Sea hydrographic service of the GDR
The Sea Hydrographic Service of the GDR ( SHD ) was the organization responsible for nautical charts and navigation markings in the GDR . It existed from 1950 to 1990.
history
Until the end of the Second World War , responsibility for hydrography in Germany lay with the Deutsche Seewarte , which was part of the Kriegsmarine and its predecessors. With the resolution of the Allied Control Council of December 12, 1945, the German Hydrographic Institute (DHI) was founded in Hamburg , which should be responsible for the sea areas of all occupation zones in Germany . He had access to the documents of the former sea control that had survived the war in the Allgäu .
On the grounds that the DHI neglects the GDR coast in its work, the GDR Council of Ministers decided on July 27, 1950, retrospectively to January 1, 1950, to set up its own marine hydrographic service. It emerged from a provisional hydrographic institute in Berlin and was initially based there. In 1952, the SHD also took over responsibility for the navigation system from the former waterway administration.
From the beginning it was clear that the SHD should support the military forces in the GDR undercover, which required a service that was independent of the DHI. For this reason he was subordinated to the main administration of the Maritime Police and together with them transferred to the People's Police in 1952. In 1956, the sea forces of the GDR emerged from the People's Police, which were called the People's Navy from 1960 .
After German reunification in 1990, the SHD was merged with the DHI and the Federal Office for Ship Surveying (BAS) to form the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency with headquarters in Hamburg and Rostock . The tasks of the navigation sign system were transferred to the Stralsund Waterways and Shipping Office .
tasks
The SHD had the task of supporting shipping and fishing . This included the maintenance and designation of the fairways , the surveying and bearing , the search and removal of wrecks , marine, geomagnetic and hydrographic research work and the sea weather service . Another area of responsibility was the testing of nautical equipment on board such as compasses and lanterns . The SHD also published nautical charts, nautical books and nautical notices .
The military tasks of the SHD included supporting the naval forces of the GDR and their allies. Members of the SHD took part in military exercises from 1951 and the senior staff received military ranks on December 1, 1951. The military tasks grew after the official establishment of the National People's Army in 1956. Measures were prepared for the event of war along the coast of the GDR. This included the preparation of compulsory routes for shipping, the installation of war lights and the construction of a special radio navigation system for the People's Navy RYM, later BRAS. In addition, SHD forces exercised regularly with the People's Navy and the other allied Baltic Fleets of Poland and the Soviet Union , with whom there was also a lively professional exchange.
organization
Within the People's Navy, the SHD formed its own organization under a head of the SHD who was directly subordinate to the chief of the People's Navy. Its headquarters were relocated from Berlin to Stralsund in 1953 and to Rostock in 1959.
| No. | Surname | Beginning of the term of office | Term expires | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Rear Admiral Herbert Bernig | 1975 | 1990 | |
| 4th | Sea captain Helmut Peucker | 1960 | 1975 | |
| 3 | Sea captain Albrecht Schliecker | 1956 | 1960 | |
| 2 | Frigate Captain Gerhard Grawe | 1953 | 1956 | |
| 1 | Sea captain Prof. Dr. Erich Bruns | 1950 | 1952 |
After several organizational changes, from 1971 onwards the management of the SHD was divided into the four sub-departments of organization / planning / training , hydrography , sea markings and nautical charts and books . There was also a printing shop. Subordinate to the management were sea hydrographic offices in Warnemünde and Peenemünde . The buoy yards and temporarily the ships of the SHD, which were initially combined in an association of ships of the SHD , were subordinate to these departments . From the mid-1970s, both offices had telecontrol centers for operating the beacons.
While the management staff had military status, mainly civilian employees worked in the technical areas and on board the ships.
Ships
When it was founded, the SHD only had a few vehicles that were provisionally prepared for surveying tasks. In addition, various small buoy laying boats and nautical sign boats were added by conversions until 1952 . 1956 SHD received from the People's Navy nine new as minesweepers built vehicles of the type swallow, which were used as Seezeichenboote. In the 1960s and 1970s, the SHD received a number of new buildings designed for its tasks, which gradually replaced the small vehicles of the early days. In 1990 larger vehicles had:
- 10 navigation mark control boats (small buoy layers) of the SK-64 class : Gollwitz, Ranzow, Landtief, Grasort, Kollicker Ort, Esper Ort, Palmer Ort, Gellen, Arkona, Darsser Ort
- 2 buoy layers: Buk , Dornbusch
- 1 survey ship: Carl F. Gauss
In addition, the SHD had a number of surveying and navigation barges.
After several reclassifications, the ships were divided into two compartments, which were subordinate to the First and Fourth Flotilla .
literature
- 1950−1990 - 40 years of SHD . Maritime Hydrographic Service of the German Democratic Republic, Rostock 1990
- Siegfried Breyer, Peter Joachim Lapp: The People's Navy of the GDR . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, ISBN 3-7637-5423-7
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b official website of the BSH, history of the BSH ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d e f 1950−1990 - 40 years of SHD. Seehydrographischer Dienst of the German Democratic Republic, Rostock 1990
