Sparrowhawk (ship, 1938)
The Sperber (SP 11) was the first of three specially for the German Air Force built slingshot ships . This was followed a few years later by the larger units Bussard (SP 21) and Falke (SP 22) built at the F. Schichau shipyard in Pillau , which were put into service in 1942 and 1943 respectively.
Construction and technical data
The hawk was in 1938 at HC Stülcken son in Hamburg with the hull number 726 from the stack and was put into service on 26 November 1938th She was 70.25 m long and 14.55 m wide, had a 1.80 m draft and displaced 1,086 tons. Two 8-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engines from MWM gave it 640 hp and a top speed of 8 knots . The ship had a long, flat upper deck with an 18-ton Heinkel catapult for Do 18 , Do 24 and BV 138 flying boats and an 18-ton crane from Kampnagel and was armed with two 20 mm anti- aircraft guns. Additional anti-aircraft guns were installed in 1944. The crew consisted of 2 officers and 18 seafaring personnel as well as 14 flying personnel.
history
The sparrowhawk was initially stationed at the Großenbrode Seefliegerhorst and was relocated to the Hörnum Seefliegerhorst on Sylt at the beginning of the Second World War . In the course of the war she served as a catapult ship and tender for long-range reconnaissance aircraft for the Luftwaffe. From February 1945 until the end of the war she was with long-range reconnaissance group 22 in Copenhagen , where she was British spoils of war. After the war it was used as a floating crane in Wilhelmshaven until 1949 .
literature
- Simon Mitterhuber: The German catapult aircraft and slingshot ships , Bernard & Graefe, Bonn, 2004, ISBN 3-7637-6244-2
- Hans A. Caspari et al. a. (Ed.): E -stelle See: Volume 3 - The history of the seaplane test center Travemünde and the resulting E -stelle for aircraft armament in Tarnewitz , Aero-Verlag Zuerl, Steinebach (Wörthsee), 3rd edition, 1994, ISBN 3 -934596-11-8
- Erich Gröner : The German warships 1815–1945 ; Volume 7.
