Lightship Borkumriff

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lightship Borkumriff IV

Borkumriff was 1875-1988 a fire vessel position , initially to 53 ° 51 '0 "  N , 6 ° 26' 0"  O , then later at position 53 ° 43 '0 "  N , 6 ° 23' 0"  O (1970 because the changed shipping lanes at 53 ° 48 ′ 0 ″  N , 6 ° 22 ′ 0 ″  E ), about 30 kilometers northwest of the island of Borkum in one of the main shipping lanes of the German Bight . The ships used had the designation Feuerschiff Borkumriff during active use in this position .

Overview of the ships used

  • 1875–1902: Borkumriff I
  • 1902–1911: Borkumriff II
  • 1911–1956: Borkumriff III
  • 1956–1988: Borkumriff IV
  • since 1988: UFS (unmanned lightship)

Details of the ships used

Borkum reef I

The first lightship in this position was the Borkumriff I, built in 1875 at the H. Klattenhoff shipyard in Emden . The wooden three-masted sailor had a length of 31.7 meters, a width of 7.1 meters and a displacement of 181  tons . The identification in the dark consisted of a red light on the mainmast and a white light each on the foremast and mizzenmast . It was first laid out on October 26, 1875.

After its service at the Borkumriff position , it was a reserve lightship from 1902 to 1911. In 1911 it was decommissioned. Nothing is known about its whereabouts; it was probably scrapped.

Borkum reef II

The lightship Borkumriff II had a length of 47.5 meters and a draft of 3.0 meters. It was built in 1902 by Werft AG "Weser" in Bremen as a three-masted iron sailing ship. The height of the masts was 16.5 m for the foremast, 18.5 m for the main mast and 16.2 m for the mizzen mast.

In 1902 it replaced its predecessor, the Borkumriff I, on the position. An eventful history followed from 1911. After it was initially a replacement lightship, it was used in six different positions until its decommissioning in 1951. In September 1952 it was sold to the Ritscher company in Hamburg to be scrapped .

Borkumriff III

The third lightship with the name Borkumriff was completed in 1911 at the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg . The ship impressed with its sharply cut clipper hull and served - with interruptions due to the war - until 1956 as the main lightship in this position. In the middle of the Second World War , the water engineering department of the city of Emden relocated the lightship as protection from bombing to Leer , where it was completely robbed in the last days of the war. The centerpiece of the floating lighthouse, the optics, was also shot. The lightship could no longer be used until 1949.

The Emden Staatswerft refurbished the ship with provisional funds from the post-war period. The Wilhelm Weule glass mill from the Goslar district of Oker fabricated a new beacon optics for the hitherto unique pendant light system. In this construction, the so-called lantern is hung in the tower of the ship in such a way that, despite all the rolling and pitching of the ship, it always emits light horizontally to the horizon. With the new light, the ship was initially in different positions on the compulsory routes cleared by sea ​​mines between Great Britain and the German Bight . Finally it was then at the position “JE33-Borkumriff”, sixteen nautical miles from Borkum.

After 45 years of service, on March 18, 1956, a fourth new building in Borkumriff replaced the old main lightship. Until the final decommissioning, the third lightship Borkumriff served as a reserve lightship in various positions on the German North Sea coast.

The Dutch radio consortium "VRON" bought the old lightship in November 1959. This gave the old "Lady" an unexpected radio career . VRON removed the lantern tower and upgraded the ship as a commercial, unapproved radio transmitter and thus a transmission ship . As a pirate station (offshore radio) " Veronica " it was near Scheveningen off the Dutch coast. On November 16, 1964, it was replaced by the new transmission ship " HH 294 Norderney " at the anchor position and finally decommissioned. The former lightship was then scrapped in Zeebrugge, Belgium .

Borkumriff IV

The last manned ship on the Borkumriff position was Borkumriff IV, built in 1954 . The 53.7 m long and 9 m wide ship has a draft of 4.4 m and a displacement of 825  tons . It was built with construction number 813 at the Norderwerft Köser & Meyer in Hamburg. Its fire at a height of 20.5 m above the waterline had a range of 21.5  nautical miles . For the first time in lightship construction, superstructures and lamp posts were made entirely of aluminum . In March 1956 it was put into service and laid out. It replaced the previous lightship Borkumriff III .

After it was decommissioned on July 15, 1988 - the last German lightship - it was acquired by the “Borkumriff” development association and has been in the Borkum protective port ever since . There the museum ship can be viewed , which also contains information about the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park . In 2007 Borkumriff IV was the location for a remake of the story Das Feuerschiff by Siegfried Lenz .

UFS

The position in Borkumriff is no longer staffed today. Since 1988 the upstream station "GW / EMS" (German Bight Western Approach / Ems) is formerly "TW / EMS" (Tiefwasserweg / Ems) with the position 54 ° 10 ′ 0 ″  N , 6 ° 20 ′ 48 ″  E with a UFS, an unmanned lightship, manned, which is the last of its kind in the German Bight today. It is part of the MARNET measuring stations .

home port

For the lightships, which were moored in front of the Borkum reef in the Wester ems estuary between 1875 and 1988 , Emden was always the home port - also as the seat of the responsible water and shipping office .

See also

literature

Web links

Coordinates: 53 ° 43 ′ 0 ″  N , 6 ° 23 ′ 0 ″  E