The Volksmarine was the naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The Volksmarine was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a coastal defence role along the GDR's Baltic Sea coastline and territorial waters.
Rostock, officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock, is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, close to the border with Pomerania. With around 208,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city on the German Baltic coast after Kiel and Lübeck, the eighth-largest city in the area of former East Germany, as well as the 39th-largest city of Germany. Rostock was the largest coastal and most important port city in East Germany.
The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German radio-guided glide bomb. It is the first operational anti-shipping missile, first used unsuccessfully on 25 August 1943 and then with increasing success over the next year, ultimately damaging or sinking at least 25 ships. Allied efforts to jam the radio control link were increasingly successful despite German efforts to counter them. The weapon remained in use through 1944 when it was also used as an air-to-ground weapon to attack bridges to prevent the Allied breakout after D-Day, but proved almost useless in this role.
Warnemünde is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow. Warnemünde is one of the world's busiest cruise ports.
The Fletcher class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War.
Concrete ships are built of steel and ferrocement instead of more traditional materials, such as steel or wood. The advantage of ferrocement construction is that materials are cheap and readily available, while the disadvantages are that construction labor costs are high, as are operating costs. During the late 19th century, there were concrete river barges in Europe, and during both World War I and World War II, steel shortages led the US military to order the construction of small fleets of ocean-going concrete ships, the largest of which was the SS Selma. United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for concrete ships-barges was Type B ship. Few concrete ships were completed in time to see wartime service during World War I, but during 1944 and 1945, concrete ships and barges were used to support U.S. and British invasions in Europe and the Pacific. Since the late 1930s, there have also been ferrocement pleasure boats.
Graal-Müritz is a Seeheilbad in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is located in the Rostock district, near Rostock, Ribnitz-Damgarten and Stralsund.
Bungsberg was a cargo ship built in 1924 at Howaldtswerke in Hamburg, Germany, for China Reederei AG. She had three sister ships:
The BL 6-inch gun Mark VII was a British naval gun dating from 1899, which was mounted on a heavy travelling carriage in 1915 for British Army service to become one of the main heavy field guns in the First World War, and also served as one of the main coast defence guns throughout the British Empire until the 1950s.
SMS Rostock was a light cruiser of the Karlsruhe class built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. She had one sister ship, SMS Karlsruhe; the ships were very similar to the previous Magdeburg-class cruisers. The ship was laid down in 1911, launched in November 1912, and completed by February 1914. Armed with twelve 10.5 cm SK L/45 guns, Rostock had a top speed of 28.5 knots and displaced 6,191 t at full load.
Greif is a brigantine, owned by the town Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Ernst Brockelmann was a 1,900 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1927 by Neptun AG, Rostock, Germany for Ehrich Ahrens. In 1945, she was seized by the Allies and passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), renamed Empire Concession. In 1946, she was sold into merchant service and renamed Brazen Head. In 1950, she was sold to Finland and renamed Enso. A further sale in 1959 saw her renamed Hakuni. In 1966, she was sold to Panama and renamed Isla Del Rey. She was scrapped in June 1966.
The Frieden is the former German motor vessel Dresden operated by the VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock. Since 1970 it has been used as a museum ship.
Kampfgeschwader 40 was a Luftwaffe medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II, and the primary maritime patrol unit of any size within the World War II Luftwaffe. It is best remembered as the unit operating a majority of the four-engine Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor maritime patrol bombers. The unit suffered from the poor serviceability and low production rates of the Fw 200 bombers, and from repeated diversion of its long-haul capability aircraft to undertake transport duties in various theatres, especially for the airlift operations to supply encircled forces in the Battle of Stalingrad. Later in the war, KG 40 became one of several Luftwaffe bomber wings to use the Heinkel He 177A heavy bomber.
The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany is a German federal authority based in Hamburg and Rostock. With some 800 employees, the agency's tasks include maritime safety, hydrographic survey, maritime pollution monitoring, and approvals of offshore installations.
The Type R ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II refrigerated cargo ship, also called a reefer ship. The R type ship was used in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cold War. Type R ships were used to transport perishable commodities which require temperature-controlled transportation, such as fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products and other foods. The US Maritime Commission ordered 41 new refrigerated ships for the US Navy. Because of the difficulty of building refrigerated ships only two were delivered in 1944, and just 26 were delivered in 1945 and the remainder in 1946–48. The 41 R type ships were built in four groups. Two of design types were modified type C1 ships and two were modified type C2 ships. The United Fruit Company operated many of the R type ships in World War II. The type R2-S-BV1 became the US Navy Alstede-class stores ship and the type R1-M-AV3 became the US Navy Adria-class stores ship.
The Global class is a class of cruise ships constructed by the German shipbuilder MV Werften for Genting Hong Kong. With Genting’s bankruptcy in 2022, the future of the Global class was in doubt. On November 16, 2022, Disney Cruise Line confirmed it acquired the unfinished Global Dream. The second unfinished ship has been scrapped.
The "Concrete Ship" is a former concrete ship built in Germany in 1943 originally named Sip. It transported goods and was used as a hospital ship transporting wounded troops to land-based treatment facilities. Post-war it was moved to Belgrade and used for housing employees of the Belgrade Excavator Company and their families. Beginning in the 1990s, the ship fell into disrepair. It was finally purchased by Skitrack International, restored and opened to the public as a tourist attraction and a public space in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2016.
SS Vernon L. Kellogg was an American Liberty ship built in 1943 for service in World War II. Her namesake was Vernon Lyman Kellogg, an American entomologist, evolutionary biologist, and science administrator.
