Shipbucket

After the end of the war, most of the German fleet was either at the bottom of Scapa Flow or in the hands of the Allied Nations. What remained in German hands was mostly war materiel from pre-WW1 days and Drache was one of those ships. In the immediate years after the war she supported the minesweeping operations in the Baltic Sea before returning to her original duties as training ship. She returned to the Inspection of Ship Artillery, but with the opening of a new artillery school in Kiel, Drache commuted between Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, serving as artillery training ship, tender and tug for floating targets.

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Well done!

Very nice!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

In the years of the Weimar Republic Drache continued her service as a training ship under no less than thirteen different captains in one- or two-year-turns. Under the many cadets that were trained on Drache were the later Admiral Godt, who became the chief of u-boat operations. Already during WW1, the later commandant of the fortress of Dünkirchen, Admiral Frisius, served on Drache as watch officer from 1914-1916. In 1927, the appearance of Drache had changed. The old 88mm guns had been replaced by six 105mm Utof-guns and the bridge area had been rebuilt. This included a larger open bridge, a rangefinder and a new searchlight platform on the mast.

Although originally also classified as a tender, Drache became more and more an atrillery training ship. She continued to commute between Wilhelmshaven and Kiel until 1936, when all artillery training was moved to Kiel and Drache recieved a major refit.

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Nice!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Great thread.

The next najor refit for Drache brought some majot changes: The old coal-fired boiler were replaced with new oil-fired boilers, which also resulted in the two funnels being summarized into one larger, but lower funnel. The bridge was once again rebuilt and gear for minesweeping was installed at the bow. The main artillery remained the same, but a single 20mm FlaMG was added as well. Also, Drache finally recieved her own crest at the bow.
Drache continued her training duties for cruise-, submarine- and torpedo boat-artillery crews, mostly for officer cadets, but also tested new firing operation with seasoned artillery officers, until the outbreak of the Second World War.

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Sweet!

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Nice!

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Second World War:
After the initial shots were fired and the invasion of Poland, Drache joined the supporting naval units around 17.09.1939. Her duties included bombarding coastal MG-emplacement, providing artillery support for the army, escorting transporters and minehunting. After the invasion of Poland was complete, Drache returned to her training duties, which included a tour to Norway.
During the follwing invasion of Norway in 1940, Drache was part of Warship Group 5 with the target of Oslo. During this, Drache, together with R22 and R23, captured the Norwegian submarine A 2. Drache put together the prize unit that took over the submarine and later escorted her back to Horten.
In July 1940, the training vessel fleets were once again reorganized and relocated to their new home port in Sassnitz, which included Drache. During the war, Drache recieved several upgrades: Basic underwater detector were installed early in the war, as were waterbombs. The old 105mm Utof cannons were replaced with the newer C/32 model, the 20mm single was replaced with a quad model. For additional protection against air, a 37mm twin was installed on the foredeck. Also, since 1944, Drache carried a FuMO-63 radar, a relatively new and important piece for such an old ship (It still had to be turned by hand, though).

With the continued advanced of the Red Army in 1944, Drache would return to the frontlines...

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