German cruiser Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe at sea in 1931
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History | |
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Germany | |
Name | Karlsruhe |
Namesake | Karlsruhe, Germany |
Builder | Deutsche Werke, Kiel |
Laid down | 27 July 1926 |
Launched | 20 August 1927 |
Commissioned | 6 November 1929 |
Out of service | May 1938 |
Reinstated | November 1939 |
Fate | Sunk, 9 April 1940 |
General characteristics [a] | |
Class and type | Königsberg-class cruiser |
Displacement | 7,700 long tons (7,800 t) |
Length | 174 m (571 ft) |
Beam | 15.3 m (50 ft) |
Draft | 6.28 m (20.6 ft) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) |
Range | 5,700 nmi (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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Karlsruhe was a light cruiser, the second member of the Königsberg class, and served from November 1929 to May 1938, and again from November 1939 to April 1940, seeing action in World War II. She was operated by two German navies, the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine. She had two sister ships, Königsberg and Köln. Karlsruhe was laid down in July 1926 at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel, launched in August 1927, and commissioned into the Reichsmarine in November 1929. She was armed with a main battery of nine 15 cm SK C/25 guns in three triple turrets and had a top speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph).
Like her sisters, Karlsruhe served as a training cruiser for naval cadets throughout the 1930s. During the Spanish Civil War, she joined the non-intervention patrols off the Spanish coast. She was in the process of being modernized at the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, and was therefore not ready for action until November 1939. In April 1940 Karlsruhe participated in Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway. She landed troops at Kristiansand, but while returning to Germany on 9 April, she was struck by a torpedo from the Royal Navy submarine HMS Truant and severely damaged. Unable to return to port, Karlsruhe was scuttled by an escorting German torpedo boat.
Her wreck was discovered in June 2020 in the
Design
Karlsruhe was 174 meters (571 ft)
Her propulsion system consisted of four steam turbines and a pair of 10-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines. Steam for the turbines was provided by six Marine-type, double-ended, oil-fired water-tube boilers, which were vented through a pair of funnels. The ship's propulsion system provided a top speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph) and a range of approximately 5,700 nautical miles (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).[1][2]
The ship was armed with a
Service history
The new cruiser was ordered as "Cruiser C" and given the temporary name
On her last training cruise in 1936, Karlsruhe was badly damaged by a
World War II
After returning to Germany, she resumed training duties in the Baltic. She was withdrawn from service in May 1938 for a major modernization. The funnels were modified with raked caps and searchlight platforms on their sides. The ship's 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns were replaced with more powerful 10.5 cm guns. Work lasted until November 1939, shortly after the outbreak of World War II. She spent the next several months on trials and training maneuvers.[5] On 4 January, Karlsruhe and the minelayer Schiff 23 were sent to intercept the Swedish steamer Konung Oscar, which was transporting Polish refugees from Riga to Sweden. Karlsruhe caught the Swedish vessel, declared it a prize, and sent it and the 41 Poles aboard to Memel.[6] She was not ready for combat operations by the start of Operation Weserübung, so she was used as a troop transport for the attack on Kristiansand. The attack force also included an E-boat tender, four large torpedo boats, and several E-boats.[4]
The invasion force departed Bremerhaven early on 8 April 1940 with Kapitän zur See Friedrich Rieve aboard Karlsruhe commanding. When it arrived at Kristiansand, heavy fog covered the area, making the passage of the fjord outside the harbor very hazardous. As a result, the German ships had to wait until the morning of 9 April to begin the attack. As Karlsruhe entered the fjord, she came under heavy fire from the Norwegian coastal guns at Odderøya Fortress. The cruiser turned in the fjord to bring her full broadside into action; the artillery duel lasted for about two hours before heavy fog again covered the port, forcing both sides to cease fire. The Norwegians surrendered an hour later, and the German ships landed their embarked troops.[7]
Karlsruhe then left Kristiansand on the evening of 9 April with three of the torpedo boats as escorts. The British
Rieve and his executive officer were severely criticized in an investigation into the sinking for failing to take all possible steps to save Karlsruhe. The report concluded that since the ship was still afloat after two hours, and two additional torpedoes were required to sink her, it might have been possible to take her under tow back to Kristiansand or another port. In addition, the forward pumps still had power, and so the flooding could have been slowed enough to permit a return to a safe harbor.[8]
The wreck
Karlsruhe sank in deep water, and the exact position of the wreck remained unknown for more than 80 years. The Norwegian power grid operator Statnett conducted a sonar survey in April 2017 that located the wreck but did not identify it at the time. The vessel lies upright on the sea floor, 15 m (49 ft) from the submerged power line between Denmark and Norway, operated by Statnett. Karlsruhe's bow is no longer attached to the vessel. The wreck is some 13 nmi (24 km; 15 mi) off the Norwegian coast, at a depth of about 490 m (1,610 ft).[9] Stattnet sent another expedition on 30 June 2020 with the survey vessel Olympic Taurus to conduct an investigation of the wreck using remotely operated underwater vehicles after a severe storm, to confirm that the cable had not been damaged. The company confirmed in September that it was Karlsruhe.[10][11][12][13]
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ These statistics are for the ship as completed; over the course of her career, armament, crew size, and other characteristics of the ship changed.
Citations
- ^ a b c Gröner, pp. 119–120.
- ^ a b c d e f Sieche, p. 230.
- ^ Gröner, p. 119.
- ^ a b c Williamson, pp. 18–19.
- ^ a b Williamson, p. 19.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 13.
- ^ a b Williamson, p. 20.
- ^ a b Williamson, p. 21.
- ^ Novostivl news dated 11th September 2020 Archived 6 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine Accessed on 13th January 2021
- NRK. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
- ^ "Sunken German World War Two warship found off Norway". Reuters. 7 September 2020.
- ^ "Unique discovery on the seabed: Wreck of sunken WWII Warship discovered after 80 years". Statnett. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ^ Wright, p. 262.
References
- ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.
- Sieche, Erwin (1992). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 218–254. ISBN 978-0-85177-146-5.
- ISBN 978-1-84176-503-7.
- Wright, Christopher, ed. (December 2020). "Naval News in Pictures". Warship International. 57 (4). Toledo: International Naval Research Organization: 262. ISSN 0043-0374.
Further reading
- Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 5. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0456-9.
- Koop, Gerhard; Schmolke, Klaus-Peter (2002). German Light Cruisers of World War II: Emden, Königsberg, Karlsruhe, Köln, Leipzig, Nürnberg. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-310-7.
- Whitley, M. J. (1987). German Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-217-8.
58°04′N 8°04′E / 58.067°N 8.067°E