Natter (ship, 1935)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Natter was a former French fishing trawler named Casoar , which was confiscated by the German Navy during World War II and used as an outpost boat and submarine hunter .

history

Fishing cutter Casoar

The ship ran 1935 from the pile and served after its completion in 1936 and to the early months of World War II as a fishing boat ( fishing license plate LR-3419). The ship was measured with 534 GRT , had a deadweight of 320 tons and displaced 581 tons.

Patrol boat P 10

At the beginning of 1940 it was requisitioned by the French Navy , converted into an auxiliary patrol boat, armed and put into service with the designation P 10 .

Kriegsmarine booty ship Natter

During the German occupation of the French Atlantic coast after the armistice of Compiègne , the ship fell into German hands and was taken over by the Navy. Initially, it was thought to be used as a short-range commercial jammer in the area of ​​the western English Channel and the southern coast of England, and the ship was probably also given a 75 mm gun. Then in September 1940 the ship was assigned the designation V 1604 to the newly formed 16th outpost flotilla . The flotilla provided security and escort service first in the western area, then from 1941 with a base at Frederikshavn in the Kattegatt and Skagerrak . V 1604 was one of the five boats of the flotilla that were equipped with the radio measuring locator FuMO 62 "HOHENTWIEL" in order to locate enemy aircraft, especially when throwing sea ​​mines , which considerably simplified the subsequent mine clearance operation. From March 31 to April 2, 1942, V 1604 , together with other boats of the flotilla, was involved in thwarting the British-Norwegian Operation Performance . In this venture, ten Norwegian freighters and tankers loaded with essential warfare attempted to break out of Swedish internment in Gothenburg to Great Britain under British captains on board for this purpose and partly also British crews . Six of the ships were sunk by mines or German air or naval units, two ran back to Gothenburg, and two made the breakthrough to Great Britain.

The ship was later transferred to the 17th outpost flotilla in the Baltic Sea , where it was numbered V 1710 , and finally served as a submarine hunter in the 11th submarine flotilla in 1944/45 until the end of the war with the designation UJ 1121 .

post war period

After the end of the war, the ship was returned to France and its original owners and used again in fishing under its old name Casoar . In 1962 the ship was sold to Italy and renamed Domina Maris . In 1970 it was sold to Greece and renamed Zephyros VI ( IMO number 5403257). In 1987 it was still in motion. His whereabouts since then are unknown.

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ LR = La Rochelle.
  2. ↑ ZEPHYROS VI - IMO 5403257 data from grosstonnage.com via maritime-connector.com
  3. ↑ In the war diary of the Naval War Command there is the entry on September 11, 1940: “Naval Commander West France reports the two auxiliary cruisers Scorpion and Natter on the Atlantic coast on September 14. ready for use. ”( War diary of the Naval War Command 1939–1945. Volume September 1940. Verlag Mittler & Sohn, Herford 1993, ISBN 3-8132-0637-8 ). Neither ship was ever used as an auxiliary or trading sturgeon cruiser.
  4. ↑ small auxiliary cruisers of WWII - Kriegsmarine (Germany
  5. ↑ The flotilla was formed in September 1940 on the basis of the 16th outpost group formed in July 1940 ( online ).
  6. ^ Also V 1601 Skorpion , V 1605 Alma II , V 1606 Girolou and V 1607 Nord Caper .
  7. ↑ Kriegsmarine FuMO
  8. ^ V 1609 Othmarschen , V 1612 Gotha , V 1613 Jane
  9. ↑ Outpost boats of the German Navy 1939-45
  10. ↑ U-boat hunting flotillas of the German Navy 1939-45
  11. ↑ Entry on maritime-connector (English)

Web links