Shipbucket

Nice additions, excellent work as usual and interesting histories. This class always seems to get overlooked because of its poor showing in its intended role and mechanical problems etc. Nice to see them represented here.

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Interwar RN Capital Ships
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Well, most of the Kriegsmarine boats weren't done by me, but by WhyMe a while ago:
http://www.shipbucket.com/forums/viewto ... 220#p44052

Granted, they weren't posted in the KM thread, which would make them a little bit hard to find.

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Ah, ok. Thanks.

Sorry WhyMe!

And here's F4:

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Great work!

Nice!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Flottenbegleiter F5:



Like F9, F5 wasn't rebuilt when the class proved unsuccessful. However, she was removed from escort duty and assigned to the Sperrwaffen-Versuchskommando (Mine trial command). The only difference was the addition of a degaussing cable.


When the situation of the war turned for the worst in the east, F5 (as well as some other Flottenbegleiter) returned to combat as a guard- and escort ship in 1944. F5 recieved a 20mm quad in place of the aft 105mm cannon, while the cannon moved to the lower deck. On January 29th, 1945, F5 hit a mine and was severly damaged, but still afloat. Fleet tender Main took the ship in tow, but during this F5 hit a wreck below water and sunk, taking 64 men with her.

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Nice work!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Great thread - very educative and with great pictures.

Returning to F2 and F4:
Both ships were rebuilt as torpedo retrieval ships. This included the removal of both 105mm cannons and replacing the 37mm twins with the forward 20mm singles. The superstructure was reduced to make room for a torpedo storage area, torpedo maintenance facilities were included as well. A new main mast was installed as well, together with a new crane. A new bow was added as well.
F2 and F4 were rebuilt from c. mid-1939 to c. mid-1940. F2 was assigned to the 23rd. and 25th U-boat flotilla, F4 was used for training U-boat crews.



By 1944, the situation in the east had become desperate. With enough dedicated torpedo retrieval ships built over the war, the Flottenbegleiter were called back into their original function. For this, the new mast and crane were removed again and additional weapons installed. The 105mm cannons returned, F2 got an elevated 20mm quad and F4 a 37mm twin. Both ships served as guard- and escort ships in the Baltic Sea until the end of the war.



Both ships survived the war and were given to Great Britain as war prizes. F2 sank in 1946, while ankored at a bouy in Scapa Flow and F4 was scrapped in 1949.

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