Wolf (ship, 1927)
.jpg) The Wolf WO , later WL , lying hidden on the quay wall; behind the sister boats Tiger and Polecat
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The Wolf was a torpedo boat of the Reich and Kriegsmarine and belonged to the predator class . The boat was initially used in the context of the Spanish Civil War . During the Second World War , the Wolf took part in mine laying in the North Sea and was entrusted with various escort and security tasks.
The Wolf hit a mine in the English Channel on January 8, 1941 and sank.
history
construction
The torpedo boat was under the hull number 109, together with the Iltis on March 8, 1927 at the Navy shipyard in Wilhelmshaven placed on Kiel . Both boats were running on 12 October 1927 from the stack . Sea captain a. D. Karl August Nerger, the former commander of the auxiliary cruiser SMS Wolf , gave the baptismal address, and the wife of the former First Officer Brandes christened the new torpedo boat.
In service from 1928 to 1930
After commissioning on November 15, 1928, the Wolf came as a flotilla boat to the II. T-Flotilla and replaced the sea eagles there . Test drives followed by February 1929, after which she undertook an Atlantic voyage with the fleet in April / May 1929. The ship visited the Spanish towns of A Pobra do Caramiñal and Seville . In the summer of the year, the boat called Rotterdam and Stockholm . From April to June 1930 the Wolf took part in a Mediterranean voyage. On August 30, 1930, the boat was taken out of service for overhaul work and replaced by the Seagull .
In service from 1932 to 1937
The Wolf was put back into service on February 6, 1932. In the summer of 1933 the boat took part in a trip to the Baltic Sea and visited Helsinki and Riga . In 1934 a training trip to Sweden followed . In 1936 the Wolf was sent to Spain and was part of the international naval blockade there. Her first mission lasted from August to October, the second took place from December 1 to 19, 1936. On the journey to Spain that began on November 19, the Wolf suffered an oar damage and had to be repaired in Brest . On June 30, 1937, the Wolf was decommissioned.
In service from 1937 to 1941
On December 9, 1937, the Wolf was put into service for the third and last time. The torpedo boat was used as a training ship until 1938. In February 1938 it was subordinated to the 3rd T-Flotilla and ran together with the Tiger and the Polecat back into Spanish waters to replace the 4th T-Flotilla cruising there. In July of the same year the boat returned to Germany. There, the 3rd T-Flotilla was renamed the new 6th T-Flotilla, which, together with other fleet units, took part in the reintegration of the Memelland in March 1939.
After the outbreak of World War II, the Wolf was entrusted with defensive mining companies in the North Sea, trade wars and various security and escort tasks. On November 13, 1939 , the Wolf took over the security of the light cruisers Cologne and Nuremberg , which in turn served as support for destroyers who had leaked out of the Thames estuary for a mining company . Five days later accompanied the Wolf , the Leipzig , the three of the Humber estuary ran towards returning destroyers. In March 1940, the torpedo boat also secured the Atlantis on its way through the German Bight . During operation weserübung was the wolf part of the third group with destination Bergen . The torpedo boat left Cuxhaven on April 8, 1940 . On the way to Bergen, Wolf provided assistance after the collision of two S-boats. On April 9, 1940, the Wolf, together with the Köln and the Leopard, began the march back after completing their mission. On April 11, the torpedo boat arrived in Wilhelmshaven and was then moved to the western area, where it took part in other reconnaissance and mining operations, such as in October 1940 in the sea area around the Isle of Wight .
Whereabouts
On the night of January 7th to 8th 1941, the Wolf took part in another mining operation with the code name Company Renate in the waters around Dover . On its return journey which ran Wolf at Dunkerque at 11.50 a mine and dropped to position 51 ° 5 ' N , 2 ° 8' O . 45 crew members were killed.
Commanders
| November 15, 1928 to September 1929 | Captain Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken |
| October 1929 to August 30, 1930 | Lieutenant Captain Hans-Joachim Gadow |
| February 6, 1932 to October 1933 | Lieutenant Captain Hans Michahelles |
| October 1933 to September 1935 | Lieutenant Captain Hans Georg Zimmer |
| September 1935 to April 1937 | Lieutenant Captain Hans Erdmenger |
| April 1937 to June 30, 1937 | unknown |
| December 9, 1937 to February 1938 | Captain Martin Saltzwedel |
| February 1938 to January 1940 | Lieutenant Lutz Gerstung |
| January 1940 to January 8, 1941 | First Lieutenant Broder Peters |
literature
- Gröner, Erich / Dieter Jung / Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 8 : Torpedo boats, destroyers, speedboats, minesweepers, mine clearance boats . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-7637-4801-6 , pp. 80-83 .
- Hildebrand, Hans H. / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 8 : Ship biographies from Undine to Zieten . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 109–110 (Approved licensed edition by Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg, approx. 1990).
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz: The German warships. Volume 8, p. 109.
- ↑ a b c d e Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz: The German warships. Volume 8, p. 110.
- ↑ Gröner / Jung / Maass: The German warships. Volume 2, p. 82.
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz name only 13 dead, cf. The German warships. Volume 8, p. 110.
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