Den tyske vaktbåten V-1605 ble bygget i Wesermünde i 1937 som en tråler for Hans Kunkel med navnet Mosel, men ble straks rekvirert av Kriegsmarine i September 1939 og satt inn i 19. minesveiperflotilje i Kiel. Mosel fikk nå militært mannskap og bestykning, og navnet M-1903. Første større oppdrag for den tidligere tråleren ble i april 1940 og invasjonen av Norge. I disse dagene fikk Mosel mer enn nok å henge fingrene i, og deltok i bergingen av krysseren Lützow og redningsarbeidet etter tapet av M-1101\Foch & Hubert.i Oslofjorden. I 1943 ble Mosel overført til 16.Vorpostflotilje i Fredrikshavn med navnet V-1605. Oppgavene til denne flotiljen var eskortering av konvoier og handelsskip, og Mosel ble armert med mye luftvernkanoner og synkeminer til oppgaven. Den 15 oktober 1944 ble Mosel beordret til eskortering av Nachsubtanker Norwegen 15  mellom Kristinasand og Arendal. Samtidig med dette letter 27 fly av typen Beaufighter og 17 Mosquitos fra 144 og 404 skvadron ( Banff Strike Wing ) i Skottland for å angripe mulige skipsmål mellom Danmark og Norge. På ettermiddagen oppdager flyene Mosel og Inger Johanne, og innleder angrepet. Mosel åpner ild med sin tunge 88mm luftvernkanon, og kort tid etter følger lyden av ilden også fra de andre 37mm og 20mm luftvernkanoner ombord. I løpet minutter eksploderer bokstavelig talt tankskipet Inger Johanne som er lastet med petroleum, og også Mosel blir sterkt skadet av ilden fra 20mm granatene som treffer skroget og kjelerommet. Men Mosel kjemper videre, og når flyene avbryter angrepet klokken 1537, brenner skipet fra baug til akter. Klokken 1540 forsvinner Mosel i dypet, og den lille konvoien hadde opphørt å eksistere. Under angrepet omkom 21 personer ombord på Mosel. Vraket av Mosel ble funnet sommeren 2001 på femti meters dyp i relativt god stand. Vraket hviler på kjølen med en lett slagside, og fortsatt kan man se luftvernkanoner og andre detaljer fra krigens dager. Bjarte og Siri Skar som fant vraket av Mosel på sommeren 2001, ønsker å holde posisjonen til vraket ”hemmelig” for å unngå plyndring...

The German guard boat V-1605 was laid down in Wesermünde in 1937 as a trawler for Hans Kunkel with the name Mosel, but was immediately requisitioned by Kriegsmarine in September 1939 and put in service in 19. Minesweeper squadron in Kiel... Mosel now received military crew and armament, and the name M-1903. The first large mission for this former trawler came in April 1940 and the invasion of Norway. In these days Mosel got more than enough to do, and participated in the rescuing of the cruiser Lützow and the rescue work after the loss of M-1101\ Foch & Huburt in the Oslofjord. In 1943 Mosel was transferred to 16.Vorpostflotilje in Fredrikshavn with the name V-1605. The task for this squadron was to escort and provide protection for convoys and merchant ships, and Mosel was armed with a lot of antiaircraft guns and depth charges. On 15 October 1944 Mosel was ordered to escort Nachschubtanker Norwegen 15 between Kristiansand and Arendal. At the same time 27 airplanes of the type Beaufighter and 17 Mosquito’s from 144 and 404 squadron ( Banff Strike Wing ) in Scotland to attack possible naval targets between Denmark and Norway. On the afternoon the airplanes spots Mosel and Inger Johanne and initiates the assault. Mosel opens fire with her  heavy 88mm antiair gun, and soon after follows the sounds from the other 37mm and 20mm antiair guns onboard. Within minutes the tanker Inger Johanne which is loaded with petroleum explodes, and also Mosel is heavily damaged from the 20mm grenades that hits the hull and the boiler room. But Mosel fight on, and when the airplanes abort the assault at 1537, the ship is on fire from bow to stern. At 1540 Mosel disappears in the deep, and the little convoy has seized to exist. Under the attack 21 persons perished onboard Mosel. The wreck of Mosel was found in the summer 2001 on a depth of fifty meters in a relatively good condition. The wreck rests on her keel with a slight listing, and you can still see antiairguns and other details from the days of Second World War. Bjarte and Siri Skar who found the wreck of Mosel in the summer 2001, whishes to hold the position to the wreck “secret” to avoid looting...

 

Name:
Former names:
 Material:
Dimensions:
V 1605
 Mosel
Steel
49,73x 8,14x 3,75 m.
       
Brt \ Nrt: Built: Homeport: Cargo:
426 \ Wesermünde ( D ) 1937 Wesermünde ( D )  

 

Picture: © Erling Skjold / NSA


With great many thanks to Andy Bird and his allowance to use information from his forthcoming book

“ A Separate Little War “ ;

15 October. In the afternoon at 12.40 hours twenty-one, Beaufighters with seventeen Mosquitoes engaged as anti-flak aircraft, took-off crossing the Scottish coast. Twelve Beaufighters carried rockets. The force went down to fifty feet above the waves making for the Naze. Squadron Leader Maurice led them again. They found a 1,202 ton tanker laden with petrol sailing between Justøya and Lillesand, south east of Kristiansund on a voyage from Oslo to Kristiansand. With a single escort the steamship Vp. 1605 ‘Mosel’ of 426 tons in position 58.08N-0817E, with the German tanker ‘Ingeborg’ now sailing under the Norwegian flag as ‘Niger Joanne’ of 1,202 tons going around Justøya near Lillesand. Mosquitoes are directed to shoot up the flakship, as light flak comes up to greet the attackers, led by Squadron Leader Christison of the Canadian squadron. Beaufighters worked in pairs firing salvoes of rockets and cannon helped by the 144 Torbeaus. Columns of spray rose into the air; the tanker was engulfed in flames followed by a plume of black smoke, as a concentration of rounds found their mark. Only burning oil remained on the surface with floating debris. Sixteen are killed in the inferno, with several survivors bobbing in the water although only one person was pulled from the sea by a rescue craft. Fire rages aboard Vp. 1605 with the last rounds fired bursting above, it explodes and sinks with twenty-one perishing. Survivors were seen in dinghies as the aircrews departed the area and head home, black smoke being a sharp contrast to the grey sea below. Smoke is visible from over fifty miles away; the strike wing suffered no losses although a few aircraft sustained light damage. Flight Lieutenant George Lord DFC CdeG of 235 Squadron reported: ‘One minute the tanker was there, erupting in flames, then a large plume of smoke and a ring of fire on the sea.’ While another nameless Beaufighter pilot on this operation in an Air Ministry Bulletin said ‘As we passed over, we fired our cannon into the smoke and flames’

Edited 29.06.2007