Interior of the KDF Ship Robert Ley

Interior of the KDF Ship Robert Ley on its maiden voyage in the North Sea, 1939. Photos by Hugo Jaeger.

The Robert Ley was a cruise ship of the Nazi Party leisure organization Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy). It was considered the flagship of the KdF fleet. The ship, which was named after the Nazi politician Robert Ley, was designed exclusively for cruises. The keel was laid on behalf of the Nazi organisation Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labour Front) at Howaldtswerke Hamburg. The Robert Ley was owned by the DAF and was managed, crewed and maintained by the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG). The interior design was commissioned by architect Woldemar Brinkmann. The launch took place on 29 March 1938 in the presence of Adolf Hitler. The commissioning took place on 24 March 1939. The ship was designed for about 1750 passengers in addition to the crew members.

 Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley_(ship)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237076659811098/permalink/1670742463111170/?__cft__[0]=AZWqpDSKpasqmAIqYSXZFXGpnYM50iHfZlXg3NPYmf-F4HwKuUgYttPeoXVWgAGovFVxwTJ-a2zmWTPkAc4ryMvXw8BkbwQjWToo62ezEAZxr1oprOarBZzCjwd-ouHnIdELjY1dlRqzXFWiZtN8LC3dt0QVFagi9hQlKjTiTbqPmxcZc2Y5Xw1BRQLhEgx2iHY&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

M.S. Hansestadt Danzig

 

M.S. Hansestadt Danzig in service for Seedienst Ostpreußen. This color slide has unfortunately been heavily infected with mold, still showing nice color of this beautiful ship. Cloud-looking darker spots on the sky is the degradation of color. So the sky was actually very clean with little cloud. Also, the ship is entirely in white, cream-looking places are degraded colors.

M.S. Hansestadt Danzig built in the Oderwerke Stettin. Maximum speed 15 knots, 2431 GRT after conversion capacity: 1158-2061 passengers (depending on route) plus motor vehicles and bicycles.
Launched on 17 March 1926, the ship was operated by Norddeutscher Lloyd for the Seedienst Ostpreußen from 14 July 1926 to August 1939 as a passenger and car ferry, then used as a minesweeper for the navy with a crew of 83. It was sunk on 9 July 1941 near Öland, Sweden (by running into a Swedish-German mine barrier. The German captain as well as the OKM disregarded the Swedish warnings).

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222657066008798&set=gm.1632475266937890
https://sites.google.com/site/seedienstostpreussen/die-schiffe?fbclid=IwAR0LqWjg2tUZhkV10e9NGPTAcyYskHzlw7vhg4_gD9aqPL_2XiT5d_QUtc8

Wilhelm Gustloff

Wilhelm Gustloff, 1938/1939 Italian cruise. From the slide group of the Wilhelm Gustloff's 1938/1939 cruise in Mediterranean sea.

The MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German armed military transport ship which was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating German civilian refugees from East Prussia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Estonia and military personnel from Gotenhafen (Gdynia) as the Red Army advanced. By one estimate, 9,400 people died, which makes it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history. Originally constructed as a cruise ship for the Nazi Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy) organisation in 1937, she had been requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine (German navy) in 1939. She served as a hospital ship in 1939 and 1940. She was then assigned as a floating barracks for naval personnel in Gdynia (Gotenhafen) before being armed and put into service to transport evacuees in 1945.

Almost all Gustloff friends believe that the Gustloff was always painted white. but that is wrong. Color photos are often processed until the paint is white. In fact, in 1938/39 the paint was cream-colored. Axel Urbanke have a few slides on which this can be seen exactly. He told the Gustloff Museum about this, who previously believed that white was correct. Cream was new information to them. To show the diffrence he post here a zoom from one of his slides which show a ship of Seedienst Ostpreußen (white) and in the background the Gustloff (cream). The slide was taken in August 1939 in Swinemünde.

 

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222606779271661&set=gm.1627323930786357

HJ-school ship "Hein Godenwind"

Adolf Hitler visits HJ-school ship "Hein Godenwind" in Hamburg. The Hein Godenwind was a full-rigged ship built in 1902 at the French shipyard Chantiers et Ateliers de Penhoët in Saint-Nazaire as Maréchal Souchet. The ship was used from 1933 to 1939 as the first floating youth hostel in the port of Hamburg.

Passagierschiff ''Hein Godenwind'' in 1938. Photo by Franz Grasser.

Germany. Hamburg Port. View over the passenger ship "Hein Godenwind" (floating youth hostel 1933-1939) with Hitler Youth to the city. View with tower of St. Michaelis Church (so-called Hambuger Michel). Photo by Franz Grasser.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi collection
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hein_Godenwind_(Schiff,_1902)
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10221866871654433&set=gm.1538862719632479

The Explosion of ST Voorbode

The Dutch steam trawler Voorbode was a fishing vessel, until it was confiscated by the Germans during World War II and used for military transport. In April 1944, it was on its way from Oslo to Kirkenes when it faced mechanical problems, forcing it to seek repair in Bergen, Norway. Due to lack of control, the ship was allowed entrance to Bergen harbour loaded with 124,000 kg (273,000 lb) of explosives, even though the ship did not satisfy security regulations and should not have been allowed into major cities with this cargo.

On April 20 at 8:39, the ship exploded at the quay in the center of Bergen. The force of the explosion caused a water column that was hundreds of metres high, spreading heavy debris. Several ships were thrown on land and Voorbode's anchor was later found on the 417-metre-high (1,368 ft) mountain Sandviksfjellet at 60.41756°N 5.34043°E at a distance of 3 km away from the blast area. The air pressure from the explosion and the tsunami that followed flattened whole neighbourhoods near the harbour; then fires broke out and further destroyed the wooden houses, leaving 5,000 people homeless; 160 people were killed and 5,000 wounded, mostly civilians. The Nykirken was among the buildings which were severely damaged.

The Germans initially tried to conceal the extent of the catastrophe, probably because it exposed their failure to maintain security regulations. Because the explosion occurred on Adolf Hitler's birthday, there was some suspicion of sabotage, but investigations revealed that the explosion was an accident caused by self-ignition. Rescue efforts after the event were extensive and have been well documented.

The pictures were all taken by photographer Franz Guthausen.

Source :
Akira Takiguchi photo collection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST_Voorbode
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10220914645449373&set=gm.1453693828149369&type=3&theater&ifg=1

U-34 Emblem During Hard Winter of 1940-41

Many training boats could look back on an interesting operational life and their activities were in no way restricted to the Baltic Sea. This photo shows a well-known Type VII A boat of 24. U-Flottille in the Baltic during the hard winter of 1940-41. It is U-34, wearing the emblem consisting of an elephant stepping the head of Winston Churchill, England's First Sea Lord. Beneath it is the training boat emblem. Exactly when the elephant emblem was introduced is not clear, for the boat is believed to have worn the "Raben Huckebein" (Raven Huckebein) emblem during its seven operational patrols. U-34 was lost on 5 August 1943, when it sank after collision with the submarine tender "Lech" off Memel.

Source :
"U-Boot Im Focus" magazine, edition nr.6 - 2010

Kriegsmarine AA Crew with 20mm Oerlikon Flak

A color shot of the light naval gun 20mm Oerlikon (2.0cm Flak 28) in action onboard a "Vorpostenboot", a converted fishing cutter. This gun were produced by Semag and Becker in Zürich (Swiss), later than by Oerlikon in Zürich (Swiss). Germany bought many of them before the war, and gave them the name 2 cm Flak 28 and 29 (The Flak 28 used a 15-round clip magazine and the Flak 29 used a large drum magazine with 60-rounds). First they were mainly used in the german navy, but later - and expecially during the war, when many of them got captured - they were also used in other units. The 2cm Oerlikon Flak 28 and Flak 29 apt in the Sockellafette 40 pedestal mount were intended by the Kriegsmarine for installation on ships.The 2cm Oerlikon Flak 28 was the first light automatic Anti-Aircarft weapon to reach the units in 1928 and it was installed on a mobile wheeled carriage.

Source :
http://www.626-squadron.co.uk/willem14.htm
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=149100&p=1295063

Großadmiral Baton Presentation for Erich Raeder

This picture was taken by Hugo Jaeger above Battleship Tirpitz anchored in Wilhelshaven in 1 April 1939, and the occasion was Adolf Hitler's presentation of the Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) baton to Erich Raeder, Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine. It is possible that the man front row on the left is Konteradmiral Günther Lütjens (Führer der Torpedoboote), although the nose does not seem quite right. The one giving the naval salute is Vizeadmiral Wilhelm Marschall (Befehlshaber der Panzerschiffe), while the one two to the right of him, with the goatee, is Admiral Rolf Carls (Kommandierender Admiral Marinestation der Ostsee).

Source:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=150217
http://life.time.com/?N=0&Nty=1&p=0&cmd=tags&srchCat=LIFE&s=hugo+jaeger

North African Harbor During the German Drive to Egypt

North African harbor (could be Benghazi or Tripoli) during the German drive to Egypt, 1941. The ship with the liner in the background might be the Italian auxiliary cruiser "Citta Tu Tunisi". It always sailed with at least one of his three sister ships (Viktoria, Esperia or Marco Polo) and distinguishable by his one funnel (not two funnel like three other). The picture was taken by General Erwin Rommel, commander of Afrikakorps

Source:
http://www.cybermodeler.com/history/germany/rommel.shtml