Rauma (ship, 1939)
The Rauma was a Norwegian minesweeper that was captured by the German Navy and was used as a security ship and minelayer from 1940 to 1945 under the name Cameroon .
Construction and technical data
With the threat of war looming, the Norwegian Navy began to strengthen its mine warfare capabilities. For this purpose, six of their older 2nd class gunboats were converted into mine-layers and mine-clearing boats , but two new minesweepers were also commissioned from Nylands mekaniske Verksted in Oslo . Both ships, the Rauma and the Otra , were completed and put into service before the German invasion of Norway .
The Rauma , named after the river Rauma , ran on 26 September 1939 six weeks after its sister ship , the stack provided in January 1940 and was in service. She was 52.1 m long (51.0 m in the waterline ) and 7.05 m wide, had a 1.90 m draft , and displaced 355 tons . The drive consisted of two 900 HP triple expansion steam engines and two screws . The maximum speed was 15 knots , the range 1400 nautical miles at 9 knots cruising speed. The ship was equipped with a 7.6-cm-L / 28- Bofors -Kanone and two MG type Madsen armed. The crew numbered 25 men.
Weser exercise company
The two mine sweepers stationed in Horten , Otra and Rauma, were supposed to clear three minefields allegedly laid by the Royal Navy on the west coast of Norway on April 9, 1940 . Before they could set sail for this company, however, the arrival of foreign warships was reported. The Otra was sent out to investigate and reported at 4:10 a.m. that the ships were German. Since the return march to Horten was blocked by the German battleship group 5 with the heavy cruiser Blücher , she anchored in Filtvet about 20 km further north, where she captured the following day from the torpedo boat Möwe and then entered service with the navy named Togo was asked.
The Rauma was still in Horten when the German torpedo boats Kondor and Albatros , the mine clearance boats R 17 and R 21 and the whaling boat Rau 7 entered the port at 4:35 a.m. to occupy the naval base there. The Rauma and the minelayer Olav Tryggvason sat down vigorously. The mine clearing boat R 17 was sunk and the Albatros was damaged and forced to retreat. However, the clearing boat R 21 managed to put its infantry troops on land in the harbor before it ran aground even after several hits. In the battle with the Norwegian ships, R 21 scored several hits on the Rauma , which severely damaged the ship and killed the commander and a sailor. A few hours later, at 7:35 a.m., the Norwegian forces surrendered in Horten after the invaders threatened to bomb the port and city.
Navy
With that, Rauma and Olav Tryggvason fell into German hands. The Olav Tryggvason was taken over into the Navy on April 12, 1940 under the name Albatros , but then renamed Brummer on May 16, 1940 . The Rauma was repaired and put into service by the Navy on April 18, 1940 under the new name Cameroon (tactical number NO 01 ). Their armament now consisted of two 7.6 cm cannons, two 2 cm flak and two machine guns. She was initially used as an outpost boat in the port protection flotilla Oslo, but then converted to a mine-layer. It was now armed with two 7.5 cm SK C / 34 rapid fire guns and two 2 cm Flak 30 C / 30 and could hold up to 60 mines . The Cameroon served in Norway for the remainder of the war. At the time of the German surrender , she belonged to the D-Group of the Oslofjord harbor protection flotilla in Horten.
Post-war years
She was assigned to the German mine clearance service by the Allies and served in the KMA clearing flotilla Kristiansand . In 1947 she was returned to the Norwegian Navy and put back into service by them ( identifier N 33). In 1949 she was converted into a miners training ship.
On August 21, 1959, the ship was decommissioned and laid up in Horten . In April 1962 it was sold to be scrapped and then scrapped.
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/40-04.htm
- ^ The torpedo boat Albatros was lost on April 10; the artillery training ship Brummer sank on April 15 after a torpedo hit.
- ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/minen/mrdiv4-frames.htm
Web links
literature
- Frank Abelsen: Norwegian naval ships 1939–1945. Sem & Stenersen, Oslo, 1986, ISBN 82-7046-050-8 (Norwegian & English)
- Ole F. Berg: I skjærgården og på havet - Marinens krig April 8, 1940 - May 8, 1945. Marinens Krigsveteranforening, Oslo, 1997, ISBN 82-993545-2-8 (norw.)
- John H. Østby: Blücher. Documentation in pictures. Wera Forlag, 2009, ISBN 978-82-92867-03-7