Wiki Warships

Italian Cruiser Zara




Career

Laid down: 4 July 1929
Launched:27 April 1930
Commissioned: 20 October 1931
Fate: Sunk
Struck: 29 March 1941
Displacement: 13,580 tons standard, 14,530 tons full load
Length: 180 m - 182.8 m
Beam: 20.6 m
Draught: 7.2 m
Propulsion: 8 boilers, 2 shafts, 95,000 hp
Speed: 33 knots (60 km/h)
Range: 5,361 miles at 16 knots
Complement: 841
Armament: 8 203 mm / 53 caliber, 16 100 mm / 47 caliber,
6 40 mm / 49 caliber, 8 13.2 mm
Aircraft: 2
Protection: max 150 mm (horizontal) 70 mm (vertical)



Zara was an Italian Zara class heavy cruiser, which served in the Regia Marina during World War II.

Her keel was laid down 1928 at O.T.O., La Spezia; she was launched on 27 April 1930, and her construction was completed in 1931. It sank on 29 March 1941. The cruiser was named after the Adriatic city of Zara (today Zadar).

Actions
Zara participated to the Spanish Civil War, having an important role in the end of the independent Basque country.

1940

• 7 July: battle of Calabria
• 19 July: battle of Cape Spada
• 1 September: operation Hats
• 29 September: operation MB 5
• 11 November: Night of Taranto

1941

29 March: In the battle of Cape Matapan, commander Capitano di Vascello Luigi Corsi, sunk. The Zara was escorting the battleship Vittorio Veneto, which had been damaged by aerial torpedo and slowed down, to Italy. The Zara class cruiser , the Pola was damaged by a torpedo from a British aircraft, and was obliged to slow down and later stop.

The remainder of the Italian force headed towards home ports, leaving the ship, but at the coming of night, the Zara together with her sister ship the Fiume and four destroyers returned to the Pola. In night action the Italian cruisers were taken by surprise by the radar-equipped British vessels. Three British battleships firing from as close a distance as 2,000 m comprehensively outgunned the cruisers. Zara and Fiume were struck several times within five minutes. Unable to recover the ship, the commander ordered the crew to scuttle and abandon Zara. The Fiume and the ship they had come back for, the Pola, and two destroyers were also sunk.

Italian cruiser Zara - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Famous HMS Royal Oak


Career
Laid down:15 January 1914
Launched:17 November 1914
Commissioned:1 May 1916
Status:Sunk on 14 October 1939

General characteristics
Displacement:29,150 tons standard
33,500 tons full load
Length:620½ ft (189 m)
Beam:88½ ft (27 m) as built
102 ft (31.1 m) after bulging
Draught:28½ ft (8.7 m)
Propulsion:4 shaft Parsons geared turbines
18 Yarrow boilers
40,000 shp (30 MW)
Speed:20 knots (37 km/h)
Range:4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km)
Complement:1,009 to 1,146 (peacetime)
Armament:4 × twin Mk I 15-inch/42 guns
12 × single Mk XII 6-inch (150 mm) guns
4 × 2 4-inch (102 mm) guns
2 × 8 2-pdr (900 g) anti-aircraft guns
4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:13 inch belt
6 inch upper belt
10 inch barbettes
13 inch turret faces
4¼ inch turret crowns
Nickname:The Mighty Oak

His Majesty's Ship Royal Oak (pennant number 08) was a Revenge-class battleship of the British Royal Navy, torpedoed in Scapa Flow by the German submarine U-47 on 14 October 1939. Launched in 1914 and completed in 1916, Royal Oak first saw action at the Battle of Jutland. In peacetime, she served in the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets, coming under accidental attack on more than one occasion. The ship became the centre of worldwide attention in 1928 when her senior officers were controversially court-martialled. During a twenty-five year career, attempts to modernise Royal Oak could not address her fundamental lack of speed, and by the start of the Second World War, she was no longer suited to front-line duty.

Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland when she became the first of the five Royal Navy battleships and battlecruisers sunk in the Second World War. The loss of life was heavy: of Royal Oak's complement of 1,234 men, 833 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its allies meant that the loss of the obsolete veteran of the First World War made little difference to the naval balance of power, but the effect on wartime morale was considerable. The U-boat commander, Günther Prien, became the first Kriegsmarine officer awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and found himself an immediate celebrity and war hero on his return to Germany. To the British, the raid demonstrated that the Germans were capable of bringing the naval war to their home waters, and the shock resulted in rapidly-arranged changes to dockland security.

Now lying upside-down in 30 m of water with her hull 5 m beneath the surface, Royal Oak is a designated war grave. In an annual ceremony to mark the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a White Ensign at her stern. Unauthorised divers are prohibited from approaching the wreck at any time.

Construction
The Revenge class to which Royal Oak belonged was ordered in the 1913–14 Estimates to be a cheaper—but smaller and slower—coal-fired version of the earlier Queen Elizabeth-class super-dreadnoughts. The design, seemingly a technological step backwards, was partly a response to fears that a dependence upon fuel oil—all of which had to be imported—could leave the class crippled in the event of a successful maritime blockade. High-quality coal, on the other hand, was in plentiful supply, and homeland supplies could be guaranteed. Furthermore, in contrast to the "Fast Squadron" Queen Elizabeths, the Revenge class were intended to be the heaviest-gunned vessels in the line of battle proper. Royal Oak and her sisters were the first major vessels for the Royal Navy whose design was supervised by the newly-appointed Director of Naval Construction, Sir Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt.


Royal Oak in line astern


Royal Oak was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 15 January 1914, the fourth of her class. Concerned over the performance limitations of coal, and having secured new oil supplies with a contract agreed with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher rescinded the decision on coal in October 1914. While under construction, Royal Oak was redesigned to employ eighteen oil-fired Yarrow boilers supplying four Parsons steam turbines each driving a single screw. The battleship was launched on 17 November of that year, and after fitting-out, was commissioned on 1 May 1916 at a final cost of £2,468,269. Named after the oak tree in which Charles II hid following his defeat at the 1651 Battle of Worcester, she was the eighth Royal Navy vessel to bear the name, replacing a pre-dreadnought scrapped in 1914. While building she was temporarily assigned the pendant number 67.

Royal Oak was refitted between 1922 and 1924, when her anti-aircraft defences were upgraded by replacing the original 3-inch (76 mm) AA guns with 4-inch (100 mm) high-angle mounts. Fire-control systems and rangefinders for main and secondary batteries were modernised, and underwater protection improved by 'bulging' the ship. The watertight chambers, attached to either side of the hull, were designed to reduce the effect of torpedo blasts and improve stability, but at the same time widened the ship's beam by over 4 meters.

A brief refit in the spring of 1927 saw the addition of two more 4-inch (100 mm) high-angle AA guns and the removal of the two 6-inch (150 mm) guns from the shelter deck.[6] The ship received a final refit between 1934 and 1936, when her deck armour was increased to 5 inches (12.7 cm) over the magazines and to 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) over the engine rooms. In addition to a general modernisation of the ship's systems, a catapult for a spotter float plane was installed above X–turret, and anti-aircraft defences were strengthened by doubling up each of the 4-inch (100 mm) AA guns and adding a pair of octuple Mark VIII pompom guns to sponsons abreast the funnel. The mainmast was reconstructed as a tripod to support the weight of a radio-direction finding office and a second High-angle Control Station. The extra armour and equipment made Royal Oak one of the best equipped of the Revenge class, but the additional weight caused her to sit lower in the water, lowering her top speed by several knots.

Career

First World War

The First World War had been under way for almost two years when Royal Oak was commissioned. She was assigned to the Third Division of the Fourth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet, and within the month was ordered, along with most of the fleet, to engage the German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland. Under the command of Captain Crawford Maclachlan, Royal Oak left Scapa Flow on the evening of 30 May in the company of the battleships Superb, Canada and Admiral Jellicoe's flagship Iron Duke.

The next day's indecisive battle saw Royal Oak fire a total of thirty-eight 15-inch and eighty-four 6-inch (150 mm) shells, claiming three hits on the battlecruiser Derfflinger, putting one of its turrets out of action, and a hit on the cruiser Wiesbaden. She avoided damage herself, despite being straddled by shellfire on one occasion.

Following the battle, Royal Oak was reassigned to the First Battle Squadron. On 5 November 1918—the final week of the First World War—she was anchored off Burntisland in the Firth of Forth accompanied by the aircraft carrier Campania and battlecruiser Glorious. A sudden Force 10 squall caused Campania to drag her anchor, collide with Royal Oak and then with the 22,000-ton Glorious. Both Royal Oak and Glorious suffered only minor damage; Campania, however, was holed by her initial collision with Royal Oak. Her engine rooms flooded, and she sank five hours later, though without loss of life.

At the end of the First World War Royal Oak escorted several vessels of the surrendering German High Seas Fleet from the Firth of Forth to their internment in Scapa Flow, and was present at a ceremony in Pentland Firth to greet other ships as they followed.

Between the wars


Capt. Kenneth Dewar, court-martialled in 1928

The peacetime reorganisation of the Royal Navy assigned the Royal Oak to the Second Battleship Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. Modernised by the 1922–24 refit, she was transferred in 1926 to the Mediterranean Fleet, based in Gibraltar and Grand Harbour, Malta. In early 1928, this duty saw the notorious incident the contemporary press dubbed the "Royal Oak Mutiny".

What began as a simple disagreement between Rear-Admiral Bernard Collard and Royal Oak's two senior officers Captain Kenneth Dewar and Commander Henry Daniel over the band at the ship's wardroom dance, descended into a bitter personal feud that spanned several months. Dewar and Daniel accused Collard of "vindictive fault-finding" and openly humiliating and insulting them before their crew; in return, Collard countercharged the two with failing to follow orders and treating him "worse than a midshipman". When Dewar and Daniel wrote letters of complaint to Collard's superior, Vice-Admiral John Kelly, he immediately passed them on to the Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sir Roger Keyes. On realising that the relationship between the two and their flag admiral had irretrievably broken down, Keyes removed all three from their posts and sent them back to England, postponing a major naval exercise. The press picked up on the story worldwide, describing the affair—with some hyperbole—as a "mutiny". Public attention reached such proportions as to raise the concerns of the King, who summoned First Lord of the Admiralty William Bridgeman for an explanation.

For their letters of complaint, Dewar and Daniel were controversially charged with writing subversive documents. In a pair of highly publicised courts-martial, both were found guilty and severely reprimanded, upon which Daniel almost immediately resigned from the Navy. Collard himself was criticised for the excesses of his conduct by the press and in Parliament, and on being denounced by Bridgeman as "unfitted to hold further high command", was forcibly retired from service. A consequence of the affair was an undertaking from the Admiralty to review the means by which naval officers might bring complaints against the conduct of their superiors. Of the three, only Dewar escaped with his career, albeit a damaged one: he remained in the Royal Navy and was promoted to Rear-Admiral the following year, one day before his retirement.

Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War, Royal Oak was tasked with conducting 'non-intervention patrols' of the Iberian Peninsula. On such a patrol and steaming some 30 nautical miles (56 km) east of Gibraltar on 2 February 1937, she came under aerial attack by three aircraft of the Republican forces. They dropped three bombs (two of which exploded) within 3 cables (555 m) of the starboard bow, though causing no damage. The British chargé d'affaires protested the incident to the Republican Government, which admitted its error and apologised for the attack. Later that same month, while stationed offshore of Valencia on 23 February 1937 during an aerial bombardment by the Nationalists, she was accidentally struck by an anti-aircraft shell fired from a Republican position. Five men were injured, including the Royal Oak's captain, T.B. Drew. On this occasion however the British elected not to protest to the Republicans, deeming the incident "an Act of God". In May 1937, she and HMS Forester escorted SS Habana, a liner carrying Basque child refugees, to England. In July, as the war in northern Spain flared up, the Royal Oak, along with the battleship HMS Resolution rescued the steamer Gordonia when Spanish nationalist warships attempted to capture her off Santander. But on 14 July, she was unable to prevent the seizure of the British freighter Molton when the latter was trying to enter Santander and was eventually captured by the Spanish rebel cruiser Almirante Cervera. The merchantmen had been engaged in the evacuation of refugees.

This same period saw Royal Oak star alongside fourteen other Royal Navy vessels in the 1937 British film melodrama Our Fighting Navy, the plot of which centres around a coup in the fictional South American republic of Bianco. Royal Oak plays the role of a rebel battleship El Mirante, whose commander forces a British captain into choosing between his lover and his duty. The film was in general poorly received by critics, but gained some redemption through its dramatic scenes of naval action.

Second World War

In 1938, Royal Oak returned to the Home Fleet and was made flagship of the Second Battleship Squadron based in Portsmouth. On 24 November 1938, she returned the body of the British-born Queen Maud of Norway to a state funeral in Oslo, accompanied by her husband King Haakon VII. Paying off in December 1938, Royal Oak recommissioned the following June, and in the late summer of 1939 embarked on a short training cruise in the English Channel in preparation for another 30-month tour of the Mediterranean. As hostilities loomed, she was instead despatched north to Scapa Flow, and was at anchor there when war was declared on 3 September.

In October, Royal Oak joined the search for the German battleship Gneisenau, which had been ordered into the North Sea as a diversion for the commerce-raiding pocket battleships Deutschland and Graf Spee. The search was ultimately fruitless, particularly for Royal Oak, whose top speed, by then less than 20 knots (37 km/h), was inadequate to keep up with the rest of the fleet. On 12 October, Royal Oak returned to the defences of Scapa Flow in poor shape, battered by the North Atlantic storms: many of her Carley liferafts had been smashed and several of the smaller calibre guns rendered inoperable. The mission had underlined the obsolescence of the twenty-five year old warship. Concerned that a recent overflight by German reconnaissance aircraft heralded an imminent air attack upon Scapa Flow, Admiral of the Home Fleet Charles Forbes ordered most of the fleet to disperse to safer ports. The Royal Oak however remained behind, her anti-aircraft guns still deemed a useful addition to Scapa's air defences.

Loss


Scapa Flow

Main article: Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow



Scapa Flow made a near-ideal anchorage. Situated at the centre of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland, the natural harbour, large enough to contain the entire Grand Fleet, was surrounded by a ring of islands separated by shallow channels subject to fast-racing tides. The threat from U-boats had long been realised, and a series of countermeasures were installed during the early years of the First World War.

Blockships were sunk at critical points, and floating booms deployed to block the three widest channels. Operated by tugboats to allow the passage of friendly shipping, it was considered possible—but highly unlikely—that a daring U-boat commander could attempt to race through undetected before the boom was closed. Two submarines that had attempted infiltration during the war had met unfortunate fates: on 23 November 1914 UB-18 was rammed twice before running aground with the capture of her crew, and UB-116 was detected by hydrophone and destroyed on 28 October 1918.

Scapa Flow provided the main anchorage for the British Grand Fleet throughout most of the First World War, but in the interwar period this passed to the more conveniently located Rosyth in the Firth of Forth. Scapa Flow was however reactivated with the advent of the Second World War, becoming base to the British Home Fleet. Its natural and man-made defences, while still strong, were recognised as in need of improvement, and in the early weeks of the war were in the process of being strengthened by the provision of additional blockships.

Special Operation P: the raid by U-47


Infiltration of Scapa Flow by U-47
Kriegsmarine Commander of Submarines Karl Dönitz devised a plan to attack Scapa Flow by submarine within days of the outbreak of war. Its goal would be twofold: firstly, that displacing the Home Fleet from Scapa Flow would slacken the British North Sea blockade and grant Germany greater freedom to attack the Atlantic convoys; secondly, the blow would be a symbolic act of vengeance, striking at the same location where the German High Seas Fleet had surrendered and scuttled itself following Germany's defeat in the First World War. Dönitz hand-picked Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien for the task, scheduling the raid for the night of 13/14 October, when the tides would be high and the night moonless.

Dönitz directed Prien to enter Scapa Flow from its east via Kirk Sound, passing to the north of Lamb Holm, a small low-lying island between Burray and Mainland. Prien initially mistook the more southerly Skerry Sound for the chosen route and his sudden realisation that U-47 was heading for the shallow blocked passage forced him to order a rapid turn to the northeast. On the surface, and illuminated by a bright display of the aurora borealis, the submarine threaded between the sunken blockships Seriano and Numidian, grounding itself temporarily on a cable strung from Seriano. It was briefly caught in the headlights of a taxi onshore, but the driver raised no alarm. On entering the harbour proper at 00:27 on 14 October, Prien entered a triumphant Wir sind in Scapa Flow!!! in the log and set a south-westerly course for several kilometres before reversing direction. To his surprise, the anchorage appeared to be almost empty; unknown to him, Forbes' order to disperse the fleet had removed some of the biggest targets. U-47 had been heading directly towards four warships, including the newly commissioned light cruiser Belfast, anchored offshore of Flotta and Hoy 8 km distant, but Prien gave no indication that he had seen them.

On the reverse course, a lookout on the bridge spotted Royal Oak lying approximately 4,000 m to the north, correctly identified as a battleship of the Revenge class. Mostly hidden behind her was a second ship, only the bow of which was visible to U-47. Prien mistook it to be a battlecruiser of the Renown class, German intelligence later labelling it Repulse. It was in fact the World War I seaplane tender Pegasus.


Site of attack on Royal Oak

At 00:58 U-47 fired a salvo of three torpedoes from its bow tubes, a fourth jamming in its tube. Two failed to find a target, but a single torpedo struck the bow of Royal Oak at 01:04, shaking the ship and waking the crew. Little visible damage was received, though the starboard anchor chain was severed, clattering noisily down through its slips. Initially, it was suspected that there had been an explosion in the ship's forward inflammable store, used to store materials such as kerosene. Mindful of the unexplained explosion that had destroyed HMS Vanguard in Scapa Flow in 1917, an announcement was made over the Royal Oak's tannoy system to check the magazine temperatures, but many sailors returned to their bunks, unaware that the ship was under attack.

Prien turned his submarine and attempted another shot via his stern tube, but this too missed. Reloading his bow tubes, he doubled back and fired a salvo of three torpedoes, all at Royal Oak, and this time he was successful: at 01:16 all three struck the battleship in quick succession at her amidships.

A series of explosions ran through the ship, followed by an inrush of seawater. The ship immediately listed some 15°, sufficient to push the open starboard-side portholes below the waterline. She soon rolled further onto her side to 45°, hanging there for several minutes before disappearing beneath the surface at 01:29, 13 minutes after Prien's second strike. 833 men died with the ship, including Rear-Admiral Henry Blagrove, commander of the Second Battleship Division. The admiral's wooden gig, moored alongside, was dragged down with Royal Oak.

Rescue efforts
The tender Daisy 2, skippered by John Gatt RNR, had been tied up for the night to Royal Oak's port side. As the sinking battleship began to list to starboard, Gatt ordered Daisy 2 to be cut loose, the vessel becoming briefly caught on Royal Oak's rising anti-torpedo bulge and lifted from the sea before freeing herself.

Many of Royal Oak's crew that had managed to jump from the sinking ship were dressed in little more than their nightclothes and were unprepared for the chilling water. A thick layer of fuel oil coated the surface, filling men's lungs and stomachs and hampering their efforts to swim. Of those who attempted the 800-metre swim to the nearest shore, only a handful survived.

Gatt lit the lights of Daisy 2, and he and his crew managed to pull 386 men from the water, including Royal Oak's commander, Captain William Benn. The rescue efforts continued for another two and a half hours until nearly 4:00 am, when Gatt abandoned the search for more survivors and took those he had to Pegasus. Although aided by boats from Pegasus and the harbour, he was responsible for rescuing almost all the survivors, an act for which he would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the only military award made by the British in connection with the disaster.

Aftermath


The crew of Scharnhorst saluting U-47 on its return

The British were initially confused as to the cause of the sinking, suspecting either an on-board explosion or aerial attack. Once it was realised that a submarine attack was the most likely explanation, steps were rapidly made to seal the anchorage, but U-47 had already escaped and was on its way back to Germany. The BBC released news of the sinking by late morning on 14 October, and its broadcasts were received by the German listening services and by U-47 itself. Divers sent down on the morning after the explosion discovered remnants of a German torpedo, confirming the means of attack.

On the 17 October First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill officially announced the loss of Royal Oak to the House of Commons, first conceding that the raid had been "a remarkable exploit of professional skill and daring", but then declaring that the loss would not materially affect the naval balance of power. An Admiralty Board of Inquiry convened between 18 and 24 October to establish the circumstances under which the anchorage had been penetrated. In the meantime, the Home Fleet was ordered to remain at safer ports until security issues at Scapa could be addressed.

The Nazi Propaganda Ministry was quick to capitalise on the successful raid, and radio broadcasts by the popular journalist Hans Fritzsche displayed the triumph felt throughout Germany. Prien and his crew reached Wilhelmshaven at 11:44 on 17 October and were immediately greeted as heroes, learning that Prien had been awarded the Iron Cross First Class, and each man of the crew the Iron Cross Second Class. Hitler sent his personal plane to bring the crew to Berlin, where he further invested Prien with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. This decoration, made for the first time to a German naval officer, later became the customary decoration for successful U-Boat commanders. Dönitz was rewarded by promotion from Commodore to Rear-Admiral and was made Flag Officer of U-Boats.

Prien was nick-named "The Bull of Scapa Flow" and his crew decorated U-47's conning tower with a snorting bull mascot, later adopted as the emblem of the 7th U-boat Flotilla. He found himself in demand for radio and newspaper interviews, and his 'autobiography' was published the following year, titled Mein Weg nach Scapa Flow Ghost-written by a German journalist, in the post-war years certain of its claims relating to the events of October 1939 were brought into question.

The British Admiralty's official report into the disaster condemned the defences at Scapa Flow, and censured Sir Wilfred French, Admiral Commanding Orkney and Shetland, for their unprepared state. French was placed on the retired list, despite having warned the previous summer of Scapa Flow's deficient anti-submarine defences, and volunteering to bring a small ship or submarine himself past the blockships to prove his point.


Churchill Barrier 1, now blocking Kirk Sound, Prien's entry into Scapa Flow

On Churchill's orders, the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow were sealed with concrete causeways linking Lamb Holm, Glimp Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay to the Orkney Mainland. Constructed largely by Italian prisoners of war, the Churchill Barriers, as they became known, were essentially complete by September 1944, though they were not opened officially until just after VE Day in May 1945. They now form part of the transport infrastructure of the Orkneys, carrying the A961 road between the islands.
In the years that followed, a rumour circulated that Prien had been guided into Scapa by one Alfred Wehring, a German agent living in Orkney in the guise of a Swiss watchmaker named Albert Oertel. Following the attack, 'Oertel' escaped with the submarine—named B-06—back to Germany. This account of events originated as an article by the journalist Curt Riess in the 16 May 1942 issue of the American magazine Saturday Evening Post and was later embellished by other authors. Post-war searches through German and Orcadian archives have however failed to find any evidence for the existence of either Oertel, Wehring or a submarine named B-06, and the story is now held to be wholly fictitious.


Wreck


Status as war grave


Memorial in St Magnus', featuring Royal Oak's bell

Despite the relatively shallow water in which she sank, the majority of bodies could not be recovered from Royal Oak. Marked by a buoy at, the wreck has been designated a war grave and all diving or other unauthorised forms of exploration are prohibited under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. In clear water conditions, the upturned hull can be seen reaching to within 5 m of the surface. The brass letters that formed Royal Oak's name were removed as a keepsake by a recreational diver in the 1970s. They were returned almost twenty years later and are now displayed in the Scapa Flow visitors' centre in Lyness on Hoy. The Royal Oak's loss is commemorated in an annual ceremony in which Royal Navy divers place the White Ensign underwater at her stern.[82] A memorial at St Magnus' Cathedral in nearby Kirkwall displays a plaque dedicated to those who lost their lives; beneath which a book of remembrance lists their names. The ship's bell was recovered in the 1970s and after being restored was added to the memorial in St Magnus'. A number of bodies, including some that could not be identified, were interred at the naval cemetery in Lyness.

Environmental concerns
Royal Oak sank with up to 3,000 tons of fuel oil aboard. The oil leaked from the corroding hull at an increased rate during the 1990s and concerns about the environmental impact led the Ministry of Defence to consider plans for extracting it. Royal Oak's status as a war grave required that surveys and any proposed techniques for removing the oil be handled sensitively: plans in the 1950s to raise and salvage the wreck had been dropped due to public opposition. In addition to the ethical concerns, poorly-managed efforts could destabilise the wreck, resulting in a mass release of the remaining oil; the ship moreover containing many tons of unexploded ordnance.

The MOD commissioned the specialist Archaeological Dive Unit Survey team based jointly at St Andrews and Dundee universities to carry out a series of multi-beam sonar surveys to image the wreck and appraise its condition. The high-resolution sonograms showed Royal Oak to be lying almost upside down with her top works forced into the seabed.

The tip of the bow had been blown off by Prien's first torpedo and a gaping hole on the starboard flank was the result of the triple strike from his second successful salvo. Following several years of delays, the task of pumping off the remaining oil has begun and as of 2006, all double bottom tanks have been cleared. A test scheme to remove oil from the inner wing tanks was successful and the MOD plans to remove the bulk of remaining oil in the summer of 2007.

HMS Royal Oak (08) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Nemisis U-47


October 1939. U-47 returns to port after sinking HMS Royal Oak. The battlecruiser Scharnhorst is seen in the background.

Country: Nazi Germany
Branch: Kriegsmarine
Type: VIIB
Fieldpost number: M 18 837
Shipyard: Germaniawerft, Kiel
Yard number: 582
Ordered: November 21, 1936
Laid down: February 27, 1937
Launched: October 29, 1938
Commissioned: December 17, 1938

Career
Patrols: 10
Flotillas: 7. Unterseebootsflottille
Commanders: Günther Prien
Successes: 30 ships sunk for a total of 162,769 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 29,150 tons
8 ships damaged for a total of 62,751 GRT
Fate: Disappeared March 7, 1941 in the North Atlantic near the Rockall Banks. 45 dead.

Unterseeboot 47 (U-47) was a German type VII B U-Boat (submarine). She was laid down on February 25, 1937 at Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel and went into service on December 17, 1938.

U-47 became famous when, on October 14, 1939, under the command of Günther Prien, she managed to enter the base of the British home fleet at Scapa Flow through a hole in the defence line, and sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak.

The Royal Oak was in Scapa Flow in a largely unprepared state, although the Second World War had recently begun.

U-47s first two salvos did nothing more than sever an anchor chain. After reloading the bow tubes the last salvo of three torpedoes struck the battleship causing severe flooding. Taking on a list of 15 degrees, her open portholes were submerged worsening the flooding and the list to 45 degrees; she sank within 15 minutes with the loss of over 800 men.

U-47 carried out ten combat patrols and spent a total of 238 days at sea. She sank 30 enemy merchant ships (164,953 tons) and damaged eight more. She did lose a sailor, Heinrich Mantyk, overboard on September 5, 1940.

U-47 had a displacement of 761 metric tons, 865 tons submerged. She was powered by two 1400 PS (1 MW) diesel engines and two 375 PS (280 kW) electric motors. Her speed was 17 knots (31 km/h) on the surface and 7.6 knots (14 km/h) submerged. Her underwater armament consisted of four torpedo tubes in the bow and one in the stern. The deck artillery consisted of an 88 mm gun and a 20 mm anti-aircraft automatic cannon. The vessel's range was 6500 nautical miles (12,000 km).


Conning tower art


U-47 went missing on March 7, 1941 and she was once thought to have been sunk by the British destroyer HMS Wolverine west of Ireland, but it turned out that the ship attacked there was actually the U-A, part of the Foreign U-Boats corps. To date, there is no official record of what happened to the U-47 or her 45 crewmen, though a variety of possibilities exist, including mines, a mechanical failure, a victim of her own torpedoes, or possibly a later attack that didn't confirm any kills - by the corvette team of HMS Camellia and HMS Arbutus.

Many years later, in September 2002, one of the unexploded torpedoes that the U-47 had fired off-course during the attack on HMS Royal Oak rose to the surface from its resting place at the bottom. The unexploded torpedo, minus its warhead, gradually drifted towards the shore, where it was spotted by a crewman aboard the Norwegian tanker Petrotrym. A Royal Navy tugboat intercepted the torpedo, and after identifying it as belonging to the U-47 63 years earlier, EOD personnel detonated it a mile from shore.



The crew of the U-47

U-47 had a crew of 47 officers and men during her fated North Atlantic patrol in the spring of 1941, all of whom are presumed dead.

Unterseeboot 47 (1938) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

BTW guys, this thread is my idea. Just PzJgr managed to post it first. Grrrrr.



My favourite, HMS Nelson. (Along with HMS Rodney, of course.)

HMS Nelson

Ordered: 1922
Builder: Armstrong-Whitworth
Laid Down: 28 December 1922
Launched: 3 December 1925
Commisioned: 10 September 1930
Decommissioned: February 1948
Status: Scrapped Starting on 15 march 1949

Displacement: 33,950 tons (38,000 tons full load)
Length: 710 ft (216.5 m) (overall)
Beam: 106 ft (32 m)
Draught: 33 ft (10 m)
Propulsion: 8 3-drum superheated boilers
2 Brown-Curtiss single reduction geared turbines, 2 screws,
45,000 hp (33.6 MW)
Speed: 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h) (trials)
Range: 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km) at 16 knots (13,000 km at 30 km/h)
Complement: 1,361
Armament (1945):
Armour: 14 inch (356 mm) midships
6.75 inch deck
16 inch (406 mm) turret face
13.4 inch (330 mm) conning tower sides
Aircraft carried: 1, no catapult
Motto: Palmam qui meruit ferat
"Let him bear the palm who has deserved it"
Badge: A rearing lion facing back clasping a palm frond

HMS Nelson was a Nelson-class battleship (can I just say that that was a very stupid statement) of the Royal Navy built between the two World Wars. She was named in honour of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, the victor at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Built under the constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, the design was limited to 35,000 tons and showed certain compromises. Inheriting some of the design of the G3 battlecruisers all of the 16 inch (406 mm) main guns in three turrets, were placed forward, and the vessel's speed was reduced and maximum armour was limited to vital areas.
The three turrets from forward to aft were "A", "B" and "X". The guns received individual nicknames being known as Happy, Grumpy, Sneezy, Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful, Doc, Mickey and Minnie, sometime after the release of the film Snow White in 1937. The secondary armament was in turrets P1 to P3 on the port, S1 to S3 on the starboard. The six 4.7 inch anti-aircraft mounts were designated HA1 to HA6, the even numbers on the port. The six pom-pom mounts were numbered from M1 (on top of B turret) to M7 at the extreme aft - there was no M2 position - the odd numbers 3 and 4 to the starboard.

History

Nelson was laid down in December 1922 and built at Newcastle by Armstrong-Whitworth. Launched in September 1925, she was commissioned in August 1927 and joined by her sister ship Rodney (built by Cammell Laird) in November. She cost 7.504 million British Pounds to build, and made partial use of the material prepared for the cancelled HMS Anson and Howe, planned sisterships of HMS Hood.
She was the flagship of the Home Fleet from launch. In 1931, the crews of both ships took part in the Invergordon Mutiny. On 12 January 1934 she ran aground on Hamilton's Shoal, just outside Portsmouth, as she was about to embark with the Home Fleet to the West Indies.
Nelson was modified little during the 1930s, and was with the Home Fleet when war broke out in September 1939. On 25 September–26 September, she performed escort duty during the salvage and rescue operations of the submarine HMS Spearfish. Nelson was first deployed in the North Sea in October against a German formation of cruisers and destroyers, all of which easily evaded her. On 30 October, she was unsuccessfully attacked by U-56 near the Orkney Islands, being hit by 3 torpedoes, none of which exploded. She was later again shown up for pace in the futile pursuit of German battlecruisers. In December 1939, she struck a mine (laid by U-31) off the Scottish coast and was laid up for repairs until August 1940.

HMS Nelson firing her 16-inch (406 mm) guns during a practice shoot. The massive muzzle blast churns up water to starboard.

Upon return to service, she was deployed in the English Channel. From April to June 1941 she was on convoy escort in the Atlantic. In late May, she was in Freetown, and was ordered to Gibraltar to stand by to take part in the chase of the German battleship Bismarck.
In June 1941, Nelson, now in Gibraltar, was assigned to Force H, operating in the Mediterranean as an escort. On 27 September 1941, she was extensively damaged by a Regia Aeronautica torpedo strike, and was under repair in Britain until May 1942. She returned to Force H as the Flagship in August 1942, performing escort duties for supply convoys running to Malta. She supported Operation Torch around Algeria in November 1942, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and the Salerno operation in September 1943 by coastal bombardment. The Italian armistice was signed between Eisenhower and Marshal Pietro Badoglio aboard Nelson on 29 September.
Nelson returned to England in November 1943 for a refit including extensive additions to her anti-aircraft defenses. Returning to action, she supported the Normandy landings but hit two mines on 18 June 1944, and was sent to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for repairs. She returned to Britain in January 1945, and then was deployed to the Indian Ocean, arriving in Colombo in July. She was used around the Malayan Peninsular for 3 months; the Japanese forces there formally surrendered aboard her.
Nelson returned home in November 1945, as the flagship of the Home Fleet, until reduced to a training vessel in July 1946 and decommissioned in February 1948. She was used as a target vessel for bombing exercises for a few months before being scrapped on 15 March 1949 at Inverkeithing.

 

Give the man a hand and look what happens...........................

 

The USS Bunker Hill



Career
Laid down:15 September 1941
Launched: 7 December 1942
Commissioned: 24 May 1943
Decommissioned: 9 January 1947
Reclassified: CV to CVA 1 October 1952
CVA to CVS 8 August 1953
CVS to AVT May 1959
Struck: 1 November 1966
Status: Sold for scrap 1973

General characteristics
Displacement:
27,100 tons standard
36,380 tons full load
Length:
820 feet (waterline)
872 feet (overall)
Beam:
93 feet (waterline)
147 feet 6 inches (overall)
Draught:
As built:
28 feet 5 inches light
34 feet 2 inches full load
Propulsion:
8 × boilers (565 psi., 850ºF)
4 × Westinghouse geared steam turbines
4 × shafts
150,000 shp
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Range: 20,000 nautical miles (37,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement: 2,600 officers and enlisted
Armament:
4 × twin 5 inch 38 caliber guns
4 × single 5 inch 38 caliber guns
8 × quadruple 40-mm 56 caliber guns
46 × single 20-mm 78 caliber guns
Armour:
2.5 to 4 inch belt
1.5 inch hangar and protectice decks
4 inch bulkheads
1.5 inch STS top and sides of pilot house
2.5 inch top of steering gear
Aircraft carried:
90–100 aircraft
1 × deck-edge elevator
2 × centerline elevators
Honours and awards: Presidential Unit Citation / American Campaign Medal / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (11 stars)/World War II Victory Medal / Philippine Presidential Unit Citation / Philippine Liberation Medal

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) was an Essex-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, nicknamed "Holiday Express" for her many attacks launched around the end of the year.

World War Two
Bunker Hill was launched 7 December 1942 by Bethlehem Steel Company, Quincy, Massachusetts, sponsored by Mrs. Donald Boynton, and commissioned 24 May 1943, Captain J. J. Ballentine in command.

1943-44
Reporting to the Pacific in the fall of 1943, Bunker Hill participated in carrier operations during the Rabaul strike (11 November 1943); Gilbert Islands operation, including support of the landings on Tarawa (13 November–8 December); the Kavieng strikes in support of the Bismarck Archipelago operation (25 December 1943, 1 January and 4 January 1944); Marshall Islands operation (29 January–8 February); strikes against Truk (17 February–18 February), during which eight Japanese combatant vessels were sunk; Marianas raid (23 February); Palau-Yap-Ulithi-Woleai raids (30 March–1 April); Truk-Satawan-Ponape raids (29 April–1 May); Hollandia (currently known as Jayapur) operation (21 April–28 April); and Marianas operation (12 June–10 August), including the Battle of the Philippine Sea. On 19 June 1944, during the opening phases of that battle, Bunker Hill was damaged when an enemy near miss scattered shrapnel fragments across the ship. Two men were killed and over 80 were wounded. Bunker Hill continued to do battle and her planes aided in sinking one Japanese carrier and destroying some of the 476 Japanese aircraft that were downed. During September she participated in the Western Caroline Islands operation and then launched strikes at Okinawa, Luzon, and Formosa until November.

On 6 November Bunker Hill retired from the forward area and steamed to Bremerton, Washington, for a period of yard availability. Repairs completed, she departed the west coast 24 January 1945 and returned to the war front.

1945
During the remaining months of World War II Bunker Hill participated in the Iwo Jima operation and the 5th Fleet raids against Honshū and the Nansei Shoto (15 February–4 March); and the 5th and 3rd Fleet raids in support of the Okinawa operation. On 7 April 1945 Bunker Hill's planes took part in a Fast Carrier Task Force attack on a Japanese naval force in the East China Sea. The enemy battleship Yamato, one cruiser, and four destroyers were sunk during Operation Ten-Go.


After two Kamikazes strikes in 30 seconds.

On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the Okinawa invasion, Bunker Hill was hit and severely damaged by two Kamikazes. A Japanese Zero fighter appeared from a low cloud, dived onto the flight deck and dropped a 250-kilogram bomb, which went through the vessel and exploded in the sea.

The Zero then crashed onto the flight deck, destroying parked planes full of fuel, causing a huge fire. The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea. Then, a scant 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, plunged into a suicide dive. The Zero went through the AA fire, dropped a 250-kilogram bomb, and crashed into the flight deck near the control tower as Kamikaze were trained to aim for near the island superstructure (as was the case with the USS Sangamon). The bomb penetrated Bunker Hill's flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place. The ship suffered the loss of 346 men killed, 43 missing, and 264 wounded. This was the single most deadly Kamikaze attack on a US ship during WWII. Although badly crippled she managed to return to Bremerton via Pearl Harbor.


Kamikaze pilot Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, flying the second Zero, hit Bunker Hill on May 11, 1945.


Bunker Hill received the Presidential Unit Citation for the period 11 November 1943 to 11 May 1945. In addition, she received 11 battle stars for her World War II service.

Postwar

In September Bunker Hill reported for duty with the "Operation Magic Carpet" fleet, returning veterans from the Pacific. She remained on this duty as a unit of TG 16.12 until January 1946 when she was ordered to Bremerton for inactivation. She was placed out of commission in reserve there 9 January 1947.

While laid up, she was reclassified three times, becoming CVA-17 in October 1952, CVS-17 in August 1953 and AVT-9 in May 1959, the latter designation indicating that any future commissioned duty would be as an aircraft transport. As all Essex-class carriers survived the war, the peacetime navy had no need for the services of Bunker Hill. She and her sister USS Franklin, which also had sustained severe damage from aerial attack, were the only carriers in their class that saw no active-duty postwar service despite being repaired to good condition. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in November 1966, Bunker Hill was used as a stationary electronics test platform at San Diego during the 1960s and early 1970s. She was sold for scrapping in May 1973.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bunker_Hill_%28CV-17%29

 

Time for an interesting one...

USS Buchanan



Laid down: 29 June 1918
Launched: 2 January 1919
Commisioned (USN): 20 January 1919
Decommissioned (USN): 7 June 1922
Recommissioned (USN): 10 April 1930
Decommissioned (USN): 9 April 1937
Recommissioned (RN): 30 September 1939
Transferred: 9 September 1940
Fate: Expended as demolition ship during St. Nazaire Raid. Destroyed 29 March 1942.

General Characteristics

Displacement: 1,260 tons
Length: 314 feet, 4 inches (95.81 m)
Beam: 30 feet, 6 inches (9.30 m)
Draft: 9 feet (2.74 m) (light) 12 feet (3.66 m) (full load)
Propulsion: 4 Normand Return-flame Boilers, Brown-Curtis single reduction geared turbines, 30,000 shp, 2 shafts.
Speed: 35.5 knots (66 km/h) designed, 39.7 knots (74 km/h) (trials-1919)
Compliment: 158
Armament: 4 4"/50 (102/50 mm), 1 3"/23 (76/23 mm), 2x3 21" (533 mm) torpedo tubes (as built)

USS Buchanan (DD-131), named for Franklin Buchanan, was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy.
Buchanan was transferred to the United Kingdom under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement in 1940 and served as HMS Campbeltown (I42). She was destroyed during the St. Nazaire Raid on 28 March 1942 when, loaded with four tons of amatol explosive, the ship rammed the gates of the Forme Ecluse Louis Joubert dry dock. The ship exploded the following morning, ending the use of the dock for the rest of the war.

Service with the United States Navy

The first USS Buchanan (DD-131) was launched on 2 January 1919 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. Charles P. Wetherbee. The ship was commissioned 20 January 1919 with Lieutenant H. H. J. Bensen in command. Buchanan reported to Commander, Destroyer Force, at Guantanamo, Cuba, and was temporarily attached to Destroyer Squadron 2 until ordered to the Pacific Fleet in July 1919 for duty with Destroyer Flotilla 4. From 7 June 1922 until 10 April 1930 Buchanan was out of commission at San Diego. She then joined Destroyer Division 10, Destroyer Squadrons, Battle Force, and operated on the West Coast in routine division, force, and fleet activities and problems. It was for this short period that she was commanded by Thomas E. Chandler, whom would later become an admiral during World War II. In the summer of 1934, after making a cruise to Alaska with ROTC units aboard, she was placed in reduced commission attached to Rotating Reserve Destroyer Squadron 20 at San Diego.
Again placed in full commission in December 1934, she resumed operations with Division 5, Destroyers, Battle Force. Buchanan was again out of commission at San Diego from 9 April 1937 until 30 September 1939 at which time she was refitted for action with Division 65, Destroyer Squadron 32, Atlantic Squadron. From December 1939 until 22 February 1940, she operated with the Neutrality Patrol and Antilles Detachment. She was then assigned to patrol in the Gulf of Mexico, operating out of Galveston, Texas and later off Key West and around the Florida Straits. She arrived at Boston Navy Yar 2 September and then proceeded to Halifax, where on 9 September 1940 she was decommissioned and transferred to the United Kingdom under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement.

Service with the Royal Navy - HMS Campbeltown (I42)

Upon her arrival at HMNB Devonport, England, on 29 September 1940, HMS Campbeltown was allocated to the 7th Escort Group, Liverpool, in the Western Approaches Command. In January 1941 she was provisionally allocated to the Royal Netherlands Navy, but reverted to the Royal Navy in September 1941. Between September 1941 and March 1942 she served with Atlantic convoys and was attacked on several occasions by enemy U-boats and aircraft, but escaped without damage. On 15 September 1941 she picked up the survivors of the Norwegian motor tanker Vinga, damaged by an enemy air attack.

Saint-Nazaire Raid

In 1942, the German battleship Tirpitz anchored at Trondheim in Norway was considered to present a grave threat to Atlantic convoys. However, should the ship enter the Atlantic then the dry dock originally built for the liner SS Normandie in the German-occupied port of Saint-Nazaire, France was the only one in German hands on the Atlantic seaboard large enough to hold her. It was considered that if this dock could be put out of action, then a sortie by the Tirpitz into the Atlantic would be much more dangerous for her, and probably not worth the risk.
Operation Chariot was devised to do this, by ramming the dock gates with a ship packed with explosives. Accompanying the ship would be a number of small boats carrying British Commandos, who would destroy the dock's pumping and winding machinery and other infrastructure. The troops would then be evacuated by the small boats before the explosives in the ship detonated. A particular difficulty was that the dock was located several miles into the estuary of the River Loire. The ship would be gutted to reduce her draft so that she would be less likely to ground on shallows as she steamed up the estuary at high speed, and the German defenders distracted by an air raid.
The obsolete Campbeltown was selected for the task, and cosmetic modifications quickly done to make her look similar to a German Möwe class destroyer. The rear two funnels were removed and the forward two cut at a slant. The main guns and other components were stripped out to reduce the draft; armament being reduced one QF 12 pounder (76 mm) gun and eight 20 mm Oerlikon guns. The crew, who would be evacuated with the commandos, was reduced to 75, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Stephen "Sam" Beattie. An explosive charge consisting of 24 Mark VII depth charges containing a total of 4.5 tons of explosive was fitted into steel tanks installed just behind the steel pillar which supported the most forward gun mount. The charges were to be detonated by multiple 8-hour time pencils connected together by cordtex, set before sailing and cemented in to prevent interference.
A flotilla of 21 vessels – Campbeltown, sixteen 65-ton Fairmile B motor launches, one motor torpedo boat and a Fairmile C motor gun boat acting as the troops headquarters left Falmouth at 2 pm 26 March 1942, escorted for most of the crossing to France by two Hunt-class escort destroyers. Apart from a brief clash with a U-boat, whose captain misreported their course and composition, the ships reached France unmolested. One motor launch suffered mechanical problems and returned to England.
The air raid carried out by 35 Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys and 25 Vickers Wellingtons was much smaller than originally planned and ineffective, apart from alerting the defenders that something unusual was happening. Nevertheless, flashing genuine German recognition signals, the force approached to within less than a mile of the harbour before they were fired upon, Campbeltown as the largest target drawing most of the fire.
At 01:34 on 28 March 1942, Campbeltown rammed the dock gate 4 minutes later than planned. Troops and crew came ashore under heavy German fire and set about demolishing the dock machinery. 169 of the raiders were killed (64 commandos and 105 sailors) out of the 611 men in the attacking force. Of the survivors, 215 were captured and 222 were evacuated by the surviving small craft. A further five evaded capture and travelled overland through France to Spain and then to Gibraltar.
The charges in Campbeltown exploded the next day, 28 March, an hour and a half after the latest time that the British had expected them to detonate. Although the ship had been searched by the Germans, the explosives had not been detected. The explosion killed around 250 German soldiers and French civilians and demolished both the front half of the ship and the 160 ton caisson, the inrush of water into the dock washing the remains of the ship into it. The dock was rendered unusable for the rest of the war, and was not repaired until 1947.
Delayed action torpedoes fired by the motor torpedo boat at the outer lock gate to the submarine basin detonated, as planned, on the night of 30 March. This even later explosion led to panic with German forces firing on French civilians and on each other. Sixteen French civilians were killed and around thirty wounded. Later 1,500 civilians were arrested and interned in a camp at Savenay, and most of their houses were demolished. Beattie, who was taken prisoner, received the Victoria Cross, and in 1947, the French Légion d'honneur. His VC was one of five awarded to participants in the raid, along with 80 other decorations.

Ship's bell

The bell was given to Campbelltown, Pennsylvania as a gesture of appreciation towards the United States for the lend-lease programme. It was lent by the town to the current HMS Campbeltown, a Type 22 frigate, when it was commissioned in 1989, and will remain on the ship whilst it is in service with the Royal Navy.

USS Buchanan (DD-131) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Graf Zeppelin




(Germany)
Name: Graf Zeppelin
Ordered: November 16, 1935
Laid down: December 28, 1936
Launched: December 8, 1938
Fate: Sunk as a target ship on August 16, 1947

General characteristics
Displacement: 33 550 tonnes
Length: 262.5 metres
Beam: 31.5 metres
Draft: 7.6 metres
Propulsion: Geared turbines, 150,000 kW, four screws
Speed: 35 knots
Range: 14 816 km at 19 knots
Complement: 1,720 crew
306 flight personnel
Armament: 16 × Sk. 15 cm.
12 × Flak (10.5 cm)
22 × Flak (3.7 cm)
28 × Flak (2.0 cm)
Aircraft carried: Complement of 50

• 10 Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters
• 20 Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers
• 20 Fieseler Fi 167 torpedo bombers

Graf Zeppelin was a German aircraft carrier of the Kriegsmarine, named like the famous airship in honour of Graf (Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin. It was Germany's only aircraft carrier during World War II. Its construction was ordered on November 16, 1935, and its keel was laid down December 28, 1936 by Deutsche Werke of Kiel. It was launched on December 8, 1938, but was never completed, never commissioned, and never saw action.

Planning and construction
In 1935, Adolf Hitler announced that Germany would construct aircraft carriers to strengthen the Kriegsmarine. The keel of Graf Zeppelin was laid down the next year. Two years later, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Erich Raeder presented an ambitious shipbuilding program called Plan Z, in which four carriers were to be built by 1945. In 1939, he revised the plan, reducing the number to two.

The Kriegsmarine has always maintained a policy of not assigning a name to a ship until it is launched. The first German carrier, laid down as "Flugzeugträger A" ("Aircraft carrier A"), was named Graf Zeppelin when launched in 1938. The second carrier — never launched — bore only the title "Flugzeugträger B", but might, if completed, have been called Peter Strasser.

A review of Hitler's conferences on the German Navy, the minutes of which were captured after the fall of the Third Reich, reveals his decreasing interest in the carriers. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Commander of the Luftwaffe, was resentful of any incursion on his authority as head of the country's air power, and he frustrated Raeder at every opportunity. Within his own service, Raeder found opposition in Admiral Karl Dönitz, a submariner.

Having no experience building such ships, the Kriegsmarine had difficulty implementing advanced technologies such as steam-driven catapults into the Graf Zeppelin. German designers were able to study Japanese designs, but were constrained by the realities of creating a North Sea carrier vs. a "Blue Water" design. Several cruiser-type guns were envisioned to allow commerce raiding and defense against British cruisers, for example. This is in contrast to American and Japanese designs, which were more oriented toward a task-force defense, using supporting cruisers for surface firepower.

1941–1945


American identification booklet.

By May 1941, Raeder was still optimistic about the project and informed Hitler that Graf Zeppelin, then about 85% complete, would be completed in about a year and that another year would be required for sea trials and flight training.

Though Raeder continued to assure Hitler that the carriers would be built, the Admiral's battles with Göring became increasingly bitter. Göring showed his contempt for the naval air arm by informing Hitler and Raeder that the aircraft ordered for Graf Zeppelin could not be available until the end of 1944. Göring's delaying tactics worked.

Construction on the carriers had been fitful from the start. Flugzeugträger B was abandoned in 1940 and broken up. Worker and material shortages plagued Graf Zeppelin.

Prodded by Raeder, Hitler ordered Göring to produce aircraft for the carrier and under this pressure, the air marshal offered redesigned versions of the Junkers Ju 87B Stuka and the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, which were at that time being phased out of the Luftwaffe first-line squadrons. Raeder was unhappy, but he had to accept them or none at all (including Göring's insistence that the flying personnel would remain under Luftwaffe command). All this forced another delay in the construction of the carrier: the flight deck installations had to be changed.

Later in 1942 projects for naval aircraft included the Me 155 V2 and Ju 87E (navalized D version). None of the Ju 87E were completed.

By 1943, Hitler had become disenchanted with his Navy. Raeder was relieved at his own request and Dönitz, the submarine admiral, took the top naval post. Work on the then over 95% completed carrier stopped completely. All armaments were removed and transferred to coastal batteries in Norway. The hull itself was used to store hardwood for the Kriegsmarine.

As the end of World War II neared, the roughly completed carrier was scuttled in shallow water at Stettin (now Szczecin) on 25 April 1945, just before the Red Army captured the city.

Fate after the war

The carrier's history and fate after Germany's surrender was unclear for decades after the war. According to the terms of the Allied Tripartite Commission, a "Category C" ship (damaged or scuttled) should have been destroyed or sunk in deep water by August 15, 1946. Instead, the Soviets decided to repair the damaged ship and it was refloated in March 1946.


The last known photo of the carrier shows it leaving Świnoujście (before 1945 Swinemünde) on April 7, 1947. The photo appears to show the carrier deck loaded with various containers, boxes and construction elements, hence the supposition that it was probably used to carry looted factory equipment from Poland and Germany to the Soviet Union.

For many years no other information about the ship's fate was available. There was some speculation that it was very unlikely that the hull made it to Leningrad, as it was argued that the arrival of such a large and unusual vessel would have been noticed by Western intelligence services. This seemed to imply that the hull was lost at sea during transfer between Świnoujście and Leningrad. One account concluded that it struck a mine north of Rügen on August 15, 1947, but Rügen, west of Swinemünde, is not on the sailing route to Leningrad. Further north, in the Gulf of Finland, a heavily-mined area difficult for Western observers to monitor, seemed more likely.

After the opening of the Soviet archives, new light was shed on the mystery. Though Some believed that the carrier was towed to Leningrad after the war, in his book "Without wings, the story of Hitler's aircraft carrier" Burke disputed this popularly held belief. What is known is that the carrier was briefly designated as "PO-101" (Floating Base Number 101) until, on [August 16, 1947], it was used as a practice target for Soviet ships and aircraft.

Allegedly, the Soviets installed aerial bombs on the flight deck, in hangars and even inside the funnels (to simulate a load of combat munitions), and then they dropped bombs from aircraft, fired shells, and shot torpedoes into it.

This assault would both comply with the Tripartite mandate (albeit late) and provide the Soviets with experience in sinking an aircraft carrier. By this point, the Cold War was underway, and the Soviets were well aware of the large numbers and central importance of aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy, which in the event of an actual war between the Soviet Union and the United States would be targets of high strategic importance. Hence, experience in sinking carriers by aircraft was much more valuable in 1947 than before 1945.

After being hit by 24 bombs and projectiles, the ship did not sink and had to be finished off by two torpedoes. The exact position of the wreck was unknown for decades.

Discovery in 2006

On July 12, 2006 RV St. Barbara, a ship belonging to the Polish oil company Petrobaltic found a 265 m long wreck close to the port of Łeba (a BBC report says 55 km north of Władysławowo) which they thought was most likely Graf Zeppelin. On July 26, 2006 the crew of the Polish Navy's survey ship ORP Arctowski commenced penetration of the wreckage to confirm its identity, and the following day the Polish Navy confirmed that the wreckage was indeed that of Graf Zeppelin. She rests at more than 86–87 meters (264 feet) below the surface.

Rights to the sunken vessel

"The sunken aircraft-carrier Graf Zeppelin is Russia’s property," the Defense Ministry of Germany states.

"Berlin will not claim any rights in connection with the decommissioned WWII vessel," Germany’s news agency DDP reports with reference to the military that Germany will not claim its right to the vessel’s hull.

According to the above arguments, the German warship never went into battle before the war broke out and later belonged to the Soviet Union as a war trophy. Russia as a legal successor to the Soviet Union has ownership of the sunken vessel.

Sources of the news agency add that legally Germany has no right to claim restitution of the aircraft-carrier that went down right after the war ended even though there was a German crew on board at the moment of its original scuttling. If Germany still reveals any interest in the sunken vessel, it may have "consultations with Russia", sources conclude.

In any case, it is the jurisdiction of the Federal Ministry of Finance not the Federal Ministry of Defense to look into the issue.

The Defense Ministry of Germany has neither confirmed nor denied the report yet. Spiegel Online reports that for the time being Germany is studying the legal aspect of the problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_aircraft_carrier_Graf_Zeppelin

 

This guy must be a mind Raeder (Pardon the pun!) or something...

 

beautifully done Gentlemen

ok I await a script on the Admiral Scheer

 

Ask and you shall receive..............you've heard of this, no?

Admiral Sheer (Germany)


Admiral Scheer in Gibraltar

Career (Nazi Germany)
Name: Admiral Scheer
Namesake: Reinhard Scheer
Laid down: 25 June 1931
Launched: 1 April 1933
Commissioned: 12 November 1934
Homeport: Kiel
Fate: Sunk by bombs 9 April–10 April 1945

General characteristics
Class and type: Deutschland class cruiser
Displacement: 12,100 t standard; 16,200 t full load
Length: 610 m (2,000 ft)
Beam: 71 m (230 ft)
Draught: 24 m (79 ft)
Propulsion: Eight MAN diesels, two screws, 52,050 hp (40 MW)
Speed: 28.5 knots (53 km/h)
Range: 8,900 nmi. at 20 knots(16,500 km at 37 km/h)
Complement: 1,150
Armament: 6 × 280 mm (11 inch)
8 × 150 mm (5.9 inch)
6 × 105 mm (4.1 inch)
8 × 37 mm
10 × 20 mm
8 × 533 mm (21 inch) torpedo tubes
Armor: turret face: (160 mm)
belt: (80 mm)
deck: 40 mm)
Aircraft carried: Two Arado 196 seaplanes, one catapult

Admiral Scheer was a Deutschland class heavy cruiser (often termed a pocket battleship) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II.

The vessel was named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer. Originally classified as an armored ship (Panzerschiff) in Germany, in February 1940 the Kriegsmarine reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers. The pocket battleship title was provided by the British. The ship was one of the few that was considered to be male, meaning that its crew referred to the ship as he instead of the usual she (however this article will use the common female form).

History
During World War II, Admiral Scheer, under Captain Theodor Krancke, was by far the most successful capital ship commerce raider of the war, with a raid as far as the Indian Ocean. Near the end of the war, she was bombed by the RAF while docked in Kiel, causing her to capsize and sink. After the war her upturned hull was partially scrapped, with what remained being buried under rubble as the dock was filled in to make a car park.

Spanish Civil War

Her first mission began in July 1936 when she was sent to Spain to evacuate German civilians caught up in the Spanish Civil War. She also spied on Soviet ships carrying supplies to the Republicans and protected ships delivering German weapons to Nationalist forces. On 31 May 1937 she bombarded Republican installations at Almería in reprisal for an air attack on her sister ship Deutschland two days earlier. By the end of June 1938 she had completed eight deployments to Spain.

World War II

Her wartime career began on 4 September 1939 when RAF Bristol Blenheim bombers attacked her at Wilhelmshaven. She was hit by three bombs, which failed to cause major damage, and flak downed four of the attackers. She underwent an overhaul whilst her sister ships set out on commerce raiding. Deutschland accounted for two ships before returning home, but Admiral Graf Spee sank nine before she was discovered by the Royal Navy and scuttled following the Battle of the River Plate. Although these attacks had not been hugely successful, the concept of commerce raiding had been demonstrated. Admiral Scheer was modified during the early months of 1940: the command tower was replaced and she was reclassified as a heavy cruiser.

Admiral Scheer sailed on 14 October 1940 and her first target was convoy HX-84 from Halifax Nova Scotia, which had been identified by B-Dienst radio intercepts. Her seaplane located the convoy on 5 November 1940 and, believing it to be unescorted, the Scheer closed in. However, as the convoy appeared over the horizon, one vessel sailed out to challenge her. The Jervis Bay, commanded by Captain Edward Fegen, was an armed merchant ship and was the only defence for the convoy. Owing to insufficient Allied warship numbers at this early stage in the war, convoys received destroyer escorts only on the last three days of their journey. Jervis Bay was hopelessly outclassed, but the German ship had to deal with her before pursuing the convoy, which had already begun to scatter and make smoke. Admiral Scheer succeeded in sinking five other ships, but her haul would have been far greater, but for the sacrifice of Jervis Bay. The attack led to a change in Admiralty policy: subsequent large convoys were usually escorted by battleships — which had significant implications for the Royal Navy's other commitments.

The Royal Navy sent out several ships to trap the commerce raider, but she slipped away to the south to rendezvous with Nordmark, her oiler. Over the next two months, she sank several ships, capturing supplies and transferring prisoners to Nordmark or other ships which she took as prizes. She spent Christmas 1940 at sea in the mid-Atlantic, several hundred miles from Tristan da Cunha, before making a foray into the Indian Ocean in February 1941. She found two more ships, but the second of these managed to send out a distress signal which attracted various British cruisers. She managed to sink a coal ship as she escaped the closing net and slipped back into the Atlantic. Captain Krancke sailed northwards, passed through the Denmark Strait and eventually reached Kiel on 1 April 1941, having steamed over 46,000 nautical miles and sinking 16 merchant ships.

Admiral Scheer did not sortie again until 2 July 1942 when she set off on an abortive attempt to intercept Arctic convoy PQ-17. In August 1942 she sailed into the Arctic Ocean to hunt convoys and establish a German presence in the USSR's Arctic region, known as Unternehmen Wunderland. She bombarded the Soviet meteorological station at Cape Zhelaniya on 25 August, and then sank an armed ice breaker, the Aleksandr Sibiryakov off the Nordenskiöld Archipelago, but failed to find a convoy which was in the area.

The icebreaker's crew managed to send word to the station of Novy Dikson. She moved on to shell Novy Dikson harbour and deployed troops there. The garrison, however, had an old field howitzer, which opened fire on the ship, causing minor damage to the equipment on board. Admiral Scheer recalled the troops and did not sink any of the vessels in the harbour, but badly damaged the ships Dezhnev (SKR-19) and Revolutsioner which lay anchored there. She returned to Narvik without finding any allied convoys owing to persistent bad weather and fog in the Kara Sea.

Following Hitler's anger at the alleged failings of the Kriegsmarine, its commander-in-chief, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder was replaced by Admiral Karl Dönitz, and the German surface fleet rarely left port thereafter. In the autumn of 1944 Admiral Scheer provided artillery support to retreating German army units on the Sorve Peninsula in the Baltic Sea. Throughout January and February 1945 she was engaged in further coastal bombardment operations, but her gun barrels were worn out by March and she returned to Kiel. It was here, on the night of 9 April 1945, during a general RAF bombing raid on the dockyard by over 300 aircraft, that she was struck and capsized at her berth. Most of her crew were ashore at the time, but 32 men were killed. According to Cajus Bekker, the wreck of Admiral Scheer was buried under a newly constructed pier in Kiel Harbour.

Commanding Officers
KzS Wilhelm Marschall - 12 November 1934 - 22 September 1936
KzS Otto Ciliax - 22 September 1936 - 31 October 1938
KzS Hans-Heinrich Wurmbach - 31 October 1938 - 31 October 1939
KzS / KADM Theodor Krancke - 31 October 1939 - 12 June 1941 (Promoted to KADM on 1 April 1941.)
KzS Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken - 12 June 1941 - 28 November 1942
FK Ernst Gruber - 28 November 1942 - 1 February 1943
KzS / KADM Richard Rothe-Roth - 1 February 1943 - 4 April 1944 (Promoted to KADM on 1 April 1944.)
KzS Ernst-Ludwig Thinemann - 4 April 1944 - 9 April 1945

German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

And her sister ship

Admiral Graf Spee (Germany)


Admiral Graf Spee

Career (Nazi Germany)
Name: Admiral Graf Spee
Namesake: Maximilian von Spee
Laid down: October 1, 1932
Launched: June 30, 1934
Commissioned: January 6, 1936
Nickname: Graf Spee
Fate: Scuttled December 17, 1939

General characteristics
Class and type: Deutschland class cruiser
Displacement: 12,100 t standard; 16,200 t full load
Length: 186 m (610 ft)
Beam: 21.65 m (71.0 ft)
Draught: 7.34 metres (24.1 ft)
Propulsion: Eight 9-cylinder double-acting two-stroke MAN diesels
two screws, 52,050 hp (40 MW)
Speed: 28.5 knots (53 km/h)
Range: 8,900 nautical miles at 20 knots (16,500 km at 37 km/h)
Or 19,000 nautical miles at 10 knots (35,000 km at 18.5 km/h)
Complement: 1001-1,150
Electronic warfare and decoys: Early version of Seetakt radar[3]
Armament: 6 × 280 mm (11 inch)
8 × 150 mm (5.9 inch)
6 × 105 mm (4.1 inch)
8 × 37 mm
10 × 20 mm
8 × 533 mm (21 inch) torpedo tubes
Armor: turret face: (160 mm)
belt: (80 mm)
deck: 40 mm)
Aircraft carried: Two Arado 196 seaplanes, one catapult

The Admiral Graf Spee is one of the most famous German naval warships of World War II, along with the Bismarck. Her size was limited to that of a cruiser by the Treaty of Versailles, however she was as heavily armed as a battleship due to innovative weight-saving techniques employed in her construction.

She was sent to the Atlantic Ocean as a commerce raider in 1939, where she sank nine Allied merchant ships. Numerous British hunting groups were assigned to find her, with three British ships finally tracking her down in December 1939. The Battle of the River Plate ensued, during which the Graf Spee was damaged. She docked for repairs in the neutral port of Montevideo, but was forced by international law to leave within 72 hours. Faced with what he believed to be overwhelming odds, the captain scuttled his ship rather than risk the lives of his crew.

Description

Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland class cruiser. Launched in 1934, she was named after the World War I Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee who died, along with two of his sons, in the first Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. She was the second vessel to be named after him, the first being the uncompleted World War I German battlecruiser SMS Graf Spee.

Before Admiral Graf Spee was given her official name, she was referred to as Panzerschiff C and Ersatz Braunschweig, as she would be replacing the old battleship Braunschweig in the fleet inventory. She cost 82 million Reichsmark to build.

After World War I, replacement capital ships for the German Navy were limited by the Treaty of Versailles to 10,000 tons and 11 inch (280 mm) guns. Electric arc welding was used in her construction instead of conventional rivets, thereby saving considerable weight by not requiring overlapping steel plates. Furthermore, Graf Spee’s eight main engines used diesel fuel, an unconventional configuration at the time that also contributed to weight saving. The weight saving allowed her carry a main gun of the same calibre as a battleship, while remaining under the displacement limit of the Treaty of Versailles, hence the classification by the British of her and her two sisters, Deutschland (later renamed Lützow) and Admiral Scheer, as pocket battleships. A year after the Graf Spee's loss, her sisters were reclassified as heavy cruisers.

Technologically, Admiral Graf Spee was ahead of her time, being the first ship in the Kriegsmarine to be equipped with Seetakt radar.

Unlike steam engines, raw low-grade bunker fuel needed treatment before it could be used in her diesel engines. A separating system routinely pre-cleaned the fuel and deposited it in six ready tanks situated close to the engines. The separators used high pressure steam produced in a boiler room lying between decks, aft of the funnel and above the armoured deck.

History

Graf Spee's last captain was Hans Langsdorff, a longstanding naval officer who had seen action at the Battle of Jutland, and who assumed command of the ship on 1 November 1938. After commissioning in 1936, Admiral Graf Spee served as fleet flagship until 1938 and performed international maritime control duties off the coast of Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Prior to the invasion of Poland plans were made to deploy the Panzerschiffe as raiders in the Atlantic Ocean. Admiral Graf Spee sailed from Wilhelmshaven on 21 August 1939, to act as a commerce raider in the South Atlantic. Supported by her supply ship, the tanker Altmark, her orders were to sink British merchant ships, but to avoid combat with superior enemy forces, thus threatening vital Allied supply lines and drawing British naval units off their stations in other parts of the world.


The cruise of Admiral Graf Spee with ships sunk

From September through December 1939 Admiral Graf Spee sank nine merchant ships in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, the first on 30 September 1939. Captain Hans Langsdorff strictly adhered to the rules of mercantile warfare at the time and saved all of the crew members of these ships; not a life was lost in these sinkings. The captured crews were transferred to the tanker Altmark. Later, these 303 crew members were freed by force in neutral Norwegian territorial waters by the British destroyer HMS Cossack (the Altmark Incident).

Battle of the River Plate

Britain formed eight hunting groups in the Atlantic and one in the Indian Ocean to look for Admiral Graf Spee, totalling three battleships, two battlecruisers, four aircraft carriers, and 16 cruisers (including several French ships). More groups were assembled later.

On 13 December 1939, she was located by the British Hunting Group G, consisting of the 8 inch (203 mm) gunned cruiser HMS Exeter and the 6 inch (152 mm) gunned light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles (of the Royal New Zealand Navy), and the Battle of the River Plate ensued. During the battle, the Graf Spee inflicted heavy damage upon the Exeter, forcing the latter to break off the engagement. Late in the exchange, one of Graf Spee's shells caused some casualties on the Achilles. In return, the Graf Spee was hit repeatedly by the 6-inch shells of the light cruisers, which could not penetrate her armour but nonetheless inflicted significant topside damage.

On the other hand, Exeter’s 8-inch hits ran through the armour easily. About 06:38 an 8-inch shell penetrated two decks then exploded in Graf Spee’s funnel area - causing crippling hidden damage.

Exeter’s early 8-inch hit wrecked the boiler room - shutting down the fuel separating system. Chief Engineer Commander Klepp advised the captain they could not repair the damage at sea. Klepp estimated the ship had about sixteen hours of running time, using pre-cleaned fuel from the day tanks. They could not replace the rapidly depleting fuel, so the ship was denied the possibility of outrunning her pursuers on the open sea.

Final docking

Admiral Graf Spee entered the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay for repairs. The damage was surveyed by a British observer on 14 December 1939, who reported that the port midship 6" gun was unserviceable, the starboard anti-aircraft guns appeared out of action, rangefinders were out of action, the aircraft was wrecked, there were shell holes in the control tower and two holes below the waterline. In total, there was evidence of 30-60 hits. Captain Langsdorff and the Chief Engineer carefully kept the fuel problem secret. Although the specific details were signaled to SKL in January 1940 this vital information lay buried from public knowledge for sixty years.
One of Langsdorff's first actions when he entered Montevideo was to release the 62 crew of the merchant ships he had sunk during her most recent voyage. Out of nine merchant ships sunk, none of the crews had been killed.

All of those released spoke highly of their treatment and of Langsdorff, who spoke perfect English and lent them English books to pass the time. Captain Dove of the Africa Shell had already become friends with Langsdorff.
Under the Hague Convention of 1907, the Graf Spee was not entitled to remain in the port for more than 24 hours, without risking internment. In addition, under the same convention, the Graf Spee had to give British merchant ships 24 hours start if they left port, and the British Consul organised for the merchant ships in port to sail at 24 hour intervals, effectively locking the Spee in the port whilst at the same time spreading propaganda about the vast fleet of British warships converging on the area.

On 14 December, British Minister Millington-Drake officially requested that the Uruguayan government intern the ship if she stayed in port longer than 24 hours, on grounds that she was still seaworthy. The Uruguayan government obliged, announcing that if the Graf Spee did not sail within 72 hours of its arrival, it would be interned.

On 15 December, the ship's 36 dead were buried with full military honours in the German cemetery in Montevideo. At the funeral ceremony, Captain Hans Langsdorff used the naval salute, while all others around him used the Nazi salute. Many officers of the sunk ships attended the burial of those killed in the battle.

A ruse by the British intelligence encouraged the captain to think that he was out-numbered, with aircraft carriers and battleships on their way and that his escape route was cut off. In fact, only the Cumberland arrived in time to re-enforce the existing ships.


Graf Spee wreck in 1940

There were three possible channels that the Graf Spee could use in order to escape to the open sea, and the waiting British warships had to cover all of them.

Captain Langsdorff had been in discussion with the Kriegsmarine over the various options available to him, which included fighting on, internment at Montevideo or scuttling the ship. Adolf Hitler responded personally, writing the following in his own handwriting:

“Attempt by all means to extend time in neutral waters in order to guarantee freedom of action as long as possible. Fight your way through to Buenos Aires, using remaining ammunition. No internment at Uruguay. Attempt effective destruction of ship if scuttled.”

At 6:15pm on 17 December 1939, the German warship left Montevideo harbour, with the British 6-inch (152 mm) gunned cruisers Ajax, Achilles, and the 8-inch (203 mm) gunned Cumberland waiting nearby in international waters. However instead of trying to fight through the blockade, the German warship sailed just outside the harbour, and at 7:52, was scuttled in the estuary by her crew in order to avoid risking the crew in what Captain Langsdorff expected to be a losing battle. Captain Langsdorff committed suicide three days later by shooting himself, in order to prove he had not acted out of fear for his own life.

Crew internment

Part of the crew of the Graf Spee were interned in Argentina where many stayed, even after the war ended in 1945. Since Argentina was friendlier than Uruguay, the Captain expected the crew would be released, but in the end this was not the case. Some of the crew were transferred to Montevideo, however these crew members, together with those of the German ship Tacoma, were subsequently transferred to the Cuartel Paso del Rey (English: "Barracks Quarter of the Passage of the King") in Sarandí del Yí, Durazno where the Military District II infantry guarded them. They remained here until transferred back to Montevideo and repatriated to Germany in 1946. Numerous objects pertaining to the Graf Spee remain at the Cuartel Paso del Rey museum in Sarandí del Yí.

The Germans' behaviour during their stay in Montevideo, especially Langsdorff's action when faced with possible defeat at British hands, was held in high regard in Uruguay. Many locals feared that their city could become directly endangered during any hostilities, and Langsdorff's decision to leave port was seen as partly motivated by a desire not to cause such harm.

Salvage

Immediately after the scuttling in shallow water much of the ship's superstructure remained above water level, but then over the years the wreck subsided into the muddy bottom and today only the tip of the mast remains above the surface.

The first salvage from the ship was most likely carried out by Royal Navy intelligence teams which recovered the highly advanced Seetakt radar not destroyed in the scuttling. In late January 1940, the wreck was boarded by US Navy sailors from the light cruiser USS Helena.

In 1997, one of Admiral Graf Spee's 15 cm secondary gun mounts was raised and restored; it can now be seen outside Montevideo's National Maritime Museum.


Graf Spee's salvaged telemeter

In February 2004 a salvage team began work raising the wreck of the Admiral Graf Spee. The operation is in part being funded by the government of Uruguay, in part by the private sector, as the wreck is now a hazard to navigation. The first major section, a 27-ton gunnery range-finding telemeter, was raised on 25 February 2004. It is expected to take several years to raise the entire wreck. Film director James Cameron is filming the salvage operation. After it has been raised, it is planned that the ship will be restored and put on display at the National Marine Museum in Montevideo.

On 10 February 2006, the 2 metres (6.6 ft) eagle figurehead of the Admiral Graf Spee was removed from the stern of the ship and recovered. To protect the feelings of those sensitive to Nazi Germany, the swastika at the base of the figurehead was covered as it was pulled from the water.

Commanding officers

• Construction Indoctrination - KzS Conrad Patzig - 7 October 1935 - 6 January 1936
• KzS Conrad Patzig - 6 January 1936 - 2 October 1937
• KzS Walter Warzecha - 2 October 1937 - 1 November 1938
• KzS Hans Langsdorff - 1 November 1938 - 17 December 1939

In popular culture

• The sinking of the Graf Spee was dramatised in the 1956 film The Battle of the River Plate, directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger.
• A tactical computer game called Admiral Graf Spee was released by Temptation Software for the ZX Spectrum in 1982.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_pocket_battleship_Admiral_Graf_Spee

 

Lets get bigger...

Yamato

Ordered: March 1937
Laid down: 4 November 1937
Launched: 8 August 1940
Commissioned: 16 December 1941
Fate: Sunk 7 April 1945 North of Okinawa
Struck: 31 August 1945

General Characteristics
Displacement: 65,027 tonnes (empty, including 21,266 tonnes of armor);
72,800 tonnes (estimated, full load)
Length: 256 m (800 ft 6 in) (waterline)
263 m (862 ft 6 in) (overall)
Beam: 36.9 m (121 ft) (waterline)
38.7 m (127 ft) (overall)
Draft: 11 m (36 ft) (maximum)
Propulsion:
• 12 Kampon boilers, driving 4 steam turbines
• 110 MW (150,000 shp)
• Four 3-bladed propellers, 6.0 m (19.7 ft) diameter
Speed: 50 km/h (27 knots)
Range: 11,500 km at 30 km/h (16 knots)
Complement: 2,767
Armament:
(1941)9 × 46 cm (18.1 in) (3×3)
12 155 mm (6.1 in) (4×3)
12 × 127 mm (5 in)
24 × 25 mm anti-aircraft (8×3)
4 × 13.2 mm AA (2×2)Armament:
(1945)9 × 46 cm (18.1 in) (3×3)
6 × 155 mm (6.1 in) (2×3)
24 × 127 mm (5 in)
162 × 25 mm anti-aircraft (52×3, 6×1)
4 × 13.2 mm AA (2×2)
Armor:
• 650 mm on face of turrets
• 410 mm side armor, inclined 20 degrees
• 200 mm central(75%) armored deck
226.5 mm outer(25%) armoured deck
Aircraft carried: 7 (2 catapults)

Yamato (大和), named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was lead ship of her class. She and her sister Musashi were the largest, heaviest, and most powerful battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800 tonnes at full load. The class carried the largest naval artillery ever fitted to any warship - 460 mm (18.1 in) guns which fired 1.36 tonne shells.
The ship held special significance for the Empire of Japan as a symbol of the nation's naval power ('Yamato' was sometimes used to refer to Japan itself), and its sinking by US aircraft in the final days of the war during the suicide Operation Ten-Go is sometimes considered symbolic of Japan's defeat itself.

Construction


Yamato under construction



The Yamato class was built after the Japanese withdrew from the Washington Naval Treaty at the Second London Conference of 1936. The treaty, as extended by the London Naval Treaty of 1930, forbade signatories to build battleships before 1937.
Design work on the class began in 1934 and after modifications the design for a 68,000 ton vessel was accepted in March 1937. Yamato was built in intense secrecy at a specially prepared dock to hide her construction at Kure Naval Dockyards beginning on 4 November 1937. She was launched on 8 August 1940 and commissioned on 16 December 1941.
Originally, five ships of this class were planned. Yamato and Musashi were completed as designed. The third, Shinano, was converted to an aircraft carrier during construction after the defeat at the Battle of Midway. The un-named "Hull Number 111" was scrapped in 1943 when roughly 30% complete, and "Hull Number 797", proposed in the 1942 5th Supplementary Program, was never ordered.
Plans for a "Super Yamato" class, with 20 inch (508 mm) guns, provisionally designated as "Hull Number 798" and "Hull Number 799", were abandoned in 1942.
The class was designed to be superior to any ship that the United States was likely to produce. Her 460 mm main guns were selected over 406 mm (16 in) ones because the width of the Panama Canal would make it impractical for the U.S. Navy to construct a battleship with the same caliber guns without severe design restrictions or inadequate defensive arrangement. To further confuse the intelligence agencies of other countries, Yamato's main guns were officially named 40.6 cm Special, and civilians were never notified of the true nature of the guns. This worked so well that as late as 1945, the U.S. believed the Yamato had 16 inch (406 mm) guns and a 40,823 tonne displacement, comparable to the Iowas. Funding for the Yamato class was also scattered among various projects so the huge costs would not be immediately noticeable.
At the Kure Navy Yard, the construction dock was deepened, the gantry crane capacity was increased to 100 tonnes, and part of the dock was roofed over to prevent observation of the work. Many low-level designers and even senior officers were not informed of the true dimensions of the battleship until after the war. When the ship was launched, there was no commissioning ceremony or fanfare.

Unique design features

Yamato was designed by Keiji Fukuda and followed the trend of unique and generally excellent indigenous Japanese warship designs begun in the 1920s by Fukuda's predecessor Yuzuru Hiraga. The design of Yamato contained a number of unique features, some of which contributed to the striking appearance of the vessel. To begin with, unlike most of the designs of the 1920s and 1930s, Yamato's deck was not flush. The undulating line of the main deck forward saved structural weight without reducing hull girder strength. Tests of models in a model basin led to the adoption of a semitransom stern and a bulbous bow, which reduced hull resistance by 8%.
The nine 460 mm main battery were the largest ever fielded at sea, a major technological challenge to construct and operate. Their successful implementation in the Yamato class constitutes a major achievement on the part of Japanese naval constructors. The exponentially higher blast effect of the main armament prevented the stowage of boats on deck or the stationing of unshielded personnel in combat. As a result, all anti-aircraft positions (even the smallest) were enclosed in blast shields as designed. Later in their career the anti-aircraft armament of both ships were considerably augmented by open positions of both light and heavy weapons. Presumably AA gun crews would evacuate the weather deck prior to the firing of the main armament. This might help explain Yamato's ineffectiveness at the Battle off Samar; the ship was under almost continual air attack and may have been prevented from firing her main armament at the risk of killing or disabling gunners in open positions. For similar reasons, the superstructure of the ship was extremely compact, which reduced armored citadel length but also hampered anti-aircraft arcs of fire.
Boats were stowed in below-deck hangars and launched via an unusual traveling crane arrangement mounted on both quarters. The quarter deck aft of Turret 3 was paved with concrete, beneath which a hangar for the stowage of up to seven spotter aircraft was provided for via a wide elevator-like opening in the stern. Contrary to some descriptions the Yamato and Musashi did not have "Pagoda" masts as did previous Japanese battleships, but modern tower bridge structures to house command and fire control facilities. The mainmast, funnel and tower bridge were all unique in design and appearance, differing markedly both from other Japanese battleships and from capital ships of other navies. There is a general "familial" resemblance however between the architecture of the Yamatos and the Hiraga/Fujimoto designed series of cruisers of the 1920s and 30s, particularly the Takao and Mogami classes.
The immense beam of these ships made them perhaps the most stable of all battleships. Both ships were reported to be very stable even in heavy seas. However, the increased width of the hull also meant that any loss of stability required a correspondingly greater righting-arm to correct in the event of significant flooding. The ship had one single large rudder (at frame 231), which gave it a small (for a ship of that size) turning circle of 640 m. By comparison the U.S. Iowa-class fast battleship had one of over 800 m. There was also a smaller auxiliary rudder installed (at frame 219) which turned out to be virtually useless.
The steam turbine power plant was a relatively low powered design (25 kgf/cm² (2.5 MPa), 325 °C), and as such, their fuel usage rate was very high. This is a primary reason why they were not used during the Solomon Islands campaign and other mid-war operations. In addition, installed horsepower was only 147,948 (110,324kW), limiting her ability to operate with carriers.
Arc welding, a relatively new procedure at that time, was used extensively. The lower side-belt armor was used as a strength member of the hull structure. This was done to save weight, an important concern for the designers, despite the lack of treaty limitations. There were a total of 1,147 watertight compartments in the ship (1,065 of these beneath the armored deck).

Combat


Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, 24 October 1944. Yamato is hit by a bomb near her forward 460 mm gun turret, during attacks by U.S. carrier planes as she transited the Sibuyan Sea. This hit did not produce serious damage.


Yamato was the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto from 12 February 1942, replacing Nagato. She sailed with Nagato, Mutsu, Hosho, Sendai, nine destroyers, and four auxiliary ships as Yamamoto's Main Body during the attempted invasion of Midway Atoll in June 1942, but took no active part in the Battle of Midway. She remained the flagship for 364 days until February 11, 1943, when the flag was transferred to her sister ship Musashi. From 29 August 1942 to 8 May 1943, she spent all of her time at Truk, being underway for only one day during this entire time. In May 1943, she returned to Kure, where the two wing 155 mm turrets were removed and replaced by 25 mm machine guns, and Type-22 surface search radars were added. She returned to Truk on 25 December 1943. On the way there, she was damaged by a torpedo from the submarine USS Skate, and was not fully repaired until April 1944. During these repairs, additional 127 mm anti-aircraft guns were installed in the place of the 155 mm turrets removed in May, and additional 25 mm anti-aircraft guns were added.
She joined the fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. In October, she participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, during which she first fired her main guns at enemy aircraft and surface ships. During the initial air attack, she received two bomb hits from aircraft which did little damage. However, her sister, Musashi, bore the brunt of the US carrier aircraft attacks and was sunk. Yamato and her compatriots later sank an escort carrier and some escort vessels at Samar; Yamato herself was credited by her Pete spotter plane as having hit the escort carrier USS Gambier Bay. She returned home in November and her anti-aircraft capability was again upgraded over the winter. She was attacked in the Inland Sea on 19 March 1945 by carrier aircraft from Task Force 58 as they attacked Kure, but suffered little damage.
On 6 April 1945, Yamato was sent on a suicidal mission (operation Ten-Go) against more than 1000 US ships off Okinawa. US carrier-based aircraft sank her before she was close to her target.

Operation Ten-Go

Her final mission was as part of Operation Ten-Go following the invasion of Okinawa on 1 April 1945. It was a suicide mission (commanded by Admiral Seiichi Ito) to attack the U.S. fleet supporting the U.S. troops landing on the west of the island; her mission was to beach herself on the coast, in effect becoming an unsinkable gun battery. In addition, the Yamato's crew was to join the defending Japanese forces on Okinawa after the beaching. On 6 April Yamato and her escorts, the light cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers, left port at Tokuyama. They were detected by US submarines on the night of 6 April as they exited the Inland Sea southbound.
Yamato had no air cover for her final mission, nor did she have many escorts. All of the officers and crew assumed it would be her last voyage. On her final evening, as it was expected U.S. carrier planes would attack the next morning, the officers allowed or even ordered the crew to indulge in sake.
At about 0830 hours on 7 April 1945, United States fighter planes were launched to pinpoint the Japanese task force. By 1000 hours, Yamato's radar picked up the U.S. planes and a state of battle readiness was commanded. Within seven minutes all doors, hatches and ventilators were closed, and battle stations were fully manned.
Yamato fired beehive shells (三式燃散弾, san-shiki shosan dan) from her main guns against the US planes. Each of these anti-aircraft shells contained thousands of pellets that would be scattered upon explosion - analogous to a massive shotgun round. However, the beehive shells were ineffective against the incoming US planes, and performed little more than pyrotechnic displays. Strafing attacks by the US warplanes would decimate many of the AA gun crews, reducing the battleship's ability to fend off the attacking US aircraft.
Planes from the carrier Hornet joined the strike force from Bennington. Bennington's VB-82, led by Lieutenant Commander Hugh Wood, was flying at 6,000 m (20,000 ft) altitude in heavy clouds on the bearing to intercept the ships. Although the radar indicated they were very close, the pilots were startled when they realized they were directly above the Japanese task force and within range of anti-aircraft fire. Lieutenant Commander Wood immediately pushed his Helldiver into the clouds and made a sharp left turn, commencing their attack. Wood's wingman was unable to stay with the formation, leaving Lieutenant (jg) Francis R. Ferry and Lieutenant (jg) Edward A. Sieber to follow Wood into the first strike on the Yamato.
The dives began at 20,000 ft directly over the Yamato, bearing from stern to bow. Bombs were released at an altitude of less than about 500 m (1,500 ft). The dives were made as close to a 90-degree angle as possible to avoid most anti-aircraft guns. Each of the three planes released eight 127 mm (5 in) rockets; two armor-piercing bombs and bursts of 20 mm machine gun fire. Lt. (jg) Ferry remembers that "at this distance a miss was impossible". The first two bombs dropped by Lt. Commander Wood hit on the starboard side of the weather deck, knocking out several of the 25 mm machine guns and the high-angle gun turret and ripping a hole in the flying deck. Seconds later came the two bombs from Lt. (jg) Ferry, destroying secondary battery fire control station as they blew through the flying deck, and starting a fire that was never extinguished. This fire continued to spread and is believed to have caused the explosion of the main ammunition magazine as the Yamato capsized some two hours later. Hot on Ferry's tail was Lt. (jg) Sieber, delivering two bomb hits forward of the island, ripping more holes in the decks in the vicinity of the number three main gun turret.
The torpedo plane pilots were ordered to aim for the parts of the Yamato's hull unprotected by her torpedo defense system: the bow and stern. They were also ordered to attack her on one side only, so that their target would capsize more easily since counter-flooding would become more difficult. Within minutes of the Avengers' torpedo attacks, the Yamato suffered three torpedo hits to her port side and began listing.
Over the next two hours, two more attacks would be launched, pounding the Yamato with torpedoes and bombs. Attempts at counter-flooding failed, and shortly after 1400 hours, the commanding officer gave the word to prepare to abandon ship. As the ship listed beyond a 90° angle and began sinking, a gigantic explosion of the stern ammunition magazines tore the ship apart. The huge mushroom of fire and smoke exploded almost four miles into the air and the fire was seen by sentries 125 miles away in Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands. Only 280 of the Yamato 2,778-man crew were rescued from the sinking ship. The end had come for the Yamato, foreshadowing the coming end of the Imperial Japanese Military. Ten aircraft and 12 airmen were lost in the attack on the Yamato.

Yamato moments after exploding



Naval gunfire took no part in Yamato's demise. The sinking of the world's largest battleship by aircraft alone confirmed the lessons learned by the sinking of the Prince of Wales, Repulse, and Musashi: The battleship had been supplanted by the aircraft carrier as queen of the sea and the capital ship of any fleet.
The wreckage lies in around 300 meters of water and was surveyed in 1985 and 1999. These surveys show the hull to be in two pieces with the break occurring in the area of the second ('B') main turret.
The senior surviving bridge officer Mitsuru Yoshida claims that a fire alert for the magazine of the forward superfiring 155 mm guns was observed as the ship sank. This fire appears to have detonated the shell propellant stored as the ship rolled over, which in turn set off the magazine in Turret No. 2, resulting in the famous pictures of the actual explosion and subsequent smoke column photographed by US aircraft (shown above and recorded as being seen in southern Japan, one hundred miles away).
The bow section landed upright, with the stern section remaining keel up. The three main turrets fell away as the ship turned over and landed in the wreckage field around the separated hull pieces.
A further large hole was found in the stern section, strongly suggesting that a third magazine explosion occurred, possibly the aft 155 mm gun magazine.
Further examples of capital ships being lost due to magazine detonations of this nature during or after battle are the British battlecruisers HMS Queen Mary, Invincible and Indefatigable at the battle of Jutland in 1916, Hood at battle of the Denmark Strait in 1941, and USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor in 1941. A magazine or shell room explosion occurred aboard HMS Barham in the Eastern Mediterranean in 1941, but she was already sinking fast - in fact rapidly capsizing - as the explosion occurred.

Legacy and in Popular Culture


A 46 cm shell at the Yasukuni Shrine

• In 2005, a Yamato museum opened in Kure, Hiroshima. A 1:10 scale model of the ship can be seen there.
• A film based on the Yamato and her crew: Otoko-tachi no Yamato, was made in 2005. The movie was shot on a near-exact scale reproduction of the Yamato.
• The ship is frequently referenced in Japanese popular culture, most notably in the futuristic anime television and movie series Space Battleship Yamato, broadcast in English as Star Blazers, where the original battleship is rebuilt as a space warship. It was also prominently featured in the 2004 anime Zipang.
• The UK television personality Jeremy Clarkson wrote a chapter on the Yamato in his 2004 book I Know You Got Soul, in which he searches through history for machines that transcend mechanical boundaries and almost take on personalities of their own.
• The 1997 alternate-history OVA series Konpeki no Kantai (Deep Blue Fleet) and its TV version, Kyokujitsu no Kantai (Fleet of the Rising Run), features a rather high-tech version of the Yamato/Super Yamato. Called the Yamato Takeru, the ship is equipped with a bevy of advanced weapons and technology unheard of in the 1940s, such as a semi-submersible hull, vertically-launched cruise missiles, waterjet thrusters, and main guns armed with nuclear shells and submunitions.
• The Yamato has a part in Otto Preminger's 1965 film In Harm's Way. After identifying the large battleship, the character played by Kirk Douglas (Commander Paul Eddington) exclaims: "When this baby comes your way, look out!"

Japanese battleship Yamato - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

no PzJgr, I've never really picked up on anything from the Wiki files as I hold some info suspect.......this though is very helpful and useful information

again thank you for posting these gents

E ~

 

And I'll get smaller........

Schnellboot (E-Boat)


Schnellboot under white flag after surrender at the end of World War II

Class overview
Type: motor torpedo boat
Name: S-100 class

General characteristics
Displacement: 100 tons (max) 78.9 tons (standard)
Length: 32.76 m
Beam: 5.06 m
Draught: 1.47 m
Propulsion and power: 3x Daimler Benz twenty-cylinder diesel engines MT 502; 3,960 hp
Speed: 36 knots
Range: 800 nm at 30 knots
Complement: 24-30
Armament: 2x 533 mm torpedo tubes (4 torpedoes)
1x 20 mm C/30 cannon (later two)
8x 7.92 mm machine guns alternatively
6 mines

The Schnellboot or S-boot ("fast craft") was a type of German torpedo boat that saw service during World War II. The S-boote were approximately twice as large as their American and British counterparts. By comparison with the Allied craft, the S-boote were better suited for the open sea and had a substantially longer range at approximately 700 nautical miles. These vessels were known to the Allies as "E-boats".

History

After the Treaty of Versailles most of Germany's military production was severely curtailed. Small patrol craft were not. The S-boote trace their lineage back to a private motor yacht — a 22 ton dispacement 34 knot craft called Oheka II, which had been built in 1927 for wealthy financier and patron of the arts, Otto Kahn, by the German shipbuilding company Lürssen.
This design was chosen because the theatre of operations of such boats was expected to be the North Sea, English Channel and the Western Approaches. The requirement for good performance in rough seas dictated the use of a round-bottomed displacement hull rather than a flat-bottomed planing hull that was more usual with small, high speed boats. Lürssen overcame many of the disadvantages of such a hull and, with the Oheka II, produced a craft that was fast, strong and seaworthy. This attracted the interest of the German Navy who, in 1929, ordered a similar boat but fitted with two torpedo tubes. This became the S-1 and was the basis for all subsequent S-boote.

S-boote were often used to patrol the Baltic Sea and the English Channel in order to intercept shipping heading for the English ports in the south and east. As such they would be up against Royal Navy and Commonwealth contingents in Motor Gun Boats (MGBs) and Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) and Motor Launches and frigates and destroyers. They were also transferred in small number to the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea by river and landtransport. Some small S-Boote were built as longboats for auxiliary cruisers.

Crews could earn an award particular to their work - denoted by a badge depicting an E-boat passing through a wreath. The criteria were good conduct, distinction in action, participating in at least twelve enemy actions. It was awarded for a particularly successful mission, displays of leadership or being killed in action. It could also be awarded under special circumstances such as when another decoration was not suitable.

Variants

The Schnellboot design evolved over time. The first had a pair of torpedo tubes on the fore deck. Types were:-
S-26 class Entered service in 1940. 40 m hull. Torpedo tubes covered by forward deck. S-30 class S-38 class S-38b class Improved 38 class with armoured bridge. S-100 class From 1943. 2 x 20 mm gun amidships and 37 mm gun aft. S-151 class Type 700 late war design proposal with stern torpedo tubes and 30 mm gun turret forward. 8 boats built, but completed to S-100 design specification

Specification

• Length: 34.9 m = 114.5 feet
• Weight: up to 120 t
• Speed: 43.8 kts
• Engines: Three 20-cylinder 2000 hp Daimler Benz MB501 diesels driving three shafts.
• Armament:
  • 2 x 53.3 cm (= 21 inches) torpedo tubes, with room for 2 torpedoes for reloading.
  • 1 x 20 mm gun, (20 mm single on early boats, Zwilling and special bow version on later classes)
  • 1 x 40 mm gun (40 mm Bofors) on some S38 class boats

Other armament carried on different models included 3.7 cm Flak 42 (S-100) or, rarely, a quad 2 cm Flakvierling mount.

Post War Service in the (British) Royal Navy

At the end of the war about 34 S boats were surrendered to the British. Three boats, S-130 (renamed P5230), S-208 (P5208) and S-212 (P5212) were retained for trials. P5230 and P5208 were subsequently used for clandestine intelligence gathering missions in the Baltic sea under the cover of "British Baltic Fishery Protection Service" until 1957. This unit was commanded by John Harvey-Jones (who subsequently became chairman of ICI).

Survivor

The only surviving S-boot is the S-130. This is privately owned but in the care of the British Military Powerboat Trust in Southampton, England. The S-130 was commissioned on October 21st 1943 and took an active part in the war, participating in the Exercise Tiger attack and attacks on the D-day invasion fleet.

Schnellboot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Akagi - Japan

Career
Ordered: 1920
Laid down: 7 December1920
Launched: 22 April 1925
Commissioned: 27 March 1927
Fate: Destroyed by US air attack at the battle of Midway on 4 June1942; scuttled after evacuation.
Struck: 25 September 1942

General characteristics
Displacement: 33,800 tons (original);
42,000 tons (after reconstruction)
Length: 260.68 m (855 ft 3 in)
Beam: 31.32 m (102 ft 9 in)
Draught: 8.71 m (28 ft 7 in)
Propulsion:Steam turbines,
19 boilers,
4 shafts,
99.2 MW (133,000 hp)
Speed: 57 km/h (31 knots)
Range: 15200 km at 22 km/h
8,200 nmi at 12 knots
Complement: 2000
Armament: 10 (later 6) × 203 mm (8 in) guns (5×2),
12 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns (12×1),
28 × 25 mm anti-aircraft guns
Aircraft: 61 (original)
91 (after reconstruction)

The Akagi (Japanese was an aircraft carrier serving with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

The only ship in her class, Akagi played a major part in the Attack on Pearl Harbor, but was sunk along with three other large carriers by dive bombers from US carriers Enterprise and Yorktown in the Battle of Midway

Description

Akagi was laid down as an Amagi classbattlecruiser at Kure, Japan. However, the Washington Naval Treaty, which Japan signed in 1922, prevented Japan from completing Akagi. Because the Treaty authorized conversion of two battleship or battlecruiser hulls into aircraft carriers of up to 33,000 tons displacement, the incomplete hulls of Amagi and Akagi were selected for completion as carriers.

Amagi's hull was damaged beyond economic repair in the Great Kantō earthquake of 1 September1923. The remaining battlecruisers of the class, Atago and Takao were cancelled and scrapped in 1924, in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.

Akagi, the only remaining member of her class, was launched on 22 April1925 and completed at Yokosuka Navy Yard on 27 March1927. As completed, the ship had two hangar decks with a capacity of 61 aircraft. The hangars opened onto two superimposed flying off decks at the bow. In theory, this permitted aircraft to take off directly from the hangars, while landing on the main flight deck above. Funnel gasses were discharged through a downturned starboard funnel. To compensate for the weight of the hangar structure, the horizonal armor was reduced from 3.8 to 3.1 inches and moved one deck lower. The belt armor was reduced from 10 to 6 inches and was also lowered by one deck.

In practice, the multiple flight deck arrangement proved unsuccessful. From 1935 to 1938, Akagi received a massive reconstruction which extended the hangars forward, removed the flying off decks, and increased aircraft capacity to 91. The refit added an island superstructure on the port side of the ship, which was an unusual arrangement; the only other carrier to share this feature was a contemporary, the Hiryū. Akagi and the Hiryū were intended to work in a tactical formation with starboard-sided carriers, in order to improve the flight pattern around the formation, but the experiment was not continued beyond those two carriers.

Name

Because Akagi was initially conceived as a battlecruiser, the prevailing ship naming conventions dictated that she (like her sister ships) be named after a mountain. Akagi was named after Mount Akagi, a dormant volcano in the Kantō region (the name literally means "red castle"). After she was repurposed as an aircraft carrier her mountain name remained, in contrast to bespoke aircraft carriers like Sōryū, which were named after flying creatures. The name was previously given to the Maya class gunboat Akagi.

History
Akagi was active off China during the next few years as the flagship of Carrier Division 1. In April 1942, the Imperial Navy combined the First Carrier Division (Akagi and Kaga), the Second Carrier Division (Hiryu and Soryu), and Fifth Carrier Division (Shokaku and Zuikaku) into the First Air Fleet or KIDO BUTAI (Striking Force). Akagi, as flagship, took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Indian Ocean raids.


Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi in Summer of 1941

Pearl Harbor
In World War II, under the command of Captain Kiichi Hasegawa, she was Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's flagship for the Striking Force for the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. She launched two waves of planes at Oahu. In the first wave 27 Kates targeted Maryland, Tennessee and West Virginia, Oklahoma, and California and 9 Zeros attacked the air base at Hickam Field. In the second wave, 18 Vals targeted Neosho, Shaw and Nevada.

In January, 1942 Akagi supported the invasion of Rabaul in the Bismarck Islands. On 19 February1942 she launched air strikes against Darwin, Australia, sinking nine ships, including USS Peary. In March, 1942 Akagi covered the invasion of Java.

In early April, 1942, under the command of Captain Aoki Taijiro, Akagi took part in the Indian Ocean raid. On 5 April1942 she launched air strikes against Colombo, Ceylon, helping sink the cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire. On 9 April she struck at Trincomalee and sank Hermes and her escorts.
On 19 April1942 she took part in the unsuccessful pursuit of the American carriers Hornet and Enterprise after they launched the Doolittle Raid.

Midway
On 25 May1942 the Akagi set out with the Striking Force for the attack on Midway Island. Her aircraft complement consisted of 21 Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters, 21 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers, and 21 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers. On 4 June she launched an air strike against the island and was attacked by American land- and carrier-based planes. At 10:26 she was attacked by dive-bombers from USS Enterprise and hit by one bomb. This hit set off explosions among the armed and fueled planes within her hangar deck that were being prepared for an air strike against the American carriers. The burning aviation fuel proved impossible to control. The same attack produced two near misses, one of which, by virtue of exploding in the water alongside the stern area, caused the rudder to jam off-center after an evasive maneuver 20 minutes later.

At 10:46 Admiral Nagumo transferred his flag to Nagara. Akagi stopped dead in the water at 13:50 and her crew, except for Captain Aoki and damage-control personnel, was evacuated. She burned through the night but did not sink. The damage-control teams were eventually evacuated as well, as was (under duress) Aoki. On 5 June Yamamoto ordered her scuttled by torpedoes from the destroyers Arashio, Hagikaze, Maikaze, and Nowaki. She sank at 05:20 with the loss of 263 men. Compared to the other Japanese fleet carriers lost in the battle, she was the luckiest, suffering the fewest casualties.

Commanding Officers

• Capt. Ryutaro Kaizu - 25 March 1927 - 1 December 1927
• Capt. Seizaburo Kobayashi - 1 December 1927 - 10 December 1928
• Capt. Isoroku Yamamoto - 10 December 1928 - 1 November 1929
• Capt. Kiyoshi Kitagawa - 1 November 1929 - 26 October 1930
• Capt. Goro Hara - 26 October 1930 - 1 December 1930
• Capt. Hideho Wada - 1 December 1930 - 28 August 1931
• Capt. Jiro Onishi - 28 August 1931 - 1 December 1931
• Capt. Baron Masaki Shibayama - 1 December 1931 - 1 December 1932
• Capt. Eijiro Kondo - 1 December 1932 - 20 October 1933
• Capt. Nishizo Tsukahara - 20 October 1933 - 1 November 1934
• Capt. Rokuro Horie - 1 November 1934 - 15 November 1935
• Capt. Toshio Matsunaga - 15 November 1935 - 1 December 1936
• Capt. Kokichi Terada - 1 December 1936 - 27 August 1937
• Capt. Shinichi Moizumi - 27 August 1937 - 1 December 1937
• Capt. Junichi Mizuno - 1 December 1937 - 15 November 1938
• Capt. Kinpei Teraoka - 15 November 1938 - 15 November 1939
• Capt. Ryunosuke Kusaka - 15 November 1939 - 15 October 1940
• Capt. Ko Ito - 15 October 1940 - 25 March 1941
• Capt. Kiichi Hasegawa - 25 March 1941 - 25 April 1942
• Capt. Taijiro Aoki - 25 April 1942 - 5 June 1942

Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

guys I think Wiki even covers the Kormoran somewhere.........as to the present events, am I right ? Sydney or the combat or ?

great materials again !

 

Talking about this Erich?

German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran


Kormoran taking on stores from a supply boat at Kiel, Germany, in late 1940

Career Germany (Kriegsmarine)
Class and type: Merchant ship (1938-1940)
Builder: Krupp-Germaniawerft, Kiel
Launched: 15 September 1938
Christened: Steiermark (1938-1940)
Commissioned: 9 October 1940
Renamed: Kormoran (1940-1941)
Reclassified: Auxiliary cruiser (1940-1941)
Status: Scuttled, after being fatally damaged by HMAS Sydney

General characteristics
Displacement :19,900 tons (8,736 GRT)
Length: 164 m (515 ft)
Beam: 20.2 m (66 ft)
Draught: 8.5 m (30 ft)
Propulsion: 2 shaft Diesel-electric propulsion, 14,400 PS. Electric drive motors 12,740 PS (16,000 hp)
Speed: 19 knots (35 km/h)
Endurance: 84,500 nautical miles (156,500 km)
Boats and landing craft carried: 1 x Leichtes Schnellboot light speedboat
Complement: 397
Armament: 6x 150 millimetres (5.9 in) guns, 2 x 37 mm anti-tank guns, 5 x 20 mm FlaK anti-aircraft guns, 2 x twin 533 mm (21 inch) torpedo batteries above the waterline; two single tubes below, 390 mines
Aircraft carried: 2 x Arado 196 seaplanes
Nickname: Raider G (British Admiralty designation)
Notes: Disguises included a second funnel and additional masts.

The German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran (HSK-8), was a Kriegsmarine (German Navy) merchant raider of World War II. Known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 41, to the Allied navies she was Raider G. Kormoran is known best for the sinking of Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in November 1941, during a battle off Western Australia, in which Kormoran was also destroyed. Following many years of speculation and searches, on March 16, 2008, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that Kormoran had been found. The wreck is reported to be 150 kilometres west of Shark Bay.

The acronym HSK stands for Handelsstörkreuzer, or "commerce disruption cruiser". The ship is sometimes referred to as DKM Kormoran, where DKM stands for Deutsche Kriegsmarine, but German ships were not named in that fashion.

Early history
Kormoran was built by Germaniawerft of Kiel and launched on 15 September 1938 as the merchant ship Steiermark of HAPAG,the Hamburg-America Line. Renamed Kormoran (cormorant), she entered service as a Kriegsmarine auxiliary cruiser on 9 October 1940, commanded by Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Theodor Detmers.

When in service, Kormoran displaced 8,736 tons and had a top speed of 18-19 knots. The ship was a prime example of the relatively successful "disguised freighter" technique used in commerce raiding by the Kriegsmarine in World War Two. The largest of the German raiders, Kormoran operated in the South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific. In common with other auxiliary cruisers, she had substantial (hidden) armament: six 150 mm (5.9 in) guns, torpedo tubes and seaplanes, but lacked the armour protection, fire control systems and speed of a proper warship. Successful raiding depended on surprise and disguise.

Raiding voyage

The first of the German Navy's "second wave" of commerce raiders, Kormoran departed from Germany via the Denmark Strait on 3 December 1940 under the command of KK (later FK) Theodor Detmers for operations in the South Atlantic. In four months, she accounted for eight Allied ships, one of which was sent as a prize to occupied France, while the rest were sunk. Kormoran then moved to a new operational area in the Indian Ocean; this was less profitable, and saw only three ships sunk between April and November 1941.

In November, she was cruising off the west coast of Australia, prior to a planned move to a new area in the South Pacific. However, her career came to an end on 19 November 1941, when she destroyed, and was herself destroyed by, HMAS Sydney.

In a cruise lasting for 352 days, from 3 December 1940 to 19 November 1941, Kormoran sank ten merchant ships, comprising a total of 56,965 tons, in addition to the one sent to France.

Final engagement with Sydney

Survivors from HSK Kormoran being rescued by the merchant ship Centaur



On 19 November 1941 the Kormoran encountered HMAS Sydney in the Indian Ocean at 26°9′50″S 111°4′25″E / -26.16389, 111.07361, off the coast of Western Australia between Carnarvon and Geraldton. At the time, the German raider was posing as a Dutch freighter, the Straat Malakka, with a black hull and black funnel. Captain Detmers hoped to pass by undetected, but Sydney closed to investigate. The German ship maintained its deception until range was about 1,500 metres (1,600 yd), which gave it a better chance of attacking the superior Australian warship.

According to the surviving crewmen of Kormoran, the Australian warship was not expecting battle nor fully prepared for it as her secondary guns were unmanned and therefore not trained on Kormoran. Taken by surprise, Sydney was hit about 50 times by the raider's 5.9-inch heavy guns before she managed to return fire. Overall, Sydney received approximately 150 hits. A torpedo hit, scored relatively early in the engagement, caused massive damage to the bow of Sydney. The two heavily damaged ships drifted apart and Sydney was last seen by the crew of Kormoran in flames on the horizon, followed by some kind of explosion.

Sydney had inflicted medium damage to Kormoran, but one hit caused a fire that could not be controlled. With the engine room damaged, 20 dead and the fire approaching the mine storage deck, Detmers decided to abandon ship to save as many lives as possible. Explosive charges were placed to scuttle the ship and the surviving crew took to the boats, with Detmers the last to leave. A further 40 men, mostly wounded, lost their lives when their lifeboat capsized in the rough seas. Shortly after midnight the charges went off, followed 25 minutes later by the mines. Kormoran went down by the stern.

Kormoran lifeboat at Carnarvon, Western Australia. The plaque incorrectly says "52 Germans survived in this lifeboat".

Detmers and about 320 of his crew (including 3 Chinese prisoners of war) were rescued from their lifeboats and liferafts by five ships: Aquitania, Trocas, Koolinda, Centaur and Yandra. A further two lifeboats came ashore near 17 Mile Well and Red Bluff north of Carnarvon. Nearly all spent the remainder of the war in an Australian prisoner of war camp, from which they would not be released until January 1947.

The fact that the only survivors of the battle were German has allowed the battle between Sydney and Kormoran to become the subject of much controversy, speculation and conspiracy theory. Eventually, it was realised that Kormoran had inflicted sufficient damage on Sydney for the Australian warship to be lost without survivors. A private foundation, HMAS Sydney Search Pty Ltd, was attempting to locate the two wrecks before it was discovered in March 2008.

A false discovery on 10 August 2007 indicated that researchers had filmed a limited video of a wreck off the Australian coast. Based on the apparent size of the wreck, and some features that resembled those of a warship, it was initially incorrectly suspected that the wreck might be that of the Sydney.

Discovery
The wreck of the Kormoran was discovered by The Finding Sydney Foundation on 12 March 2008 at 26°05′49.4″S 111°04′27.5″E / -26.097056, 111.074306 Coordinates: 26°05′49.4″S 111°04′27.5″E / -26.097056, 111.074306, approximately 112 nautical miles (207 km) off Steep Point at depth of 2,560 metres (8,400 ft). The probable scene of the engagement between the Kormoran and HMAS Sydney was also identified by the search team as being approximately 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) south of the wreck of the Kormoran.


Following further analysis of sonar search results to confirm the identity of the wreck, a formal announcement of the discovery was made on 16 March 2008 by the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd.

The following day, 17 March 2008, Rudd announced that the wreck of the HMAS Sydney had been discovered 22 kilometres (12 nmi) from the Kormoran. The wreckage of the Kormoran will be protected under the Historic Shipwrecks Act.

German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Also found this about her discovery

Kormoran's ocean grave found


Target of the search ... the HMAS Sydney, lost with all hands.


Latest related coverage

'Sad day for all Australians'

Mark Davis
March 17, 2008


SEARCHERS have discovered the wreck of the HSK Kormoran, the disguised World War II German raider that destroyed HMAS Sydney in Australia's greatest naval disaster. The discovery of the wreck, 2½ kilometres underwater off the Western Australian coast, is a breakthrough in the long-running efforts to find the last resting place of the Sydney and its crew of 645 sailors.

The Sydney was lost with all hands after a fierce battle with the Kormoran on November 19, 1941. The location of the light cruiser and the circumstances of its sinking have been among the biggest mysteries in Australian military history. The breakthrough came after the Finding Sydney Foundation, backed by $4.2 million in Federal Government funding, began a search earlier this month, towing sonar equipment through 1800 square nautical miles.

The foundation's chairman, Ted Graham, said yesterday the search team had identified the wreckage as the Kormoran on Saturday. It was lying on the seabed about 240 kilometres west of Shark Bay at a depth of 2560 metres. The search team had also found debris on the sea floor about six kilometres from the Kormoran, which they believed marked the site of the main battle between the two ships.

Armed with the new information about the location of the Kormoran and the main battle, the search zone for the Sydney had now been narrowed down to an area of about 300 square nautical miles. Mr Graham said finding the Kormoran was very important because its location exactly matched the witness accounts of German survivors and provided a "cornerstone" to guide the search for the Sydney itself.

More than 300 of the Kormoran's 390 sailors were rescued, in contrast to the complete loss of life among the crew of the Australian vessel. "We have to remain confident [of finding the Sydney] but there can never be a guarantee, " Mr Graham said. "It's a big ocean out there."

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said: "This is an important part of resolving a 65-year-old national puzzle as to what finally happened to the Sydney."

The British shipwreck hunter, David Mearns, who is heading the search team, has described the find in a log posted on the foundation's website. Mr Mearns said sonar images showed four large pieces of the Kormoran's hull on the seabed with the two biggest pieces about 1200 metres from each other.

"The wreckage fits perfectly with what we know and expected to see [of the] Kormoran from testimony of the German survivors," he writes. "The vessel suffered a catastrophic explosion after its cache of some 320 mines stored in the aft cargo holds four, five and six detonated. This section of the vessel's hull has been obliterated."

Mr Mearns said the separate site to the south of the Kormoran wreckage contained debris scattered widely over a distance of 1700 metres. He said this must have come from the Sydney as "she had been gravely damaged by a torpedo hit and was being heavily shelled by Kormoran".

"Confirmation of the Kormoran's sinking position as well as the location of the action between Kormoran and Sydney has allowed me to refine the most probable sinking position of Sydney and outline a new search area for her wreck. I am confident that if the wreck of Sydney lies within our search area we will find her. Should this initial search area prove unsuccessful, the search area will be enlarged until the wreck of Sydney is found."

Mr Rudd said the German Government had been notified about the discovery of the Kormoran. He said the Minister for Heritage, Peter Garrett, would consider what steps needed to be taken to protect the wreck.

Kormoran's ocean grave found - National - smh.com.au

 

good on ya, in short time maybe even days wiki will have the Sydney up