Sea eagle (ship, 1926)
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The Seeadler was a torpedo boat of the bird of prey class (Torpedoboot 1923). It was in service with the Reichsmarine (later Kriegsmarine ) from 1927 and sank in the English Channel on May 13, 1942 after a torpedo hit during World War II .
history
The eagle was on October 5, 1925 at the Imperial Naval Shipyard Wilhelmshaven , together with its sister boats gripping and Albatros to put Kiel , all running on 15 July 1926 by the stack. The commissioning took place on May 1, 1927. The name Seeadler had previously been used by Felix Graf von Luckner in 1916/17 by the auxiliary cruiser Seeadler (1878, 1,571 GRT, full ship with auxiliary engine) and the cruiser IV. Class Seeadler (1892-1914, 1,864 t ) worn by the Imperial Navy .
Mission history
The Seeadler was completed as the third torpedo boat of the type in 1923 after the type ship Möwe and the Greif . It was the only one of the six birds of prey class to get its propulsion system from Krupp's Germania shipyard in Kiel . On July 14, 1928, she replaced the pre-war boat T 185 as the leader boat of the II Torpedo Boat Flotilla and then took part in the fleet's summer voyage in Norwegian waters. However, the boat was taken out of service on November 15, 1928 in order to carry out some modifications in the shipyard to improve stability.
On April 10, 1929, it was reactivated under Lieutenant Gerhard Wagner to replace V 5 in the 3rd torpedo boat semi-flotilla. There the boat was replaced on August 15, 1929 by the new torpedo boat Leopard , which also largely took over the crew of the sea eagles . After only one week, the Seeadler came into service with the 4th torpedo boat semi-flotilla as a replacement for the sister boat Möwe , whose crew she took over. On October 19, 1929, the sea eagle was decommissioned again.
On October 15, 1930, the boat came again as a guide boat for the II Torpedo Boat Flotilla, which had just been taken over by Corvette Captain Hermann Mootz . In addition to the normal training service, the boat took part in the Norwegian voyage of the fleet from June 15 to July 3, 1931. In 1932, the sea eagle belonged to the Association of the Commander of the Reconnaissance Forces (BdA), Rear Admiral Conrad Albrecht , who with the light cruiser Königsberg and the Torpedo boats Sea eagle , albatross , falcon , seagull and condor represented the German Empire from July 11th to 17th in Stockholm at the celebrations for the engagement of the Swedish Hereditary Prince Gustav Adolf to the German Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . Then the visiting Eagles still Helsinki and Riga . On July 20, 1933, the Seeadler was replaced by the Leopard and again decommissioned.
On October 5, 1933, the Seeadler was put back into service with the Albatros for the 2nd torpedo boat semi-flotilla. The boat replaced the pre-war boat T 196 there and served as the guide boat for the semi-flotilla. In 1934 the boat with the semi-flotilla was the only foreign port to visit Vyborg , which was then still Finnish, from July 13th to 17th . On October 1, 1934, the semi-flotilla became the 2nd torpedo boat flotilla, which, in addition to the sea eagle, also included the sister boat Albatros and the lynx and leopard of the predator class . The leopard had since October 1933 leading boat for the newly created office of the leader of the torpedo boats (FdT). The Seeadler and the Albatros had surrendered their 10.5 cm guns in 1933 and exchanged them for 12.7 cm cannons.
From July 1936 to October 1937, the boat was used four times as part of the so-called neutrality patrols off the Spanish coasts. During their first deployment from July 28 to August 27, 1936, the four boats of the 2nd Flotilla, together with the light cruiser Cologne, followed the armored ships Germany and Admiral Scheer, which had first sailed, to the northern Spanish coast, where the ports of both civil war parties called at and German and other refugees were evacuated to France. The warships not only took over refugees, but also secured the many merchant ships chartered by the German Reich for the repatriation of German. A second mission to Spain was carried out by the 2nd Flotilla with the Seeadler from September 28 to November 29, 1936.
For the third mission, the flotilla was under the new flotilla chief, Frigate Captain Meisel , in May and June 1937 in front of the section off the Spanish east coast assigned by the Non-Interference Commission and used the Balearic Islands as a supply area. On May 29, 1937, Red Spanish planes attacked the armored ship Germany lying off Ibiza , causing 31 dead and 75 wounded. In retaliation, the Admiral Scheer fired at Almería , but there were no Republican warships in its port. The ironclad was accompanied by the four boats of the 2nd Flotilla, which themselves shot at a Spanish coastal battery. In June she was relocated to Germany.
The last use of the sea eagles off Spain took place from July 30th to October 7th 1937. When the 2nd torpedo boat flotilla was disbanded at the end of autumn 1937, the boat served as a school boat for the training department of the 3rd / 5th. Destroyer Division until it was decommissioned on December 10, 1937.
On June 11, 1938 the Seeadler was put into service for the 4th torpedo boat flotilla. On the occasion of the launch of the battleship Bismarck , she visited Hamburg on February 14, 1939 , and in March she took part in the reintegration of the Memelland . On April 4, 1939, the boat merged into the 6th flotilla. When the war broke out in 1939, this flotilla included the sea eagle, the leopard as a guide boat and the other boats of the predator class with lynx , jaguar , wolf , polecat and tiger . The other five boats of the bird of prey class formed the 5th torpedo boat flotilla.
War missions
The 6th torpedo boat flotilla was used shortly before the start of the war for surveillance tasks in the western and central Baltic Sea . On August 25, 1939, the torpedo boat Tiger was lost in a collision with the destroyer Max Schultz (2 dead). Gradually, the boats of the flotilla were then moved to the North Sea , where they were involved in the deployment of mine barriers .
In November, boats of the 6th Flotilla secured the retreat of destroyers from their offensive mining operations against the British east coast. On the 13th, the sea eagle with the polecat , the leopard and the wolf as well as the light cruisers Nuremberg and Cologne took on the destroyers Karl Galster , Hermann Künne , Hans Lüdemann and Wilhelm Heidkamp returning from the Thames estuary . On the 18th, the sea eagles were deployed with the leopard and the polecat and the two cruisers to pick up Bernd von Arnim , Hermann Künne and Wilhelm Heidkamp, who were also returning from the Thames . The following night the boat set out again with the polecat , the wolf and the leopard as well as the Nürnberg to pick up Erich Steinbrinck , Hans Lody and Friedrich Eckoldt , who were returning from the Humber .
This was followed by two missions by the sea eagles against British shipping traffic between the British Isles and Scandinavia with the armored ship Lützow (ex Germany ), the cruisers Cologne and Leipzig and the torpedo boats Leopard and Iltis on 21/22. as well as on 24./25. additionally with the wolf . From December 14th to 16th, 1939, the jaguars and sea eagles advanced into the Skagerrak and were able to capture six merchant ships.
During the start of the Weser Exercise company , the sea eagles and the lynx escorted the auxiliary cruiser Orion in the North Sea, which was sailing towards the Atlantic . For the attack on Norway, the two boats were then with the light cruiser Karlsruhe the warship Group 4 against Kristiansand on. Due to the thick fog, the German attackers were initially unable to enter Kristiansand on April 9, and when it cleared up, the Norwegian coastal fortifications opened fire on the attackers, and the German freighter Seattle , which happened to be lying in front of Kristiansand, was caught in the crossfire and set on fire and later sank. Under fire protection from Karlsruhe , it was only later that smaller units managed to break into the port. The town and coastal batteries were then captured by German troops. The two Norwegian torpedo boats Gyller and Odin lying in the harbor and a number of other ships fell undamaged into German hands, and the two submarines B 2 and B 3 were rendered unserviceable. The Karlsruhe and the three torpedo boats started their march back in the early evening. Shortly after sailing near the island of Oksøy, the cruiser received a torpedo hit from the British submarine Truant , which damaged it so badly that after the crew was rescued by the sea eagles and the lynx it had to be sunk by the Griffin with two torpedoes .
After the raid on Norway, the Seeadler was assigned to the 5th torpedo boat flotilla. On 17 and 18 August 1940, the boat secured to the seagull and gripping the mine ships Hanseatic City of Gdansk and emperor that the minefield "Paternoster" in Kattegat laid.
Use in the west
From September 12 to 14, 1940, the Seeadler secured the relocation of the mine ships Brummer , Skagerrak and Stralsund to Le Havre with the Iltis , T 1 , T 2 and T 3 . Until Christmas 1940, the sea eagles took part in mining operations against Dover and the Isle of Wight as part of the 5th Flotilla. On the night of October 12, there was a skirmish with light Allied naval forces, with the French submarine hunters Ch6 and Ch7 and the armed trawlers Listrac and Warwick Deeping sunk. On the night of October 18, the Seeadler and the 5th Flotilla belonged to the Association of the Leader of the Destroyers (FdZ), Captain Erich Bey on the Friedrich Ihn with the destroyers Erick Steinbrinck , Hans Lody and Karl Galster during an advance to the Bristol Channel . The departure of the German unit from Brest was discovered early by the British Air Force, and the British cruisers Newcastle and Emerald with five destroyers were sent to meet them from Plymouth . The German destroyers spotted the British at a great distance and broke off their advance. Only the Karl Galster received two easy hits. The British also broke off the battle because Newcastle had a boiler collapse . The 5th flotilla did not enter the battle.
On 21/22 December 1940 the mine ships Cobra , Roland , Kaiser and Skagerrak laid out the minefield "SWa Wagner" with almost 1,000 mines in the western North Sea with the support and security of the 5th Flotilla. The falcon , the griffin and the sea eagle together with the torpedo boats T 1 , T 7 , T 9 , T 10 and T 12 also secured the first phase of the first attempt to break out of the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau into the North Atlantic on 28/29. December 1940, which was broken off due to sea damage on the Gneisenau off Norway.
From January 16 to 19, 1941, the Greif and the Seeadler accompanied the Alstertor , which was intended as a supplier, on the transfer from Cuxhaven to Brest. On the night of January 24th, the Seeadler secured the mine ships Cobra , Kaiser and Roland with the polecat and the destroyer Richard Beitzen at a mining company against the English south-east coast. Then the Richard Beitzen , the sea eagles and the polecats moved back to Brest through the English Channel. When the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper left Brest on February 1, 1941 for his second Atlantic expedition, the Richard Beitzen , the Condor and the White-tailed Eagle gave him escort protection in the Bay of Biscay . When the cruiser returned on February 15, it was picked up again by the same boats and escorted to Brest.
From the end of February to May 1941 the boat was overhauled in Rotterdam , as were the sister boats Kondor , Greif and Falke at the same time .
Operations from summer 1941 to spring 1942
From mid-May 1941, the six still existing torpedo boats of the bird of prey and predator class, with the exception of the seagull under renovation in Königsberg , were brought in again after their shipyard stays in the Baltic Sea. On June 16, 1941, the griffin , falcon , jaguar and sea eagle were transferred to Denmark . On July 7, 1941, they secured the transfer of the light cruiser Nuremberg to Horten and accompanied the light cruisers Emden and Leipzig on the march back to Frederikshavn . In August, the sea eagles and the polecat secured the return of the destroyer Richard Beitzen, damaged by Soviet coastal artillery, to Germany. On August 25, 1941, the Marine Group Command North released the flotilla from active service and the boats were assigned training tasks with various units.
In January 1942, the 5th torpedo boat flotilla was brought together again in Rotterdam to take over security tasks when the heavy units were to break through the canal. On 12 and 13 February 1942, had eagles on the 5th T flotilla from Cap Gris Nez on firm Cerberus involved, as the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau of cruisers and Prinz Eugen were transferred from Brest to Germany.
On 13./14. In March 1942 the auxiliary cruiser Michel passed the English Channel under the protection of the 5th Flotilla and nine minesweepers. The destroyers Walpole and Fernie were damaged in heavy fighting with British MTBs , MGBs and destroyers . The auxiliary cruiser reached Le Havre on the 14th, Saint-Malo on the 15th and La Pallice on the 17th , from where it left for the Atlantic on March 20th.
On March 28, the 5th T-Flotilla tried to intercept the light units used in the British raid against the Normandy dock in Saint-Nazaire . The Jaguar managed to drag the MGB 74 for a short time . However, when the flotilla encountered the British destroyer escorts Atherstone and Tynedale , there was a long-range battle and the Jaguar cut the tow to the captured MGB. The German boats withdrew because they did not recognize that they were facing only two destroyer escorts.
The last mission
From May 8th to May 12th 1942 the 5th T-Flotilla moved with the falcon , the polecat , the condor and the sea eagle from Brest to Hoek van Holland in order to guide the auxiliary cruiser Stier through the English Channel. On the 12th, the first day of the return march of the boats with the auxiliary cruiser, the association was attacked by British speedboats . The sea eagle sank the speedboat MTB 220 near Cape Griz Nez . In the early morning of May 13, 1942, shortly after 4 a.m., an MTB sank the polecat with a torpedo (115 dead). Almost five minutes later the sea eagle was hit by a torpedo from MTB 219 and the boat sank near Boulogne at position 50 ° 46 ′ N , 1 ° 34 ′ E . 85 men of the crew were killed. German speed boats were able to find some castaways from the two torpedo boats.
technical description
The boat belonged to the series boats of the type 1924. These had a type displacement of 924 ts as well as a construction displacement of 998 t . In use they displaced 1,290 t. The bunker capacity was 321 m³ of oil for a range of 2,000 nautical miles at 20 knots . The drive power of the geared turbine system from Schichau was 23,000 PSw , which allowed a top speed of 33 knots. The length was 88.5 meters above all and 85.7 meters in the waterline . The width was 8.3 meters and the mean draft 3.65 meters.
When commissioned, the armament consisted of three 10.5 cm guns and six torpedo tubes . Later two 2 cm flak were added and the caliber of the torpedo tubes was changed.
Commanders
| May 1 to June 1928 | KL Adolf Pirmann | 1895– |
last: Lieutenant General of the Air Force |
| July to October 1928 | KL Heinz Kiderlen | 1896-1973 | Sea captain |
| October to November 15, 1928 | KL Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken | 1897– | Vice admiral |
| April 10 to August 15, 1929 | KL Gerhard Wagner | 1898-1987 | Rear Admiral of the German Navy |
| August 22 to October 19, 1929 | OLzS Fritz Berger | 1900-1973 | Sea captain |
| October 15, 1930 to October 1931 | KL Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer | 1900-1981 | Rear admiral |
| October 1931 to September 1932 | KL Günther Gumprich | 1900–1943 † | Sea captain |
| September 1932 to July 20, 1933 | KL Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs | 1899-1972 | Sea captain |
| October 5, 1933 to October 1934 | ??? | ||
| October 1934 to September 1935 | KL Friedrich Kothe | 1901–1944 † | Sea captain |
| September 1935 to September 1936 May to October 1937 |
KL Georg Langheld | 1905-1973 | Sea captain |
| September 1936 to May 1937 | KL Otto Teichmann | 1904-1958 | Sea captain |
| October 1937 to December 10, 1937 | KL Günther Wachsmuth | 1906– | Sea captain |
| June 11, 1938 to October 1938 | KL Walter Riede | 1903– | Sea captain |
| November 1938 to October 1939 | KL Werner Hartenstein | 1908–1943 † | Corvette Captain |
| October 1939 to January 1942 | KL Franz Kohlauf | 1910–1944 † | Frigate captain |
| January to February 1942 | iV OLzS Hermann Holzapfel | 1917– | |
| February 1942 to May 13, 1942 | KL Hans Strecker | 1914– |
literature
- Harald Fock: Z-before! International development and war missions of destroyers and torpedo boats , Volume 1 1914 to 1939 , Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0762-9
- Hans H.Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German Warships , Mundus Verlag (Ratingen), seven volumes.
- Jürgen Rohwer , Klaus Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945 , Manfred Pawlal VerlagsGmbH, Herrsching, 1968, ISBN 3-88199-009-7
- MJWhitley: Destroyers in World War II , Motorbuch Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-613-01426-2
Web links
- Rohwer, Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945 (accessed on December 1, 2015)
- Historical Marine Archive (accessed December 1, 2015)
- White-tailed eagle (accessed December 1, 2015)
- "1923" type torpedo boats (1926-1928) (accessed December 1, 2015)
Footnotes
- ^ Whitley: Destroyers in World War II , p. 29.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Hildebrand u. a .: The German Warships , Vol. 5, p. 119.
- ↑ Hildebrand et al. a .: The German warships , vol. 6, p. 15.
- ↑ The group also includes Greif , which a cycling company put ashore in Arendal .
- ^ Jackal , Jupiter , Kashmir , Kipling and Kelvin .
- ↑ a b Hildebrand u. a .: German warships , vol. 5, p. 120
- ↑ Jib: Z-forward! , Vol. 1, page 83.
- ↑ Harald Fock, Vol. I, p. 274.
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