''Senator Schröder'' was a German trawler used as a Vorpostenboot during the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Launched in 1908 as a

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

, she became a research vessel in the inter-war period.

Description

The ship 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 built by ider Werft AG, Tönning, German Empire">Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

and the fishing boat registration HC 13. On 23 December 1914, ''Senator Schröder'' was requisitioned by the Imperial German Navy, Reichsmarine for use as a '' vorpostenboot''. She was allocated to the ''Vorpostenflotille Flandern''. SMS ''Senator Schröder'' was scuttled as a

blockship A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland ...

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

, Belgium on 10 October 1918. She was refloated in 1919, repaired and returned to her pre-war owners. The ship was hijacked by Hermann Knüfken in 1921 to facilitate Franz Jung, Cläre Jung and Jan Appel attending the Third World Congress of the Communist International in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. In May 1923, she was sold to Belgium. Converted to a

research ship A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

, she was renamed ''Victoire''. On 4 June 1941, she was seized by the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi 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 military branch, branche ...

and entered service as a ''vorpostenboot'', serving with 4 ''Vorpostenflotille'' as V 427 ''Victoire''. On 10 October 1942, she was transferred to 13 ''Vorpostenflotille'' and redesignated V 1311 ''Victoire''. On 1 November 1944, she was transferred to 14 ''Vorpostenflotille'' and redesignated V 1419 ''Victoire''. In 1945, she was returned to her owners. On 19 August 1945, she became the property of Rederij Letzer,

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, Belgium.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Senator Schroder (ship) 1908 ships Ships built in Germany Steamships of Germany Fishing vessels of Germany World War I merchant ships of Germany Auxiliary ships of the Imperial German Navy Maritime incidents in 1918 Steamships of Belgium Research vessels of Belgium World War II merchant ships of Belgium Auxiliary ships of the Kriegsmarine