Wigbert (ship, 1921)
 The second Wigbert
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The second Wigbert , put into service by the Hamburg-Bremer Afrika-Linie (HBAL) in 1921 , was built at the J. Frerichs & Co. shipyard in Einswarden as the second post-war newbuilding for the Bremen shipping company's West Africa service. Her sister ships were the Winfried , which was completed six months earlier, and the Wolfram, which was accepted in August of that year .
The three sister ships came to Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) through the incorporation of HBAL on January 1, 1926 , but continued to be used with the HBAL chimney brand. Wigbert and Wolfram stayed with the reorganization of the shipping areas of the German shipping companies in the Africa service and were then managed by the Woermann Line.
In 1940 the Wigbert belonged to the 2nd sea transport squadron of the transporters used for the Weser Exercise company. On the way to Oslo she was torpedoed in the Kattegat from a German convoy by the British submarine Triton and sank with considerable losses.
History of the ship
On December 29, 1920, the Wigbert was launched at the J. Frerichs & Co. shipyard as the second post-war newbuilding for the Bremen-based Africa shipping company with construction number 301. The 110.5 m long and 15.3 m wide new building received a triple expansion engine with 2100 hp, which enabled a speed of up to 11 knots (kn). It was thus slightly larger than the first Wigbert delivered to HBAL from Frerichswerft in 1912 , which HBAL bought back after delivery to Great Britain and remained in HBAL's service as Henner until 1932 . The new Wigbert was the middle ship of a series of three sister ships.
On April 23, 1921, the second Wigbert was taken into service by HBAL and deployed to West Africa. In 1926, when HBAL was incorporated, the ship became the property of Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL). As part of the reorganization of the shipping areas of the German shipping companies, HBAL GmbH in Bremen became the owner of the ship, which was managed by Woermann Linie from January 1935 .
In August 1936 the ship was chartered by the imperial government for the support of Francisco Franco's nationalist forces in Spain . She was one of the first "special ships" and carried the code name "Walter" in FT and correspondence. On her first voyage from August 14th, the ship carried two Junkers Ju 52 / 3m aircraft, external bomb suspension devices for this type, aircraft gasoline and telecommunications equipment. The Wigbert remained in service in Spain until March 1937 .
The last peace voyage of the Wigbert led from August 4 to September 2, 1939 from Santos to Hamburg.
War effort
As early as September 1939, the Wigbert was used to transport ore from Lulea in the Baltic Sea.
In March 1940 she was recorded as a transporter for the company "Weserübungen" , the German raid on Norway. On April 8, 1940, she left Gotenhafen on the way to Oslo as part of the 2nd sea transport squadron with troops and cargo . In the Kattegat, she was part of a convoy with Antares , Itauri and Muansa of the 1st sea transport squadron from Stettin, as well as Espana , Friedenau , Hamm , Scharhörn and Tucuman , which was secured by the torpedo school flotilla and outpost boats. On April 10 at 5:26 p.m. the Wigbert was torpedoed by the British submarine Triton and sank after a stern hit on a level keel within 20 minutes at the position 57 ° 27 '0 " N , 10 ° 46" 0 " E . The submarine also hit the Friedenau (5219 BRT) with two torpedoes and the outpost boat V 1507 (ex Whaler Rau VI ), which also sank. Many German soldiers lost their lives on the two cargo ships. The Espana managed to save over 200 shipwrecked people from the Friedenau . For security reasons, the Scharhörn will be diverted to the nearby Danish town of Frederikshavn .
During the night the convoy lost the Antares (2593 BRT) at 58 ° 3 ′ N , 11 ° 0 ′ E by the British submarine HMS Sunfish . The remaining five vans reach Oslo on the 11th.
The sister ships and Ingo
| Launched in service |
Surname | GRT | fate |
| 06.1920 30.10.1920 |
Winfried No. 300 |
3751 | the first ship of the HBAL in service to West Africa since the end of the war, in 1926 NDL, Oct. 1935 German Levante line (DLL), renamed in Yalova , 1939 in Varna , on 28 September 1941 by British submarine Tetrarch torpedoed and at Agios Georgios on beach at 37 ° 28 ' N , 23 ° 55' O set there on October 3, 1941 Talisman permanently destroyed, |
| 06.1921 08/20/1921 |
Wolfram No. 302 |
3648 | 1926 NDL, October 1935 HBAL / managed by Woermann-Linie, assigned to the 2nd sea transport squadron for company "Weser Exercise" in April, reached Oslo on 11th, held ready for company "Seelöwe" in Ostend from August to November 1940 , then transports to Norway , on November 10, 1942 off Vlieland after being hit by a mine, sank to 53 ° 41 ′ N , 4 ° 46 ′ E |
| 02.1926 May 9, 1926 |
Ingo BNr.396 |
3950 | Six meter longer variant of the Winfried class, 1926 NDL / occasionally also trips to the West Coast of South America in addition to the West African service, October 1935 HBAL / managed by Woermann-Linie, 1939 in Trieste , torpedoed by a British Fairey Swordfish on January 27, 1941 south of Pantelleria and sunk |
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Kludas: Seeschiffe NDL 1920-1970 , p. 28
- ↑ Sinking of the Friedenau with pictures of the rescue work
- ↑ Schmelzkopf: Handelsschiffahrt , p. 33
- ↑ Kludas: Afrika-Linien , p. 127
- ↑ sinking of Ingo
Web links
- Page on the history of the shipping companies Deutsche Afrika-Linien, John T. Essberger, u. a. as well as the trading house C. Woermann under construction
- The Wigbert transporter
- The Wolfram transporter
- Downfall of Wigbert
- Downfall Wolfram
- Downfall of Yalova
- Downfall Ingo
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The ships of the German Africa Lines 1880 to 1945 . Verlag Gerhard Stalling, 1975, ISBN 3-7979-1867-4 .
- Arnold Kludas: Die Seeschiffe des Norddeutscher Lloydt 1920 to 1970, Vol. 2, Koehler Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1992, ISBN 3-7822-0534-0 .
- Reinhart Schmelzkopf: Die deutsche Handelsschiffahrt 1919–1939 , Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg, ISBN 3-7979-1847-X