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Re: War time drydock construction in Germany

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 9:29 pm
by ede144
RF wrote:I don't think his distant Jewish background or sympathies (I believe he was one eigth Jewish from his great grandparents?) needed to be covered up not least because (as Kennedy records) of his protest against the Krystallnacht pogrom. Being a Kriegsmarine officer and at sea placed him at arms length from the SS, Gestapo and other Nazi agencies.

One other instance of an officer who was a ''loose cannon'' and had a habit of going out on his own and getting away with it politically was Helmuth von Ruckteschell, who named the second hilfskreuzer under his command Michel allegedly after the name of the Archangel Michael. the protector of the Jewish nation!
If memory serves, he called it "Michel" which is a short form of Michael. He got criticized because this is not an inspiring name for an AMC. His answer was: If Hamburg's people can name their main church Michel than I can christian this ship Michel

Re: War time drydock construction in Germany

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 12:16 pm
by sineatimorar
Excuse my complete ignorance here, but who in the blue blazes of Hades is this nutta 'Helmut Von Rucketschell' anyway? Which command, which sea service? To what notoriety is attributed to him other than some lunitic like utterances.

Re: War time drydock construction in Germany

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 12:29 pm
by sineatimorar
Ok I just googled him. Interesting chappy wasn't he? Wonder if his time in Japan could have shed any interesting info on naval information exchanges?

Re: War time drydock construction in Germany

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 9:52 pm
by sineatimorar
From my endeavors into ship design the maximum displacement that could be built without altering the locks at wilhelmhaven is around the 138,000 ton figure.

Re: War time drydock construction in Germany

Posted: Sat Nov 16, 2013 6:12 pm
by Dresden
I'd be curious to know ALL the naval-capable drydocks the KM had and where (which ports, etc.) they were located.

Re: War time drydock construction in Germany

Posted: Sat Nov 16, 2013 11:33 pm
by sineatimorar
Yah! Yes so would I like to know ALL of them. Hence the orginal question. As far as I know Elbe 17 is the only one operational today at Hamburg. Nearly all non floating types of drydocks were either filled in ( as at Wilhelmhaven and parts of the Kiel ) or had their dock gates destroyed as orginally what happened to Elbe17 and one at Kiel that seems to be still without it's gate and is used as a dock only. My best source is Google earth and it timeline bar which by setting at 1943 you get what war time aerial photos are available.

The two drydocks under construction at Wilhelmhaven were never 100% completed and were destroyed and latter filled in ( there is no evidence today of their existence). Large parts of the ship basins and docks of Kiel were obliterated in a similar way.

Company history sites from Germany skip across this period of time with little or no detailed information of operations. Going on comparison and the notes written on the the original photos, only the drydocks I have mentioned seem to be of the size required to service the likes of the H class. The Bremenhaven site I am yet to ID the location of any drydock construction linked to the H class, but I expect it just a matter of finding the correct photo from that time period.

If you know of a site dedicated to port infrastructures at that timeframe I would love it's address.