Ehrenfels (ship, 1936)

Ehrenfels

The Ehrenfels

Ship data flag  German Empire Ship type Cargo ship home port Bremen Owner DDG Hansa Shipyard Deschimag Weser plant , Bremen-Gröpelingen Build number 906 Launch December 23, 1935 Commissioning February 23, 1936 Whereabouts Sunk March 9, 1943 himself

Ship dimensions and crew length 154.40 m ( Lüa ) width 18.68 m Draft Max. 8.27 m measurement 7752 BRT 4763 NRT   crew 44

Machine system machine 2 double-acting two-stroke diesel engines Machine performance 7,600 hp (5,590 kW) Top speed 16 kn (30 km / h) propeller 1

Transport capacities Load capacity 10,414 dw Permitted number of passengers 12

The fifth Ehrenfels, which was put into service in 1936 by the German Steamship Company "Hansa" (DDG "Hansa"), was the type ship of the Ehrenfels- class motor ships put into service from 1936 .

The Ehrenfels searched the harbor when the war began in 1939 Mormugoa in the Portuguese colony of Goa in India as a refuge. On March 9, 1943, a British commando troop tried to board the Ehrenfels in the neutral port. The crew fended off the occupation of the ship, with nine men dead and some injured. But she sank the ship itself, as the occupation of the colony was feared.
Two other DDG ships "Hansa" in Mormugoa and the Italian freighter Anfora sank themselves on it.

History of the ship

The fifth Ehrenfels of the DDG "Hansa" was the lead ship of a total of nine motor freighters of the Ehrenfels class that came to the shipping company from 1936 to 1940 for their services between the Persian Gulf and Burma. The Ehrenfels was built by Deschimag at the Weser plant under construction number 906 and was launched on December 23, 1935.
It was named Burg Ehrenfels like four of the shipping company's cargo ships before and two more later.

• see other ships with the name Ehrenfels

When the new building was launched, three of its predecessors were still there, including the fourth Ehrenfels (ex Neumark ) as Westsee under the German flag.

The new building was 154.4 m long, 18.68 m wide and had a draft of 8.27 m. The ship was measured with 7752 GRT and had a carrying capacity of 10,414 tdw. The new building was powered by two 6-cylinder double-acting two-stroke diesel engines from the AG Weser- MAN type, type D6 to 53/76, which together made 7600 hp and acted on a screw via a gearbox. They enabled the Ehrenfels to reach a speed of 16 knots . Like most German shipping companies, the shipping company opted for the motor drive. The DDG "Hansa" was one of the pioneers of the motor drive and had already put the first motor ship into operation in 1912 with the second Rolandseck (1663 BRT, Joh. C. Tecklenborg ). Of the 35 post-war newbuildings up to 1931, six were delivered as large motor ships.

The first two ships on the slipway before the Ehrenfels is launched

On February 23, 1936 the Ehrenfels was delivered to the DDG "Hansa". Just two months later, the sister ship Reichenfels , built on the neighboring helgen with a slight delay, followed . In 1937, with the Kandelfels and the Kybfels, two more new buildings from the Weser plant followed, which were also built with a slight delay and side by side. In 1938 the Seebeck plant delivered the Deschimag's only ship in the series with the Tannenfels and the Bremer Vulkan with the Goldenfels the first of its three newbuildings until 1940. The Weser plant also delivered another ship in 1939 with the Neidenfels . However, before the Second World War, the shipping company ordered three smaller cargo ships powered by steam engines.

The ships delivered from 1938 were slightly longer than the first four ships. They also differed slightly in terms of loading gear from those with a 50 t, a 15 t boom, six 10 t and fifteen 5 t booms. The newer ships only had thirteen 5 t booms, but also had two 6 t booms. The ships of the Bremer Vulkan differed from the Deschimag buildings by their straight bridge front instead of the arched, slightly protruding bridge front of the Deschimag buildings. As early as 1936, the foreships of the first two new buildings, Ehrenfels and Reichenfels, were rebuilt and the forecastle extended. Despite all the small differences, the Ehrenfels- class ships had a fairly uniform appearance due to the two masts, the bridge house standing relatively far in front and a large chimney at a considerable distance from the bridge house.

The new Ehrenfels was used on the shipping company's liner services to the Middle East. At the beginning of the war in 1939, she sought refuge in the roadstead of Mormugoa in front of the Portuguese colony of Goa . The motor ship Braunfels (7844 BRT, 1927) and the steamer Drachenfels (6342 BRT, 1921) of the DDG "Hansa" also sought protection there. Of the eight Ehrenfels- class ships in service, Reichenfels and Kybfels were in the Mediterranean at the start of the war and sought protection in Italian ports, Tannenfels called at Chisimaio in Italian Somaliland and the Hohenfels called at Bandar Schahpur in Iran ; three ships were at home.

Fate of war

The Ehrenfels remained in the roadstead of Mormugoa until 1943. The sister ships Goldenfels and Kandelfels , which had been converted into auxiliary cruisers , achieved great fame as Atlantis and Pinguin . However, their successes were ended by British cruisers, and the sister ships remaining in the Mediterranean had meanwhile been lost as transporters. The Tannenfels was able to leave Chisimaio at the end of January 1941 before it was occupied by British troops. Among other things , she had escaped with the support of Atlantis to France, which was now occupied by the Germans, and from there had successfully carried out a voyage as a blockade breaker to Japan and back. Hohenfels , located in neutral Iran , had sunk itself during the British invasion at the end of August 1941, was lifted again by the British and, like three other Hansa cargo ships captured there, was in service on the Allied side as Empire Kamal . Only the crew of the motor ship Weissenfels (7861 BRT, 1925) succeeded in destroying their ship.

The end of the Ehrenfels

German ships also found refuge in Goa during the First World War . In the spring of 1916, under pressure from the British government, Portugal had confiscated the German and Austrian ships that had found refuge in the mother country and overseas possessions. After the declaration of war against Portugal, these ships were then used on the Entente side . Of the five German ships in Goa, two belonged to the DDG "Hansa".
The Ehrenfels remained in Mormugoa with the two other DDG ships "Hansa" and an Italian ship. However, the captains had agreed to prevent the ships from being occupied, as in 1916, and to sink their ships if there was any evidence of this.

So in March 1943 she was the target of a British commando operation that led to her self-sinking. The British raid Operation Creek was known as "Boarding Party: The Last Action of the Calcutta Light Horse" in 1974 and filmed in 1979 with Roger Moore , David Niven , Gregory Peck and Trevor Howard . When Die Seewölfe came it was also shown in German cinemas.

The attack was carried out by 18 senior reservists under the leadership of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the majority of whom belonged to the British-Indian Reserve Regiment Calcutta Light Horse . After a short training session, they were taken by train to Cochin (Kochi) and from where they drove on the steam-powered folding barge Phoebe to the more northern Mormugao. The use of the elderly gentlemen and the non-military dredgers should make the attack on the neutral port easier to deny and, if necessary, portray the deed as the overzealous patriots. At the same time, an attempt was made to reduce the crews of the German ships on the night of the attack by organizing a festival in Goa. The attack was concentrated solely on the most modern ship, the Ehrenfels , which allegedly sent regular reports on Allied shipping from a hidden transmitter and thus supported targeted attacks by German submarines in the Indian Ocean.

In the attack by the British nine men of the crew, including the captain, were killed. The remaining crew on board managed to open the sea valves and the British left the Ehrenfels , which threatened to capsize. It is unclear whether the British also used explosives to completely destroy the Ehrenfels . All attackers went back on board the Phoebe and left the port without being discovered by the Portuguese authorities and escaped north to Bombay . Some had sustained minor injuries.

The battle on the Ehrenfels and its sinking caused the captains of the other ships to also order the sinking of their ships, especially since the British pretended over the radio that an occupation of the Portuguese colony was imminent. The motor ship Braunfels (7844 BRT, 1927), the steamer Drachenfels (6342 BRT, 1921) and the Italian Anfora (5452 BRT, 1922) also burned and sank . This lost all Axis ships still in the Indian Ocean that were still eligible for support in the submarine war. Portugal remained neutral until the end of the war. The Axis ships in Portugal and its other overseas possessions were sold to Portugal.

The ships sunk in the roadstead of Mormugoa remained visible at least at low tide, the wrecks were lifted and demolished after the war.

• 

  The motor ship Rotenfels (2), sister ship of the Braunfels

• 

  The third Drachenfels of the DDG "Hansa"

• 

  The ships burning off Mormugoa

The Ehrenfels- class ships

Surname	Shipyard	GRT tdw	Launched in service	further fate
Ehrenfels (5)	AG Weser Building No. 906	7752 10,414	23.12.1935 23.02.1936	November 1936 foredeck rebuilt, 1939 Mormugoa , 9 March 1943 self-sunk in an attack by British commandos (nine dead, four wounded)
Reichenfels (2)	AG Weser Building No. 907	7744 10,414	February 6, 1936 April 24, 1936	August 1936 foreship rebuilt, 1939 Trieste , May 1940 supplier for submarines Italy, 1940 transporter in the Mediterranean Sea, 21 June 1942 sunk by British aircraft near the island of Kerkenna off the Tunisian coast
Kandelfels (2)	AG Weser Building No. 917	7766 10,450	November 12, 1936 February 8, 1937	1940 Auxiliary cruiser Schiff 33 Pinguin , set sail on June 15, 1940 for the trade war, sunk by the heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall on May 8, 1941 near the Seychelles , 545 dead;
Kybfels (2)	AG Weser Building No. 918	7764 10,450	14.01.1937 03.24.1937	1939 Ancona , then Fiume , Trieste, 1940 transporter in the Mediterranean Sea, May 21, 1941 sunk in the Ionian Sea off the Greek coast after being hit by a mine;
Neidenfels (3)	AG Weser Building No. 950	7838 10,540	10.1938 March 18, 1939	1940 Transporter at Weser exercise in "1.Seetransportstaffel", May 1941 transporter to Finland, conversion to auxiliary cruiser discarded, 1945 deployment in the Baltic Sea, June 1945 Empire Dee , May 1946 in Suez to the USSR : Admiral Ushakow , 1975 demolition
Goldenfels (3)	Bremer Vulkan BauNr. 736	7862 10.505	31.05.1937 01.27.1938	1939 Auxiliary cruiser ship 16 Atlantis , sunk by HMS Devonshire near Ascension on March 11, 1940, November 22, 1941
Hohenfels (3)	Bremer Vulkan BauNr. 737	7862 10.505	May 21, 1938 May 21, 1938	1939 Bandar Schahpur / Iran, August 25, 1941, self-submerged during the British invasion, lifted and repaired, deployed under the British ( Empire Kemal ) and Dutch (1944: van Ruisdel , 1947 Ridderkerk ) flags , 1962 demolished
Moltkefels (2)	Bremer Vulkan BauNr. 747	7863 10.607	December 23, 1939 February 29, 1940	Conversion to auxiliary cruiser not carried out, transporter during Weser exercise, sunk by Soviet aircraft on April 11, 1945 off the Hel peninsula (German Hela ) (around 500 dead)
Fir rock (3)	Seebeck shipyard building no. 597	7840 10,663	04.09.1938 11.06.1938	1939 Chisimaio , 1941 breakthrough back home, blockade trip to Japan from February to May 1942 and back from August to November 1942, badly damaged by a command attack in Bordeaux on December 12, 1942, sinking as a block ship off Bordeaux in August 1944

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schmelzkopf: Handelsschiffahrt , p. 192
2. ↑ Schmelzkopf: Handelsschiffahrt , p. 205
3. ↑ February 10–25, 1941 Indian Ocean / East Africa
4. ↑ 25.8.1941 Indian Ocean / Iran
5. ↑ March 9, 1943 Indian Ocean

Web links

• Ehrenfels (5)
• Operation Creek : SOE Enlists an “Over the Hill Gang” for a Mission
• Operation Creek Part II: Going to War on a River Barge
• 18. WEEKLY RESUME (No. 184) of the NAVAL, MILITARY AND AIR SITUATION from 0700 March 4th, to 0700 March 11th, 1943, point 18.Enemy Merchant Shipping. Indian Ocean for the War Cabinet
• Was diaries of the Eastern Fleet with no mention of Mormugoa

literature

• David Abram: Goa , Rough Guides (2003), ISBN 1-84353-081-3 , p. 177
• Hans Georg Prager: DDG Hansa - from liner service to special shipping , Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1976, ISBN = 3-7822-0105-1
• Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945 , Manfred Pawlak VerlagsGmbH (Herrsching 1968), ISBN 3-88199-0097
• Reinhardt Schmelzkopf: The German merchant shipping 1919-1939 , Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg, ISBN 3-7979-1847-X .