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The German destroyer Hermann Kunne ended her days in Herjangfjorden outside Narvik city on the 13th of April 1940 after she had run out of ammunition and petrol. Hermann Kunne belonged to the German Kriegsschiffgruppe 1 which had the securing of Narvik as their target during the German operation Weserübung in 1940. After this battle outside Narvik, Hermann Kunne set her course in to Herjangen and the crew themselves sinks the destroyer shortly afterwards there. The wreck of Hermann Kunne rest today in shallow waters near Herjangen on a depth of three to forty meters. SFT investigated the wreck in 1999 for oil, and stated that the wreck was not a threat anymore to the environment concerning pollution. From the harbor captain in Narvik we are told in a email that it is now allowed to dive on the wreck of Hermann Kunne...
Greyscale underwaterpicture
donated by © Kyrre Ingebrethsen The Zerstörer 1936 class were slightly bigger and improved to their predecessors, the Zerstörer 1934 and Zerstörer 1934A. While these ships were under construction, none of the earlier ships was commissioned and therefore none of their design flaws got obvious. It's interesting that most of the problems - especially those of the engines - were solved in this class of ships. The engines were much more reliable, the structural integrity was improved and they were much better seagoing ships. This was caused by the reduction of the top weight, the funnels were shortened and the height of the superstructure was reduced and the improved bow shape of the three last build ships. Although 26 of this ships were ordered, only 6 were completed, while the other orders were modified to other designs. All but one ships were sunk at Narvik and formed the destroyer graveyard in the Norwegian fjord. Until February 1940 the ship took part in four offensive mine laying operation in the North Sea, from 10.09.1939 the Heidkamp was the command ship of the Commander of Destroyers (Führer der Zerstörer). During in Operation Weserübung the ship was part of the Kriegsschiffgruppe 1 heading for Narvik where it was heavily damaged on 10.04.1940 at Narvik in a battle with British destroyers. Sunk after a torpedo hit from the British destroyer Hardy on 11.04.1940. Size (max): 3415 t Draft: 4,50 m |
Den
tyske jageren Hermann Kunne endte sine dager i Herjangfjorden utenfor
Narvik by den 13 april 1940 etter at hun hadde gått tom for ammunisjon
og drivstoff. Hermann Kunne tilhørte den tyske Kriegsschiffgruppe
1 som hadde sikringen av Narvik som mål under den tyske operasjon
Weserübung i 1940. Etter slaget den 13 april utenfor Narvik, tar
Hermann Kunne retning inn til Herjangen og mannskapet senker selv jageren
i der kort tid etter. Vraket av Hermann Kunne hviler i dag på
grunt vann ved Herjangen på tre til førti meters dyp helt
inntil land. SFT undersøkte vraket i 1999 for olje, og konstaterte
at vraket ikke utgjorde noen trussel mot miljøet lenger med hensyn
til forurensing. Fra havnekapteinen i Narvik får man opplyst via
en e-post at det nå er lov å dykke på vraket av Hermann
Kunne...|
Edited 29.06.2007 |