''Hermann'' was a

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

weather ship A weather ship, or ocean station vessel, was a ship stationed in the ocean for surface and upper air meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting. They were primarily located in the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans, report ...

that was built in 1929 as the

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

''J. F. Schröder''. She was renamed ''Sachsen'' in 1933 and requisitioned in 1940, serving as ''WBS 1 Sachsen''. She was renamed ''Hermann'' in 1942, serving until scuttled off the coast of Greenland in June 1943.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of . The ship was powered by a six-cylinder

four stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directi ...

single cycle, single action

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

which drove a single screw propeller. Rated at 183 nhp, it was built by Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnburg,

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

. She wasassessed as , .

History

''J. F. Schröder'' was built in 1929 as

yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

235 by Schiffbau-Gesellschaft Unterweser AG,

Wesermünde Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the city-state of Bremen. The River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Bremerhaven was founded in 1827 as ...

for the Deutsche Hochsee Fischerei Bremen-Cuxhaven AG. She was launched in June 1929, and completed the next month. Her port of registry was

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

and the

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of ...

RHJP, and fishing registration HC 214 were allocated. In 1933, she was renamed ''Sachsen''. With the change of Code Letters in 1934, ''Sachsen'' was allocated the letters DICM. On 22 May 1940, ''Sachsen'' was requisitioned by the

. She was converted to a

and was commissioned on 18 September. She had a crew of fifteen, plus five meteorologists. From 18 September to 23 November, she was employed on a mission to the

Denmark Strait The Denmark Strait is the strait that separates Greenland from Iceland. Geography The strait connects the Greenland Sea, an extension of the Arctic Ocean, to the Irminger Sea, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is long. The narrowest part o ...

. In the spring and summer of 1941, she operated off the Norwegian island of

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norway, Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: la ...

. On 10 October 1941, ''Sachsen'' sailed from

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

, Norway with for Jan Mayen, where an automatic weather station was to be established. This was completed on 29 October and the two ship departed from Jan Mayen on 15 November. ''Sachsen'' was later renamed ''Hermann''. On 22 August 1942 she sailed from Tromsø to operate off the east coast of Greenland, arriving at

Shannon Island Shannon Island () is a large island in Northeast Greenland National Park in eastern Greenland, to the east of Hochstetter Foreland, with an area of . It was named by Douglas Charles Clavering on his 1823 expedition for the Royal Navy frigate H ...

on 27 August. The ship was disguised in an attempt to make her look like sea ice. In the spring of 1943, the Germans were discovered by the '' Slædepatruljen Sirius'', but they later managed to capture its leader, and ordered him to help them find a new site for a weather station. He took Kapitän Ritter to Scoresbysund, where Ritter was captured by the Allies and made a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. ''Hermann'' was scuttled on 17 June 1943 in Hansa Bay. Her crew were evacuated by a

Dornier Do 26 The Dornier Do 26 was an all-metal gull wing, gull-winged flying boat produced before and during World War II by ''Dornier Flugzeugwerke'' of Nazi Germany, Germany. It was operated by a crew of four and was intended, in civilian service, to carr ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermann 1929 ships Fishing vessels of Germany Ships built in Bremen (state) World War II auxiliary ships of Germany Weather ships World War II shipwrecks in the Norwegian Sea Scuttled vessels of Germany Maritime incidents in June 1943