MS Schwabenland (1925)
{{other ships|MS Schwabenland}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Schwabenland.jpg |Ship caption=Schwabenland before 1939 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Weimar / Nazi Germany |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Weimar Republic|naval}} {{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|navy}} |Ship name=MS Schwabenland |Ship namesake=The region of Swabia in Germany |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=1925 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed=July 1925 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit=1934 |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Loaded with poison gas shells and scuttled, 31 December 1946 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type=Steamship |Ship tonnage={{GRT|8,500}} |Ship displacement= |Ship length= |Ship beam= |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=Twin diesel screws |Ship speed={{Convert|12|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament= |Ship armour= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= Crane and catapult for flying boats |Ship notes= }} |
MS Schwabenland was a German catapult ship owned by the Deutsche Luft Hansa. It took part in the 1938-1939 Third German Antarctic Expedition.{{cite journal|title=The Schwabenland in the Antarctic|journal=The Geographical Journal|date=January 1940|volume=95|issue=1|pages=52–54|doi=10.2307/1788684|jstor=1788684|publisher=The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)}}
Characteristics
Schwabenland was a Hansa liner of {{GRT|8,500|disp=long}}, built in 1925. It was converted into a catapult ship in 1934; a Heinkel-built K-9 catapult was installed on the ship's stern, along with a crane for lifting aircraft. The K-9 could accelerate a 15-ton aircraft to {{Convert|94|mph}}. Schwabenland{{'}}s twin diesel screws gave it a speed of {{convert|12|kn|lk=in}}.{{cite book|last1=Marriott|first1=Leo|title=Catapult aircraft : the story of seaplanes flown from battleships, cruisers and other warships of the world's navies, 1912-1950|date=2006|publisher=Pen & Sword Aviation|location=Barnsley|isbn=184415419X|pages=101–105|edition=1. publ. in Great Britain.}}
Lufthansa air mail
Lufthansa sought to engage in air mail service to the Americas using seaplanes launched off catapult ships, with Schwabenland being the second of those ships. The craft flew with a payload of {{convert|500|kg|lb|abbr=on}} over {{convert|5,000|km|mi}};Dancey, Peter Lufthansa to Luftwaffe-Hitlers: Secret Air Force Lulu Press, Inc, 12 Mar 2013 each flight carried 100,000 air mail letters.{{cite web|title=80th anniversary of trailblazing airmail flight across the South Atlantic|url=http://www.lufthansagroup.com/en/press/news-releases/singleview/archive/2014/january/30/article/2781.html|website=Lufthansa Group|publisher=Deutsche Lufthansa AG|access-date=3 September 2015|date=30 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140929003553/http://www.lufthansagroup.com/en/press/news-releases/singleview/archive/2014/january/30/article/2781.html|archive-date=29 September 2014|url-status=dead}}
Two Dornier Do 18 Lufthansa seaplanes christened Zephir and Aeolus were used for air mail flights from the Azores to the United States and from Fernando de Noronha to Natal.{{cite web |last1=Grosschopff |first1=Robert |date=2010 |title=South Atlantic Mail Services |url=https://southatlanticflight.com/south-atlantic-mail-services |access-date=3 September 2015 |website=southatlanticflight.com}}
Third German Antarctic Expedition
{{main article|New Swabia}}
Schwabenland was borrowed from Lufthansa for the 1938-1939 Third German Antarctic Expedition. The ship sailed in secret from Hamburg on 17 December 1938, carrying a complement of 82 men and two Dornier Wal seaplanes. The ship contacted the German whaling fleet off Bouvet Island, then anchored near the edge of the pack ice at 69°14′S, 4°30′W. After the expedition had completed its work, Schwabenland headed north on 6 February 1939, reaching Germany again on 11 April.{{cite book|last1=Mills|first1=William James|title=Exploring polar frontiers : a historical encyclopedia (Volume 1)|date=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.] |isbn=978-1576074220 |pages=552–553 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&q=Schwabenland+Lufthansa&pg=PA552|display-authors=etal}}
World War II and fate
File:German catapult seaplane tender, MS Schwabenland, starboard aft, 1939 (26786989561).jpg
In October 1939 Schwabenland entered Luftwaffe service and used Blohm & Voss BV 138 seaplanes. After the fall of France it was stationed off the coast of Occupied France, based from the ports of Le Havre and Boulogne.p. 420 Warship International, Volume 27 International Naval Research Organization, 1990
In August 1942 it was transferred to Tromsø, Norway.Page 420 Warship International - Volume 27 1990
The ship was damaged and forced to beach by the British submarine {{HMS|Terrapin|P323|2}} in 1944 which was attacking a convoy off Flekkefjord, Norway. Schwabenland was then run aground at Sildeneset in Abelnes Harbour, and later refloated. When the war ended, the ship was taken by the British, and on 31 December 1946 it was loaded with poison gas ammunition, and scuttled in the Skagerrak.{{cite book|last1=Greenway|first1=Ambrose|title=Cargo liners : an illustrated history|date=2011|publisher=Seaforth Pub.|location=Barnsley|isbn=978-1848321298|page=66|edition=New|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5n9AwAAQBAJ&q=Schwabenland&pg=PA66|access-date=3 September 2015}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite journal|last1=Caruana|first1=Joseph|last2=Grobmeier|first2=Alvin H.|last3=Layman |first3=R. D. |last4=Truebe |first4=Carl E.|year=1990 |title=Question 33/89|journal=Warship International|volume=XXVI |issue=4 |pages=417–420 |issn=0043-0374|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book |first=David Thomas |last=Murphy |chapter=Aryan Aurora |title=German Exploration of the Polar World : A History, 1870–1940 |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2002 |pages=183–207 |isbn=0-8032-3205-5 }}
External links
- [http://www.steelnavy.com/1250DLHships.htm The Interesting History of the Lufthansa Catapult Ships]
- [http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?93451 Wreck site]
- [https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.seefunknetz.de/dofw.htm&prev=search Photos]
{{March 1944 shipwrecks}}
{{1946 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|58.1728|N|10.7567|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwabenland (1925)}}
Category:Steamships of Germany
Category:World War II merchant ships of Germany
Category:Maritime incidents in March 1944
Category:World War II naval ships of Germany