SMS Hessen
Encyclopedia
SMS Hessen"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff" (His Majesty's Ship) was the third of five pre-dreadnought
battleship
s of the Braunschweig class
. She was laid down in 1902, launched the following year, and commissioned into the German Imperial Navy
in 1905. She was named after the state of Hesse
. Her sister ships were Braunschweig
, Elsass, Preussen, and Lothringen
. Like all other pre-dreadnoughts built at the turn of the century, Hessen was quickly made obsolete by the launching of in 1906; as a result, she saw only limited service with the German fleet.
During World War I
, Hessen saw action in the Battle of Jutland
as the second ship of the III Division of the II Battle Squadron. In the last daytime action between capital ships at Jutland, Hessen and the other pre-dreadnoughts of the II Battle Squadron covered the retreat of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper
's battered battlecruiser
s from Vice Admiral David Beatty
's battlecruiser squadron. After the battle, the vessel was disarmed and used as a depot ship.
Hessen was one of the few obsolete battleships Germany was permitted to retain under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. She served as a coastal defense ship in the 1920s and early 1930s, though she was withdrawn from front-line service in 1934. The following year, the ship was converted into a radio-controlled target
. During World War II Hessen served in this capacity, while also working as an icebreaker
in the Baltic and North Seas. The ship was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1946 after the end of the war and, renamed Tsel, served until scrapped in 1960.
under construction number 100. The third unit of her class, she was ordered under the contract name "L" as a new unit for the fleet. The ship cost 23,983,000 marks
. Hessen was launched on 18 September 1903 and commissioned on 19 July 1905.
The ship was 127.7 m (419 ft) long overall and had a beam
of 22.2 m (72.8 ft) and a draft
of 8.1 m (26.6 ft) forward. The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that drove three screws. Steam was provided by eight naval and six cylindrical boilers, all of which burned coal. Hessens powerplant was rated at 16000 ihp, which generated a top speed of 18 knots (35.3 km/h).
Hessens armament consisted of a main battery of four 28 cm (11 in) SK L/40 guns in twin gun turret
s,In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnellfeuerkanone) denotes that the gun quick firing, while the L/40 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/40 gun is 40 calibers, meaning that the gun is 40 as times long as it is in diameter. one fore and one aft of the central superstructure
. Her secondary armament consisted of fourteen 17 cm (6.7 inch) SK L/40 guns and eighteen 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/35 quick-firing guns. The armament suite was rounded out with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, all mounted submerged in the hull.
, along with the battleships and . During fleet exercises on 23 August 1911, Hessen accidentally rammed and sank the Danish steamer Askesund. The crew of the steamer was rescued and there were no reported injuries. In October, the ship was badly damaged when she was rammed by the Danish steamer Argo. In July 1913, Hessen collided with the torpedo boat . The torpedo boat suffered significant damage, though it did not sink, and three of its crew were killed.
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the ship was assigned to the IV Battle Squadron along with her four sisters, and served primarily in the Baltic Sea
. Hessen performed fleet duties up through the first two years of World War I. Hessen was present as part of the distant support for the battlecruisers that bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby
on 15–16 December 1914. During the operation, the German battle fleet of 12 dreadnoughts and 8 pre-dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi (18.5 km) of a isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer
screens convinced the German commander, Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl
, that he was confronted with the entire Grand Fleet, and so he broke off the engagement and turned for home.
Another raid on the English coast followed on 24–25 April; this time, the battlecruisers bombarded Yarmouth and Lowestoft
. During this operation, the battlecruiser was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely. Visibility was poor, so the operation was quickly called off before the British fleet could intervene and inflict further losses.
on 31 May–1 June 1916. Hessen and the five ships of the Deutschland class
formed the II Battle Squadron, under the command of Rear Admiral Franz Mauve. During the battle, Hessen and the Deutschland class ships performed a vital blocking action that covered the withdrawal of the German battlecruisers. Vice Admiral David Beatty
's battlecruisers had attacked the German ships in the darkness, and when the German ships had turned westward to evade their attackers, Mauve continued in a southerly course, which placed his ships between the British and German battlecruisers. The British battlecruisers turned their attention to the pre-dreadnoughts, who in turn altered their course to the southwest in order to bring all of their guns to bear on the British ships. In the darkness, only muzzle flashes from the British ships could be seen; as a result Hessen and the other II Squadron ships held their fire.The German official history states that the II Squadron fired 23 rounds of 28 cm ammunition at this phase of the battle, but according to naval historian John Campbell the individual ship logs recorded no such firing at this time; instead, the 23 shells were fired at imaginary submarines several hours later. See: Campbell, p. 255
At approximately 03:00 on 1 June, a group of British destroyers launched a torpedo attack against the German battle line. At 03:07, Hessen narrowly avoided a torpedo, but Pommern
, the ship directly ahead of Hessen, was not so lucky. At 03:10, Pommern was struck by at least one torpedo, which is believed to have detonated one of the ship's 6.7 in (17 cm) shell magazines, destroying the ship. Hessen was undamaged. Aboard Hessen, it was assumed that a submarine had destroyed Pommern; at 03:12 Hessen fired her main battery at an imagined submarine. Hessen and several other battleships engaged imaginary submarines again at 05:06, and again at 05:13. Gunfire from Hessen and during the latter incident nearly hit the light cruisers and ; Admiral Scheer ordered them to cease fire. At 06:55, Hessen and mistook a mine buoy dropped by as a periscope and attacked it. In the course of the battle, Hessen had fired five 28 cm rounds, thirty-four 17 cm shells, and twenty-four 8.8 cm rounds.
In 1917, Hessen was withdrawn from active service, disarmed, and used as a depot ship in Brunsbüttel
. While in reserve at Brunsbüttel, Hessen was jokingly referred to as "SMS Kleinste Fahrt" (SMS "Shortest Voyage") because of a warning that had been painted on the ship's hull. The ship's four 28 cm guns were re-mounted as railroad guns and employed on the Western Front. The Australian Army captured one of the guns on 8 August 1918; it's preserved as the Amiens Gun
at the Australian War Memorial
in Canberra, Australia.
. After being refitted and rearmed, Hessen returned to service with the Reichsmarine
in 1925. Of the eight ships, Hessen was one of only three still in service as a warship when the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. The Nazis began a program of naval rearmament; this included the battleship Gneisenau
, which was ordered as a replacement for Hessen in 1934.
On 12 November 1934, Hessen was withdrawn from fleet service and placed in reserve. On 31 March 1935, Hessen was stricken from the reserve list and converted into a target ship. Her armament was removed, the hull was lengthened, and new machinery was installed. The longer hull allowed room for two additional watertight compartments, which brought the number up to 15 from the original 13. The ship's superstructure was cut down nearly entirely; Hessen retained only a single funnel, a tower foremast, and the two armored barbette
s for the main battery turrets. The ship had a crew of 80, but could be operated by remote control when being used as a target.
Hessen was recommissioned on 1 April 1937 and served in the Kriegsmarine
through World War II
. On 31 March 1940, Hessen acted as an icebreaker
for the auxiliary cruisers Atlantis
, Widder
, and Orion
, on their trip from Kiel to the North Sea. She was ceded to the Soviet Union
in 1946. Renamed Tsel, she continued to operate as a target ship until scrapped in 1960.
Pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...
battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s of the Braunschweig class
Braunschweig class battleship
The Braunschweig class battleships were pre-dreadnought battleships of the Kaiserliche Marine . The class comprised five ships: , , , , and...
. She was laid down in 1902, launched the following year, and commissioned into the German Imperial Navy
Kaiserliche Marine
The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
in 1905. She was named after the state of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
. Her sister ships were Braunschweig
SMS Braunschweig
SMS Braunschweig"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff" was the first of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the Braunschweig class in the German Kaiserliche Marine . She was laid down in 1901 and commissioned in October 1904, at a cost of 23,983,000 marks. She was named after the then Duchy of...
, Elsass, Preussen, and Lothringen
SMS Lothringen
SMS Lothringen"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff" was the fifth of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the Braunschweig class in the German Imperial Navy laid down in 1902 and commissioned 1906. She was named for the then German province of Lothringen, now Lorraine, a region of France...
. Like all other pre-dreadnoughts built at the turn of the century, Hessen was quickly made obsolete by the launching of in 1906; as a result, she saw only limited service with the German fleet.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Hessen saw action in the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
as the second ship of the III Division of the II Battle Squadron. In the last daytime action between capital ships at Jutland, Hessen and the other pre-dreadnoughts of the II Battle Squadron covered the retreat of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper
Franz von Hipper
Franz Ritter von Hipper was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy . Franz von Hipper joined the German Navy in 1881 as an officer cadet. He commanded several torpedo boat units and served as watch officer aboard several warships, as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht Hohenzollern...
's battered battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
s from Vice Admiral David Beatty
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty
Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO was an admiral in the Royal Navy...
's battlecruiser squadron. After the battle, the vessel was disarmed and used as a depot ship.
Hessen was one of the few obsolete battleships Germany was permitted to retain under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. She served as a coastal defense ship in the 1920s and early 1930s, though she was withdrawn from front-line service in 1934. The following year, the ship was converted into a radio-controlled target
Target ship
A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing.-Rationale:Sinking redundant warships is an effective way of testing new weapons and warships in as realistic a manner as possible. Whilst practice torpedoes are fired...
. During World War II Hessen served in this capacity, while also working as an icebreaker
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
in the Baltic and North Seas. The ship was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1946 after the end of the war and, renamed Tsel, served until scrapped in 1960.
Construction
Hessens keel was laid in 1899, at the Germaniawerft in KielKiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
under construction number 100. The third unit of her class, she was ordered under the contract name "L" as a new unit for the fleet. The ship cost 23,983,000 marks
German gold mark
The Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...
. Hessen was launched on 18 September 1903 and commissioned on 19 July 1905.
The ship was 127.7 m (419 ft) long overall and had a beam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 22.2 m (72.8 ft) and a draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
of 8.1 m (26.6 ft) forward. The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that drove three screws. Steam was provided by eight naval and six cylindrical boilers, all of which burned coal. Hessens powerplant was rated at 16000 ihp, which generated a top speed of 18 knots (35.3 km/h).
Hessens armament consisted of a main battery of four 28 cm (11 in) SK L/40 guns in twin gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s,In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnellfeuerkanone) denotes that the gun quick firing, while the L/40 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/40 gun is 40 calibers, meaning that the gun is 40 as times long as it is in diameter. one fore and one aft of the central superstructure
Superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
. Her secondary armament consisted of fourteen 17 cm (6.7 inch) SK L/40 guns and eighteen 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/35 quick-firing guns. The armament suite was rounded out with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, all mounted submerged in the hull.
Imperial Navy
In July 1908, Hessen participated in the annual summer cruise, which went into the Atlantic that year. During the cruise, the ship stopped in TenerifeTenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
, along with the battleships and . During fleet exercises on 23 August 1911, Hessen accidentally rammed and sank the Danish steamer Askesund. The crew of the steamer was rescued and there were no reported injuries. In October, the ship was badly damaged when she was rammed by the Danish steamer Argo. In July 1913, Hessen collided with the torpedo boat . The torpedo boat suffered significant damage, though it did not sink, and three of its crew were killed.
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the ship was assigned to the IV Battle Squadron along with her four sisters, and served primarily in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. Hessen performed fleet duties up through the first two years of World War I. Hessen was present as part of the distant support for the battlecruisers that bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby
Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby
The raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, which took place on 16 December 1914, was an attack by the Imperial German Navy on the British seaport towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool, West Hartlepool, and Whitby. The attack resulted in 137 fatalities and 592 casualties, many of which were civilians...
on 15–16 December 1914. During the operation, the German battle fleet of 12 dreadnoughts and 8 pre-dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi (18.5 km) of a isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
screens convinced the German commander, Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl
Friedrich von Ingenohl
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Friedrich von Ingenohl was a German admiral from Neuwied best known for his command of the German High Seas Fleet at the beginning of World War I....
, that he was confronted with the entire Grand Fleet, and so he broke off the engagement and turned for home.
Another raid on the English coast followed on 24–25 April; this time, the battlecruisers bombarded Yarmouth and Lowestoft
Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft
The Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft was a naval battle fought during the First World War between the German Empire and the British Empire in the North Sea....
. During this operation, the battlecruiser was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely. Visibility was poor, so the operation was quickly called off before the British fleet could intervene and inflict further losses.
Battle of Jutland
Hessen took part in the Battle of JutlandBattle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
on 31 May–1 June 1916. Hessen and the five ships of the Deutschland class
Deutschland class battleship
The Deutschland class was a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. The class comprised , , , , and . Built between 1903 and 1908, the ships closely resembled those of the preceding , though they had stronger armor protection...
formed the II Battle Squadron, under the command of Rear Admiral Franz Mauve. During the battle, Hessen and the Deutschland class ships performed a vital blocking action that covered the withdrawal of the German battlecruisers. Vice Admiral David Beatty
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty
Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO was an admiral in the Royal Navy...
's battlecruisers had attacked the German ships in the darkness, and when the German ships had turned westward to evade their attackers, Mauve continued in a southerly course, which placed his ships between the British and German battlecruisers. The British battlecruisers turned their attention to the pre-dreadnoughts, who in turn altered their course to the southwest in order to bring all of their guns to bear on the British ships. In the darkness, only muzzle flashes from the British ships could be seen; as a result Hessen and the other II Squadron ships held their fire.The German official history states that the II Squadron fired 23 rounds of 28 cm ammunition at this phase of the battle, but according to naval historian John Campbell the individual ship logs recorded no such firing at this time; instead, the 23 shells were fired at imaginary submarines several hours later. See: Campbell, p. 255
At approximately 03:00 on 1 June, a group of British destroyers launched a torpedo attack against the German battle line. At 03:07, Hessen narrowly avoided a torpedo, but Pommern
SMS Pommern
SMS Pommern was one of five Deutschland class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Kaiserliche Marine between 1904 and 1906. Named after the Prussian province of Pomerania, she was built at the AG Vulcan yard at Stettin, where she was laid down on 22 March 1904 and launched on 2 December...
, the ship directly ahead of Hessen, was not so lucky. At 03:10, Pommern was struck by at least one torpedo, which is believed to have detonated one of the ship's 6.7 in (17 cm) shell magazines, destroying the ship. Hessen was undamaged. Aboard Hessen, it was assumed that a submarine had destroyed Pommern; at 03:12 Hessen fired her main battery at an imagined submarine. Hessen and several other battleships engaged imaginary submarines again at 05:06, and again at 05:13. Gunfire from Hessen and during the latter incident nearly hit the light cruisers and ; Admiral Scheer ordered them to cease fire. At 06:55, Hessen and mistook a mine buoy dropped by as a periscope and attacked it. In the course of the battle, Hessen had fired five 28 cm rounds, thirty-four 17 cm shells, and twenty-four 8.8 cm rounds.
In 1917, Hessen was withdrawn from active service, disarmed, and used as a depot ship in Brunsbüttel
Brunsbüttel
Brunsbüttel is a town in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany that lies on the mouth of the Elbe river, near the North Sea. It is the location of the western entrance to the Kiel Canal, the eastern entrance being located at Kiel-Holtenau...
. While in reserve at Brunsbüttel, Hessen was jokingly referred to as "SMS Kleinste Fahrt" (SMS "Shortest Voyage") because of a warning that had been painted on the ship's hull. The ship's four 28 cm guns were re-mounted as railroad guns and employed on the Western Front. The Australian Army captured one of the guns on 8 August 1918; it's preserved as the Amiens Gun
Amiens Gun
The Amiens Gun is a German gun captured by the Australian Imperial Force during World War I and returned to Australia as a war trophy. The gun was placed on public display on 26 March, 1920 in a position adjacent to the Central Railway Station...
at the Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
in Canberra, Australia.
Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine
Hessen was one of eight old pre-dreadnoughts, along with the other ships of her class and the Deutschland class battleships and , that Germany was permitted to retain under the terms of Treaty of VersaillesTreaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
. After being refitted and rearmed, Hessen returned to service with the Reichsmarine
Reichsmarine
The Reichsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the Reichswehr, existing from 1918 to 1935...
in 1925. Of the eight ships, Hessen was one of only three still in service as a warship when the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. The Nazis began a program of naval rearmament; this included the battleship Gneisenau
German battleship Gneisenau
Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...
, which was ordered as a replacement for Hessen in 1934.
On 12 November 1934, Hessen was withdrawn from fleet service and placed in reserve. On 31 March 1935, Hessen was stricken from the reserve list and converted into a target ship. Her armament was removed, the hull was lengthened, and new machinery was installed. The longer hull allowed room for two additional watertight compartments, which brought the number up to 15 from the original 13. The ship's superstructure was cut down nearly entirely; Hessen retained only a single funnel, a tower foremast, and the two armored barbette
Barbette
A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...
s for the main battery turrets. The ship had a crew of 80, but could be operated by remote control when being used as a target.
Hessen was recommissioned on 1 April 1937 and served in the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
through World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. On 31 March 1940, Hessen acted as an icebreaker
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...
for the auxiliary cruisers Atlantis
German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis
The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis , known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 16 and to the Royal Navy as Raider-C, was a converted German Hilfskreuzer of the Kriegsmarine, which, during World War II, travelled more than in 602 days, and sank or captured 22 ships totaling...
, Widder
German auxiliary cruiser Widder
Widder was an auxiliary cruiser of the German Navy that was used as a merchant raider in the Second World War.Her Kriegsmarine designation was Schiff 21, to the Royal Navy she was Raider D....
, and Orion
German auxiliary cruiser Orion
Orion was an auxiliary cruiser of the German navy which operated as a merchant raider during World War II. Built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg in 1930/31 as the freighter Kurmark, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine at the outbreak of World War II and converted into the auxiliary cruiser Orion,...
, on their trip from Kiel to the North Sea. She was ceded to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1946. Renamed Tsel, she continued to operate as a target ship until scrapped in 1960.