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Marinefährprahm
The (MFP, naval ferry barge) was the largest landing craft operated by the German during World War II. The MFP was used for transport, mine laying, as an escort and a gunboat in the Mediterranean, Baltic and Black Seas as well as the English Channel and Norwegian coastal waters. Originally developed for Operation Sea Lion the proposed invasion of England, the first of these ships was commissioned on 16 April 1941, with approximately 700 being completed by the end of war. Allied sources sometimes refer to this class of vessel as a "Flak Lighter" or "F-lighter". Design and development Four types, A–D, were developed, whose size and armament grew from type to type. Some specialised derivatives such as artillery vessels and mine laying vessels were also built on the basis of these craft. They were not mainly used for their initial invasion role but for transport and supply, escort and harbour protection. The MFPs were protected by steel armor plating. Type A This first version ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Operation Agreement
Operation Agreement was a ground and amphibious operation carried out by British, Rhodesian and New Zealand forces on Axis-held Tobruk from 13 to 14 September 1942, during the Second World War. A Special Interrogation Group party, fluent in German, took part in missions behind enemy lines. Diversionary actions extended to Benghazi ( Operation Bigamy), Jalo oasis ( Operation Nicety) and Barce ( Operation Caravan). The Tobruk raid was an Allied disaster; the British lost several hundred men killed and captured, one cruiser, two destroyers, six motor torpedo boats and dozens of small amphibious craft. Background The objective of Operation Agreement was to undermine the Axis war effort in North Africa by destroying airfields, harbour facilities, supply ships, vehicles and large oil stores. The Allies also intended to capture Jalo oasis, which was to be used as a rendezvous for the retreating ground forces involved in the other operations. Course Prelude G1 and T1 patrols of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Landing Craft
Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Production of landing craft peaked during World War II, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States. Because of the need to run up onto a suitable beach, World War II landing craft were flat-bottomed, and many designs had a flat front, often with a lowerable ramp, rather than a normal bow. This made them difficult to control and very uncomfortable in rough seas. The control point (too rudimentary to call a bridge on LCA and similar craft) was normally at the extreme rear of the vessel, as were the engines. In all cases, they were known by an abbreviation derived from the official name rather than by the full title. History In the days of sail, the ship's boats wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Cannon 76/40 Model 1916
The Cannon 76/40 Model 1916 was a widely used naval gun on ships of the Royal Italian Navy during World War I and World War II. A very versatile weapon, it was used as primary, secondary and tertiary armament on a number of ship classes, while other ship classes had a shortened version of it, the Cannon 76/30 Model 1915. After being replaced aboard ships of the Royal Italian Navy it saw widespread use on land in a number of different roles such as coastal artillery, anti-aircraft gun and railroad gun during World War II. History The 76/40 Model 1916's origins lay in the British QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun designed 1893 and first produced in 1897. The QF 12-pounder 12 cwt gun was designed and produced by the Elswick Ordnance Company for the Royal Navy, British Royal Navy and also for export customers. Italy and Japan were two early export customers that later purchased production licenses for the gun. The majority of the Italian guns were produced by the AnsaldoBreda, Ansaldo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (), was Nazi Germany's code name for their planned invasion of the United Kingdom. It was to have taken place during the Battle of Britain, nine months after the start of the Second World War. Following the Battle of France and that country's capitulation, Adolf Hitler, the German Führer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, hoped the British government would accept his offer to end the state of war between the two. He considered invasion to be a last resort, to be used only if all other options had failed. As a precondition for the invasion of Great Britain, Britain, Hitler demanded both air superiority, air and naval superiority over the English Channel and the proposed landing sites. The German forces achieved neither at any point of the war. Further, both Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the German High Command and Hitler himself held serious doubts about the prospects for success. Nevertheless, both the German Army (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Operation Herkules
Operation Herkules (; ) was the German code-name given to an abortive plan for the invasion of Malta during the Second World War. Through air and sea landings, the Italians and Germans hoped to eliminate Malta as a British air and naval base and secure an uninterrupted flow of supplies across the Mediterranean Sea to Axis forces in Libya and Egypt. Extensive preparations were made for the invasion but the success of other Axis operations – including the Battle of Gazala (26 May to 21 June 1942), the Axis capture of Tobruk on 21 June and Battle of Mersa Matruh, Operation Aïda, the pursuit of the Allies into Egypt – led to Herkules being postponed and then cancelled in November 1942. Origins The Axis plan to invade Malta had its origin in Italian military studies conducted during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in the mid-1930s. By 1938, ''Comando Supremo'', the Italian army general staff, had estimated the amount of sea transport it would require to move military forces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Well Deck
In traditional nautical use, well decks were decks lower than decks fore and aft, usually at the main deck level, so that breaks appear in the main deck profile, as opposed to a flush deck profile. The term goes back to the days of sail. Late-20th-century commercial and military amphibious ships have applied the term to an entirely different type of hangar-like structure, evolving from exaggerated deep "well decks" of World War II amphibious vessels, that can be flooded for lighters or landing craft. Traditional A well deck is an exposed deck ( weather deck) lower than decks fore and aft. In particular, it is one enclosed by bulwarks limiting flow of water and thus drainage so that design requirements are specific about drainage and maintenance of such drainage with that definition applying even to small vessels. The United States Coast Guard, Sector Upper Mississippi River, Small Passenger Vessel Information Package notes: Explicit requirements exist for drainage requirement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Tobruk
Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2006, Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, ''Concise.Britannica.com'BC-Tobruk. Tobruk was the site of an ancient Greek colony and, later, of a Roman fortress guarding the frontier of Cyrenaica. Over the centuries, Tobruk also served as a waystation along the coastal caravan route. By 1911, Tobruk had become an Italian military post. During World War II, Allied forces, mainly the Australian 6th Division, took Tobruk on 22 January 1941. The Australian 9th Division (" The Rats of Tobruk") pulled back to Tobruk to avoid encirclement after actions at Er Regima and Mechili and reached Tobruk on 9 April 1941. There prolonged fighting followed, against a siege by German and Italian forces. Although the siege was lifted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Panzerarmee Afrika
The Panzer Army Africa ( German: ''Panzerarmee Afrika''; Italian: ''Gruppo Corazzato Africa'') was a joint German-Italian field army that fought in the North African campaign during World War II. It consisted of one German corps and three Italian corps. On 1943, during the Tunisian campaign, the ''Panzerarmee Afrika'' was changed to as the ''Army Group Africa'', and was consisted of the newly-formed German 5th Army and the Italian 1st Army. During the campaigns in North Africa, the ''Panzerarmee Afrika'' was subordinated to the Italian command, as well as to German command headquarters in the Mediterranean. History Panzer Group Africa When the ''Afrikakorps'' was formed on 11 January 1941 it was subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa. In the middle of 1941 the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, Armed Forces High Command) created a larger command structure in Africa, forming a new headquarters, Panzer Group Africa (, ). On 15 August 1941, Panzer Group Africa was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Libya
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–Libya border, the south, Niger to Libya–Niger border, the southwest, Algeria to Algeria–Libya border, the west, and Tunisia to Libya–Tunisia border, the northwest. With an area of almost , it is the 4th-largest country in Africa and the Arab world, and the List of countries and outlying territories by total area, 16th-largest in the world. Libya claims 32,000 square kilometres of southeastern Algeria, south of the Libyan town of Ghat, Libya, Ghat. The largest city and capital is Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli, which is located in northwestern Libya and contains over a million of Libya's seven million people. Libya has been inhabited by Berber people, Berbers since the late Bronze Age as descendants from Iberomaurusian and Capsian cultures. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Littorina
''Littorina'' is a genus of small sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles.WoRMS (2011). Littorina Férussac, 1822. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138135 on 2011-04-15 These small snails live in the tidal zone of rocky shores. Overview In Europe there are about nine species in this genus, one of which is the rough periwinkle, ''Littorina saxatilis'' (Olivi, 1792). Another closely related (supposed) species ''Littorina tenebrosa'' (Montagu 1802) was thought to be distinct because of its different ecological requirements, but current studies have shown that it is not at all clear whether the two are indeed separate species or whether ''L. tenebrosa'' is perhaps merely an ecotype (an ecological form) of ''L. saxatilis''.Gosling, E.M. (2002). ''The periwinkle as a model in biodiversity studies: a geneticist's view.'' in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
M13/40
The Carro Armato M13/40 was an Italian World War II tank designed to replace the M11/39 in the Royal Italian Army at the start of World War II. It was the primary tank used by the Italians throughout the war. The design was influenced by the British Vickers 6-Ton and was based on the modified chassis of the earlier M11/39. Production of the M11/39 was cut short in order to get the M13/40 into production. The name refers to "M" for ''Medio'' (medium) according to the Italian tank weight standards at the time, 13 tonnes was the scheduled weight and 1940 the initial year of production. Specifications The M13 was constructed of riveted steel plates as follows: 30 mm front (as the M11), 42 mm on turret front (30 mm for the M11), 25 mm on the sides (the M11 had only 15 mm), 6 mm bottom (making it very vulnerable to mines) and 15 mm on top. The crew of four were housed in a forward fighting compartment, with the engine at the rear and transmission at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
