Platon Alexiades Posted September 11, 2020 Report Share Posted September 11, 2020 The wreck of the German light cruiser KARLSRUHE was located. She had been sunk by the submarine HMS TRUANT (Lt. Cdr. C.H. Hutchinson, RN) on 9 April 1940, the same day Norway was invaded. Ten torpedoes had been fired but only one hit her stern and it was enough. https://www.statnett.no/en/about-statnett/news-and-press-releases/news-archive-2020/unique-discovery-on-the-seabed-wreck-of-sunken-wwii-warship-discovered-after-80-years An interesting find! Platon Danilo Pellegrini, sandokan and Giuseppe Garufi 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francesco De Domenico Posted September 13, 2020 Report Share Posted September 13, 2020 All German light cruisers of the '30s were very lightly built. On 18/20 March 1936 KARLSRUHE, then on a world cruise as a cadet training ship, after leaving Kobe met a hurricane (winds up to Force 12) : "The ship rolled and yawed alarmingly, pounding and groaning at the seams, and eventually a longitudinal frame buckled; others followed later. At the level of the boat deck a fissure stretched from one side of the hull to the other, passing through the commander's cabin. When the ship plunged the rent gaped open 20 mm and whether the cruiser would survive or break apart and founder with all aboard rested in the hands of the gods. The cruiser, low on fuel, headed for shelter in the Aleutians. She reached Dutch Harbor on March 23, patching up with shipboard tools, and left on 7 April to repair at San Diego. There the cracks were welded and extra I-beams bolted externally to provide additional support to the deformed hull. She left for home on 17 April via Balboa, Panama, and St. Thomas, anchoring off Wilhelmsahaven on 8 June. Full repairs and structural changes were carried out at Kiel from 19 June to 9 September. The near-disaster led to the termination of her career as a cadet training ship." From "German Light Cruisers of World War II" by Gerhard Koop and Klaus-Peter Schmolke, Greenhill Books, London, 2002 (original German editions 1983, 1994 ). Giuseppe Garufi and sandokan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platon Alexiades Posted September 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2020 Dear Francesco, Indeed the design of the German "K" light cruisers was not successful and their operational life was very restricted with transporting troops to Norway perhaps the high point of their career. All the best, Platon sandokan and Giuseppe Garufi 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francesco De Domenico Posted September 13, 2020 Report Share Posted September 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Platon Alexiades said: Dear Francesco, Indeed the design of the German "K" light cruisers was not successful and their operational life was very restricted with transporting troops to Norway perhaps the high point of their career. All the best, Platon They were earmarked to escort the phony troop convoys of the aborted "Unternehmen Herbstreise", sailing from Norwegian and North German ports in North Sea and back, to simulate a landing in force on the British East Coast and so to attract attention away from "Unternehmen Seeloewe". See my contribution to the upcoming issue of Bollettino AIDMEN. Giuseppe Garufi and sandokan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iscandar Posted September 14, 2020 Report Share Posted September 14, 2020 Luiz and sandokan 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platon Alexiades Posted September 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2020 Thank you Iskandar. It appears the wreck lost its bows, probably due to a torpedo from GREIF which finished her off. Best regards, Platon sandokan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luiz Posted October 13, 2020 Report Share Posted October 13, 2020 l'incrociatore Karlsruhe e il mercantile Karlsruhe https://www.corriere.it/esteri/20_ottobre_13/relitto-baltico-contiene-tesori-sub-camera-d-ambra-294c3ba6-0d40-11eb-ab2b-0d1500572ae8.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francesco De Domenico Posted October 14, 2020 Report Share Posted October 14, 2020 Il piroscafo KARLSRUHE di cui è stato ritrovato il relitto dai sub polacchi era un piccolo piroscafo da carico di sole 897 tsl, varato il 7.12.1905 da G. Seebeck AG a Geestemuende (Bremerhaven) e consegnato il 21.1.1906 a Hamburg-Amerika-Linie. 513 tsn, 1.155 tpl, dimensioni 66.3 x 10.1 x 3.4/3.9 metri, macchina a vapore a triplice espansione, una caldaia, 500 ihp, 8 nodi. Lasciato alla Germania dagli Alleati alla fine della Grande Guerra, nel 1924 passato da HAL alla controllata Hamburg-Rhein-Linie, nel 1934 ceduto a Ernst Russ & Co. Assekuranz Ges. di Amburgo. Salpato da Pillau il 12 aprile 1945 e affondato da bombe di aerei sovietici il 13.4.1945 al largo di Hel (Hela). Non ho trovato disegni, ma una foto si trova qui: https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/osteuropa/land-leute/polen-bernsteinzimmer-ostsee-expedition-100.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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