Puke (ship, 1940)
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The destroyer Puke (19) of the Swedish Navy was bought by Italy in 1940 . It had entered the service of the Regia Marina in 1927 as a Quintino Sella class destroyer named after the former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Ricasoli . With the Psilander acquired at the same time , he formed the class named after the sister ship in the Swedish Navy.
The transfer of the destroyers in the spring of 1940 was delayed by British obstacles in the supply of fuel and a temporary seizure of the ships by the British Royal Navy ("Psilander Affair"). As early as 1944, the two ships bought were added to the reserve and canceled in 1947. The demolition took place in 1949.
history
The destroyer Puke was built at the Pattison shipyard in Naples , like all four Sella- class destroyers for the Italian Navy . These ships were 85.3 meters (m) long, had a maximum hull width of 8.6 m and a normal draft of 2.8 m. The forward, raised forecastle reached almost to the middle of the ship's length, the stern had a low freeboard . In front of the two chimneys was a relatively high superstructure with the wheelhouse and the navigating bridge. Three Thornycroft tubular boilers supplied two simple Parsons geared turbine sets . This system developed up to 38,000 hp in normal operation and allowed a top speed of 35 knots (kn).
The Sella- class destroyers had been the Regia Marina's smallest destroyers since 1938, as older models were reclassified as torpedo boats . When it was commissioned, the Ricasoli had three 120 mm cannons, one of which was set up individually on the forecastle and the other two were in a double carriage aft on a deckhouse. For air defense destroyer had two 40-mm automatic cannons that an Italian replica of the British pom-pom were and two 13.2-mm machine guns of the type Breda . Then there were two twin torpedo tube sets for 457 mm torpedoes and rails for possible use as mine layers .
The ship was launched on January 29, 1926 and was delivered to the Regia Marina on December 11, 1926. It bears the name of the former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Ricasoli (1809-1880). First commander of the destroyer was the corvette captain Prince Aimone, Duke of Spoleto , a member of the Italian royal family (until 1928).
The ship was modernized as early as 1929. The 120 mm cannons were replaced by a further development and a twin cannon was also installed on the forecastle. After that, the ships of the Sella class also carried the standard armament of Italian destroyers. In 1939 the destroyer and its sister ships formed the 4th destroyer squadron in Leros and Rhodes .
Purchase by Sweden
After the outbreak of the Second World War , Sweden looked to buy weapons in Europe, as the delivery of weapons ordered in the USA was no longer expected. One commission concluded that the procurement of warships could fill gaps in the Swedish defense more quickly. Italy, which was not yet involved in the war, was considered as the main supplier of weapons and other military equipment. In December 1939, a Swedish delegation traveled to Italy to investigate the possibilities of buying a destroyer. On January 21, 1940, the delegation finally acquired two units of the Sella class (1140 t, 1926) and two newer torpedo boats of the Spica class (780 t, 1934). Both species were called "jager" (destroyer) by the Swedes.
Crews for the transfer of the purchased ships were withdrawn from old Swedish "destroyers" and 450 men were transferred to Italy with the combined ship Patricia in March 1940. On March 27, the four ships were taken over, renamed and then carried the Swedish flag. The two Sella- class destroyers were named by eminent Swedish naval officers. The namesake of the in Puke renamed Bettino Ricasoli was the former Swedish Admiral Johan af Puke (1,751 to 1,816). At the request of the Italians, the two torpedo boats of the Spica class were not given the intended Swedish traditional names, but were named Romulus and Remus to commemorate their origins. Since their arrival, the Swedes have been testing the ships to be purchased with Italian support. Only a longer test drive to Tripoli was canceled because of the worsening situation in Europe after Germany occupied Denmark and Norway . This made a planned return trip through the canal , the North Sea and the Kiel Canal finally impossible.
On April 14, 1940, the five Swedish ships left La Spezia and went to Naples to visit the fleet . From there it went on to Lisbon on the 18th . Behind the 12 kn running Patricia followed the flagship Puke , then Psilander , Romulus and Remus . Around noon on the 20th, the Puke had an engine malfunction that led to a collision with the sister ship. Both destroyers had minor leaks but were able to continue the march. The four warships called at the Spanish Cartagena the following day . The repair of the damage delayed the journey to Lisbon until April 26th. When the Swedish Association met Patricia there on April 28th , he received no fuel. The British "advised" Sweden to leave the ships in Lisbon for the time being. The Swedish government then ordered the tanker Castor , who had been transporting oil from South America or Mexico to Sweden on behalf of the state since the beginning of the World War, to call at the Portuguese capital and supply the Swedish ships. However, the tanker did not arrive in Lisbon until May 21 with 14,495 tons of oil and plenty of fresh water. He was declared an auxiliary ship of the Swedish Navy and on the 26th the association was able to continue the march to the new home. Puke had visited a dock in Lisbon and largely repaired the damage from the collision in the Mediterranean. The association called at Vigo on May 27 , where all six ships filled their bunkers again and the last Italian engineers disembarked. On the 29th, the Swedes continued their march. The four warships and Patricia marched at 12 knots across the Atlantic to Cobh , which was reached on June 2, 1940, when the evacuation of the remains of the British army from the European continent in Dunkirk came to an end.
Contrary to the ideas of the Swedish naval command, the tanker Castor followed the formation alone at around 8 knots, as the Swedish head of the formation was unsure whether he would safely reach Cobh if his cruising speed was reduced. The lone tanker was stopped by a French guard ship on the 30th, to whom the ship with a Swedish war flag, without armament and a crew without uniforms appeared suspicious and brought it to Casablanca for inspection . The Castor was released again after a few days and ran after the transfer association.
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The Swedish association could not get any fuel in Ireland either. A distribution of the Patricia’s larger supplies gave the destroyers the opportunity to reach the Danish Faroe Islands as their next neutral destination . The British brought 117 civilian Swedish passengers to Cobh, including 48 women who boarded the Patricia on June 15 . On June 16, 1940, the five Swedish ships then set out to march west of Ireland to the Faroe Islands. The tanker Castor was supposed to join the formation again there.
In the early morning of June 19, the association reached the Faroe Islands in thick fog. A local pilot finally led the formation into the narrow Skaalefjord near Torshavn , where the ships anchored in line. To save fuel, the fires under the boilers were put out. The remaining stocks would not have enabled the ships to reach the next point in Norway, which was largely occupied by the Germans. In the afternoon, eight armed British trawlers ran into the fjord and took up positions near the Swedish destroyers, which were now barely able to maneuver. The tanker Castor had not quite reached the Faroe Islands and was supposed to move to a different position to be available the following morning. In the evening, the three British destroyers Maori , Tartar and Mashona of the Tribal class left the British naval base Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands with orders to take over the Swedish destroyers.
On the morning of June 20, 1940, the exit from the fjord was blocked by the tribal destroyers, who brought the demand that the Swedish destroyers be surrendered. The British War Cabinet had decided not to allow any further march, as the "Italian" ships were to be safely taken over by the Germans, who had lost many destroyers and torpedo boats during the conquest of Norway. The British occupied the radio systems on the Swedish ships and demanded the surrender of the four destroyers. Under pressure from the British, the Swedes left their purchased destroyers and were brought by British trawlers to Patricia and the crew of the Remus to Castor , which had meanwhile arrived . On the 21st, the Swedish auxiliary ships were forced to leave the Faroe Islands. The British refused to request that the civilians be disembarked because the Patricia was overloaded with over 600 people. At sea the Swedes made contact with their homeland. They were instructed to return to Torshavn and continue to demand the return of the ships from the British.
The British destroyers had left there again. While two of the Home Fleet had returned, accompanied Tartar the Puke and Remus since 21 on the overpass to Scapa Flow . In the early morning hours of the 22nd, the Puke's machine collapsed. Various British ships hauled Puke on towards Scapa Flow, including the Maori . This also accompanied Puke when she arrived in the tow of a naval tug at noon on the 23rd at the British naval base, where Tartar was already at anchor with Remus .
Because of the return of the Swedish auxiliary vehicles, the destroyer Mashona was sent back to the Faroe Islands, where two Swedish ships with a watch command were on board. The destroyer was followed by the small coastal steamer St. Magnus (1312 GRT, 1924) with transfer crews for Psilander and Romolus , provided by the battleships Rodney and Valiant , and the submarine hunters Buttermere and Windermere (whalers built for Norway) . On the evening of June 25th, the four British ships with the two seized ships left the Faroe Islands again in very bad weather and called at Kirkwall on the afternoon of the 26th . At the time of this transfer, the British government had already decided to give in with regard to the Swedish demands. The Swedish support ships with the crews of the destroyers were not informed of this until June 25, 1940, when Psilander and Romolus were already in Kirkwall. On the 30th, the British Bedouin also escorted Puke and Remus , whose storm damage had been partially repaired, there. On the same day, the completely overcrowded Patricia arrived in Kirkwall, who had still taken over the Remus crew from the Castor , as the Swedish head of the association did not want to take the tanker to the Orkneys.
On July 1, the Swedes inspected their ships and found a large number of damage caused by the transfer in very bad weather and improper operation. Some damage was probably caused by Swedish sabotage before the handover. One steam boiler was unusable on Psilander and Romulus . Puke had suffered damage from a collision during the towing attempts and lost an anchor. On July 2nd, the Swedes took over their ships again and carried out essential repairs. In the early morning of July 5th Patricia and the destroyers left Kirkwall and ran back to the Faroe Islands, where they met Castor 40 nm east of the islands in the evening . The association then ran in the keel line ( Puke , Psilander , Castor , Patricia , Romulus and Remus ) with eight knots towards Norway. After reaching the Norwegian coast, the association ran south to the Kattegat off the coast . On the morning of July 8th, a British aircraft attacked the formation by surprise and dropped four bombs on the tanker, which narrowly missed it. On the morning of the 9th, they called at Kristiansand , which was occupied by Germans , to discuss the further passage and to make contact with home again. The voyage continued in the afternoon and reached Swedish territorial waters on the morning of July 10th. In the evening the transfer ended at the naval shipyard in Gothenburg , where the ships were greeted by Admiral Fabian Tamm, Commander of the Swedish Navy.
The British apologized for the detention of the ships and for the mistaken air raid off Norway and compensated for the damage that occurred.
In Sweden the behavior of the head of the association was controversial, who had evacuated his ships without resistance. A court martial against him was not completed. It was not until 50 years after the events that his behavior was praised by the naval chief, who saved Swedish life and saved Sweden from active participation in the world war.
Use in Sweden
Upon arrival in Sweden, Puke and her sister ship Psilander were assigned to the squadron in Gothenburg, while the former torpedo boats Romulus and Remus moved to the Baltic Sea. The squadron in Gothenburg had the old coastal armored ship Manligheten and two Wrangel class destroyers (465 ts, 1918) in addition to some submarines and smaller vehicles.
In the winter of 1941/1942 the armament of the two newcomers was slightly changed. The anti-aircraft armament of Italian origin has been removed and replaced by Swedish weapons. The 457 mm torpedo tubes were also replaced by 533 mm tubes and the anti-submarine weapons were reinforced. Both ships were felt to be unsuitable for the waters and weather conditions on the Swedish west coast. The low freeboard of the stern of this destroyer led to its total flooding in bad weather conditions. Attempts were made to improve the sea behavior of the ships through reinforcements, changed weight distribution and the addition of bilge keels. Unlike the Spica- class torpedo boats acquired with them , which provided the template for Swedish replicas, a fundamental improvement was not found after the work carried out on both Sella- class ships . Since in the meantime more modern destroyers of Swedish manufacture were available ( Clas Horn , Karlskrona , Göteborg ) Psilander and Puke were assigned to the reserve in winter 1943 / spring 1944.
Final fate
Puke and her sister ship Psilander were removed from the fleet list on June 13, 1947. After being used as a target and for demolition tests, the ships were scrapped in Karlskrona in 1949.
The sister ship Psilander
The Psilander had much the same fate as Puke . Like all ships of the Sella class, it was built at Pattison in Naples. Her keel was laid as the fourth ship of the class on May 6, 1925 and she was launched on June 24, 1926. Its namesake Giovanni Nicotera (1828-1894) was an Italian politician and two-time interior minister. As the last ship of the class, the destroyer entered service with the Italian Navy on January 8, 1927.
Its Swedish name Psilander had previously a torpedo cruiser of Örnen class out. Name giver was Gustaf von Psilander (1669-1738), who had distinguished himself against the British in 1704 and rose to admiral.
literature
- Curt Borgenstam, Per Insulander, Gösta Kaudern: Jagare: med Svenska flottans jagare under 80 år ( Swedish ). Marine literature, Västra Frölunda 1989, ISBN 91-970700-4-1 .
- Gustaf von Hofsten, Jan Waernberg, Curt S. Ohlsson: Örlogsfartyg: svenska maskindrivna fartyg under tretungad flagg ( Swedish ) (= [Forum navales skriftserie, 1650-1837; 6]). Svenskt military historical bibl. i samarbete med marine literature, Stockholm 2003, ISBN 91-974384-3-X .
- Bertil Lagvall: Flottans neutralitetsvakt 1939-1945: krönika ( Swedish ) (= Marinlitteraturföreningen, 0348-2405; 71). Marinlitteraturfören., Stockholm 1991, ISBN 91-85944-05-X .
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Patris II, then Patricia II ; the station wagon of Svenska Lloyd (3285 BRT / 1926) was declared an auxiliary cruiser and later used as a submarine mother ship
- ↑ Swedish motor tanker Castor 8741 BRT / 1928
- ↑ Clas Horn (1931, 1020 t), Karlskrona (1939, 1219 t), Göteborg (1935, 1219 t)