Gorch Fock class
Gorch Fock (I) in Stralsund
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
The Gorch Fock class is a six-ship class of sailing training ships . Four of these ships were for the German Navy one each for, Romanian Navy and the German Navy built. All of them were built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg . Five ships of the Gorch Fock class still exist today, four of which are still used as sailing training ships in various navies. This class is named after not, as is often wrongly assumed, the sailing training ship of the German Federal Navy Gorch Fock II , but the first ship of this class, the Gorch Fock I , which is moored in the Stralsund harbor.
history
The Imperial Navy in 1909 with the Charlotte their last training ship out of service. The training of midshipmen and cabin boys was carried out by the Victoria Louise- class ships converted for this purpose . It was not until 1922 that a sailing training ship , the Niobe, was used again in the Reichsmarine . This went down on July 26, 1932 as a result of a white gust near Fehmarn , with 69 men of the crew drowned. Since the Reichsmarine did not want to do without training on sailing ships, drafts for a new ship were requested from several shipyards. Special emphasis was placed on the stability of the ship. A About rigging as the Niobe should be avoided. The contract was ultimately awarded to Blohm & Voss, where on May 3, 1933, after a very short construction period, the new sailing training ship, named after the writer Gorch Fock, was launched.
The Gorch Fock performed very well. Since their capacity was soon no longer sufficient due to the increased armament of the Kriegsmarine, three more ships were ordered from Blohm & Voss between 1936 and 1939 at a unit price of around 2.4 million marks . These were built according to slightly modified plans and were slightly larger than the type ship. The Kingdom of Romania commissioned the shipyard in 1938 with the fifth ship of the class, which is the only one that is exactly identical to the type ship. With the exception of the Herbert Norkus , which was not completed due to the war , all ships were used as training ships before and during the Second World War .
After the war, all five units were Allied war booty. While the Mircea returned to Romania, the Gorch Fock remained as Towarishch in Soviet possession. The Horst Wessel went to the United States , the Albert Leo Schlageter , first to the United States and then in 1948 in Brazil . The Herbert Norkus was loaded with gas ammunition and sunk in the Skagerrak in 1947 . Parts intended for them were used by Blohm & Voss in 1958 in the construction of the sixth ship in the class, which was again named Gorch Fock and is in service with the German Navy. While the type ship of the class has been in Stralsund since 2003 under its old name as a non-seaworthy museum ship , the remaining four units are still in service as sailing training ships in Germany, the United States, Portugal and Romania.
Ships of the class
- Gorch Fock : The ship was launched on May 3, 1933. Until September 1939 and again from April 1944 on, it was used as a training ship for theNavy. On May 1, 1945, theGorch Fock wassunkin theStrelasundby its own crew. In 1948 the Soviets lifted the ship and, after repairing it, used it as atovarishch. After two years of service in theUkrainian Navy, the ship was deactivated in 1993. In 1999 it came toWilhelmshavenand in 2003 became the property of the “Tall-Ship Friends” association. In the same year the ship got its old name back and was brought to Stralsund.
- Horst Wessel : Thelaunchingof the ship took place on 13 June 1936. By the beginning of September 1939 and April 1943 to May 1945, it stood as a training ship in the service of the Navy. After the war ended, the ship was transferred to the United States. There it servesas the training ship of theUnited States Coast Guardunder the new name USCGCEagle.
- Albert Leo Schlageter : On October 30, 1937, the ship was launched in Hamburg. From February 1938 to September 1939 and again from January 1944 to May 1945, theAlbert Leo Schlageterserved as a training ship for the Navy. In 1945 it wasconfiscated by the AlliesinFlensburg. In 1948 the ship was sold toBraziland used there as aGuanabarauntil 1961. Subsequently, Portugal acquired the ship. AsSagres, it is still in service with thePortuguese Navyas a training sailing ship.
- Mircea : The only ship of the class not built for Germany was launched on September 22, 1938. After the Second World War, theMircea wasconfiscatedby theSoviet Union, but returned to Romania after a short time. The ship is still in service with theRomanian Navyas a sailing training ship.
- Herbert Norkus : The fourth sailing training ship of the Kriegsmarine was launched on November 7, 1939. It was a Notstapellauf to theslipwayfor the important wartimesubmarine-construction freizubekommen. The ship was at the shipyard during the Second World War, but was not completed. After the end of the war, the Allies intended to sell the ship to Brazil, but this was not done due to war damage. TheHerbert Norkuswas loaded with gas ammunition and sunk in the Skagerrak in 1947. The parts of the rigging stored at the shipyard were later used to build the last ship in the class.
- Gorch Fock : The newly establishedGerman Navyhada new sailing training ship built according to the plans ofGorch FockandHorst Wesselusing the parts of theHerbert Norkusfrom Blohm & Voss. The ship was ready for launch on August 23, 1958. Since December 17, 1958, the training ship, again calledGorch Fock, has been in service with theGerman Navy.
At the beginning of the 1980s, four training sailing ships were built at the Celaya shipyard in the Spanish city of Bilbao , and they are very similar to the Gorch-Fock class: the Cuauhtémoc for the Mexican Navy , the Gloria for the Colombian Navy , the Guayas for the Ecuadorian Navy and the Simón Bolívar for the Venezuelan Navy. These ships are generally not considered to be sister ships of the Gorch Fock.
technology
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/%27Sagres%27_in_Belfast_Lough_-_Tall_Ships_Belfast_2009_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1446241.jpg/220px-%27Sagres%27_in_Belfast_Lough_-_Tall_Ships_Belfast_2009_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1446241.jpg)
The hull of the ships is made of steel and has transverse ribs. Its greatest width is 12.0 m. The original design, according to which the Gorch Fock (I) and the Mircea were built, has a total length of 74.0 m . The waterline of both ships is 62.0 m, the draft is 4.8 m. The maximum displacement is 1,500 t , whereby the structural displacement was calculated to be 1,354 t.
The four other units in the class are 89.0 m above all and 70.0 m in the waterline. Its draft is 5.0 m, which is due to the increased maximum displacement to 1,750 t. The constructive displacement increased compared to the type ship to 1,634 t.
Rigging
The ships of the Gorch Fock class are rigged as barges . On the three masts, 23 sails with a total area of 1800 m² can be set at Gorch Fock (I) and Mircea and 1934 to 1974 m² at the other ships. Both Mars and mizzen sails are divided. The rigging was the main propulsion of the Gorch-Fock class and enables the units to reach top speeds of over 16 knots.
Auxiliary drive
In addition to the rigging, the ships have an auxiliary drive. The Gorch Fock (I) was powered by a six-cylinder four - stroke diesel engine made by MAN . This made 520 hp and acted on a screw with a 1.39 m diameter. The diesel drive enabled the ship to reach a top speed of 8 knots . An eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engine with 750 hp was installed on the following ships . In conjunction with the three-winged screw with a diameter of 2.5 m, the drive enabled a top speed of 10 knots.
Armament
Since the Gorch Fock class is intended for nautical training, the ships originally did not have any armament. During the Second World War, the three ships used in the Navy each received eight anti-aircraft guns of 2 cm caliber .
crew
The crew of the ships of the Gorch Fock class consists of a crew and located for the training period on board of officers under sub cadets together. The regular crew of the Gorch Fock (I) consisted of nine officers and 58 NCOs and crews , including 198 apprentices. The number of officers on the following ships remained the same, but the number of lower ranks rose to 69. There is also room for up to 220 cadets on board.
literature
- Erich Gröner : The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 2 : Special ships, auxiliary war ships, auxiliary ships, small ship formations . JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1968, p. 626-628 .
- Hans H. Hildebrand / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . 10 volumes. Mundus Verlag, Ratingen (licensed edition by Koehler's Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg, approx. 1990).
Footnotes
- ↑ All data refer to the type ship.
- ↑ a b c Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz: The German warships. Vol. 3, p. 233.
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz, Vol. 6, p. 160.
- ↑ a b c d Erich Gröner: The German warships. Vol. 2, p. 626.
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz, Vol. 3, p. 232 f.
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz, vol. 4, p. 180 f.
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz, vol. 1, p. 216 f.
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz, Vol. 4, p. 114.
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz, Vol. 3, p. 234.
- ↑ Mexico's “Gorch Fock” on a visit to Kiel , from: August 13, 2019; accessed on: August 13, 2019
- ^ European sailing information system. Gorch Fock (I) and her sisters - a comparison , accessed on: August 13, 2019
- ↑ a b c d Erich Gröner, Vol. 2, p. 628.
- ↑ Data on Sagres. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 15, 2012 ; Retrieved September 12, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.