Gustav Nachtigal (ship, 1940)

Gustav Nachtigal

Model of the Gustav Nachtigal (with speed boats)

Ship data flag  Poland German Empire   other ship names Lewant II Ship type Speedboat escort Shipyard Cockerill , Hoboken (Antwerp) ; Wilton-Fijenoord , Schiedam Launch May 8, 1940 Commissioning May 13, 1944 Whereabouts Sunk on June 15, 1944

Ship dimensions and crew length 114 m ( Lüa ) width 14.7 m Draft Max. 6.01 m displacement 3100 t (standard), 3700 t (maximum)   crew 225 men

Machine system machine Burmeister & Wain - marine diesel engine Machine performance 3,800 hp (2,795 kW) Top speed 15 kn (28 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 3 × 10.5 cm sc 3 × 2 × 3.7 cm sc 5 × 2 × 2 cm flak

The Gustav Nachtigal was a refrigerated ship built in Belgium for a Polish shipping company, but not completed , which was confiscated by the German Navy during World War II and converted into a speedboat escort.

fate

The ship was at the shipyard John Cockerill SA in Hoboken (Antwerp) built and ran there on May 8, 1940 two days before the attack of the German Wehrmacht in the Netherlands , Belgium and Luxembourg , from the stack . It was to sail as a motorized fruit ship under the name Lewant II . The ship was 114 m long and 14.7 m wide and had a draft of 6.01 m. A 3800 HP diesel engine from Burmeister & Wain and two propellers allowed a top speed of 17 knots .

The unfinished ship, like its sister ship , the later Hermann von Wißmann , was confiscated at the shipyard by the Wehrmacht after the occupation of Antwerp in May 1940 . Mainly because of the lack of copper, a final decision to continue building and using the two ships was not made until almost two years later, at the end of April 1942. The ship was completed as an S-boat companion. Its armament consisted of three 10.5-cm rapid-loading cannons , three 3.7-cm twin flak and five 2-cm twin flak. The water displacement was 3100 t (standard) and 3700 t (maximum). The cruising range was 10,000 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 15 knots. The regular crew numbered around 225 men.

The Navy named the ship after the Africa explorer and former Reich Commissioner for German West Africa Gustav Nachtigal (1823–1885) and put it into service on May 13, 1944 under the orders of Corvette Captain dR Bohm. One month later, on 15 June 1944 it was about 10 km north of the Dutch island Schiermonnikoog in an attack British Beaufighter - torpedo bomber of the RAF Coastal Command on a German convoy by an air torpedo sunk. The freighter Amerskerk (7900 GRT) and the minesweeper M 103 also fell victim to the same attack .

Coordinates: 53 ° 34 ′ 30 ″  N , 6 ° 10 ′ 12 ″  E

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-06.htm

Web links

• http://s-boot.net/gustav%20nachtigal.html
• http://www.deutsche-kriegsschiffe.de/Schiffe/schnellbootbegleitschiffe/nachtigal.htm

literature

• Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945, Volume 4: Auxiliary ships I: workshop ships, tenders and escort ships, tankers and suppliers. Bernard & Graefe, 1986, ISBN 978-3-7637-4803-7 .
• Volkmar Kühn: Schnellboot im Einsatz 1939-45 (3rd edition), Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, 1997, ISBN 3-87943-450-6 , ISBN 978-3-87943-450-3 .