. The crew changed a lot, with the use as a school boat with 20 men regular crew and 60 students. Later, around 45 soldiers were on board, and Eider received a reduced civilian crew after its conversion.
Eider
The Eider was initially assigned to the Naval Underwater Weapons School. In this function she served as a school boat for mine divers and combat swimmers training. From 1969 she was converted into a mine throwing and light boat (NATO identification Y 1663) of class 752. From October 1, 1974 she was subordinate to the Naval Weapons School in Eckernförde , whose training company she supported in several functions. In April 1978 it was decommissioned, sold for scrapping and scrapped in Brake . The steam engine is in the WTZ
Trave
The Trave was assigned to the mine-laying squadron and converted into a class 751 measuring boat. As such, it was used for electronic reconnaissance until it was decommissioned on November 25, 1971. It was sold via VEBEG to Eckart & Co in Hamburg for scrapping .
technology
The Isle-class naval trawlers had a steel hull and were powered by a steam system with a boiler and a triple -acting piston steam engine that acted on a four-bladed propeller. The ships also had three diesel generators with an output of 110 kVA. During the conversion for sea border protection, they received a fourth generator to operate a Pleuger active rudder . This pleugher rudder was also an auxiliary drive for speeds of up to 5 kn.
When they were bought by the Maritime Border Guard, both ships at a Belgian shipyard had been lengthened by four meters for use in fishing and were to be given a new drive system. This had already been expanded on the Trave and was replaced by a diesel-electric drive . Eider kept the original steam propulsion system. The two ships were 53.9 m long and displaced about 750 ts when fully equipped. They reached a top speed of 13 knots.
Armament
The original British armament consisted of a 76 mm gun , three or four 20 mm Oerlikon cannons and 30 depth charges . This armament was removed when it was sold to private owners.
The Maritime Border Guard planned to equip the ships with four 20 mm guns, but the installation of the armament was delayed until after the handover to the German Navy. This initially had two 20-mm guns equipped in single mounts, later one of these guns was replaced by a 40-mm gun. As a mine throwing and light boat, Eider was not armed. Trave carried a 40 mm gun as a measuring boat.
literature
- Siegfried Breyer, Gerhard Koop: The ships, vehicles and planes of the German Navy 1956 until today . Munich 1996, ISBN 3-7637-5950-6 .
- Friedrich Poske : The sea border protection 1951-1956. Reminder - report - documentation . Koblenz / Bonn 1982. ISBN 3-7637-5410-5 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Friedrich Poske: The sea border protection 1951-1956. Reminder - report - documentation . Koblenz / Bonn 1982. ISBN 3-7637-5410-5 .
- ^ A b c Siegfried Breyer, Gerhard Koop: The ships, vehicles and planes of the German Navy 1956 until today . Munich 1996, ISBN 3-7637-5950-6 .
- ^ Hendrik Killi: Minesweeper of the German Navy . Hamburg et al. 2002, ISBN 3-8132-0785-4 .
- ↑ Erich Gröner (continued by Peter Schenk and Reinhard Kramer): The German Warships 1815 - 2015. Vol. 9/1, The ships and boats of the German Navy, their predecessors after 1945 and the German Navy. 2. verb. Edition Berlin 2019, p. 129 ISBN 978-3-9813904-4-5