Cologne (ship, 1928)
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The Köln was a light cruiser of the Reichsmarine and the later Kriegsmarine . The ship was named after the city of Cologne and was the third and last unit of the Königsberg class . Sister ships were the Königsberg and the Karlsruhe .
history
Construction and commissioning
The launch of the Cologne as the third and last unit of the Königsberg class took place on May 23, 1928 at the Reichsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in the presence of the Cologne mayor Konrad Adenauer , the Reichswehr Minister Wilhelm Groener and the chief of the naval command, Admiral Hans Zenker .
commitment
From December 8, 1932 to December 12, 1933, the cruiser Cologne undertook a training trip for future officers. It led from Wilhelmshaven through the North Sea and the Biscay to Spain . Then it went to the Mediterranean , where Italy and Egypt were visited. Then it went through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea and into the Indian Ocean . On the journey from Sabang to Fremantle , the equator baptism took place on March 2, 1933 . The other stations were Sydney , Hobart , Rabaul , Guam , Japan , China , Flores and Ceylon . Then it went again through the Suez Canal, through the Mediterranean, the Biscay and the North Sea back to Wilhelmshaven.
During the Spanish Civil War, Cologne patrolled the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
During the Second World War, Cologne took part in operations in the Baltic Sea and in the Weser Exercise company . Then she was used as a mine layer and occasionally in the trade war in the North Sea. In 1939 and 1940, tests of a Flettner Fl 265 were carried out on the cruiser Köln , and a landing platform was built on Tower B. After a submarine attack in February 1943, the Cologne and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper had to be decommissioned because of the major repairs that were necessary. The Köln was not back in service until March 1944 , now as a training ship .
On December 12, 1944, the Köln was badly damaged in a bombing raid and then brought to Wilhelmshaven for repairs. There the ship was aground in another air raid by five bombs on March 31, 1945 in the construction port of the Kriegsmarine shipyard. The two aft treble towers remained operational and were able to intervene in the battles around Wilhelmshaven in the last days of the war. They shot at the advancing British until the available 6 inch ammunition was used up. The wreck was then blown up.
photos
Launch
Launched with Hans Zenker , Wilhelm Groener , Konrad Adenauer and Gustav Noske
The Cologne with a Heinkel He 60
Cologne crew at the monument in Tsingtau, China
Commanders
| January 15, 1930 to September 27, 1932 | Frigate captain / sea captain Ludwig von Schröder |
| September 28, 1932 to March 19, 1934 | Frigate Captain / Sea Captain Otto Schniewind |
| March 20, 1934 to September 30, 1935 | Frigate captain / sea captain Werner Fuchs |
| October 1, 1935 to October 15, 1937 | Frigate captain / sea captain Otto Backenköhler |
| October 16, 1937 to January 14, 1940 | Sea captain Theodor Burchardi |
| January 15, 1940 to May 28, 1941 | Sea captain Ernst Kratzenberg |
| May 29, 1941 to March 28, 1942 | Sea captain Friedrich Hüffmeier |
| March 29 to May 24, 1942 | Corvette Captain Hellmuth Strobel (deputy) |
| May 25 to December 12, 1942 | Sea captain Martin Baltzer |
| December 13, 1942 to February 17, 1943 | Sea captain Hans Karl Meyer |
| April 1, 1944 to January 1945 | Frigate Captain / Captain Hellmuth Strobel |
| January to April 1945 | Corvette Captain Fritz-Henning Brande |
Known crew members
- Heinz Neukirchen (1915–1986) was Vice Admiral in the People's Navy of the GDR and President of the Directorate for Shipping and Port Management and also wrote several maritime books
- Otto Kretschmer (1912–1998), was from 1965 to 1970 as Flotilla Admiral Chief of Staff at the NATO Commander of the Naval Forces Baltic Sea Accesses
literature
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung and Martin Maass: The German Warships 1815–1945 Volume 1 . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 .
- Robert Gardiner (ed.), Roger Chesneau (ed.): Conway's All the World Fighting Ships 1922-1946 . Conway Maritime Press Ltd, London 1980, ISBN 0-85177-146-7 .
- Harald Fock: Fleet Chronicle . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-7822-0788-2 .
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ The cruiser Cologne - trips abroad and journeys ( memento from March 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), viewed on November 14, 2009
- ↑ Christine Winter: “A Good-Will Ship”: The Light Cruiser Cologne Visits Rabaul (1933) . In: Australian Journal of Politics & History . tape 54 , no. 1 , February 26, 2008, ISSN 0004-9522 , p. 44-54 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1467-8497.2008.00483.x .