''Sachsenwald'' was a fishing trawler that 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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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 ...

during the Second World War. She served as a supply ship, the

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 ...

WBS 7 ''Sachsenwald'' and the '' vorpostenboot'' V 414 ''Sachsenwald''. She was sunk in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

in August 1944 by Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy ships.

Description

''Sachsenwald'' was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was assessed at , . She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine, which had cylinders of , and diameter by stroke. The engine was made by Deschimag Seebeckwerft, Wesermünde, Germany. It was rated at 168 nhp. The engine powered a single screw propeller driven via a low pressure turbine, double reduction gearing and a hydraulic coupling. It could propel the ship at .

History

''Sachsenwald'' was built as yard number 631 by Deschimag Seebeckwerft for the Nordsee Deutsche Hochseefischerei Bremen-Cuxhaven. She was launched in June 1939. Her port of registry was Wesermünde. At the outbreak of the Second World War, she was interned in Murmansk, Soviet Union, but was requisitioned by the

in January 1940. Initially serving as a supply ship allocated to '' Basis Nord'', ''Sachsenwald'' was intended for use in Operation Sea Lion before being converted for use as a weather ship under the designation ''Wetterbeobachtungsschiff 7'', with the

Pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

WBS 7.

''Bismarck'' survivors

''Sachsenwald'' was returning from a 50-day operational cruise in the Atlantic under her commander, the experienced trawler skipper Ernst Wilhelm Schütte, when she received orders on 27 May 1941 to move to the area where the was known to be. After sailing through heavy seas, and being briefly attacked by a Bristol Blenheim aircraft with machine gun fire, she reached the debris field left after the sinking of ''Bismarck'' on 28 May. After several hours searching the field, which contained only bodies and debris, ''Sachsenwald'' communicated with two U-boats that were also searching the area. Finally, late in the night, they discovered a raft containing two survivors, and took them on board. They were '' Matrosengefreite'' Walter Lorenzen and Otto Maus. ''Sachsenwald'' continued to search the area, recovering an empty raft from ''Bismarck'' but failed to find any more survivors. She briefly communicated with the , which was also searching the area, before making for the French coast on 31 May, escorted by several patrol boats. She reached it without incident, discharging the survivors, and tying up at Bordeaux on 1 June.

Sinking

On 29 August 1941, WBS 7 ''Sachsenwald'' was re-designated as a '' vorpostenboot''. She was allocated to 4 ''Vorpostenbootflotille'' operating in the

out of Bordeaux. She served as V 414 ''Sachsenwald''. In August 1944 she formed part of a seven-ship convoy, which included V 414 ''Sachsenwald'', , V 1549 ''Höheweg'', M 263, M 486 and SG 3 ''Sans Souchi'', which was carrying ammunition from

St. Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. T ...

to La Pallice. They were intercepted early in the morning of 6 August by Force 26, which was carrying out Operation Kinetic. The task force, consisting of the cruiser , and the destroyers , , and , attacked the convoy, sinking at least six of the ships, including V 414 ''Sachsenwald''. The wreck lies in of water.

Notes

a. A number of internet sources state that ''Sachsenwald'' recovered five ''Bismarck'' survivors. This appears to be a widely repeated error based on a faulty source. The official report of ''Sachsenwald''s commander states only two survivors were picked up, Lorenzen and Maus. The other 3 Bismarck survivors rescued by the Germans (Georg Herzog, Otto Höntzsch & Herbert Manthey) were all rescued by the German uboat U-74.

Citations

Bibliography

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