Delivery of four-battleship engines in June 1944

[Boby]

In Weinberg, World at War, p. 239 it is stated:

"The failure of the German navy to cancel one of the contracts led to the delivery in June 1944 of four completed battleship engines.219"

Source 219: Salewski, Seekriegsleitung, Bd. 2, S. 514

Any have more info of this episode?

[mescal]

Hello,

The number of sets (four) is curious, because it does not fit with the number of ships ordered.
There were 6 planned H-class battleships, two of which were laid down but quickly stopped.

I have not seen anywhere that actual work on the H-class engines had been started, but it's possible that work began for the machinery of H and J.

Now, if this is true (and I do not have any info it's not), there may be explanation outside of a "failure".
Because those diesel engines designed for battleship have other uses than powering battleships.
For example, they are often used as backup systems to provide electric power - which could be welcome for a German factory which had had its usual powerplant or connection to powerplant damaged by an air raid.

Hope it helps.

[Boby]

Thanks mescal!

Any have Salewski book to check it? What company was in charge of production?

[mescal]

Hello Boby,

There is a book by Salewski partly accessible through books.google.com.
Not sure if it's the one you're looking for (I don't speak German well enough).

Moreover, a lot of the Kriegsmarine KTB have been translated in english and can be found at archive.org - including the one for the month of June 1944.
But from memory, they are indeed documents from the operation section, and not from the procurement section,and thus I'm not sure that's what you need.

[Peter K.]

You will not find this text in any war diary, but in
Michael SALEWSKI,
Die deutsche Seekriegsleitung 1935 - 1945
Band II: 1942-1945
ISBN 3-7637-5138-6
published in 1975, on page 514:

In der 13. Rüstungssitzung am 1. Juni schlug Backenköhler daher vor, auf die Zerstörerfertigung überhaupt zugunsten des T-Bootbaus zu verzichten. Wie sehr sich die Kriegslage und die Erwartungen verschoben hatten, wurde aus dem jetzt kurios wirkendem Faktum deutlich, daß zur gleichen Zeit vier komplette Schlachtschiffmotoren fertig waren, die vom K-Amt jetzt "ohne Gegenleistung zur Verwertung zur Verfügung gestellt" wurden.
Quelle: Skl Adm Qu I 4561 gKdos vom 01.06.1944 - Gen. Ref. IIIa 1/2 Bd. 1

24 (later 48) type M9Z 65/95 engines for H-class-battleships werde ordered early in 1939. Delivery should start at the end of 1942, but the order was cancelled at the end of 1939. Only a test engine was built and the testing of it was started at the end of 1940. Unfortunately the engine was destroyed during an air attack and today only a single, but really huge piston of this engine is visible at the MAN-museum.
So, it is impossible, that four for these engines were finished in 1944!
Because only one type V12Z 42/58, which was intended onboard the O-class-battlecruisers, was built, the four engines in question could only be of the type V12Z 32/44. Exactly four of them were built, but were intended as destroyer engines.Today one of them could be visited at Sinsheim, Germany.

[Boby]

Thanks for this excellent info, Peter K!

And thanks mescal for alerting me to KTB published at archives.org!

Best regards
Boby,