Busy Moving Into MY NEW HOUSE!!! and diving the Rudolf Wahrendorff

I've been away for a while, mostly due to the fact that I've been moving house, but partly because I have no Internet at my new house (don't even get me started on that one), and getting into a new routine I have sort of let my posting slip. Sorry all. ... But amongst all the moving boxes and carnage that goes with house moving I still managed to find my dive gear and sneak an early morning dive on the Ammo wreck a few weekends back...

 

 

                     

Rudolf Wahrendorff

V209 the 2nd FFT Group A built in 1928, integrates in December 1939 into Kriegsmarine to be a armed patrol boat. July 24, 1944, to escort a convoy leaving St Peter Port when it is attacked by  Avenger 850 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm.




Country: III DEUTSCH REICH
Ship Type: Patrol
Tonnage: 381
Dimensions: 45.3 x 7.7
Previous name: PRINCE RUPERT, DR. RUDOLF Wahrendorff
Owner: Kriegsmarine
Ports: Unknown
Builder: Schichau Seebeckwerft AG Year Built: 1928
Launch: 1928
Dimensions: 45.3 x 7.7

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the Navy of  Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of World War 1I and the inter-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany.

The start of the second world war saw a huge rise in the industrial needs of Germany they had only one way to get the raw materials into the island and that was via the sea, it won’t of escaped your notice that we are an island nation. Raw materials would be bought in from across the sea to our port and harbour but they would need protecting throughout their journey. This protection was given by these merchant ships via the Kriegsmarine but it left one vital link in the chain unguarded and that was the approaches to our coastline.
 Initially the armed trawler was a simple and effective attempt to protect the ports and harbours of the country, the Kriegsmarine  quickly saw the benefit in converting fishing trawlers to protection duties around the approaches to their major ports. Many trawlers were quickly converted to both anti-submarine and mine-sweeping duties and crewed with the experience of the German Navy.