Minesweeper 1940
| Minesweeper 1940 | ||
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| Class details |
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| Ship type: | Minesweeper 1940 | |
| Period of service: | 1941-1960 | |
| Units: | approx. 130 | |
| Construction costs per unit: | ||
| Technical specifications | ||
| Length: | 62.3 m | |
| Width: | 8.9 m | |
| Draft: | 2.82 m | |
| Displacement: |
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| Drive: |
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| Speed: | 17.2 kn | |
| Range: | 4000 nm at 10 kn | |
| Crew: | initially 68, later up to 80 men | |
| Armament upon commissioning: | ||
| Armament in the German Navy: |
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The minesweeper 1940 was a class of minesweepers of the German Navy .
Development and production
In the course of the Second World War , the Kriegsmarine felt compelled to develop a type of boat that was simplified compared to the previous class minesweeper in 1935 and had a shorter construction time. The design was based on the type M 1916 minesweepers of the Imperial Navy . The 1940 type could also be built by smaller shipyards. The special thing about this type was that the drive system was fired with coal due to the lack of heating oil.
Between August 1941 and 1944 around 130 minesweepers M 1940 were put into service. They were given the numbers M 261 to M 496 (not numbered consecutively). The 60 boats built at Dutch shipyards were numbered four hundred.
The successor type was the somewhat larger and more heavily armed minesweeper in 1943 .
use
The boats of this type were used not only for mine clearance , but also for escort and submarine hunting . It was used in the northern European waters from the Atlantic coast via the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea to the Baltic Sea.
Some boats used in the English Channel were more heavily armed as "combat boats" (nickname channel destroyers): 2 × 10.5 cm behind protective shields, 3–4 × 3.7 or 4 cm (depending on availability), up to 8 × 2-cm.
Twelve boats received two torpedo tubes and a modeled submarine tower on the forecastle as "torpedo launching boats". Here prospective submarine commanders and watch officers practiced torpedo shooting.
Use after the war
Many of the boats that were not destroyed in the war were also used after 1945 for mine clearance in the German mine clearance service and in other German sea units under Allied control. A number of boats continued to sail in the USSR navy for a long time.
In the German Navy from 1956 to 1960 the boats Seestern (M 278), Seepferd (M 294), Seehund (M 388), Seelöwe (M 441), Sea urchins (M 460) and Sea Snake (M 611 = type 1943) were in service and formed the 2nd minesweeping squadron .
References
literature
- Siegfried Breyer, Gerhard Koop: The ships and vehicles of the German Federal Navy 1956-1976. Munich 1978, ISBN 3-7637-5155-6 .
- Heinz Ciupa: The German warships 1939-1945. VPM, ISBN 3-8118-1409-5 .
- Siegfried Breyer: The German Navy 1935-1945. Volume 2, ISBN 3-8289-5314-X .
- Erich Gröner u. a .: The German warships 1815–1945. extended new edition 1983, volume 2.
