SMS ship H
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| Ship data | ||
| Ship name | SMS ship H ex. Hermann |
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| Ship type | Special ship submarine trap |
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| Ship class | Cargo steamer | |
| Keel laying : | 1900 | |
| Launching ( ship christening ): | August 31, 1901 | |
| Commissioning as an auxiliary cruiser: | April 27, 1916 | |
| Builder: |
AG Neptun Rostock Building number: 199 |
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| Crew: | 70-86 men | |
| Whereabouts: | Sunk on June 14, 1916 northwest of Gotland at position 58 ° 30 ′ N , 17 ° 20 ′ E | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Displacement : | 5000 t | |
| Length: | 91.74 m | |
| Width: | 12.58 m | |
| Volume: | 2030 GRT | |
| Draft : | 5.72 m | |
| Machinery: | 1 steam boiler 1 standing 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine |
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| Number of screws: | 1 × three-leaf Ø xm | |
| Shaft speed: | ? / min | |
| Power: | 735 kW | |
| Top speed: | 9 kn | |
| Fuel supply: | Tons of coal | |
| Armament | ||
| Sea target guns: | 4 Sk - 10.5 cm L / 35 (122 hm , 600 shots) |
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| Commanders | ||
| Captainleutnant d. R. | Karl Hoffmann | |
The ship H was an auxiliary ship of the Imperial Navy , which was used in the First World War as a submarine trap with the Baltic Sea operational area to combat submarines and to protect German convoys to Sweden.
prehistory
Soon after the outbreak of war in 1914, the responsible authorities on the German side became aware of the importance of the Swedish ore supply via the Baltic Sea. Since the Russian fleet, despite its numerical superiority, remained largely inactive in its bases, the guerrilla war, fought mainly by submarines and less by destroyers, gained immense importance. The British had sent a total of ten C- and E-class submarines to the Baltic Sea to support their Russian allies by 1916, which caused major losses to German shipping and the Imperial Navy.
In order to be able to fight the submarines more effectively, the Navy introduced the convoy system on April 7, 1916 and protected the merchant ships with coastal torpedo boats , mainly of the A-II and A-III classes , auxiliary ships and the option of (neutral) Swedish To be allowed to sail in territorial waters.
Ship H
The auxiliary ship H was originally built in 1901 by AG Neptun Rostock as a cargo steamer SS Hermann for the shipping company H. Schuldt Flensburg and put into service on October 10, 1901. In December 1905, the Ozean Dampfer AG took over the ship. From August 4, 1914, the Hermann was taken over by the Imperial Navy as the coal ship 23 . At the beginning of 1916, the conversion to a merchant protection ship or submarine trap was carried out and on April 27, 1916 the ship was assigned as ship H to the I. Handelsschutz-Flotilla in the Baltic Sea, where it sailed in convoy as submarine security. Ship H was lost on the first voyage.
loss
On June 13, 1916, Hermann accompanied a German Lulea convoy, consisting of ten ore steamers and three outpost boats , along the Swedish coast. For the same day the Russian Baltic fleet had planned a coup against the German ore supply. To this end, two combat groups ran out to search and roll up the German escorts. The first group consisted of the three new and large destroyers Nowik , Grom and Pobetitel under the command of Rear Admiral Kolchak , the second consisted of the armored cruiser Rurik , the protected cruisers Oleg and Bogatyr and eight older large destroyers of the Ukraina class .
The first group, consisting of the three new destroyers, met the German escort on the evening of June 13 near the island of Gotland, southeast of Oxelösund . The convoy leader, Lieutenant to the Sea of the Blickert Reserve, ordered the steamers to enter Swedish territorial waters and had fog buoys thrown. As darkness fell, the Russian commander overestimated the strength of the German escort (three outpost boats with only one 8.8 cm gun each) and broke off the engagement. No hits had been made on either side and all torpedoes fired missed their targets.
While turning, the Russian destroyers encountered a supposed straggler: Ship H , which was on its first mission. The converted steamship with its poorly trained crew had no chance against the three warships. After an hour of fighting and a torpedo shot by the destroyer Grom , the submarine trap sank with the loss of 29 men. The Novik rescued seven shipwrecked people, the rest were taken up by the German ships.
literature
- Lutz Bengelsdorf: The naval war in the Baltic Sea 1914-1918. Hauschild, Bremen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89757-404-5 .
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 8, 2: Outpost boats, auxiliary minesweepers, coastal protection associations (part 2), small combat units, dinghies. Bernard & Graefe, Munich et al. 1993, ISBN 3-7637-4807-5 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Marine Archive (ed.): The War at Sea 1914–1918. Department: Rudolf Firle: The War in the Baltic Sea. Volume 3: Ernst von Gagern: From the beginning of 1916 until the end of the war. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin et al. 1964, p. 72.