Wasp (ship, 1940)
 A 1935 minesweeper
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The Wasp was a former minesweeper of the German Navy , which was first used in the French mine clearance service after the end of the Second World War , then in the French Navy and finally from 1957 to 1973 in the German Federal Navy .
Construction and technical data
The boat of the type minesweeper 1935 Class M 1 was on 31 July 1939 at the plants Flender Lübeck with the hull number 261 laid on keel and ran there on 12 October 1940 from the pile , one boats of the class built from nine to this yard . It was the last boat of the series M 1 to M 24 laid down from July 1936 to July 1939 .
The boat was 68.1 m long and 8.7 m wide and had a draft of 2.75 m . The water displacement was 682 t (standard) and 874 t (maximum). The machine system consisted of two oil-fired Wagner high-pressure vessels and two Lentz unit expansion machines , which gave a total output of 3200 hp on the shafts and a maximum speed of 18.3 kn over two screws . The fuel supply of 874 t allowed a distance of 5000 nm at a cruising speed of 10 kn . The ship's crew numbered 84-90 men.
The armament of the boat initially consisted of two 10.5 cm L / 45 SK C / 30 in single mounts , one (later two) 3.7 cm L / 83 Flak C / 30 in single mounts and two 2, 0-cm-L / 65-Flak C / 30 in single mounts. In 1942, the anti-aircraft armament was strengthened by installing a 2.0 cm L / 65 anti-aircraft gun quad. In addition, the boat had four depth charges with six depth charges , and it could carry up to 32 sea mines .
For clearing moored mines , the boat was equipped with a discharged over the stern Räumgeschirr the type "shear hang device" (SDG) and as a paravane to extensible spars to leading Räumotter equipped for the removal of ground mines having magnetic igniters with the cable-remote-Scraper device (KFRG ), the tow reel device (SSG) and the hollow rod remote clearing device (HFG), and for clearing ground mines with acoustic ignition systems with a sound buoy "turbine" (GBT) and a blasting device (KKG).
career
Navy
M 24 was put into service in Lübeck on February 22, 1941 for the 8th minesweeping flotilla, with which the boat remained until the end of the war. The flotilla provided security and escort service in western France, especially in the Bay of Biscay , until 1944, including keeping the entry and exit routes of German submarines clear . After the Allies invaded France , the seven remaining boats of the flotilla remained in the port of the city of Saint-Nazaire , which the Wehrmacht had converted into a fortress , partly in the submarine bunker there . It was not until May 11, 1945 that the German occupation forces of Saint-Nazaire, which the Allies had refrained from conquering during the war, surrendered, and the boats of the flotilla, including the M 24 , came into US hands.
France
The Americans handed the boats over to France, and M 24 subsequently served with German crews and French officers in the French mine clearance service along the French coast.
On October 9, 1947, the boat was handed over to France as spoils of war and put into service by the French Navy as "aviso dragueur" with the identification A 20 , later M 605 , and the name Ailette . After removing the demining equipment and parts of the anti-aircraft armament, it was used as a fisheries protection ship in the North Sea . The Ailette was filed on September 1, 1956 out of service, removed from the list of warships on October 22, 1956 as Hulk number Q 76 launched .
Federal Navy
Five of the former minesweepers of the Kriegsmarine in French possession were bought by the newly established German Navy in 1956/57 . This also included the former M 24 . It was transferred to Wilhelmshaven by a French crew and put into service on February 28, 1957 as the escort boat F 211 Wespe . The other four boats were Hummel (ex M 81 , ex Laffaux M 607 / Q 75 ), Brummer (ex M 85 , ex Yser M 604 / Q 78 ), Biene (ex M 205 , ex Belfort M 606 / Q 74 ) and Brake (ex M 253 , ex Vimy M 608 / Q 77 ). All five were designated as escort boats of class 319 ( wasp class ) until 1963 and used for training purposes. They initially formed the 1st escort squadron and, from April 1, 1960, the school squadron of the German Navy. In 1957/58 the wasp underwent a major modernization at Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven .
The Wasp was decommissioned on September 20, 1963 and then turned into a target ship in the Wilhelmshaven naval arsenal . In November 1966, she was anchored west of Sylt , but was torn loose in a hurricane and thrown by the storm surge onto the west beach of the Danish island of Fanø . It was not until April / May 1967 that it was recovered and brought to Wilhelmshaven as a trailer .
On October 22, 1973 she was hit 45 nm north - west of Heligoland as a target ship by the destroyer Z 4 so badly that she was at 54 ° 22 ′ N , 6 ° 42 ′ E on the night of October 24-25, 1973 sank. The wreck lies at a depth of 32–37 m.
literature
- Siegfried Breyer, Gerhard Koop: The ships and vehicles of the German Federal Navy 1956-1976. Munich 1978, ISBN 3-7637-5155-6 .
- Heinz Ciupa: The German warships 1939-1945. Pabel-Moewig Verlag, Rastatt 1988, ISBN 978-3-8118-1049-5 .
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: Torpedo boats, destroyers, speed boats, minesweepers, mine clearance boats (= The German warships 1815–1945 . Volume 2 ). Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-7637-4801-6 , pp. 205-209 .
Web links
- Aviso garde-pêche Ailette A20 puis M605 , with photos
- Les bâtiments ayant porté le nom d'Ailette , with photo of the Ailette in 1948
Footnotes
- ↑ M 7 , M 8 , M 9 , M 12 , M 20 , M 21 , M 22 , M 23 and M 24 .
- ↑ The boats from M 25 were also called Type 1939 (Mob).
- ↑ M 24 , M 28 , M 32 , M 34 , M 254 , M 256 and M 277 .
- ↑ Minesweeping Flotillas 6-12, at www.wlb-stuttgart.de .
- ↑ The French mine clearance service was not subordinate to the German mine clearance management (DMRL) .
- ↑ French mine clearance management
- ↑ The Ailette is a river in the Aisne department in France.
- ^ Aviso garde-pêche Ailette A20 puis M605
- ^ Siegfried Breyer, Gerhard Koop: The ships and vehicles of the German Federal Navy 1956-1976. Munich 1978, ISBN 3-7637-5155-6 .
- ^ Wasp (+ 1973) at wrecksite.eu