German cruiser Königsberg

Career
Name:	Königsberg
Builder:	Reichsmarinewerft, Wilhelmshaven
Laid down:	12 April 1926
Launched:	26 March 1927
Commissioned:	17 April 1929
Fate:	Sunk 10 April 1940 at Bergen, Norway
General characteristics
Class and type:	Königsberg
Displacement:	7,700 long tons (7,800 t)
Length:	174 m (571 ft)
Beam:	15.3 m (50 ft)
Draft:	6.28 m (20.6 ft)
Propulsion:	3 shafts driven by 4 MAN 10-cylinder diesels (cruising) or 2 geared turbines;68000 shp
Speed:	32 knots
Range:	7300 nmi at 17 knots
Complement:	514–850
Sensors and processing systems:	Seetakt radar from 1936
Armament:	3 × 3 15 cm SK C/25 guns 6 × 88 mm anti-aircraft guns 8 × 3.7 cm SK C/30 anti-aircraft guns 8 × 20 mm anti-aircraft guns 12 × 533 mm torpedoes 120 mines
Armor:	command tower: 100 mm deck: 40 mm, turrets: 20 mm, belt: 50-70 mm, internal boiler room sides
Aircraft carried:	2 Heinkel He 60 floatplanes
Service record
Commanders:	Otto von Schrader Hubert Schmundt

Königsberg was a light cruiser of the German K class in the German Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine. Her sisterships were Köln and Karlsruhe.

After a number of foreign visits in the 1930s, the ship operated along the Spanish coast from November 1936 to January 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. Her design and construction rendered her poorly suited to commerce raiding or deep-water operations, and when World War II broke out in September 1939 she was assigned to duty as a torpedo training ship in the Baltic and subsequently used for mining operations in the North Sea (Operation "Westwall"). The Königsberg later participated in the invasion of Norway and was sunk by British dive bombers while anchored in the Norwegian port of Bergen.

Norway

In early April 1940, Königsberg participated in Gruppe 3 of the invasion of Norway (Operation "Weserübung"), transporting troops from Wilhelmshaven to Bergen, Norway, together with her sistership Köln, the artillery training ship Bremse and the torpedo boats Wolf and Leopard. Königsberg and Bremse were lightly damaged by Norwegian coastal artillery batteries at Kvarven Fort on 9 April 1940. The Königsberg suffered a mechanical failure attributed to the ship's unreliable machinery causing it to remain in port while the other ships returned to Germany.

Sinking

On 9 April 1940, Königsberg was attacked in Bergen harbor by 16 Blackburn Skua dive bombers of the British Fleet Air Arm (7 of 800 Naval Air Squadron and 9 of 803 Naval Air Squadron), launched from RNAS Hatston, Orkney. Königsberg had only 2" belt armor and 1 3/4" deck armor, and was quite vulnerable to dive bomber attack. target. The Skuas attacked in three groups: the nine of 803 NAS, six of 800 NAS, and one aircraft of 800 NAS which lost contact during the outward flight but found Königsberg independently. The dive bombers attacked at 7:20, catching the ship's crew off guard. Half of the dive bombers had completed their dives before the crew realised they were under attack. Only one large anti-aircraft gun was reported as being manned with shells being fired once every five second from the aft of the ship with lighter anti-air weapons firing from the shore and adjacent ships firing even later in the attack. Two hits were claimed amidships and a third was scored on the forecastle. The ship started sinking by the bow with flames reaching nearly 100 ft in the air. The stern later rose into the air exposing her screws, causing her to roll over and sink 50 minutes after the initial attack. The fate of Königsberg was witnessed and reported by Americans aboard the Flying Fish also in harbor during the attack.

Königsberg under attack at Bergen

Aftermath of sinking

The wreck was raised on 17 July 1942, and after being righted in March 1943 was used as a pier for U-boats. The wreck capsized again on 22 September 1944, and was broken up after the end of World War II in Bergen.

See also

• List of shipwrecks in 1940

Bibliography

Smith, Peter C. (1982). Dive Bomber!,Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania: Stackpool Books. ISBN 9780811734547.

• German Naval History - Light Cruiser Königsberg