Willows (M 1060)
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Mine hunting boat Weiden (Class 332/02) |
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| General information | ||
| Class: | Mine hunting boat class 332/02 | |
| Optical call sign: | M 1060 | |
| International callsign: | DRES | |
| Builder: | Abeking & Rasmussen Schiffs- und Yachtwerft GmbH & Co. KG, Lemwerder | |
| Build number: | 6432 | |
| Keel laying: | March 1, 1990 | |
| Launch: | May 14, 1992 | |
| Proof of function: | September 3 to November 30, 1992 |
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| Acceptance of BWB : | March 25, 1993 | |
| Commissioning: | March 30, 1993 | |
| Decommissioning: | June 28, 2006 | |
| Whereabouts: | Sold to the United Arab Emirates , in service for them on June 30, 2006 as Al Hasbah. | |
| Technical specifications: | see Frankenthal class | |
The Weiden was a German minehunter of the Frankenthal class (class 332). It was built at the German shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen Schiffs- und Yachtwerft GmbH & Co. KG in Lemwerder and was launched on May 14, 1992.
The minehunter entered service as the second boat in the class on March 30, 1993. In 1997 it was overhauled in the Peene shipyard in Wolgast and from March to April 2001 in a Polish shipyard . Die Weiden belonged to the 1st minesweeping squadron and was stationed at the Olpenitz naval base .
Technical data, equipment and crew
history
1996-1998
At the beginning of February 1997 the pastures ran out on their longest journey to date. Together with the fast minesweeper Ensdorf of the 5th MSG, it went through the NOK to Wilhelmshaven, to complete the small association there with the supplier Nienburg. From Wilhelmshaven the journey went through the English Channel and Gibraltar to Malaga and Malta. After crossing the Suez Canal, there were again stops in Aden (Yemen) and Muscat (Oman) to finally reach the goal of the International Defense Exhibition (IDEX 97) in Abu Dhabi . After just under a week, the journey home started with stops in Djibouti , Alexandria , Palma de Mallorca and A Coruña . The presentations in the ports called turned out to be so successful that the willow was later sold to the United Arab Emirates . At the end of April, both Ensdorf and Weiden were back in Olpenitz. A video and thermal imaging camera was installed on this trip for test purposes. Since the system proved to be useful and reliable, it was subsequently adopted for new frigates, among other things. However, it was uninstalled in the pastures.
As a result, there was little spectacular until the end of October 1998: a short trip to Kalmar (Sweden), a stay in the shipyard in Wolgast, SQUADEX (Neustädter Bucht), various SAGAs and participation in the NATO maneuver COOP-Jaguar in Denmark. In addition, individual tests of the new Seefuchs system (further development of the Pinguin B3).
2000
In the first half of the year in particular, the mine hunter had many days at sea, mainly due to his participation in various NATO maneuvers. October was marked by the training of the partly newly composed crew, in addition to several day trips, there was also a one-week training trip on the Baltic Sea. In between there was a representation trip on which representatives of the Romanian Navy were introduced to the modern German mine-hunting system. In November, the Weiden, together with the Datteln, the Fulda, the Rottweil, the Weilheim and the Bad Bevensen took part in the two-week Squadex squadron trip that led to Gdynia / Poland. The year ended for the pastures with minehunting jobs for two individual weeks off Rügen .
2001
Mine hunting exercises were also carried out in January of the following year. In February, Die Weiden took part in the spring squadron trip, this time to Kalmar / Sweden. The Weiden had the honor of hosting the squadron dinner, to which the President of the Swedish Parliament was invited. As part of the squadron trip, part of the sea area of the infamous Wartburg lock was examined for mines, but without success. At the beginning of March, the crew accidentally discovered a live torpedo and an unexploded bomb from the Second World War on the floor of the Baltic Sea, both of which were defused by the boat's mine divers. On March 20, the pastures were moved to the naval arsenal in Kiel, where they were prepared for a longer stay in the shipyard.
2002
Participation in the NATO maneuver MCM Force South and from August 12 to September 20 in the SEF, during which the ship called Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark and Gothenburg in Sweden. During this time, I took part in DANEX 2002 from September 9th to 20th.
2003
The US property security in Bavaria determined the occupation for the first part of the year. In August, the willow served as an escort ship and race control for the traditional Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Race . The journey took the boat from Olpenitz to Riga and back via Travemünde . During the autumn squadron exercise of the 1st mine sweeping squadron, the boat visited Aalborg in Denmark.
2004
The spring brought the boat and crew to the port of Oslo after a short stop on Heligoland by participating in the spring squadron exercise . As part of the German participation in the NATO Blue Game maneuver , the boat called at the Norwegian ports of Kristiansand and Oslo as well as Frederikshavn in Denmark. In the 23-day maneuver, the interaction in association with the NATO allies, seafaring maneuvers as well as anti-aircraft and mine defense were practiced. In June the boat was ordered to go to Kristiansand to test the new submarine of the Navy U 31 . Due to the bad weather, the test drives did not take place and the pastures drove back to Olpenitz without having done anything. This was followed by a four-month shipyard phase at Kröger Werft GmbH & Co. KG , Rendsburg . The rest of the year consisted of trial and test drives for the boat and crew.
2005
The year 2005 brought the minehunter Weiden a total of 111 days at sea. Until May, the service consisted primarily of ship safety exercises and SAGA (damage prevention and combat training). In May, the boat for the NATO maneuver JMC ran together with the mine-hunting boat Fulda to Galway, Ireland and from there, after a five-day stay, on to Glasgow . After this maneuver, which consisted of mine hunting and sea surveillance exercises for the boat and crew, the boat started the way back via Scapa Flow and Helgoland. The Open Spirit maneuver , which consists of clearing World War II mines on the Baltic coast, took the boat to Riga and Ventspils in August and September together with the mine-hunting boats Passau and Fulda, as well as the tender Rhine . During this voyage, the willow managed to successfully blow up four sea mines. In October, the last squadron exercise of the 1st mine sweeping squadron took place, this took the squadron to Amsterdam and Newcastle upon Tyne . On December 22nd in Olpenitz, the first minesweeping squadron, the oldest naval unit, was decommissioned after almost 50 years of activity. The nine Frankenthal class boats and the Werra tender were assigned to the 3rd and 5th minesweeping squadrons. The mine-hunting boat Weiden was subordinated to the 3rd minesweeping squadron.
2006
As a final trip before the boat was sold, the Weiden was a guest in the Port of Hamburg in January, where she moored at the landing stages . While all the boats and tenders of the former minesweeping flotilla were relocated to their new home base in Kiel due to the restructuring of the Bundeswehr , the minehunters Weiden, Dillingen and Frankenthal remained at the Olpenitz naval base. The four-month training of the three crews of the UAE Navy began there in February . After a stormy crossing in June to Wilhelmshaven , the pastures were taken out of service on June 30, 2006 and handed over to the Navy of the United Arab Emirates. Under the new flag, it has been sailing from Abu Dhabi under the new name Al Hasbah (English: The Big Pearl) since autumn of that year .
Commanders
- March 30, 1993 to September 30, 1994 - Lieutenant Captain Ulrich Tschauder
- September 30, 1994 to October 26, 1995 - Lieutenant for the Sea Bernd Uwe Magedanz
- October 26, 1995 to September 26, 1996 - Lieutenant Staudt
- September 26, 1996 to June 22, 1998 - Lieutenant Captain Bernd Scheurich
- June 23, 1998 to June 28, 2001 - Lieutenant Tronje Schneider-Pungs
- June 28, 2001 to September 29, 2003 - Lieutenant Felix Hornung
- September 29, 2003 to August 19, 2004 - Lieutenant Captain Grischa Poweleit
- August 19, 2004 to June 30, 2006 - Lieutenant Alexander Rüß
Nock and bow coat of arms
The coat of arms of the city of Weiden in the Upper Palatinate hung next to the name tag in both cams of the Weiden . On both sides of the bow hung the coat of arms of the 1st minesweeping squadron (from March 30, 1993 to December 22, 2005) and the coat of arms of the 3rd minesweeping squadron (December 22, 2005 to June 28, 2006). The coat of arms of the 1st minesweeping squadron is similar to the coat of arms of the 1st clearing flotilla with the change of the three iron crosses, which refer to the three knight cross bearers of the flotilla. The coat of arms of the 3rd minesweeping squadron is the old coat of arms of the 3rd clearing flotilla Pillau / East Prussia. Both associations were associations of the Kriegsmarine.
City coat of arms of Weiden as Nock coat of arms
Bow coat of arms of the 1st mine sweeping squadron
Bow coat of arms of the 3rd Mine Sweeping Squadron
Others
The godfather town of the boat was Weiden in the Upper Palatinate. The local naval comradeship was already the godfather of the predecessor boat Scorpion and looked back on a friendship of over thirty years. Some of the crew visited the city twice a year for the citizens' festival (end of June) and the Christmas market (in December) and continue to do so.
The Weiden Ship Model Club built a true-to-original model of the boat, which is on display in the city's new town hall.
After the boat was decommissioned, the Nock coat of arms and the ship's bell were handed over to the city in a construction specially built by the crew, which can also be seen in the town hall.
During the last three years that the boat sailed under the German flag, it made eight larger and countless smaller voyages 19,524.7 nm . During this time, a total of 130 soldiers served on board, including three different commanders.
The crew had created a mascot for the willow trees, which had been hanging in the aisle next to the officers' mess since 2002 . It showed a Marsupilami jumping around on an anchor rope and wearing a green-red (city colors of the city of Weiden) armband on his right arm.
documentation
Under the title “Danger under the Kiel - mine hunt on the Baltic Sea”, a 30-minute report about life on the mine-hunting boat was broadcast on Das Erste in 2000 (first broadcast) , which at the time was under the command of Lieutenant Tronje Schneider- Pungs stand.
gallery
Mine hunting boat willows in dry dock
Mine hunting boat Weiden in the naval arsenal Kiel
Name tags minehunter Weiden and Al Hasbah
Propellers of the minehunter willows
Steering position of the minehunter Weiden
Mine hunting drone STN Systemtechnik Nord Pinguin B3
Practice mine clear to throw
Ammunition for the 40 mm L / 70 MEL Mod. 58 gun
Forward of the mine-hunting boat Weiden with the 40 mm L / 70 MEL Mod. 58 gun
Bell of the minehunter willowing
literature
- Hendrik Killi (2002): Mine sweeper for the German Navy. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH / Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn GmbH.
- Siegfried Breyer, Gerhard Koop (1996): The ships, vehicles and aircraft of the German Navy from 1956 to the present day. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag GmbH.
- Hannes Ewerth, Peter Neumann (2006): German Navy. The German Navy. Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn: Publishing house ES Mittler & Sohn GmbH.
- Press and Information Center Marine (Ed.) (2006): The fleet. 9th edition. Glücksburg: Marine press and information center.
