''Carl J. Busch'' was a fishing trawler that was built as ''Grohm'' in 1925 by

Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte & Maschinenfabrik Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte & Maschinenfabrik, also known as Reiherstiegwerft, was a German shipbuilding company, located on the Reiherstieg River in Hamburg. It was founded in 1706 by Lucas Kramer. In the 1880s, Reiherstieg built , the first wa ...

AG,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

for the Deutsche Hochseefischerei Bremen-Cuxhaven AG. She was requisitioned by the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

in 1939, serving as a ''

Vorpostenboot ''Vorpostenboot'' (plural ''Vorpostenboote''), also referred to as VP-Boats, flakships or outpost boats, were German patrol boats which served during both World Wars. They were used around coastal areas and in coastal operations, and were tasked w ...

'' and a

weather ship A weather ship, or ocean station vessel, was a ship stationed in the ocean for surface and upper air meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting. They were primarily located in the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans, reportin ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was sold to Norway in 1956 and renamed ''Meløytrål'', serving until 1979 when she was scrapped.

Description

The ship was with a beam of . She had a depth of . The ship was powered by a 6-cylinder

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

, single-cycle, single-action

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

which was built by the Großmotoren-Werke Hamburg-Mannheim GmbH,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. It was rated at 208

nhp Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

and drove a single screw propeller. The ship's speed was .

History

The ship was built in 1925 by

AG, Hamburg as the fishing trawler ''Grohm'' for the Deutsche Hochseefischerei Bremen-Cuxhaven AG. She was built as

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

558, being launched on 14 April 1925 and completed in June the same year. Her port of registry was

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...

. The fishing registration HC 143, and

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

RFLV were allocated. She had been renamed ''Carl J. Busch'' by 1930. With the change of Code Letters in 1934, ''Carl J. Busch'' was allocated the letters DIAW. In 1939, ''Carl J. Busch'' was requisitioned by the

. She was converted to a ''

'', serving as ''V 242 Carl J. Busch'' and later as ''V 1112 Carl J. Busch''. She was subsequently converted to a

and was commissioned as ''WBS 3 Carl J. Busch'' On 15 September 1943, ''Carl J. Busch'' departed from

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, Germany for

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

and

Hammerfest Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerfe ...

, Norway. She sailed from Hammerfest on 15 October escorted by , bound for

West Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

, where a weather station was to be set up. She ran aground in Woodfjord and her supplies were unloaded. She was later refloated and departed with her escort on 19 October. ''Carl J. Busch'' was subsequently strengthened to enable her to operate in ice. She sailed from Sassnitz, Germany for

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

, Norway. She unloaded stores bound for Wahlingbergfjorden, which were loaded onto a

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

and loaded stores which had been brought to Narvik by . She then sailed to Tromsø and Hammerfest where the weather party was embarked, half on ''Carl J. Busch'' and half on . The ships sailed on 10 September for Nordaustlandet,

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

as part of

Operation Haudegen Operation Haudegen ( peration Broadsword was the name of a Nazi Germany, German operation during the Second World War to establish meteorological stations on Svalbard. In September 1944, the submarine ''U-307'' and the supply ship ''Carl J. ...

. The two vessels arrived on 14 September; they departed on 29 September. In 1956, ''Carl J. Busch'' was sold to Norway and was renamed ''Meløytrål''. With the introduction of

IMO Number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term covering two distinct meanings. The IMO ship identification number, is a type of hull number used as a unique ship identifier, and the IMO company and registered owner ...

s in the mid-1960s, she was allocated the IMO Number 5231836. She was scrapped in November 1979, by Høvding Skipsopphugning in

Sandnessjøen Sandnessjøen is a town and the administrative centre of Alstahaug Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Sandnessjøen was granted special trading privileges in the late 1600s and it received town status in 1999. Sandnessjøen is located on ...

, Norway.

References

External links

Photo of trawler ''Carl J. Busch''Photo of ''WBS 3 Carl J. Busch''Photo of ''Meløytrål''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carl J. Busch 1925 ships Ships built in Hamburg Fishing vessels of Germany World War II auxiliary ships of Germany Weather ships Fishing vessels of West Germany Fishing vessels of Norway