The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe, of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was a German transatlantic ocean liner in service from 1897 to 1914, when she was scuttled in battle. She was the largest ship in the world for a time, and held the Blue Riband until Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania entered service in 1907. The vessel’s career was relatively uneventful, despite a refit in 1913.
USS Tuscaloosa (CL/CA-37) was a New Orleans-class cruiser of the U.S. Navy. Commissioned in 1934, she spent most of her career in the Atlantic and Caribbean, participating in several European wartime operations. In early 1945, she transferred to the Pacific and assisted in shore bombardment of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. She earned 7 battle stars for her service in World War II. Never damaged in battle, the ship fared better compared to her six sister ships, three of which were sunk and the other three heavily damaged.
On September 3, 1939, the British and French declarations of war on Germany initiated the Battle of the Atlantic. The United States Navy Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) established a combined air and ship patrol of the United States Atlantic coast, including the Caribbean, on 4 September, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the United States' neutrality on 5 September, and declared the naval patrol a Neutrality Patrol. Roosevelt's initiation of the Neutrality Patrol, which in fact also escorted British ships, as well as orders to U.S. Navy destroyers first to actively report U-boats, then "shoot on sight", meant American neutrality was honored more in the breach than observance.
USS Wichita was a unique heavy cruiser of the United States Navy built in the 1930s. The last American cruiser designed to meet the limits of the London Naval Treaty, she was originally intended to be a New Orleans-class heavy cruiser, accordingly with the maximum main armament of three triple 8-inch (203 mm) gun turrets. These were instead placed on an improved hull derived from the Brooklyn-class light cruisers, with increased armor. This design would go on to form the basis for the later World War II–era heavy cruisers such as the Baltimore class. The ship was authorized by the 1929 Cruiser Act, laid down at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in October 1935, launched in November 1937, and commissioned into the US Navy in February 1939.
The first USS Twiggs (DD–127) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I. She was named for Major Levi Twiggs. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy, as HMS Leamington and to the Soviet Navy as Zhguchy, before returning to Britain to star in the film The Gift Horse, which depicts the St. Nazaire Raid.
USS Upshur (DD–144) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy before and during World War II. She was the first ship named for Rear Admiral John Henry Upshur.
Norddeutscher Lloyd was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic development of Bremen and Bremerhaven. On 1 September 1970, the company merged with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.
Aktien-Gesellschaft Vulcan Stettin was a German shipbuilding and locomotive building company. Founded in 1851, it was located near the former eastern German city of Stettin, today Polish Szczecin. Because of the limited facilities in Stettin, in 1907 an additional yard was built in Hamburg. The now named Vulcan-Werke Hamburg und Stettin Actiengesellschaft constructed some of the most famous civilian German ships and it played a significant role in both World Wars, building warships for the Kaiserliche Marine and the Kriegsmarine later.
USS Jouett (DD-396) was a Somers-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named for Rear Admiral James Edward Jouett.
RMS Homeric, originally launched as Columbus, was an ocean liner built for Norddeutscher Lloyd and launched in 1913 at the F. Schichau yard in Danzig, Germany. Columbus was ceded to Great Britain in 1919 as part of German war reparations. She was sold to the White Star Line in 1920, which named her Homeric. Her sister ship Hindenburg remained in German ownership and was renamed Columbus. Homeric was operated by White Star from 1922 to 1935.
USS DeKalb (ID-3010) was the German mail ship Prinz Eitel Friedrich that served during the early part of the First World War as an auxiliary cruiser (Hilfkreuzer) in the Imperial German Navy and later after the US entry into the war, as a US Navy troop ship. Post war she returned to civilian service as the US transatlantic liner SS Mount Clay.
HMS Mashona was one of 16 Tribal-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy shortly before the beginning of Second World War in 1939. Completed in that year, she was assigned to the Home Fleet. During the first year of the war, the ship was on convoy escort duties. Mashona played an active role in the Norwegian Campaign of April–May 1940, escorting convoys to and from Norway. The ship helped to briefly seize four Swedish warships en route from Italy to Sweden in June 1940 and resumed her role of convoy escort after their release in July. She accidentally collided with one of her sister ships in early 1941 and spent several months under repair.
The following events occurred in May 1941:
The following events occurred in November 1942:
SS Scharnhorst was a Norddeutscher Lloyd ocean liner, launched in 1934, completed in 1935 and made her maiden voyage on 8 May 1935. She was the first big passenger liner built by the Third Reich. Under the German merchant flag, she was the second liner named after General Gerhard J. D. von Scharnhorst. She was one of three ships on the Far Eastern route between Bremen and Yokohama; her sister ships were Potsdam and Gneisenau. These three ships were planned to shorten the journey time between Bremen and Shanghai from the usual 50 days to 34. She was trapped in Japan in September 1939 and later converted into an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier named Shin'yō in 1942 and sunk by the US submarine USS Spadefish in 1944.
SS Columbus may refer to one of the following passenger steamers:
Asama Maru was a Japanese ocean liner owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK). The ship was built in 1927–1929 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Nagasaki, Japan. The vessel was named after an important Shinto shrine.
Empire Endurance was a 8,514 GRT steam cargo liner that was built in 1928 as Alster by Deschimag Werk Vulkan, Hamburg, Germany for the shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd. In the years leading up to the Second World War Alster carried cargo and passengers between Germany and Australia. After the outbreak of war she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine for use as a supply ship.
The Escape from Fort Stanton occurred on November 1, 1942, when four German sailors escaped from an internment camp at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. There were other minor escape attempts from the fort, but the incident in November 1942 was the most successful and the only one to end with a shootout. One German was wounded as result and the three remaining prisoners were sent back to Fort Stanton.
Germany
