1.
Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
2.
Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau
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Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft was a cooperation of eight German shipyards in the period 1926 to 1945. The leading company was the shipyard AG Weser in Bremen, the Deschimag was founded in 1926 when influential Bremen merchants and bankers decided to found a cooperation of great German shipbuilding companies under the leadership of the shipyard AG Weser. These were, Actien-Gesellschaft Weser, Bremen Vulkan-Werke Hamburg A. G. Hamburg Joh, tecklenborg A. G. Wesermünde AG Vulcan Stettin, Stettin G. Seebeck A. G. Geestemünde Actien-Gesellschaft Neptun, Rostock Nüscke & Co. But in the years most of these companies were closed. At least only AG Weser and Seebeckwerft survived this process of concentration and reduction of shipbuilding capacities, in 1941 Krupp, then the most important German engineering and armaments conglomerate, acquired a majority shareholding in both shipyards. Because of diversification and to new jobs Deschimag also diversified into aircraft construction. In 1933 the Weser Flugzeugbau GmbH – abbreviated Weserflug – was founded and it started making aircraft components and later complete aircraft at different places in Germany, one of them was the former shipyard Frerichswerft AG. In 1936 the Weserflug separated from the Deschimag and became an independent company and it became the fourth largest aircraft manufacturer in Germany in World War II, but only as a licensee of other German aircraft companies, mainly Dornier and Junkers. Deschimag was dissolved after war but AG Weser and Seebeck AG shipyards again survived and continued in shipbuilding, later in 1988 it merged with Schichau Shipyard to SSW Schichau Seebeck Shipyard GmbH, which closed in 2009. SS Lichtenfels 1929, heavy lift ship, for DDG Hansa, used to transport locomotives to India. AG Weser 1929, ocean liner Bremen for Norddeutscher Lloyd, won Blue Riband 1929 and 1933 for fastest Atlantic Ocean crossing. Bremen escaped after beginning of war from New York to Bremerhaven, burnt out 1940 in Bremerhaven, AG Weser 1935, turbo-electric ocean liner Scharnhorst for Norddeutscher Lloyd. Rebuilt to Japanese auxiliary aircraft carrier Shinyo in 1942, sunk 1944 by US submarine USS Spadefish, AG Weser 1935, geared-turbine ocean liner Gneisenau for Norddeutscher Lloyd. Sunk by a mine in the Baltic in May 1943, raised and scrapped in 1950, AG Weser 1936, whale factory ship Terje Viken for United Whalers Ltd. Largest factory ship in the World, March 1941 sunk by U-boats U-47, AG Weser,1937, whale factory ship Unitas for German company Jürgens-Van den Bergh. Became Japanese Nisshin Maru II, scrapped in Taiwan 1987, AG Weser,1937, merchant ship Kandelfels for DDG Hansa. In WW II converted to German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin,1941 sunk by British cruiser HMS Cornwall, AG Weser,1938, merchant ship Ems for Norddeutscher Lloyd. In WW II converted to German auxiliary cruiser Komet,1942 sunk by planes and ships of Royal Air Force, MS Oslofjord for Den norske Amerikalinje MV Mars, cargo liner for Neptun Line
3.
Bremen
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The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany, which belongs to the state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. As a commercial and industrial city with a port on the River Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region. Bremen is the second most populous city in Northern Germany and eleventh in Germany, Bremen is a major cultural and economic hub in the northern regions of Germany. Bremen is home to dozens of galleries and museums, ranging from historical sculptures to major art museums. Bremen has a reputation as a working class city, along with this, Bremen is home to a large number of multinational companies and manufacturing centers. Companies headquartered in Bremen include the Hachez chocolate company and Vector Foiltec, four-time German football champions Werder Bremen are also based in the city. Bremen is some 60 km south from the Weser mouth on the North Sea, with Bremerhaven right on the mouth the two comprise the state of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The marshes and moraines near Bremen have been settled since about 12,000 BC, burial places and settlements in Bremen-Mahndorf and Bremen-Osterholz date back to the 7th century AD. Since The Renaissance, some scientists have believed that the entry Fabiranum or Phabiranon in Ptolemys Fourth Map of Europe, written in 150 AD, but Ptolemy gives geographic coordinates, and by these dates Phabiranon is situated northeast of the mouth of river Visurgis. At that time the Chauci lived in the now called north-western Germany or Lower Saxony. By the end of the 3rd century, they had merged with the Saxons, during the Saxon Wars the Saxons, led by Widukind, fought against the West Germanic Franks, the founders of the Carolingian Empire, and lost the war. Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, made a new law, the Lex Saxonum which stated that Saxons were not allowed to worship Odin, in 787 Willehad of Bremen became the first Bishop of Bremen. The citys first stone walls were built in 1032, around this time trade with Norway, England and the northern Netherlands began to grow, thus increasing the importance of the city. The city was recognised as an entity with its own laws. Property was to be inherited without feudal claims for reversion to its original owner. This privilege laid the foundation for Bremens later status of imperial immediacy, since the city was the major taxpayer, its consent was generally sought. In this way the city wielded fiscal and political power within the Prince-Archbishopric, in 1260 Bremen joined the Hanseatic League. In 1350, the number of inhabitants reached 20,000, around this time the Hansekogge became a unique product of Bremen
4.
German Type IX submarine
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The Type IX U-boat was designed by Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine in 1935 and 1936 as a large ocean-going submarine for sustained operations far from the home support facilities. Type IX boats were used for patrols off the eastern United States in an attempt to disrupt the stream of troops. It was derived from the Type IA, and appeared in various sub-types, Type IXs had six torpedo tubes, four at the bow and two at the stern. They carried six reloads internally and had five external torpedo containers which stored ten additional torpedoes, the total of 22 torpedoes allowed U-boat commanders to follow a convoy and strike night after night. Some of the IXC boats were fitted for operations, as mine-layers they could carry 44 TMA or 66 TMB mines. Secondary armament was provided by one 10.5 cm deck gun with 180 rounds, anti-aircraft armament differed throughout the war. They had two periscopes in the tower, types IXA and IXB had an additional periscope in the control room, which was removed in Type IXC and afterward. DeSchiMAG AG Weser of Bremen built eight Type IXA U-boats, Type IXB was an improved model with an increased range. It was the most successful version overall with each boat averaging a total of over 100,000 GRT sunk, DeSchiMAG AG Weser of Bremen built 14 Type IXB U-boats. Type IXC was a refinement of the class with storage for an additional 43 tonnes of fuel. This series omitted the control room periscope leaving the boats with two tower scopes, as mine-layers they could carry 44 TMA or 66 TMB mines, though U-162 through U-170 and U-505 through U-550, were not fitted for mine operations. The only U-boat sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, U-166, was a Type IXC, U-505 survives at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and as of 2005 has been completely renovated. DeSchiMAG AG Weser and Seebeckwerft of Bremen, and Deutsche Werft of Hamburg built 54 Type IXC submarines, Type IXC/40 was an improved Type IXC with slightly increased range and surfaced speed. The remains of U-534 are on display at Woodside Ferry Terminal, DeSchiMAG AG Weser and Seebeckwerft of Bremen, and Deutsche Werft of Hamburg, built 87 of this type. Type IXD was significantly longer and heavier than the IXC/40 and it was faster than the IXC but at the cost of slightly reduced range. They had three pairs of Daimler Benz diesels, two pairs for cruise and one for speed or battery recharge. There were three variants, the IXD1, IXD2 and IXD/42, the IXD1 had unreliable engines and they were later converted for use in surface transport vessels. The IXD2 comprised most of the class and had a range of 12,750 nautical miles, the IXD/42, was almost identical but with more engine power
5.
Submarine
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A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability, the term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine. The noun submarine evolved as a form of submarine boat, by naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as boats rather than as ships. Although experimental submarines had been built before, submarine design took off during the 19th century, Submarines were first widely used during World War I, and now figure in many navies large and small. Civilian uses for submarines include marine science, salvage, exploration and facility inspection, Submarines can also be modified to perform more specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions or undersea cable repair. Submarines are also used in tourism, and for undersea archaeology, most large submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical ends and a vertical structure, usually located amidships, which houses communications and sensing devices as well as periscopes. In modern submarines, this structure is the sail in American usage, a conning tower was a feature of earlier designs, a separate pressure hull above the main body of the boat that allowed the use of shorter periscopes. There is a propeller at the rear, and various hydrodynamic control fins, smaller, deep-diving and specialty submarines may deviate significantly from this traditional layout. Submarines use diving planes and also change the amount of water, Submarines have one of the widest ranges of types and capabilities of any vessel. Submarines can work at greater depths than are survivable or practical for human divers, modern deep-diving submarines derive from the bathyscaphe, which in turn evolved from the diving bell. In 1578, the English mathematician William Bourne recorded in his book Inventions or Devises one of the first plans for an underwater navigation vehicle and its unclear whether he ever carried out his idea. The first submersible of whose construction there exists reliable information was designed and built in 1620 by Cornelis Drebbel and it was propelled by means of oars. By the mid-18th century, over a dozen patents for submarines/submersible boats had been granted in England, in 1747, Nathaniel Symons patented and built the first known working example of the use of a ballast tank for submersion. His design used leather bags that could fill with water to submerge the craft, a mechanism was used to twist the water out of the bags and cause the boat to resurface. In 1749, the Gentlemens Magazine reported that a design had initially been proposed by Giovanni Borelli in 1680. By this point of development, further improvement in design stagnated for over a century, until new industrial technologies for propulsion. The first military submarine was the Turtle, a hand-powered acorn-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell to accommodate a single person and it was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion
6.
Length overall
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Length overall, often abbreviated as is the maximum length of a vessels hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship and it is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also used for calculating the cost of a marina berth. LOA is usually measured on the hull alone, for sailing ships, this may exclude the bowsprit and other fittings added to the hull. This is how some racing boats and tall ships use the term LOA, however, other sources may include bowsprits in LOA. Sparred length, Total length including bowsprit, Mooring length and LOA including bowsprit are other expressions that might indicate the length of a sailing ship. Often used to distinguish between the length of a vessel including projections from the length of the hull itself, the Length on Deck or LOD is often reported and this is especially useful for smaller sailing vessels, as their LOA can be significantly different from their LOD. In ISO8666 for small boats, there is a definition of LOH and this may be shorter than a vessels LOA, because it excludes other parts attached to the hull, such as bowsprits. Another measure of length is LWL which is useful in assessing a vessels performance. In some cases LWL can be shorter than LOA. Overall length in cartridges The National Register of Historic Vessels Length between perpendiculars Hayler, William B, keever, John M. American Merchant Seamans Manual. Turpin, Edward A. McEwen, William A
7.
Submarine hull
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A light hull of a submarine is the outer non-watertight hull which provides a hydrodynamically efficient shape. The pressure hull is the hull of a submarine, this holds the difference between outside and inside pressure. This design, already visible on very early submarines is called a teardrop hull and it significantly reduces the hydrodynamic drag on the sub when submerged, but decreases the sea-keeping capabilities and increases the drag while surfaced. Because of the slow submerged speeds of these submarines, usually well below 10 knots, USS Albacore was a unique research submarine that pioneered the American version of the teardrop hull form of modern submarines. All small modern submarines and submersibles, as well as the oldest ones, have a single hull, however, for large submarines, the approaches have separated. All Soviet heavy submarines are built with a hull structure. The double hull of a submarine is different from a double hull. The external hull, which forms the shape of submarine, is called the outer hull. This term is appropriate for Russian submarine construction, where the light hull is usually made of steel that is only 2 to 4 millimetres thick. The light hull can be used to mount equipment, which if attached directly to the hull could cause unnecessary stress. The double hull approach also saves space inside the hull, as the ring stiffeners. These measures help minimise the size of the hull, which is much heavier than the light hull. Also, in case the submarine is damaged, the light hull takes some of the damage and does not compromise the vessels integrity, inside the outer hull there is a strong hull, or pressure hull, which actually withstands the outside pressure and has normal atmospheric pressure inside. The pressure hull is constructed of thick high-strength steel with a complex structure and high strength reserve. The pressure and light hulls arent separated, and form a structure with increased strength. The interhull space is used for some of the equipment which doesnt require constant pressure to operate, the list significantly differs between submarines, and generally includes different water/air tanks. In case of a submarine, the light hull and the pressure hull are the same except for the bow. The constructions of a pressure hull requires a degree of precision
8.
Diesel engine
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Diesel engines work by compressing only the air. This increases the air temperature inside the cylinder to such a degree that it ignites atomised diesel fuel that is injected into the combustion chamber. This contrasts with spark-ignition engines such as an engine or gas engine. In diesel engines, glow plugs may be used to aid starting in cold weather, or when the engine uses a lower compression-ratio, the original diesel engine operates on the constant pressure cycle of gradual combustion and produces no audible knock. Low-speed diesel engines can have an efficiency that exceeds 50%. Diesel engines may be designed as either two-stroke or four-stroke cycles and they were originally used as a more efficient replacement for stationary steam engines. Since the 1910s they have used in submarines and ships. Use in locomotives, trucks, heavy equipment and electricity generation plants followed later, in the 1930s, they slowly began to be used in a few automobiles. Since the 1970s, the use of engines in larger on-road and off-road vehicles in the US increased. According to the British Society of Motor Manufacturing and Traders, the EU average for diesel cars accounts for 50% of the total sold, including 70% in France and 38% in the UK. The worlds largest diesel engine is currently a Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C Common Rail marine diesel, the definition of a Diesel engine to many has become an engine that uses compression ignition. To some it may be an engine that uses heavy fuel oil, to others an engine that does not use spark ignition. However the original cycle proposed by Rudolf Diesel in 1892 was a constant temperature cycle which would require higher compression than what is needed for compression ignition. Diesels idea was to compress the air so tightly that the temperature of the air would exceed that of combustion, to make this more clear, let it be assumed that the subsequent combustion shall take place at a temperature of 700°. Then in that case the pressure must be sixty-four atmospheres, or for 800° centigrade the pressure must be ninety atmospheres. In later years Diesel realized his original cycle would not work, Diesel describes the cycle in his 1895 patent application. Notice that there is no longer a mention of compression temperatures exceeding the temperature of combustion, now all that is mentioned is the compression must be high enough for ignition. In 1806 Claude and Nicéphore Niépce developed the first known internal combustion engine, the Pyréolophore fuel system used a blast of air provided by a bellows to atomize Lycopodium
9.
Nautical mile
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A nautical mile is a unit of measurement defined as exactly 1852 meters. Historically, it was defined as one minute of latitude, which is equivalent to one sixtieth of a degree of latitude. Today it is an SI derived unit, being rounded to a number of meters. The derived unit of speed is the knot, defined as one mile per hour. The geographical mile is the length of one minute of longitude along the Equator, there is no internationally agreed symbol. M is used as the abbreviation for the mile by the International Hydrographic Organization and by the International Bureau of Weights. NM is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization, nm is used by the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Nmi is used by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the word mile is from the Latin word for a thousand paces, mīlia. In 1617 the Dutch scientist Snell assessed the circumference of the Earth at 24,630 Roman miles, around that time British mathematician Edmund Gunter improved navigational tools including a new quadrant to determine latitude at sea. He reasoned that the lines of latitude could be used as the basis for a unit of measurement for distance, as one degree is 1/360 of a circle, one minute of arc is 1/21600 of a circle. These sexagesimal units originated in Babylonian astronomy, Gunter used Snells circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude.3 metres. Other countries measure the minute of arc at 45 degrees latitude, in 1929, the international nautical mile was defined by the First International Extraordinary Hydrographic Conference in Monaco as 1,852 meters. Imperial units and United States customary units used a definition of the nautical mile based on the Clarke Spheroid, the United States nautical mile was defined as 6,080.20 feet based in the Mendenhall Order foot of 1893. It was abandoned in favour of the nautical mile in 1954.181 meters. It was abandoned in 1970 and, legally, references to the unit are now converted to 1,853 meters. Conversion of units Orders of magnitude
10.
Torpedo tube
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A torpedo tube is a cylinder shaped device for launching torpedoes. There are two types of torpedo tube, underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships. Thus a submarine torpedo tube operates on the principle of an airlock, the diagram on the right illustrates the operation of a submarine torpedo tube. The diagram is somewhat simplified but does show the working of a torpedo launch. A torpedo tube has a number of interlocks for safety reasons. For example, an interlock prevents the door and muzzle door from opening at the same time. The submarine torpedo launch sequence is, in simplified form, Open the breech door in the torpedo room, load the torpedo into the tube. Hook up the connection and the torpedo power cable. Shut and lock the breech door, turn on power to the torpedo. A minimum amount of time is required for torpedo warmup, fire control programs are uploaded to the torpedo. This may be manually or automatically, from sea or from tanks. The tube must be vented during this process to allow for complete filling, Open the equalizing valve to equalize pressure in the tube with ambient sea pressure. If the tube is set up for Impulse Mode the slide valve will open with the muzzle door, if Swim Out Mode is selected, the slide valve remains closed. The slide valve allows water from the pump to enter the tube. Modern torpedoes have a safety mechanism that prevents activation of the torpedo unless the torpedo senses the required amount of G-force, the power cable is severed at launch. However, if a wire is used, it remains connected through a drum of wire in the tube. Torpedo propulsion systems vary but electric torpedoes swim out of the tube on their own and are of a smaller diameter,21 weapons with fuel-burning engines usually start outside of the tube. Once outside the tube the torpedo begins its run toward the target as programmed by the control system
11.
Torpedo
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Historically, it was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive or fish torpedo, colloquially called a fish. The term torpedo was originally employed for a variety of devices, from about 1900, torpedo has been used strictly to designate an underwater self-propelled weapon. Todays torpedoes can be divided into lightweight and heavyweight classes, and into straight-running, autonomous homers and they can be launched from a variety of platforms. The word torpedo comes from the name of a genus of rays in the order Torpediniformes. In naval usage, the American Robert Fulton introduced the name to refer to a gunpowder charge used by his French submarine Nautilus to demonstrate that it could sink warships. The concept of a torpedo existed many centuries before it was successfully developed. In 1275, Hasan al-Rammah described. an egg which moves itself, in modern language, a torpedo is an underwater self-propelled explosive, —but historically, the term also applied to primitive naval mines. These were used on an ad hoc basis during the modern period up to the late 19th century. An early submarine, the Turtle, attempted to lay a bomb with a fuse on the hull of HMS Eagle during the American Revolutionary War. In the early 1800s, the American inventor Robert Fulton, while in France and he coined the term torpedo in reference to the explosive charges he outfitted his submarine Nautilus. However, both the French and the Dutch governments were uninterested in the submarine, Fulton then concentrated on developing the torpedo independent of a submarine deployment. However, the British government refused to purchase the invention, stating they did not wish to introduce into naval warfare a system that would give advantage to weaker maritime nations. Fulton carried out a demonstration for the US government on 20 July 1807. Further development languished as Fulton focused on his steam-boat matters, during the War of 1812, torpedoes were employed in attempts to destroy British vessels and protect American harbors. In fact a submarine deployed torpedo was used in an attempt to destroy HMS Ramillies while in New Londons harbor. Hardy to warn the Americans to cease efforts with the use of any boat in this cruel and unheard-of warfare. Torpedoes were used by the Russian Empire during the Crimean War in 1855 against British warships in the Gulf of Finland and they used an early form of chemical detonator. During the American Civil War, the torpedo was used for what is today called a contact mine
12.
10.5 cm SK C/32 naval gun
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The 10.5 cm SK C/32 (SK - Schnelladekanone C - Construktionsjahr, was a widely used German naval gun on a variety of Kriegsmarine ships during World War II. Originally designed as a weapon it was used in a number of other roles such as anti-aircraft, coastal defence. The 10.5 cm SK C/32 was a gun,45 calibers long, with a jacket. The gun fired 10.5 centimeters fixed ammunition, which was 1.51 metres long, useful life expectancy was 4,100 effective full charges per barrel. The 10.5 cm SK C/32 was widely deployed on three different types of single mounts, the high-angle MPLC/30 was a modified 8.8 cm mount. The low-angle MPLC/32 was used on Type 35 torpedo boats, Type 37 torpedo boats, f-boats, the high-angle MPLC/32 gE was used on the cruiser Emden, the battleship Schlesien, the battleship Schleswig-Holstein, Type 39 torpedo boats, Type 35 minesweepers and Type 43 minesweepers. The 10.5 cm SK C/32 was the standard deck gun mounted forward of the conning tower in type I, type IX. The Ubts LC/32 mounting used in type I and early type IX U-boats weighed about 5 tonnes, later type IX and type XB U-boats used the lighter Ubts LC/36 mounting with a maximum elevation of +30°. During the early war years, these guns were used to encourage surrender of independently routed merchant ships or to sink ships damaged by torpedoes, norway used this gun in coastal defence batteries until 2002. List of naval guns QF4 inch Mk XII & Mk XXII guns, Slightly less powerful British equivalent submarine guns Blair, hitlers U-Boat War, The Hunters 1939-1942. Naval Weapons of World War Two, German Warships of the Second World War. Tony DiGiulian, Germany 10.5 cm/45 SK C/32
13.
3.7 cm Flak 18/36/37/43
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The 3.7 cm Flak 18/36/37/43 was a series of anti-aircraft cannon produced by Nazi Germany that saw widespread service in the Second World War. The cannon was fully automatic and effective against aircraft flying at altitudes up to 4,200 m, the cannon was produced in both towed and self-propelled versions. Having a flexible doctrine, the Germans used their anti-aircraft pieces in support roles as well,37 mm caliber guns were no exception to that. The original 37 mm gun was developed by Rheinmetall in 1935 as the 3.7 cm Flak 18 and it had a barrel length of 57 calibers, which allowed 4,800 m maximum ceiling. The armour penetration was considerable when using dedicated ammunition, at 100 m distance it could penetrate 36 mm of a 60°-sloped armour and it used a mechanical bolt for automatic fire, featuring a practical rate of fire of about 80 rounds per minute. The gun, when emplaced for combat, weighed 1,750 kg, the Flak 18 was only produced in small numbers, and production had already ended in 1936. The guns ballistic characteristics were not changed, although the rate of fire was raised to 120 rpm. A new, simplified sighting system introduced the year produced the otherwise-identical 3.7 cm Flak 37. The Flak 37 was known as 37 ITK37 in Finland, the Flak 36/37 were the most-produced variants of the weapon. In 1938, the Kingdom of Romania acquired the license to locally produce 360 guns, by May 1941,102 had been built, and by October 1942, the production rate was 6 pieces per month. In June 1944, the Germans proposed a version of the Romanian Mareșal tank destroyer, armed with twin 37 mm anti-aircraft guns. However, this proposed design never left the drawing board, the 3.7 cm Flak M42 was the marine version of the 3.7 cm Flak 36/37 and used by the Kriegsmarine on surface ships and as M42U on Type VII and Type IX U-boats. The 3.7 cm Flak M42U used several types of mounts, the LM 42U mount was developed specifically for the 3.7 cm Flak M42U. It was manned by a 3-man crew, with a man operating as the loader. The LM 43U mount was the design of mount used on U-boats. It was an improvement on the LM 42U. The LM 43U was only known to be installed on these U-boats, the twin mount was based on the LM 42U design, in which the 3.7 cm Flak M42U guns were mounted side by side. This was one of the best AA weapons used by Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine during World War II and it was mainly used on the Type IX as it was rather heavy for the Type VII U-boats
14.
2 cm Flak 30/38/Flakvierling
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The Flak 30 and improved Flak 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout World War II. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun, and it was produced in a variety of models, notably the Flakvierling 38 which combined four Flak 38 autocannons onto a single carriage. The Germans fielded the unrelated early 2 cm Flak 28 just after World War I, the original Flak 30 design was developed from the Solothurn ST-5 as a project for the Kriegsmarine, which produced the 20 mm C/30. The gun fired the Long Solothurn, a 20 ×138 mm belted cartridge that had developed for the ST-5 and was one of the most powerful 20 mm rounds in existence. The C/30, featuring a length of 65 calibres, had a rate of about 120 rounds per minute. Disappointingly, it proved to have feeding problems and would often jam, nevertheless, the C/30 became the primary shipborne light AA weapon and equipped a large variety of German ships. Rheinmetall then started an adaptation of the C/30 for Army use, generally similar to the C/30, the main areas of development were the mount, which was fairly compact. Set-up could be accomplished by dropping the gun to the ground off its two-wheeled carriage, the result was a triangular base that allowed fire in all directions. But the main problem with the design remained unsolved, the rate of fire of 120 RPM was not particularly fast for a weapon of this calibre. Rheinmetall responded with the 2 cm Flak 38, which was similar but increased the rate of fire to 220 RPM. The Flak 38 was accepted as the standard Army gun in 1939, in order to provide airborne and mountain troops with AA capabilities, Mauser was contracted to produce a lighter version of the Flak 38, which they introduced as the 2 cm Gebirgsflak 38. It featured a dramatically simplified mount using a tripod that raised the gun off the ground. These changes reduced the weight of the gun to a mere 276.0 kg. Production started in 1941 and entered service in 1942, a wide variety of 20x138B ammunition was manufactured to be used in 2 cm Flak weapons, some of the more commonly used types are listed on the following table. Other kinds than in existence included numerous practice rounds and a number of different AP types, a high-velocity PzGr 40 round with a tungsten carbide core in an aluminium body existed in 20x138B caliber. This meant it could keep enemy aircraft under fire over longer time spans, the 20 mm weapons had always had weak development perspectives, often being reconfigured or redesigned just enough to allow the weapons to find use. Indeed, it came as a surprise when Rheinmetall introduced the 2 cm Flakvierling 38, the term Vierling literally translates to quadruplet and refers to the four 20 mm gun constituting the design. The Flakvierling weapon consisted of quad-mounted 2 cm Flak 38 AA guns with collapsing seats, folding handles, the mount had a triangular base with a jack at each leg for levelling the gun
15.
Anti-aircraft warfare
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Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is defined by NATO as all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action. They include ground-and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and it may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be homeland defence, NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight, a surface-based air defence capability can also be deployed offensively to deny the use of airspace to an opponent. Until the 1950s, guns firing ballistic munitions ranging from 20 mm to 150 mm were the weapons, guided missiles then became dominant. The term air defence was probably first used by Britain when Air Defence of Great Britain was created as a Royal Air Force command in 1925. However, arrangements in the UK were also called anti-aircraft, abbreviated as AA, after the First World War it was sometimes prefixed by Light or Heavy to classify a type of gun or unit. Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AA, AAA or triple-A, an abbreviation of anti-aircraft artillery, ack-ack, NATO defines anti-aircraft warfare as measures taken to defend a maritime force against attacks by airborne weapons launched from aircraft, ships, submarines and land-based sites. In some armies the term All-Arms Air Defence is used for air defence by nonspecialist troops, other terms from the late 20th century include GBAD with related terms SHORAD and MANPADS. Anti-aircraft missiles are variously called surface-to-air missile, abbreviated and pronounced SAM, non-English terms for air defence include the German FlaK, whence English flak, and the Russian term Protivovozdushnaya oborona, a literal translation of anti-air defence, abbreviated as PVO. In Russian the AA systems are called zenitnye systems, in French, air defence is called DCA. The maximum distance at which a gun or missile can engage an aircraft is an important figure, however, many different definitions are used but unless the same definition is used, performance of different guns or missiles cannot be compared. For AA guns only the part of the trajectory can be usefully used. By the late 1930s the British definition was that height at which an approaching target at 400 mph can be engaged for 20 seconds before the gun reaches 70 degrees elevation. However, effective ceiling for heavy AA guns was affected by nonballistic factors, The maximum running time of the fuse, the capability of fire control instruments to determine target height at long range. The essence of air defence is to detect aircraft and destroy them. The critical issue is to hit a target moving in three-dimensional space, Air defence evolution covered the areas of sensors and technical fire control, weapons, and command and control. At the start of the 20th century these were very primitive or non-existent
16.
Axis naval activity in Australian waters
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Although Australia was remote from the main battlefronts, there was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters during the Second World War. A total of 54 German and Japanese warships and submarines entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets, in addition, many Allied merchant ships were damaged or sunk off the Australian coast by submarines and mines. Japanese submarines also shelled several Australian ports and submarine-based aircraft flew over several Australian capital cities, the Axis threat to Australia developed gradually and until 1942 was limited to sporadic attacks by German armed merchantmen. The Japanese submarine offensive against Australia was renewed in the first half of 1943 but was broken off as the Allies pushed the Japanese onto the defensive, few Axis naval vessels operated in Australian waters in 1944 and 1945, and those that did had only a limited impact. Due to the nature of the Axis attacks and the relatively small number of ships and submarines committed, Germany. The definition of Australian waters used throughout this article is, broadly speaking and this vast area consisted of the waters around Australia and eastern New Guinea, and stretching south to Antarctica. From east to west, it stretched from 170° east in the Pacific Ocean to 80° east in the Indian Ocean, the defence of the Australia Station was the Royal Australian Navys main concern throughout the war. While RAN ships frequently served outside Australian waters, escort vessels and these escorts were supported by a small number of larger warships, such as cruisers and armed merchant cruisers, for protection against surface raiders. While important military shipping movements were escorted from the start of the war, the Australian naval authorities did, however, close ports to shipping at various times following real or suspected sightings of enemy warships or mines prior to June 1942. The Royal Australian Air Force was also responsible for the protection of shipping within the Australia Station, throughout the war, RAAF aircraft escorted convoys and conducted reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols from bases around Australia. The main types of aircraft used for maritime patrol were Avro Ansons, Bristol Beauforts, Consolidated PBY Catalinas, following the outbreak of the Pacific War, RAAF fighter squadrons were also stationed to protect key Australian ports and escorted shipping in areas where air attack was feared. The Allied naval forces assigned to the Australia Station were considerably increased following Japans entry into the war and these naval forces were supported by a large increase in the RAAFs maritime patrol force and the arrival of United States Navy patrol aircraft. In addition to the air and naval forces assigned to protect shipping in Australian waters, the Australian Army was responsible for developing and manning coastal defences to protect ports from attacks by enemy surface raiders. These defences commonly consisted of a number of fixed guns defended by anti-aircraft guns, the Armys coastal defences were considerably expanded as the threat to Australia increased between 1940 and 1942, and reached their peak strength in 1944. The Royal Australian Navy was responsible for developing and manning harbour defences in Australias main ports and these defences consisted of fixed anti-submarine booms and mines supported by small patrol craft, and were also greatly expanded as the threat to Australia increased. The RAN also laid minefields in Australian waters from August 1941. While German surface raiders operated in the western Indian Ocean in 1939 and early 1940, while Remo was docked at Fremantle and was easily captured, Romolo proved harder to catch, as she had left Brisbane on 5 June bound for Italy. Following an air and sea search, Romolo was intercepted by HMAS Manoora near Nauru on 12 June and was scuttled by her captain to avoid capture, the German surface raider Orion was the first Axis warship to operate in Australian waters during World War II
17.
Armed merchantman
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Armed merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be armed, especially those engaging in long distance. In more modern times, auxiliary cruisers were used offensively to disrupt trade chiefly during both World War I and World War II, particularly by Germany, while armed merchantmen are clearly inferior to regular warships, sometimes they have scored successes in combat against them. East Indiamen of various European countries were heavily armed for their journeys to the Far East. In particularly dangerous times, such as when the countries were at war. However, many East Indiamen also travelled on their own, and therefore were heavily armed in order to defend themselves against pirates and they also defended themselves against warships, scoring signal victories at the Battle of Pulo Aura and the Action of 4 August 1800. The British Royal Navy purchased several that it converted to ships of the line, in 1856, privateering lost international sanction under the Declaration of Paris. From 1861–65 European countries built high speed ships to run the Union Blockade during the American Civil War, some of these were armed and served as Confederate States Navy raiders. Russia purchased three ships in 1878 of 6,000 long tons armed with 6-inch guns for use as auxiliary cruisers for a Russian Volunteer Fleet. Germany and the United Kingdom responded to the precedent by asking their shipping companies to design fast steamers with provision for mounting guns in time of war, in 1892 Russia likewise built two more auxiliary cruisers. In both World Wars, both Germany and the United Kingdom used auxiliary cruisers, while the British used armed passenger liners defensively for protecting their shipping, the German approach was to use them offensively to attack enemy shipping. The armed merchant cruisers of the British Royal Navy were employed for protection against enemy warships. They ultimately proved to have limited value and many, particularly ocean liners, were converted into troopships. Documentary evidence quoted by the BBC researched from the stages of the First World War suggests that the express liners had greater speed than most warships. The downside proved to be their high consumption, and that using them in a purely AMC role would have burned through the Admiralty reserve supplies of steam coal in less than three months. The ships were vulnerable to fire, because they lacked warship armour and they used local control of guns, rather than director fire-control systems. By coincidence, Cap Trafalgar was disguised as Carmania, in World War II, HMS Jervis Bay — the sole escort for convoy HX84 in November 1940 — stood off the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, when the German ship attacked the convoy. Though she was sunk alonside 5 vessels, this enabled the rest of the convoy to escape and her master, Acting Captain Edward Fegen was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions
18.
German attacks on Nauru
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The German attacks on Nauru refers to the two attacks on Nauru in December 1940. These attacks were conducted by auxiliary cruisers between 6 and 8 December and on 27 December, the raiders sank five Allied merchant ships and inflicted serious damage on Naurus economically important phosphate-loading facilities. Despite the significance of the island to the Australian and New Zealand economies, Nauru was not defended, the two attacks were the most effective operations conducted by German raiders in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. They disrupted supplies of phosphate to Australia, New Zealand and Japan, in response, Allied naval vessels were deployed to protect Nauru and nearby Ocean Island and escort shipping in the South Pacific. Small garrisons were established to protect the two islands. The Melbourne-based British Phosphate Commission managed the extraction and export of phosphate from the islands, as the islands have no harbours or anchorages, the phosphate ships were loaded by securing to deep moorings and embarking their cargo via cantilever jetties. During south-westerly wind periods—which are common from November to March—the ships had to stop loading and it was common for these ships to be allowed to drift to save fuel, and there were often several vessels lying off Nauru. Strategic stockpiles of phosphate had been built up in Australia, however, eyssen was the more senior of the two captains, and assumed overall command of the force. Following these attacks, the raiders proceeded to the Kermadec Islands where they transferred their women and children prisoners to Kulmerland on 29 November, the three ships then proceeded to Nauru to attack the islands phosphate industry and the concentration of shipping which the German captains knew was usually present. The German force encountered its first BPC ship while en route to Nauru, on 6 December, Triona was attacked north-east of the Solomon Islands and was sunk with torpedoes after a chase in which three of her crew were killed by the raiders guns. The raider captains intended to land a party and bombard Naurus shore installations at dawn on 8 December. While the raider was spotted from the shore, her disguise was successful, Orion joined Komet off Nauru in the early hours of 8 December, and attacked and damaged Triadic and sank Triaster. Komet then tried to sink Triadic with scuttling charges, but this was unsuccessful, Komet later sank the British steamer Komata. Following these attacks, the two raiders and Kulmerland withdrew and assembled 20 mi east of Nauru, following this, the ships would meet off the island and make another attempt to land a raiding party. When the German force reassembled off Nauru on 15 December, the continued to be too bad to permit a landing. Further attacks on shipping were judged impractical, as the raiders had intercepted radio messages ordering vessels bound for Nauru, instead, the three German ships proceeded to the Australian-administered island of Emirau to disembark the 675 prisoners they were carrying. Fortunately for the Germans, Emirau was one of the few islands in the region to not have a Royal Australian Navy-supplied radio to contact the Australian authorities. The two European families on the island provided the prisoners with supplies, and sent a canoe to Kavieng in New Ireland to notify the Australian colonial government
19.
Bombing of Darwin
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The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. The town was lightly defended and the Japanese inflicted heavy losses upon the Allied forces at little cost to themselves. The urban areas of Darwin also suffered damage from the raids. The two Japanese air raids were the first, and largest, of more than 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–43, in 1942, Darwin was a small town with limited civil and military infrastructure. Due to its position in northern Australia, the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force had constructed bases near the town in the 1930s. The first flight to use the route occurred when nine B-17D bombers of the 14th Bombardment Squadron left Hawaii on 5 September and passed through Darwin 10–12 September. By October 1941 plans were underway to position fuel and supplies with two ships, including USAT Don Esteban, being chartered and actively engaged in that purpose when war came, following the outbreak of the Pacific War in early December 1941, Darwins defences were strengthened. The improvised plan for support of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies that was completed in Washington on 20 December 1941 by the U. S, in the two months before the air raids, all but 2,000 civilians were evacuated from the town. Japanese submarines I-121 and I-123 laid mines off Darwin in January 1942, by mid-February 1942 Darwin had become an important Allied base for the defence of the DEI. The Japanese had captured Ambon, Borneo, and Celebes between December 1941 and early-February 1942, landings on Timor were scheduled for 20 February, and an invasion of Java was planned to take place shortly afterwards. In order to protect these landings from Allied interference, the Japanese military command decided to conduct an air raid on Darwin. Among the ships in harbour were those returned the morning before the attack from the convoy escorted by USS Houston involved in the effort to reinforce Timor. Despite Darwins strategic importance to the defence of Australia, the city was poorly defended, the crews of these guns had conducted little recent training due to ammunition shortages. The air forces stationed in and near the town comprised No.12 Squadron, which was equipped with CAC Wirraway advanced trainers, and No.13 Squadron which operated Lockheed Hudson light bombers. Six Hudsons,3 from No.2 Squadron and 3 from No.13 Squadron also arrived at Darwin on 19 February after having evacuated from Timor. None of the six Wirraways at Darwin on the day of the raid were serviceable, at the time of the event, there were no radars functioning to provide early warning of air raids, and the towns civil defences were dysfunctional. In addition to the Australian forces, ten United States Army Air Forces Curtiss P-40 Warhawks were passing through Darwin en route to Java on the day of the attack, the P-40 pilots were in the main little experienced in combat. A total of 65 Allied warships and merchant vessels were in Darwin harbour at the time of the raids, the warships included the United States Navy destroyer Peary and seaplane tender William B
20.
Attack on Sydney Harbour
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In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, submarines belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy made a series of attacks on the cities of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. Two of the submarines were detected and attacked before they could successfully engage any Allied vessels. These submarines were later recovered by the Allies, the third submarine attempted to torpedo the heavy cruiser USS Chicago, but instead sank the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors. This midget submarines fate was unknown until 2006, when amateur scuba divers discovered the wreck off Sydneys northern beaches, immediately following the raid, the five Japanese fleet submarines that carried the midget submarines to Australia embarked on a campaign to disrupt merchant shipping in eastern Australian waters. Over the next month, the submarines attacked at least seven merchant vessels, during this period, between midnight and 02,30 on 8 June, two of the submarines bombarded the ports of Sydney and Newcastle. The Imperial Japanese Navy originally intended to use six submarines in the attack on Sydney Harbour, B1-type submarines I-21, I-27, I-28, and I-29, the six submarines made up the Eastern Attack Group of the 8th Submarine Squadron, under the command of Captain Hankyu Sasaki. I-21 scouted Nouméa in New Caledonia, Suva in Fiji, then Auckland in New Zealand, while I-29 went to Sydney, Australia. On 11 May, I-22, I-24, I-27, and I-28 were ordered to proceed to the Japanese naval base at Truk Lagoon, in the Caroline Islands, I-28 failed to reach Truk, she was torpedoed on the surface by the US submarine USS Tautog on 17 May. The three remaining submarines left Truk around 20 May for a point south of the Solomon Islands, I-24 was forced to return a day later when an explosion in her midget submarines battery compartment killed the midgets navigator and injured the commander. The midget submarine intended for I-28 replaced the damaged midget, the naval officer-in-charge of Sydney Harbour at the time of the attack was Rear Admiral Gerard Muirhead-Gould of the Royal Navy. On the night of the attack, three vessels were present in Sydney Harbour, the heavy cruisers USS Chicago and HMAS Canberra. A converted ferry—HMAS Kuttabul—was alongside at Garden Island where she served as a barracks for sailors transferring between ships. The hospital ship Oranje had also been in the harbour, the central section of the net was complete and support piles were in place to the west, but 400 m wide gaps remained on either side. Material shortages prevented the completion of the net prior to the attack. On the day of the attack, the six outer indicator loops were inactive, the North Head – South Head indicator loop had been giving faulty signals since early 1940, and as civilian traffic regularly passed over the loop, readings were often ignored. The Japanese Navy used five Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines in an operation against US battleships during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Therefore, on 16 December 1941, the navy initiated plans for a midget submarine operation. The plans called for two attacks against Allied naval vessels in the Indian and South Pacific oceans
21.
Shelling of Newcastle
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The Shelling of Newcastle was conducted by the Japanese submarine I-21 in the early hours of 8 June 1942. The bombardment followed the Attack on Sydney Harbour on 31 May, during the attack I-21 fired 34 shells at Newcastle, including eight illumination rounds, but caused little damage. The Australian gunners at Fort Scratchley fired four shells at the submarine, during 1942 and 1943 Imperial Japanese Navy submarines conducted a number of patrols along Australias east coast. On 16 May 1942 the submarine I-29 attacked the Soviet freighter Wellen 50 miles south-east of Newcastle, in response, a naval force was dispatched from Sydney to attempt to locate the submarine and ships were not permitted to sail between Newcastle and Sydney for 24 hours. On 23 May I-29s floatplane flew over Newcastle and Sydney searching for shipping which could be attacked by midget submarines, on the night of 31 May three Japanese midget submarines attacked shipping in Sydney Harbour. The ultimate aim was to sink the U. S. Navy Heavy Cruiser USS Chicago, although unsuccessful in this objective, all three midget submarines were however lost in the attack. Following this raid, the submarines which had launched the midgets attacked shipping off the east coast. At 10,18 pm the coastal steamer Age was shelled by I-2435 miles south-east of Norah Head, she did not sustain any damage, at about midnight on 3 June the coaster Iron Chieftain was torpedoed and sunk by I-24 near where Age had been attacked. During the early hours of 8 June I-24 and I-21 carried out bombardments of Sydney. The purpose of attacks was to generate what historian David Jenkins has called an air of disquiet rather than inflict significant damage on targets in the two cities. Between 00,15 and 00,20 I-24 fired ten shells which landed in the suburbs of Bellevue Hill, Rose Bay, only one of these shells exploded, and they caused little damage and only injured one person. While the Sydney Harbour defences spotted I-24s gun flashes, the submarine ceased its attack, I-21 began her bombardment of Newcastle two hours after the attack on Sydney. At this time submarine was 9 kilometres from Newcastle, and was sailing eastwards as her 140 mm deck gun was stern-mounted, prior to the attack the submarines gun crew had prepared 34 rounds of ammunition, these comprised 26 conventional rounds and eight illumination rounds. The target of the attack was the BHP steelworks in the city, between 2,15 am and 2,31 am I-21 fired 34 shells at Newcastle. These rounds landed over an area, however, and caused little damage. Only one of the 20 conventional shells exploded, causing damage to a house on Parnell Place, another shell damaged a nearby tram terminus but did not explode. At 2,28 am the guns at Fort Scratchley near the entrance to Newcastles harbour opened fire on I-21, by the time the attack concluded the forts two guns had fired two salvos, but none of the four shells struck I-21. I-21 and I-24 were not attacked by Allied ships during or after their bombardments as no anti-submarine warfare-capable vessels were available in either port, one person was injured by falling masonry and debris in Sydney
22.
AHS Centaur
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Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was a hospital ship which was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 14 May 1943. Of the 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard,268 died, at the start of World War II, Centaur was placed under British Admiralty control, but after being fitted with defensive equipment, was allowed to continue normal operations. In November 1941, the ship rescued German survivors of the engagement between Kormoran and HMAS Sydney, Centaur was relocated to Australias east coast in October 1942, and used to transport materiel to New Guinea. In January 1943, Centaur was handed over to the Australian military for conversion into a hospital ship, the refit was completed in March, and the ship undertook a trial voyage, transporting wounded from Townsville to Brisbane, then from Port Moresby to Brisbane. After replenishing in Sydney, Centaur embarked the 2/12th Field Ambulance for transport to New Guinea, before dawn on 14 May 1943, during her second voyage, Centaur was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine off North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. The majority of the 332 aboard died in the attack, the 64 survivors were discovered 36 hours later, the incident resulted in public outrage as attacking a hospital ship is considered a war crime under the tenth 1907 Hague Convention. Protests were made by the Australian and British governments to Japan, in the 1970s the probable identity of the attacking submarine, I-177, became public. The wreck of Centaur was found on 20 December 2009, a discovery in 1995 had been proven to be a different shipwreck. In early 1923, the Ocean Steamship Company decided that a new vessel would be required to replace the ageing Charon on the Western Australia to Singapore trade route, the vessel had to be capable of simultaneously transporting passengers, cargo, and livestock. She also had to be capable of resting on mud flats out of the water as the variance in ports at the northern end of Western Australia was as great as 8 metres. Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock was chosen to build Centaur, the ships keel was laid on 16 November 1923, with the ship ready for collection by 29 August 1924. Constructed at a cost of £146,750 sterling, Centaur was designed to carry 72 passengers and 450 cattle, cargo was carried in four holds, the two decks within the hull were primarily for livestock, and could also be used as additional cargo space. The hull of the ship was a turret design, decks below the waterline were wider than those above water. Centaur was among the first civilian vessels to be equipped with a diesel engine, one of the most visible characteristics was the 35-foot smokestack, the extreme size was more a concession to tradition than of practical advantage on a diesel-powered vessel. Her engine was 6-cylinder 4-stroke, single cycle single action diesel engine and it had cylinders of 24 15⁄16 inches diameter by 51 3⁄16 inches stroke. The engine was built by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen, Denmark, one of her holds was fitted with refrigeration equipment. The refrigerant was brine and the insulation was cork, the refrigerated hold had a capacity of 3,000 cubic feet. In December 1939, Centaur underwent a refit in Hong Kong, with a supercharger
23.
Convoy GP55
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Convoy GP55 was a convoy of Allied ships that travelled from Sydney to Brisbane in June 1943 during World War II. It comprised ten cargo ships, three landing ships, tank and an escort of five corvettes, the Japanese submarine I-174 attacked the convoy on 16 June, sinking the United States Army transport ship Portmar and damaging USS LST-469. Two of the corvettes counter-attacked I-174, but only damaged her. The Australian military conducted a search for I-174 in the days after the attack in the mistaken belief that she had been significantly damaged. This search was not successful and highlighted the unsatisfactory communications between the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force, however, another Japanese submarine passing through the area may have been sunk by RAAF aircraft. Because of Japans deteriorating strategic situation, I-174 was the last Imperial Japanese Navy submarine to operate off the Australian east coast, during 1942 and 1943, Japanese submarines periodically operated in the waters surrounding Australia. A force of midget submarines raided Sydney Harbour on the night of 31 May –1 June 1942 and these attacks continued until August 1942, when the Japanese submarine force was redeployed. The Kaidai-class submarine I-174 made a 24-day patrol off Australia in July and August 1942 and these convoys were successful in minimising losses, and no escorted ships were sunk off Australia during 1942. Japanese submarines resumed operations in Australian waters in January 1943, i-21 made a highly successful patrol in January and February, during which she sank five ships, and two other submarines operated off Sydney and Brisbane in March. This marked the peak of the Japanese submarine offensive against Australia, in contrast with 1942, several successful attacks were made against ships travelling in convoys. The large number of Japanese attacks in 1943 put great strain on the Allied forces responsible for protecting shipping off eastern Australia, the Australian naval authorities were forced in April to reduce the number of convoys that sailed so their escort could be increased to at least four warships. The RAAF also greatly increased the number of aircraft allocated to escort convoys, further ships and aircraft fitted for anti-submarine warfare became available in May, but were still not adequate to counter the Japanese attacks. Despite the Navys assurances, Australias anti-submarine forces were constrained by a shortage of training opportunities, I-174 departed from the major Japanese naval base at Truk on 16 May 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Nobukiyo Nanbu and arrived off Sandy Cape, Queensland on 27 May. She was the only Japanese boat operating off Australia at the time, on 7 June, I-174 fired four torpedoes at the American Liberty ship John Bartram, all of which missed. She sighted another convoy on 13 June, too far away to attack, during this period, she was repeatedly attacked by Allied aircraft and warships, but did not sustain any damage. Convoy GP55 was assembled in mid-June 1943 as one of at least 69 convoys that sailed from Sydney to Brisbane during 1943. It comprised ten cargo ships and three U. S. Navy Landing Ships, Tank, and was escorted by the Bathurst-class corvettes Warrnambool, Bundaberg, Cootamundra, Deloraine and Kalgoorlie. After departing Sydney at 8.45 am on 15 June the convoy maneuvered into five columns, the escorts surrounded the convoy, with four sailing ahead of it and Deloraine to the stern
24.
Indian Ocean raid (1944)
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In March 1944, a force of three Imperial Japanese Navy heavy cruisers raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. The cruisers departed Japanese-held territory on 1 March with the support of other IJN vessels, on 9 March, they encountered and sank the British steamer Behar, with the heavy cruiser Tone picking up over 100 survivors. Fearing detection, the Japanese force subsequently returned to the Netherlands East Indies, two days later, most of Behars crew and passengers were murdered on board Tone. Following the war the commander of the raid, Rear Admiral Naomasa Sakonju, was executed for war crime. In February 1944, the Japanese Combined Fleet withdrew from its base at Truk in the Central Pacific to Palau, the number of air units in Ceylon and the Bay of Bengal region was also increased. It was agreed, however, that the Eastern Fleet should not engage superior Japanese forces and this force was commanded by Vice Admiral Naomasa Sakonju on board Aoba. Sakonju did not question this order, the Japanese cruisers embarked specialised boarding parties for this operation as it was hoped that they could capture merchant ships to alleviate Japans shipping shortage. The three Japanese heavy cruisers departed from the Combined Fleets anchorage in the Lingga Islands on 27 February, the light cruisers Kinu and Ōi and three destroyers escorted the force through the Sunda Strait on 1 March. The raiders were supported by 10 medium bombers and three or four seaplanes based in Sumatra and west Java which conducted patrols in the direction of Ceylon, three or four submarines from the 8th Flotilla also monitored Allied shipping movements near Ceylon, the Maldive Islands and Chagos Archipelago. The presence of ships was taken to indicate that a hostile force had possibly been dispatched into the Indian Ocean. On 8 March, Somerville directed all Allied ships travelling between 80 and 100° east to divert to the south or west, after leaving the Sunda Strait, the Japanese heavy cruisers sailed south-west for the main route between Aden and Fremantle. The ships were spread 50 km by day and 20 km by night, on the morning of 9 March, they encountered the 6,100 long tons British steamer Behar at 20°32′S 87°10′E, about midway between Fremantle and Colombo. The ship was travelling from Fremantle to Bombay as part of a voyage between Newcastle, New South Wales and the United Kingdom carrying a cargo of zinc, Tones signals room picked up this message, and the cruiser opened fire on Behar. The Japanese cruiser did not attempt to capture the steamer, as it was judged too risky to sail her back to Japanese territory, Tones gunners scored hits on Behars prow and stern which killed three of her crew. Five minutes after the sighting, Behars crew and passengers abandoned ship, the steamer sank shortly afterwards and either 104 or 108 survivors were rescued by Tone. The Behar survivors were maltreated by members of Tones crew, the merchant ships chief officer was beaten after he complained that treating civilians in such a way violated the Geneva Convention. However, the survivors later had their ropes removed. When the survivors were taken below decks to be imprisoned they were beaten by Japanese sailors
25.
U-boat
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U-boat is the anglicised version of the German word U-Boot, a shortening of Unterseeboot, literally undersea boat. While the German term refers to any submarine, the English one refers specifically to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role. Austro-Hungarian navy submarines were known as U-boats. The first submarine built in Germany, the three-man Brandtaucher, sank to the bottom of Kiel harbor on 1 February 1851 during a test dive, the inventor and engineer Wilhelm Bauer had designed this vessel in 1850, and Schweffel & Howaldt constructed it in Kiel. Dredging operations in 1887 rediscovered Brandtaucher, it was raised and put on display in Germany, there followed in 1890 the boats WW1 and WW2, built to a Nordenfelt design. The SM U-1 was a completely redesigned Karp-class submarine and only one was built, the Imperial German Navy commissioned it on 14 December 1906. It had a hull, a Körting kerosene engine. The 50%-larger SM U-2 had two torpedo tubes, the U-19 class of 1912–13 saw the first diesel engine installed in a German navy boat. At the start of World War I in 1914, Germany had 48 submarines of 13 classes in service or under construction, during that war the Imperial German Navy used SM U-1 for training. Retired in 1919, it remains on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, on 5 September 1914, HMS Pathfinder was sunk by SM U-21, the first ship to have been sunk by a submarine using a self-propelled torpedo. On 22 September, U-9 sank the obsolete British warships HMS Aboukir, HMS Cressy, for the first few months of the war, U-boat anticommerce actions observed the prize rules of the time, which governed the treatment of enemy civilian ships and their occupants. On 20 October 1914, SM U-17 sank the first merchant ship, surface commerce raiders were proving to be ineffective, and on 4 February 1915, the Kaiser assented to the declaration of a war zone in the waters around the British Isles. This was cited as a retaliation for British minefields and shipping blockades, under the instructions given to U-boat captains, they could sink merchant ships, even potentially neutral ones, without warning. In February 1915, a submarine U-6 was rammed and both periscopes were destroyed off Beachy Head by the collier SS Thordis commanded by Captain John Bell RNR after firing a torpedo, on 7 May 1915, SM U-20 sank the liner RMS Lusitania. The sinking claimed 1,198 lives,128 of them American civilians, munitions that it carried were thousands of crates full of ammunition for rifles, 3-inch artillery shells, and also various other standard ammunition used by infantry. The sinking of the Lusitania was widely used as propaganda against the German Empire, a widespread reaction in the U. S was not seen until the sinking of the ferry SS Sussex. The sinking occurred in 1915 and the United States entered the war in 1917, the initial U. S. response was to threaten to sever diplomatic ties, which persuaded the Germans to issue the Sussex pledge that reimposed restrictions on U-boat activity
26.
Kriegsmarine
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The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire and the inter-war Reichsmarine, the Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches—along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe —of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany. The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly during German naval rearmament in the 1930s, Kriegsmarine ships were deployed to the waters around Spain during the Spanish Civil War, under the guise of enforcing non-intervention, but in reality supporting the Franco side of the war. In January 1939 Plan Z was ordered, calling for naval parity with the Royal Navy by 1944, however, when World War II broke out in September 1939, Plan Z was shelved in favour of building submarines and prioritizing land and air forces. The Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine was Adolf Hitler, who exercised his authority through the Oberkommando der Marine, the Kriegsmarines most famous ships were the U-boats, most of which were constructed after Plan Z was abandoned at the beginning of World War II. However, the adoption of convoy escorts, especially in the Atlantic, after the Second World War, the Kriegsmarines remaining ships were divided up amongst the Allied powers and were used for various purposes including minesweeping. Adolf Hitler was the Commander-in-Chief of all German armed forces, including the Kriegsmarine and his authority was exercised through the Oberkommando der Marine, or OKM, with a Commander-in-Chief, a Chief of Naval General Staff and a Chief of Naval Operations. The first Commander-in-Chief of the OKM was Erich Raeder who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichsmarine when it was renamed and reorganized in 1935, Raeder held the post until falling out with Hitler after the German failure in the Battle of the Barents Sea. He was replaced by Karl Dönitz on 30 January 1943 who held the command until he was appointed President of Germany upon Hitlers suicide in April 1945, hans-Georg von Friedeburg was then Commander-in-Chief of the OKM for the short period of time until Germany surrendered in May 1945. Subordinate to these were regional, squadron and temporary flotilla commands, regional commands covered significant naval regions and were themselves sub-divided, as necessary. They were commanded by a Generaladmiral or an Admiral, there was a Marineoberkommando for the Baltic Fleet, Nord, Nordsee, Norwegen, Ost/Ostsee, Süd and West. The Kriegsmarine used a form of encoding called Gradnetzmeldeverfahren to denote regions on a map, each squadron also had a command structure with its own Flag Officer. The commands were Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines, Torpedo Boats, Minesweepers, Reconnaissance Forces, Naval Security Forces, Big Guns and Hand Guns, major naval operations were commanded by a Flottenchef. The Flottenchef controlled a flotilla and organized its actions during the operation, the commands were, by their nature, temporary. As a result the German surface fleet was plagued by design flaws throughout the war, military aircraft were also banned, so Germany could have no naval aviation. Under the treaty Germany could only build new ships to replace old ones, All the ships allowed and personnel were taken over from the Kaiserliche Marine, renamed Reichsmarine. From the outset, Germany worked to circumvent the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. The launching of the first pocket battleship, Deutschland in 1931 was a step in the formation of a modern German fleet, modern destroyers and light cruisers were also built
27.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
28.
Singapore
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Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, sometimes referred to as the Lion City or the Little Red Dot, is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree north of the equator, at the tip of peninsular Malaysia. Singapores territory consists of one island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its size by 23%. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan, after early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce. Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub, the country has also been identified as a tax haven. Singapore ranks 5th internationally and first in Asia on the UN Human Development Index and it is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing, but does not fare well on the Democracy index. Although income inequality is high, 90% of homes are owner-occupied, 38% of Singapores 5.6 million residents are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. There are four languages on the island, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil. English is its language, most Singaporeans are bilingual. Singapore is a multiparty parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The Peoples Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959, however, it is unlikely that lions ever lived on the island, Sang Nila Utama, the Srivijayan prince said to have founded and named the island Singapura, perhaps saw a Malayan tiger. There are however other suggestions for the origin of the name, the central island has also been called Pulau Ujong as far back as the third century CE, literally island at the end in Malay. In 1299, according to the Malay Annals, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on the island by Sang Nila Utama and these Indianized Kingdoms, a term coined by George Cœdès were characterized by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, which by then was part of the Johor Sultanate. The wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control for the following period, in 1824 the entire island, as well as the Temenggong, became a British possession after a further treaty with the Sultan. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements, under the jurisdiction of British India, prior to Raffles arrival, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly indigenous Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860 the population had swelled to over 80,000, many of these early immigrants came to work on the pepper and gambier plantations
29.
Imperial Japanese Navy
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The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 until 1945, when it was dissolved following Japans defeat and surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force was formed after the dissolution of the IJN, the Japanese Navy was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for aircraft and it was the primary opponent of the Western Allies in the Pacific War. This eventually led to the Meiji Restoration, accompanying the re-ascendance of the Emperor came a period of frantic modernization and industrialization. Following the attempts at Mongol invasions of Japan by Kubilai Khan in 1274 and 1281, Japan undertook major naval building efforts in the 16th century, during the Warring States period, when feudal rulers vying for supremacy built vast coastal navies of several hundred ships. Around that time Japan may have developed one of the first ironclad warships when Oda Nobunaga, in 1588 Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued a ban on Wakō piracy, the pirates then became vassals of Hideyoshi, and comprised the naval force used in the Japanese invasion of Korea. Japan built her first large ocean-going warships in the beginning of the 17th century, from 1604 the Bakufu also commissioned about 350 Red seal ships, usually armed and incorporating some Western technologies, mainly for Southeast Asian trade. For more than 200 years, beginning in the 1640s, the Japanese policy of seclusion forbade contacts with the outside world and prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships on pain of death. Contacts were maintained, however, with the Dutch through the port of Nagasaki, the Chinese also through Nagasaki and the Ryukyus and Korea through intermediaries with Tsushima. Apart from Dutch trade ships no other Western vessels were allowed to enter Japanese ports, an exception was during the Napoleonic wars. However frictions with foreign ships started from the beginning of the 19th century, the Nagasaki Harbour Incident involving the HMS Phaeton in 1808 and other subsequent incidents in the following decades led to the Shogunate to enact an edict to repel foreign vessels. Western ships which were increasing their presence around Japan due to whaling, the shogunate also began to strengthen the nations coastal defenses. Numerous attempts to open Japan ended in failure in part to Japanese resistance, during 1853 and 1854, American warships under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry entered Edo Bay and made demonstrations of force requesting trade negotiations. After two hundred years of seclusion the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa led to the opening of Japan to international trade and this was soon followed by the 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce and treaties with other powers. In 1855, with Dutch assistance, the Shogunate acquired its first steam warship, Kankō Maru, samurai such as the future Admiral Enomoto Takeaki were sent by the Shogunate to study in the Netherlands for several years. In 1859 the Naval Training Center relocated to Tsukiji in Tokyo, in 1857 the Shogunate acquired its first screw-driven steam warship Kanrin Maru and used it as an escort for the 1860 Japanese delegation to the United States. In 1865 the French naval engineer Léonce Verny was hired to build Japans first modern naval arsenals, at Yokosuka, in 1867–1868 a British Naval mission headed by Commander Richard Tracey went to Japan to assist the development of the Japanese Navy and to organize the naval school of Tsukiji. The Shogunate also allowed and then ordered various domains to purchase warships and to develop naval fleets, Satsuma, a naval center had been set up by the Satsuma domain in Kagoshima, students were sent abroad for training and a number of ships were acquired
30.
Keel laying
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Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ships construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company, keel laying is one of the four specially-celebrated events in the life of a ship, the others are launching, commissioning, and decommissioning. In earlier times, the event recognized as the keel laying was the placement of the central timber making up the backbone of a vessel. As steel ships replaced wooden ones, the central timber gave way to a steel beam. Modern ships are now built in a series of pre-fabricated. The event recognized as the keel laying is the first joining of modular components and it is now often called keel authentication, and is the ceremonial beginning of the ships life, although modules may have been started months before that stage of construction. Keel-related traditions from the times of wooden ships are said to bring luck to the ship during construction and to the captain, the first milestone in the history of a ship is the generally simple ceremony that marks the laying of the keel. Invitations to the ceremony are issued by officials, and the ceremony is conducted by them. The builder may be the commander of a shipyard or the president of a private company. The ships prospective name, without the USS, is mentioned in the invitation, if known, otherwise her type and number are given, e. g. DD2217
31.
Ship commissioning
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Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its countrys military forces, the ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries old naval tradition. Ship naming and launching endow a ship hull with her identity, the engineering plant, weapon and electronic systems, galley, and multitudinous other equipment required to transform the new hull into an operating and habitable warship are installed and tested. The prospective commanding officer, ships officers, the petty officers, prior to commissioning, the new ship undergoes sea trials to identify any deficiencies needing correction. USS Monitor, of American Civil War fame, was commissioned less than three weeks after launch, regardless of the type of ship in question, a vessels journey towards commissioning in its nations navy begins with process known as sea trials. Sea trials begin when the ship in question is floated out of its dry dock, after a ship has successfully cleared its sea trial period, it will officially be accepted into service with its nations navy. At this point, the ship in question will undergo a process of degaussing and/or deperming, once a ships sea trials are successfully completed plans for the actual commissioning ceremony will take shape. If the ships ceremony is an affair the Captain may make a speech to the audience. Religious ceremonies, such as blessing the ship or the singing of hymns or songs. Once a ship has been commissioned its final step toward becoming a unit of the navy it now serves is to report to its home port. To decommission a ship is to terminate its career in service in the forces of a nation. Decommissioning of the vessel may also occur due to treaty agreements or for safety reasons, vessels preserved in this manner typically do not relinquish their names to other, more modern ships that may be in the design, planning, or construction phase of the parent nations navy. Prior to its decommissioning, the ship in question will begin the process of decommissioning by going through a preliminary step called inactivation or deactivation. The removed material from a ship usually ends up either rotating to another ship in the class with similar weapons and/or capabilities, or in storage pending a decision on equipments fate. During this time a crew may be thinned out via transfers. When a ship finishes its inactivation, it is then formally decommissioned, often, but not always, ships that are decommissioned end up spending the next few years in a reserve fleet before their ultimate fate is decided. Commissioning in the early United States Navy under sail was attended by no ceremony, thus, the ship was placed in commission. Commissionings were not public affairs, and unlike christening-and-launching ceremonies, were not recorded by newspapers, the first specific reference to commissioning located in naval records is a letter of November 6,1863, from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to all navy yards and stations
32.
Beam (nautical)
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The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point as measured at the ships nominal waterline. The beam is a bearing projected at right-angles from the fore and aft line, Beam may also be used to define the maximum width of a ships hull, or maximum width plus superstructure overhangs. Typical length-to-beam ratios for small sailboats are from 2,1 to 5,1, large ships have widely varying beam ratios, some as large as 20,1. Rowing shells designed for racing may have length to beam ratios as high as 30,1. The beam of many vessels can be calculated using the following formula. Some examples, For a standard 27 ft yacht, the root of 27 is 3,3 squared is 9 plus 1 =10. The beam of many 27 ft monohulls is 10 ft, for a Volvo Open 70 yacht,70.5 to the power of 2/3 =17 plus 1 =18. The beam is often around 18 ft, for a 741 ft long ship, the cube root is 9, and 9 squared is 81, plus 1. The beam will usually be around 82 ft, e. g. Seawaymax, as catamarans have more than one hull, there is a different beam calculation for this kind of vessel. BOC stands for Beam On Centerline and this term in typically used in conjunction with LOA. The ratio of LOA/BOC is used to estimate the stability of multihull vessels, the lower the ratio the greater the boats stability. The BOC for vessels is measured as follows, For a catamaran, carlin – similar to a beam, except running in a fore and aft direction. Keever, John M. American Merchant Seamans Manual, turpin, Edward A. McEwen, William A
33.
Draught (ship)
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Draft determines the minimum depth of water a ship or boat can safely navigate. The draft can also be used to determine the weight of the cargo on board by calculating the displacement of water. A table made by the shows the water displacement for each draft. The density of the water and the content of the bunkers has to be taken into account. The closely related term trim is defined as the difference between the forward and aft drafts, the draft aft is measured in the perpendicular of the stern. The draft forward is measured in the perpendicular of the bow, the scale may use traditional English units or metric units. If the English system is used, the bottom of each marking is the draft in feet, in metric marking schemes, the bottom of each draft mark is the draft in decimeters and each mark is one decimeter high. Larger ships try to maintain a water draft when they are light, in order to make a better sea crossing. In order to achieve this they use sailing ballasts to stabilize the ship, the water draft of a large ship has little direct link with its stability because stability depends solely on the respective positions of the metacenter of the hull and the center of gravity. It is also however, that a light ship has quite high stability which can lead to implying too much rolling of the ship. A fully laden ship can have either a strong or weak stability, the draft of ships can be increased when the ship is in motion in shallow water, a phenomenon known as squat. Draft is a significant factor limiting navigable waterways, especially for large vessels, of course this includes many shallow coastal waters and reefs, but also some major shipping lanes. Panamax class ships—the largest ships able to transit the Panama Canal—do have a limit but are usually limited by beam, or sometimes length overall. However, in the much wider Suez Canal, the factor for Suezmax ships is draft. Some supertankers are able to transit the Suez Canal when unladen or partially laden, canals are not the only draft-limited shipping lanes. A Malaccamax ship has the deepest draft able to transit the very busy, there are only a few ships of this size. A small draft allows pleasure boats to navigate through shallower water and this makes it possible for these boats to access smaller ports, to travel along rivers and even to beach the boat. A large draft ensures a level of stability in strong wind
34.
MAN SE
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MAN SE, formerly MAN AG, is a German mechanical engineering company and parent company of the MAN Group. MAN SE is based in Munich and its primary output is for the automotive industry, particularly heavy trucks. Further activities include the production of engines for various applications, like marine propulsion. MAN supplies trucks, buses, diesel engines and turbomachinery, until September 2012 MAN SE was one of the top 30 companies listed on the German stock exchange. The company celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2008, in 2008, its 51,300 employees generated annual sales of around €15 billion in 120 different countries. The MAN Group currently operates its production output through three main subsidiaries, with each subsidiarys output destined for different locations, MAN Truck & Bus is one of Europes leading commercial vehicle manufacturers. MAN Diesel & Turbo is a leader in large diesel ship engines, stationary engines. MAN Latin America has a position in heavy trucks in Brazil. MAN traces its origins back to 1758, when the St. Antony ironworks commenced operation in Oberhausen, as the first heavy-industry enterprise in the Ruhr region. In 1808, the three ironworks St. Antony, Gute Hoffnung, and Neue Essen merged, to form the Hüttengewerkschaft und Handlung Jacobi, Oberhausen, which was later renamed Gute Hoffnungshütte. In 1840, the German engineer Ludwig Sander founded in Augsburg the first predecessing enterprise of MAN in Southern Germany, reichenbachsche Maschinenfabrik, which was named after the pioneer of printing machines Carl August Reichenbach, and later on the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg. The branch Süddeutsche Brückenbau A. G. was founded when the company in 1859 was awarded the contract for the construction of the bridge over the Rhine at Mainz. In 1898, the companies Maschinenbau-AG Nürnberg and Maschinenfabrik Augsburg AG merged to form Vereinigte Maschinenfabrik Augsburg und Maschinenbaugesellschaft Nürnberg A. G. Augsburg, in 1908, the company was renamed Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg AG, or in short, M·A·N. While the focus remained on ore mining and iron production in the Ruhr region. Under the direction of Heinrich von Buz, Maschinenfabrik Augsburg grew from a business of 400 employees into a major enterprise with a workforce of 12,000 by the year 1913. Locomotion, propulsion and steel building were the big topics of this phase, the early predecessors of MAN were responsible for numerous technological innovations. The success of the early MAN entrepreneurs and engineers like Heinrich Gottfried Gerber, was based on a great openness towards new technologies. They constructed the Wuppertal monorail and the first spectacular steel bridges like the Großhesseloher Brücke in Munich in 1857, during 1921, the majority of M. A. N. was taken over by the Gutehoffnungshütte Actienverein für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb, Sterkrade
35.
Supercharger
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A supercharger is an air compressor that increases the pressure or density of air supplied to an internal combustion engine. This gives each intake cycle of the more oxygen, letting it burn more fuel and do more work. Power for the supercharger can be provided mechanically by means of a belt, gear, shaft, when power is provided by a turbine powered by exhaust gas, a supercharger is known as a turbosupercharger – typically referred to simply as a turbocharger or just turbo. Common usage restricts the term supercharger to mechanically driven units, in 1848 or 1849 G. Jones of Birmingham, England brought out a Roots-style compressor. The worlds first functional, actually tested engine supercharger was made by Dugald Clerk, gottlieb Daimler received a German patent for supercharging an internal combustion engine in 1885. Louis Renault patented a centrifugal supercharger in France in 1902, an early supercharged race car was built by Lee Chadwick of Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1908 which reportedly reached a speed of 100 mph. The worlds first series-produced cars with superchargers were Mercedes 6/25/40 hp, both models were introduced in 1921 and had Roots superchargers. They were distinguished as Kompressor models, the origin of the Mercedes-Benz badging which continues today, on March 24,1878 Heinrich Krigar of Germany obtained patent #4121, patenting the first ever screw-type compressor. Later that same year on August 16 he obtained patent #7116 after modifying and improving his original designs and his designs show a two-lobe rotor assembly with each rotor having the same shape as the other. Although the design resembled the Roots style compressor, the screws were clearly shown with 180 degrees of twist along their length, unfortunately, the technology of the time was not sufficient to produce such a unit, and Heinrich made no further progress with the screw compressor. Nearly half a century later, in 1935, Alf Lysholm and he also patented the method for machining the compressor rotors. There are two types of superchargers defined according to the method of gas transfer, positive displacement. Positive displacement blowers and compressors deliver an almost constant level of pressure increase at all engine speeds, dynamic compressors do not deliver pressure at low speeds, above a threshold speed, pressure increases with engine speed. Positive-displacement pumps deliver a nearly fixed volume of air per revolution at all speeds, Roots superchargers are external compression only. External compression refers to pumps that transfer air at ambient pressure into the engine, if the engine is running under boost conditions, the pressure in the intake manifold is higher than that coming from the supercharger. That causes a backflow from the engine into the supercharger until the two reach equilibrium and it is the backflow that actually compresses the incoming gas. This is an inefficient process and the factor in the lack of efficiency of Roots superchargers when used at high boost levels. The lower the boost level the smaller is this loss, and Roots blowers are very efficient at moving air at low pressure differentials, all the other types have some degree of internal compression
36.
MWM GmbH
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The Caterpillar Energy Solutions GmbH is a mechanical engineering company, based in Mannheim. For many years it was known as Motoren-Werke Mannheim, in 2009 the company was the third-largest producer of gas and diesel engines. The main focus of production is gensets for the generation of energy from 400 to 4,300 kWel per unit. It also provides consulting, designing and engineering, construction and commissioning of plants as well as global aftersales service, the company also has its own training center. In 1922 the department for the construction of engines was outsourced and had its name changed from Benz & Cie. Rheinische Gasmotorenfabrik in Mannheim to Motorenwerke Mannheim. The renowned German engineer Prosper LOrange, a pioneer of diesel engine technology, was the manager then. Before that he worked for Benz & Cie, the construction of diesel engines in particular used to be the core business of MWM, amongst others for utility vehicles and agricultural machines. In 1924 MWM manufactured their first tractor, which was called Motorpferd, in 1931, tractor production was discontinued. For quite a time, combines by Claas, tractors by the French manufacturer Renault. In 1926 Knorr-Bremse AG was able to acquire the majority of shares, in 1985 they sold MWM to Deutz AG. The company, along with MAN SE, remained the engine manufacturer in the field of commercial diesel engines in Germany. DEUTZ restructured the company several times and expanded the gas engine division. In August 2007, DEUTZ sold the company to the financial investor 3i as Deutz Power Systems for 360 million euros. On 1 October 2008 Deutz Power Systems was renamed MWM GmbH, today MWM offers mainly gas engines for cogeneration units and biogas plants with an output between 400 and 4,300 kilowatts. To a smaller extent also diesel engines are still produced, on 22 October 2010 Caterpillar Inc. officially announced an agreement with 3i regarding the acquisition of MWM for 580 million euros. Subject to the consent of prudential authorities MWM will then become part of Caterpillars Electric Power Division, on 8 October MWM announced that it will change its name to Caterpillar Energy Solutions as of 1 of November 2013
37.
Siemens-Schuckert
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Siemens-Schuckert was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966. Siemens Schuckert was founded in 1903 when Siemens & Halske acquired Schuckertwerke, subsequently, Siemens & Halske specialized in communications engineering and Siemens-Schuckert in power engineering and pneumatic instrumentation. During World War I Siemens-Schuckert also produced aircraft and it took over manufacturing of the renowned Protos vehicles in 1908. The Siemens Schuckert logo consisted of an S with a smaller S superimposed on the middle with the smaller S rotated left by 45 degrees, the logo was used into the late 1960s, when both companies merged with the Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG to form the present-day Siemens AG. Siemens-Schuckert built a number of designs in World War I and inter-war era and they also produced aircraft engines under the Siemens-Halske brand, which evolved into their major product line after the end of World War I. The company reorganized as Brandenburgische Motorenwerke, or simply Bramo, in 1936, Siemens-Schuckert designed a number of heavy bombers early in World War I, building a run of seven Riesenflugzeug. In the case of failure, which was extremely common at the time. Two transmission shafts transferred the power from the gear-box to propeller gear-boxes mounted on the wing struts, although there were some problems with the clutch system, the gear-box proved to be reliable when properly maintained. The SSW R.1 through the SSW R. VII designs were noted for their distinctive forked fuselage, several of these aircraft fought on the Eastern Front. A small number of machines were supplied to various Feldflieger Abteilung to supplement supplies of the Fokker. The prototype SSW E. II, powered by the inline Argus AsII, crashed in June 1916, killing Franz Steffen, the resulting SSW D. I was powered by the Siemens-Halske Sh. I, but was otherwise a fairly literal copy of the Nieuport 17. This aircraft was the first Siemens-Schuckert fighter to be ordered in quantity, development of the Sh. I engine resulted in the eleven-cylinder,160 hp Sh. III, perhaps one of the most advanced rotary engine designs of the war. Further modifications improved its handling and performance to produce the Siemens-Schuckert D. IV, several offshoots of the design included triplanes and a parasol monoplane, but none saw production. With the end of the war production of the D. IV continued, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles the next year all aircraft production in Germany was shut down. Siemens-Schuckert immediately disappeared, but Siemens-Halske continued sales of the Sh. III, the Sh. 14A became a best-seller in the trainer market, and over 15,000 of all the versions were eventually built. Siemens-Halske no longer had any competitive engines for the end of the market. Minor changes for the German market led to the Sh.20, following the evolution of their smaller Sh. 14s, the engine was then bored out to produce the 900 hp design, the Sh.22. In 1933 new engine naming was introduced by the RLM, and this became the Sh.322
38.
Propeller
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A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Their disadvantages are higher mechanical complexity and higher cost, the principle employed in using a screw propeller is used in sculling. It is part of the skill of propelling a Venetian gondola but was used in a less refined way in parts of Europe. For example, propelling a canoe with a paddle using a pitch stroke or side slipping a canoe with a scull involves a similar technique. In China, sculling, called lu, was used by the 3rd century AD. In sculling, a blade is moved through an arc. The innovation introduced with the propeller was the extension of that arc through more than 360° by attaching the blade to a rotating shaft. Propellers can have a blade, but in practice there are nearly always more than one so as to balance the forces involved. The origin of the screw propeller starts with Archimedes, who used a screw to lift water for irrigation and bailing boats and it was probably an application of spiral movement in space to a hollow segmented water-wheel used for irrigation by Egyptians for centuries. Leonardo da Vinci adopted the principle to drive his theoretical helicopter, in 1784, J. P. Paucton proposed a gyrocopter-like aircraft using similar screws for both lift and propulsion. At about the time, James Watt proposed using screws to propel boats. This was not his own invention, though, Toogood and Hays had patented it a century earlier, by 1827, Czech-Austrian inventor Josef Ressel had invented a screw propeller which had multiple blades fastened around a conical base. He had tested his propeller in February 1826 on a ship that was manually driven. He was successful in using his bronze screw propeller on an adapted steamboat and his ship Civetta with 48 gross register tons, reached a speed of about six knots. This was the first ship successfully driven by an Archimedes screw-type propeller, after a new steam engine had an accident his experiments were banned by the Austro-Hungarian police as dangerous. Josef Ressel was at the time a forestry inspector for the Austrian Empire, but before this he received an Austro-Hungarian patent for his propeller. This new method of propulsion was an improvement over the paddlewheel as it was not so affected by either ship motions or changes in draft as the burned coal
Nazi Germany
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United States
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