Air traffic control ship
Air traffic control ships were special ships of the German Navy and later the Air Force to rescue by sea downed water and land aircraft and their crews in the coastal area. However, these ships also fulfilled various other tasks in the field of sea aviation and, during World War II, not least in the military field, such as supporting sea air reconnaissance and transports of all kinds.
history
In Germany, the first two rescue and air traffic control ships were built in 1932 and 1934, initially within the Reichsmarine, which was renamed the Kriegsmarine in 1935. But when, under political pressure from the Reich Aviation Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Hermann Göring , the naval aviators were integrated into the Air Force in January 1939, the existing air traffic control ships also came to the Air Force, which then had a number of other ships built. The air traffic control ships of the Luftwaffe, built from the late 1930s onwards, were designed so that they could also serve as aircraft mother ships for the three-engine flying boats Blohm & Voss BV 138 , which were used as long-range reconnaissance vehicles from 1940.
With the rapid development of the Luftwaffe from 1935 onwards, it became necessary to set up an efficient Luftwaffe sea emergency service with appropriately equipped boats and ships. In the course of time, a total of around 80 lifeboats, well over 200 flight operations boats and flight operations speedboats, two rescue vessels, ten air traffic control vessels and at least eleven auxiliary air traffic control vessels were built or converted. They were originally used in five distress districts, two in the North Sea and three in the Baltic Sea . In the war years, each air fleet had its own distress area (later Sea Emergency Service Leader [SNDF]) that covered the associated sea areas.
technology
The air traffic control ships were ships with speeds of 15 to 20 knots in order to be able to reach aircraft in distress as quickly as possible. They had an aircraft crane to pick up the wrecked machines, and the smooth upper deck of the aft was used to transport aircraft. There were also technical facilities for supplying aircraft with fuel and for light repair work on board, as well as accommodation and medical supply facilities for aircraft crews and rescued persons.
Air traffic control ships of the German Air Force before and during World War II
- 12 air traffic control and salvage ships
- Phoenix - salvage ship BS I
- Krischan (ex Krischan I ) - air traffic control ship KI
- Gunther Plüschow (ex Krischan II ) - air traffic control ship K II
- Bernhard von Tschirschky (ex Krischan III ) - air traffic control ship K III
- Hans Rolshoven - air traffic control ship K IV; the ship wasvery similar tothose of the so-called Krischan class
- Greif salvage ship BS II
- Karl Meyer class - air traffic control ship KV; the four ships were very similar to the Hans Rolshoven .
-
Hans-Albrecht-Wedel -class air traffic control ship K VI; the ships of this class were slightly larger than those of the previous KV class
- Hans Albrecht Wedel
- Richthofen
- Hermann Köhl (no longer completed)
- two other planned ships of the class were no longer laid down
- 12 auxiliary air traffic control vessels
- Altair , former herring logger
- Brandenburg
- Drache (after the occupation of Crete in May 1941 as an auxiliary air traffic control ship in the Aegean Sea , handed over to the Navy in 1944)
- Frida
- Kranich , ex minesweeper M 77
- Obra
- Orion
- Prince Homburg
- Ursula
- Victoria
- Whale 10
- Whale 11
See also
literature
- Volkmar Kühn : The sea emergency service of the German Air Force 1939-1945. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-87943-564-2 , ISBN 978-3-87943-564-7 .
- 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 .