M
1 ble senket av Britiske Lancaster fly 12. Januar 1945 i Byfjorden nord
for Bergen. De britiske flyene hadde ordre om å bombe den tyske
ubåtbunkeren der, men som sekundær mål å angripe
fiendlige fartøy. Mannskapet på M 1 satte kurs mot Helleneset
og vekk fra Bergen, men et Lancaster fly hadde allerede valgt M 1 som
mål, og kort tid etter ble skipet truffet av en Tallboy bombe
på 5 tonn som senket minesveiperen umiddelbart og drepte tyve
mann av besetningen. Vraket
hviler idag på 340 meters dyp, og er brukket i flere deler...
M 1 was sunk by British Lancaster planes
12. January 1945 in the Byfjorden north of Bergen. The British
planes had orders to bomb the German submarine bunker there, but
as secondary targets also enemy vessels. The crew on M 1 sat course
for Helleneset and away from Bergen, but a Lancaster plane had
already picked M 1 as a target, and shortly after the ship was
hit by a Tallboy bomb who immediately sunk the minesweeper and
killed twenty men of the crew. The wreck rest today on a depth
of 340 meters, and is broken in several pieces...
Name: |
Former names: |
Material: |
Dimensions: |
M 1 |
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Steel |
68,1x 8,7x 2,65 m. |
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| Brt \ Nrt: |
Built: |
Homeport: |
Cargo: |
| 870 \ |
( D ) |
Bergen ( N) |
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Picture showing an
unknown M class ship in 1936.
Information from http://www.german-navy.de
In the mid 1930s, the minesweeping flotillas of the Kriegsmarine consisted
of old ships build in World War I. To replace this old ships, a class
of modern minesweepers, the "Mboot35" was designed.The result
was a very maneuverable and seaworthy ship exceeding the expectations.
Heavily armed those ships were often called "Channel Destroyers"
by the British during World War II. Despite the successful design,
several factors prevented that a large number of ships were build
during the war. The boats were very expensive and complicated to build,
therefore a more simple design had to be developed (which later got
the Minensuchboot 1940). The engines were difficult to maintain and
needed specially skilled personal which was not available in the required
numbers. Since the Mboot35 had oil fired boilers, they also suffered
from the oil shortage in the later years of the war. A total of 69
ships were build in eight different shipyards, 34 were lost during
the war. After the war, 17 were taken over by the US Navy, 5 by the
Royal Navy and 13 by the Soviet Navy which all were used in the Black
Sea until the 1960s. Five of the ships taken over by the USA were
returned to Germany in 1956/57 and were used by the Bundesmarine.
Underwaterpictures from the wreck. Taken in 1996 \
Stolt Comex.
Map showing location of the wreck
"Tallboy" ( 5000 kg ) concrete piercing bombs.
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