Unusual Ships

Discussions on all (non-biographical) aspects of the Kriegsmarine except those dealing with the U-Boat forces.
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PPoS
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Unusual Ships

#1

Post by PPoS » 13 Feb 2005, 18:37

Please post information and pictures of strange Kriegsmarine ships! Anything from field-modifications to prototypes or planned projects.

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PPoS
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#2

Post by PPoS » 15 Feb 2005, 19:52

Were there NO field modifications, prototypes or projects in the Kriegsmarine?? That's odd.. Very strange indeed...


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stril
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#3

Post by stril » 15 Feb 2005, 20:16

Hello
Perhaps it isnt that strange as you suggest, it might be easier if you come up with a couple of photos, just to get the tread started.
regards
stril

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Re: Unusual Ships

#4

Post by Tiornu » 15 Feb 2005, 20:23

The Manta was the weirdest thing, wasn't it?

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Karl234
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Re: Unusual Ships

#5

Post by Karl234 » 16 Feb 2005, 13:34

Image

VS-8 SCHELL

Image

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Xavier
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#6

Post by Xavier » 16 Feb 2005, 17:32

posted by myself at: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... &start=225


Nachtjagdleitschiff Togo (night fighter guide ship)

The ship was part of the Tallinn defences:

http://www.hut.fi/~andres/m44/m44togox.htm
http://www.hut.fi/~andres/m44/m44togo.htm
http://www.hut.fi/~andres/m44/m44togo2.htm

the ship had an array or radars and communication devices, included, but not limited to:
Würzburg-Riese and Heinrich IV (Y-Anlage), Y-Verfahren (aka. Y-Anlage, Heinrich IV), Freya with AN-device for fighter guiadance and maybe one FuMG A1 Freya and one FuMG 39T Würzburg

Image

oddly, the ship'send was in the coast of my own country!! 8O
The ship's life came to its end on November 21, 1984, when she (as M/S Topeka) grounded on the Mexican coast.
(altough no more details are provided.....)

there are some other interesting bits of trivia regarding Togo:
Togo was a very unique case in German armed forces as it operated a mixed crew of both Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe (Air Force), as the radars were operated to Luftwaffe. In fact, there were as if two separate crews, the naval crew taking care of the ship and the guns, and the air force crew taking care of the radars and night fighter guidance.
very best regards

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer
Last edited by Xavier on 16 Feb 2005, 18:32, edited 1 time in total.

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PPoS
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#7

Post by PPoS » 16 Feb 2005, 17:42

Thanks for starting the discussion guys! I would like to know some about the FlaK ships that were used by the KM.. I cannot recall what they were called but I believe I've seen some pictures of them.

First, Karl234
Was that a Schnell Boot project? It seems like it was built however, but was it ever used? And I see that it could carry a tank?

Xavier
I've seen some of that "mystery" ship before.. What the heck was it doing outside Mexico??? :P

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Kakita Harry
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#8

Post by Kakita Harry » 16 Feb 2005, 18:29

Togo survived WWII without mayor/any damage and became a a british war booty. It was rebuilt into a freighter and first sold to Norway. And it was in use till it stranded on the coast of Mexico.

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Xavier
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#9

Post by Xavier » 16 Feb 2005, 18:36

Hallo Kakita. do you , by chance, know exactly were it was stranded? was it loaded? what cargo was carrying then?
were salvage (scrap) operations performed?
maybe there are still some remains of the ship to be seen, or a trace of the major equipemnt could be done (engines, etc)..
please comment

Best regards

Xavier
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Karl234
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#10

Post by Karl234 » 16 Feb 2005, 20:52

PPoS wrote:Thanks for starting the discussion guys! I would like to know some about the FlaK ships that were used by the KM.. I cannot recall what they were called but I believe I've seen some pictures of them.

First, Karl234
Was that a Schnell Boot project? It seems like it was built however, but was it ever used? And I see that it could carry a tank?
The speedboat prototype was built for invasion to britain, "Operation Seelöwe".

Here is "Flak-Kreuzer Niobe"
"German Flak Ship Niobe. Bombed at Kotka by Russian aircraft but did shot
down 99 Russian Aircraft in the Attack. Lost 60 out of her crew of 300."
Image

on this page you can see some other "Flak-Kreuzer". May be you find some real pictures.

http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/ ... index.html

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#11

Post by Tiornu » 16 Feb 2005, 21:25

Here's a flak ship:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/imag ... h71445.jpg
There were approximately VS-boats (Versuchs-Schnellboote) and six (nine?) T-boats (Pionier Tragflächen-Schnellboote), most of which looked like fairly straightforward hydrofoils. The oddest was VS 5, which looked vaguely like a giant torpedo with a remora clamped onto its upper surface.

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patrynius
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#12

Post by patrynius » 17 Feb 2005, 00:19

Hi

In my opinion very strange was project of german battleship type H-44 :) with standard displacement 122 000t and full in about 141 500 t were the largest ever projected warships (main guns 8*508mm and 30 knots and of course more armoured) what interesting medium artillery were the same as in main project (12*150mm and 16*105mm)
I don't know if you were talking about that kind of "unusual" but for me it was.. strange :)

regards

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Karl234
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#13

Post by Karl234 » 17 Feb 2005, 00:49

patrynius wrote:Hi

In my opinion very strange was project of german battleship type H-44 :) with standard displacement 122 000t and full in about 141 500 t were the largest ever projected warships (main guns 8*508mm and 30 knots and of course more armoured) what interesting medium artillery were the same as in main project (12*150mm and 16*105mm)
I don't know if you were talking about that kind of "unusual" but for me it was.. strange :)

regards
You have Technical Datas from this and drawings?

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#14

Post by Tiornu » 17 Feb 2005, 01:21

H-44 was not a projected warship. It was a paper study, simply an exercise for the designers. No "H" design from 1942 on was a serious project.
The weirdest facet of all the "H" designs was the submerged torpedo battery.

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patrynius
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#15

Post by patrynius » 17 Feb 2005, 01:34

Hi
Sorry, the problem is my English, sometimes I don't feel diffrence while using words like projected or paper study - of courseit was just theorically.. yes good word - exercise.
But still very unusual
and torpedo battery - :D as I remember they projected it on every H-classes (from H-39 to H-44)...on Bismarck class.. on Scharnorst also.

p.s. means there were documentation.. but don't have any.. searching, searching :) .

best regards

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