Linz (ship, 1940)

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The Linz was a German refrigerated ship built in 1939/40, but not completed , which was converted into a mine ship by the Navy during World War II and used as such.

Construction and technical data

The ship was in the 1939 Gdansk Shipyard for the North German Lloyd to put Kiel and ran 1940 from the pile . It was requisitioned by the Navy and taken to Odense Staalskibsværft in Odense ( Denmark ) to be built there as a mine ship. The work dragged on for a long time. When the ship was finally in Copenhagen for its final equipment , its engine and electrical systems were severely damaged by sabotage by Danish resistance fighters on July 27, 1943 . Although the Linz was put into service on August 3, 1943, it was not until 1944 that it was ready for use.

The ship was 98.5 m long and 13.9 m wide, had a draft of 6.85 m and was measured at 3374 GRT . A 6-cylinder diesel engine of MAN 4800 PS and a screw imparted to the Linz a top speed of 16 knots . The bunker capacity was 199 tons of diesel fuel , the range 5760 nautical miles at 15 knots cruising speed. The armament consisted of two 10.5 cm L / 45 C / 32 guns, two 3.7 cm Flak L / 69 M / 42, four 20 mm Flak Vierlingen L / 65 C / 38 and four 20 mm Flak L / 65 C / 38. The ship could hold 360 mines . The crew numbered 212 men.

Mine operations

The first minelaying company of Linz took place in the night of 12 February 13, 1944, when she with mine ships Brummer and Roland and the destroyers Erich Steinbrinck , Z 28 and Z 39 in the western Skagerrak the minefield "Dorothea A" to reinforce the northern Westwall lock threw out. On the night of February 15-16, the Linz and the Brummer then laid the barrier "Dorothea B" with the destroyers Erich Steinbrinck and Hans Lody . From March 4 to 6, the Linz , the Brummer , the Roland and the minesweepers M 462 , M 406 , M 301 and M 426 laid the “Großgörschen” mine barrier in the Skagerrak.

Thereafter, the Linz was relocated to the Baltic Sea, where it was used to design the German-Finnish mine barriers in the Gulf of Finland . Between March 13 and May 20, the Linz , the Roland and the Brummer renewed the "sea urchin" barriers in eight operations and the 6th destroyer flotilla in six operations; while the Roland sank on April 21, after it had run into a mine of its own barrier. On September 20 and 21, the Brummer , the Linz and a number of small warships laid two “Nilhorn” barges in the Gulf of Finland. From October 4th to 6th, the Linz and the Brummer , again together with a number of small warships, laid the barrier "Krokodil Süd" at the south entrance of Moon Sound. In three operations between November 24th and December 5th, the Linz and the Brummer, together with three minesweepers , laid the “Northern Lights” mine barrier to block the Irben Strait from the Gulf of Riga into the Baltic Sea.

The Linz then went back to the Skagerrak. There she put on the 13./14. January 1945 with the light cruiser Nürnberg , the destroyers Friedrich Ihn and Theodor Riedel , the torpedo boats T 19 and T 20 and the mine clearance boats of the 8th R-Flotilla from the mine barrier "Titus I". On the two nights from February 15 to 17, the Linz was involved in two unsuccessful attempts from Copenhagen with the mine ships Lothringen and Ostmark , the destroyer Friedrich Ihn and the torpedo boats T 17 and T 20 , the "Titus II" mine barrier in Skagerrak to lay. From Kristiansand the three mine ships, in association with the destroyer Karl Galster and the torpedo boats T 17 and T 20 , finally laid the barrier "Titus II" in the night of March 8th to 9th. On 17./18. March, the Ostmark , the Lorraine and the Linz , secured by the destroyer Karl Galster and the torpedo boats T 17 , T 19 and T 20 , laid the mine barrier "Augustus" in the western Skagerrak. The Lorraine suffered a rudder failure and the ship crossed the line of mines that had just been thrown by the Ostmark . A mine that had not yet gone deep scratched the side of the Lorraine and then detonated about 100 m behind the Lorraine , without causing any damage.

Thereafter, the ship was used until the end of the war to evacuate refugees ( company Hannibal ) from the eastern regions of the empire to the west.

Post-war years

After the war ended, Linz became the booty of the British . It was assigned to the Ministry of War Transport, converted into a troop transport and placed under the management of the Wilson Line under the new name Empire Wansbeck . Until 1961 she then operated on the route from Harwich to Hoek van Holland to bring personnel from the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and RAF Germany (RAFG) to and from the European continent.

This service was discontinued in 1961, and in 1962 the ship was sold to the Greek shipping company Kavounides Bros. in Piraeus , renamed Esperos and converted into a passenger ship. It operated between the Greek islands. The ship was decommissioned in March 1980 and scrapped in Spain in 1981.

literature

  • Karl von Kutzleben, Wilhelm Schroeder, Jochen Brennecke : Mine ships 1939–1945. The mysterious missions of the “midnight squadron”. Köhler, Herford 1974, ISBN 3-7822-0098-5 .
  • William H. Mitchell, Leonard A. Sawyer: The Empire Ships. A Record of British-built and acquired Merchant Ships during the Second World War. 2nd edition. Lloyd's of London Press, London 1990, ISBN 1-85044-275-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-02.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-03.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-03.htm ; http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-04.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-09.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-10.htm
  6. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/44-11.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/45-01.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/45-03.htm