SMH Answald
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His Majesty's auxiliary ship (SMH) Answald was one of a total of five cargo ships that were confiscated or taken over by the Imperial Navy of the German Reich during the First World War and converted into mother ships for seaplanes .
Construction and technical data
The ship was launched in September 1909 at the Bremer Vulkan in Bremen from the stack . It was 134 m long and 16.6 m wide and had a draft of 7.3 m. It had three steam boilers that generated 2800 horsepower and allowed a top speed of 11 knots . She was built for the Hamburg-Bremen Africa Line and was the largest ship of this subsidiary of North German Lloyd . The ship was used for service to West Africa until 1914 .
First World War
The ship was taken over by the Imperial Navy in 1914 and converted into an aircraft mother ship at the Imperial Shipyard in Danzig . Hangars for one or two seaplanes were installed on the fore and aft, behind the respective mast, and heavy cargo booms were attached to the two masts for setting down and picking up the aircraft. If necessary, two additional aircraft could be carried on deck, so that a total of up to six aircraft could be transported. When used with the reconnaissance units, Answald carried two to three seaplanes. Two anti-aircraft guns were installed fore and aft in 1915. The ship now displaced 13,200 tons and had a crew of 107.
The Answald (FS 1) was put into service on August 23, 1914 and on July 17, 1915 upgraded from "auxiliary ship" to "auxiliary warship". Since there were insufficient sea flight stations, it was initially used in the North Sea and was used for reconnaissance services in the Baltic Sea from 1915 until the end of the war . Among other things, she took part in the occupation of the Baltic Islands .
The hangars mounted on the upper deck made the ship difficult to maneuver. Therefore it ran up several times. In an attempt to dissuade it in the Jade Estuary, the coastal armored ship Hildebrand was severely damaged in December 1914. During an advance by the reconnaissance forces in the eastern Baltic Sea in December 1915, the Answald ran aground and was then towed away by the small cruiser Bremen .
Whereabouts
At the end of the war she was interned in a Swedish port and then extradited to the United Kingdom in 1919 . She was sold and then served in merchant shipping under the name Vulcan City until 1933. It was scrapped in 1933.
literature
- Carl Herbert: War voyages of German merchant ships . Broschek & Co, Hamburg 1934.
- Dieter Jung, Berndt Wenzel, Arno Abendroth: Ships and boats of the German sea pilots. 1912-1976 : 1st edition: Motor Buch Verlag, Stuttgart 1977; ISBN 3-87943-469-7 .
- Arnold Kludas: The ships of the German Africa Lines 1880 to 1945 . Verlag Gerhard Stalling, 1975, ISBN 3-7979-1867-4 .
