Leipzig (ship, 1931)
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The light cruiser Leipzig was a warship of the German Reich and Kriegsmarine before and during World War II . The ship, along with the light cruiser Nürnberg, was one of the last light cruisers built in Germany. She was the type ship of the Leipzig class .
history
The ship was built from 1929 to 1931 at the Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven under the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty . The Leipzig class belonged to the Germany class of the largest new buildings of the Imperial Navy.
The Leipzig had its first combat missions between summer 1936 and spring 1937 during the Spanish Civil War , where it was damaged in heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay .
In the beginning of the Second World War, Leipzig was involved in several missions in laying mine barriers on the English east coast and in the trade warfare in Skagerrak and Kattegat .
On the night of December 12th and 13th, 1939, the Leipzig and the light cruiser Köln and Nürnberg , under the command of the Commander of the Reconnaissance Forces, Rear Admiral Günther Lütjens , formed the security for five destroyers that laid a mine barrier near Newcastle . The British submarine Salmon succeeded in torpedoing both the Leipzig and the Nürnberg and seriously damaging them. A torpedo hit the Leipzig amidships, whereby the two forward boiler rooms were destroyed. This limited the top speed with only four boilers until it was sunk to 23 knots . On the way home, the Leipzig was attacked on December 15 by the British submarine Ursula . However, the torpedoes did not hit the cruiser, but rather the fleet companion F 9 , which sank within 30 seconds.
During the shipyard layover from December 1939 to November 1940, the ship was decommissioned in February 1940. The two completely destroyed boiler rooms were converted into crew quarters and the ship was converted into a training ship; on December 1, 1940, the Leipzig was put back into service.
After the attack on the Soviet Union , the cruiser took part in the bombardment of the islands of Ösel and Dagö in the Baltic Sea and then became a training ship again. Considerations to restore full combat readiness in mid-1943 were given up due to a lack of shipyard capacities for the replacement of the destroyed boiler system and the high cost of adapting and modernizing the electronics.
On October 15, 1944, the Leipzig sailed from Gotenhafen in the direction of Swinoujscie and was rammed amidships by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in thick fog in front of Hela and cut through to the central keel plate, killing 27 crew members. After successful salvage and makeshift repairs, it was used as a stationary training ship from November 13, 1944.
In March 1945, Leipzig fired at land targets around Gdingen / Gotenhafen until it was relocated to Aabenraa with refugees and wounded on board between March 25 and 29 . After the surrender, the ship came to Wilhelmshaven ; there it was finally decommissioned on December 20, 1945.
On July 9, 1946, the Leipzig , pulled by three tugs , began her last voyage towards Skagerrak . It has not been confirmed whether, as repeatedly published, it was loaded with poison gas ammunition. On July 20, 1946 in the morning at 10:59, it was south-west Farsund in position 57 ° 53 ' N , 6 ° 13' O sunk by demolition.
Commanders
| October 8, 1931 to September 24, 1933 | Sea captain Hans-Hubert Stobwasser |
| September 25, 1933 to September 29, 1935 | Frigate Captain / Sea Captain Otto Hormel |
| September 30, 1935 to October 1937 | Frigate Captain / Sea Captain Otto Schenk |
| October 1937 to April 1939 | Sea captain Werner Löwisch |
| April 1939 to February 1940 | Sea captain Heinz Nordmann |
| December 1, 1940 to August 1942 | Sea captain Werner Stichling |
| August to September 1942 | Sea captain Friedrich Schmitt |
| September 25, 1942 to February 18, 1943 | Sea captain Waldemar Winther |
| February to March 1943 | Frigate Captain Joachim Asmus |
| August 1, 1943 to August 25, 1944 | Sea captain Walter Hulsemann |
| August 6 to November 1944 | Sea captain Heinrich Spörel |
| November 1944 to January 1945 | Corvette Captain Hagen Küsfer |
| January to December 1945 | Corvette Captain Walter Bach |
Known crew members
- Max-Eckart Wolff (1902–1988), was from 1957 to 1963 as a flotilla admiral in command of the fleet base
literature
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . 10 volumes. Köhler, Herford 1973 ff.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ The light cruisers of the Königsberg class - Leipzig and Nuremberg , Koop / Schmolke, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1st edition, 1994, ISBN 3-7637-5923-9
- ↑ According to another literature source: Drag of the Leipzig in the direction of Skagerrak on July 6, 1946 and demolition on July 11, 1946 (Willi Schultz: Kreuzer Leipzig - 1929 - 1946 , Motorbuch Verlag, 1st edition, 1996, ISBN 3-613-01754 -7 ).
- ^ Gerhard Koop, Klaus-Peter Schmolke: German Light Cruisers of World War II: Warships of the Kriegsmarine. Seaforth Publishing. 2014. Page 158. ISBN 978-1848321946
- ↑ Short biography of Otto Hormel. In: Tsingtau and Japan 1914–1920 - Historisch Biographisches Projekt. Retrieved June 15, 2016 .
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