Krischan the Great

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Krischan the Great p1
Ship data
flag German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Ship type Flak carrier
class Single ship
Shipyard Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij , Rotterdam
Build number 242
Keel laying Fall 1940
Launch 1941
Commissioning November 19, 1942
Whereabouts Sunk by British air raids on February 24, 1944
Ship dimensions and crew
length
38.5 m ( Lüa )
width 5.9 m
Draft Max. 1.5 m
displacement 112 t
 
crew 19th
Machine system
machine 3 BMW aircraft engines
Machine
performance 		2,000 PS (1,471 kW)
Top
speed 		19 kn (35 km / h)
propeller 3
Armament

When commissioned

  • 1 x 8.8 cm
  • 1 x 3.7 cm
  • 4 x 2.0 cm
  • Depth charges

From 1943

  • 1 x 3.7 cm
  • 8 x 2.0 cm
  • Depth charges

The Krischan the Great was a so-called flak carrier of the Luftwaffe in World War II . The ship was called an anti-aircraft carrier because the Luftwaffe wanted to distinguish it from the anti-aircraft ships of the Navy . (The name Flusi 1 (air traffic control ship 1), which can sometimes also be found in the relevant literature and on websites, seems to be based on a confusion with the first air traffic control ship of the Air Force, the Krischan .)

Concept, construction and technical data

The Reich Ministry of Aviation ordered the ship as a test prototype as part of the planning for the invasion of England ( Operation Sea Lion ) in 1940. The concept envisaged a simple, small vehicle that, with its powerful anti-aircraft armament, could move the airspace over the English Channel and along the Dutch and should control the French coast and, in particular , repel low- flying attacks. During the development, however, some important aspects were neglected, which were so negatively significant during the later testing by the "Admiral of the Swinoujscie Sea Command for gun tests" that the construction of the originally planned 100 replicas was abandoned. One problem was that the weapons - as is usual with land weapons - only had two axes of movement, which caused considerable difficulties when operated at sea. There was also no provision for throttling the aircraft engines used for propulsion; therefore, mooring maneuvers had to be carried out at a high speed, which turned out to be extremely complicated and prone to damage.

The ship was in the fall of 1940 in the shipyard Rotterdamsche Dry Dock with the hull number 242 on down Kiel , ran 1941 from the pile and was put into service on 19 November 1,942th It was 38.5 m long and 5.90 m wide and had a 1.50 m draft . The water displacement was 112 t . Three gasoline-powered aircraft engines from BMW with a total of around 2,000 hp enabled a top speed of 19 knots with three shafts and screws . The range was 860 nautical miles . Due to the high fire hazard of the fuel, the machines were replaced by diesel engines after a while .

The armament of the ship originally consisted of two 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns (one on the forecastle , one on the aft deck ), a 37 mm single anti-aircraft gun in front of the bridge house , and a 20 mm quadruple anti-aircraft gun behind it Bridge house and several depth charges . The eighth-cm Flak was replaced in 1943 by a second 20-mm Flak Quad.

Whereabouts

The ship was sunk on February 24, 1944 by British bombers west of Bergen aan Zee ; 11 crew members were killed.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ According to some sources, however, it should have been around 300 t.

literature

  • Dieter Jung, Berndt Wenzel, Arno Abendroth: The ships and boats of the German sea pilots 1912-1976. 1st edition, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-469-7

Web links