Sunken German World War Two warship found off Norway
German cruiser Karlsruhe
The wreck of the German warship Karlsruhe has been discovered in deep water off Norway by a electrical power company. Interestingly, the ship was about 50 feet from an undersea power cable that had been in use for 40 years at the time of its discovery in 2017. The wreck was recently confirmed to be Karlsruhe.
The wreckage of a major German warship has been discovered off the coast of Norway some 80 years after it was sunk in a World War Two battle, Norwegian power grid operator Statnett and a maritime archaeologist said.
Identified this year from images and sonar scans of its hull and of details such as the position of gun turrets, the cruiser Karlsruhe was first detected in 2017 just 15 meters (50 feet) from a subsea power cable that has been operating since 1977.
Built in the 1920s, the ship was later fitted with a Nazi-era swastika that was also captured in subsea images taken by Statnett and its partners, and first televised by Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
The 174-metre vessel, part of the German force that invaded Norway in April 1940, was struck by a British submarine torpedo shortly after starting its return voyage from the southern Norwegian port of Kristiansand.
The ship’s crew subsequently evacuated and the vessel was finally sunk by the Germans themselves, resting upright on the seabed at a depth of 490 meters, some 13 nautical miles (24 kilometers) off the coast.
“You can find Karlsruhe’s fate in history books, but no one has known exactly where the ship sunk,” Norwegian Maritime Museum archaeologist and researcher Frode Kvaloe said.
The Apr. 9, 1940, attack marked the start of the Nazi invasion of Norway, forcing the government and the king to flee to Britain, where they were exiled until Germany’s capitulation in 1945.
Source; Reuters
Category: Historical, We Remember
I remember a guy that got into deep water in Karlsruhe back in 68.
I was surprised to find a Wallyworld just outside of Karlsruhe off Autobanh A5 back in 1999. Had to stop in and do some shopping just so I can say I shopped at a Wallyworld in Karlsruhe…
Some info about the ship – also, the CO and the XO were criticized about how they handled the torpedoing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cruiser_Karlsruhe
The Kriegsmarine took a big hit during the initial phase of the invasion of Norway in April 1940: lost a bunch of cruisers and destroyers it could ill-afford to lose. Hitler was never into the Navy, so the naval losses in Norway started him on his road to eventually dismantling the surface Navy and relying on u-boats, all helped along by the devastating loss of battleship BISMARCK, poor performance of surface forces in the Arctic, and BB TIRPITZ spending the war hiding out in Norway…
Now if I remember correctly from a program I once watched, the German navy did not have an Antiaircraft Round with a time fuze slow enough to deal with the British Biplanes that attacked thus giving them an advantage when they attacked the Bismarck. A British hit on that Battleship disabled their rudder thus making them do circles which turned them from a juggernaut to a sitting duck!
If not for that Swordfish torpedo hit on her stern, BISMARCK would have more than likely made it to German-occupied France and protected by powerful ground AAA defenses and the Luftwaffe. The fortunes of War can be fickle, for one side or the other…
Hitler…The best Naval tactician/strategist that the Allies had. He was also the best Army and Air Forces Commander the Allies had. The old proverbial “What if?”, he’d of let the Commanders of HIS Armed Forces run that war. I do believe there would have been a slightly different outcome.
Cool story. A big puff of wind hada come along when they were laying that power cable and moved the cable placing rig a bit, they’d of found that ship back in ’77.
His biggest mistake was violating the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. If he hadn’t opened a second front, the war would have been much longer. I still think we’d have out produced the Germans, but it would have taken much, much more time.
He also violated his agreement with Britain as well!
Yep, that was indeed his biggest strategic mistake. Tactically, not destroying what was left of the Brits at Dunkirk, not taking over or at least sealing off Britain itself so we couldn’t use it as a base for the Normandy Invasion, and then not letting Rommel run the Atlantic Wall Defence. Imagine if the Invasion force had of been stopped cold by his tanks on the beach.
You’re correct, the end result of his loss may have been the same, but without a 3 or 4 front war, it would have taken way way way more longer.
Unquestionably we outproduced them. I always find it a bit stunning that Rome was captured the day before D day, and on D day another invasion fleet left Hawaii bound for Saipan
Rome fell on 4 June.
Unquestionably we out produced them. I always find it a bit stunning thatRome was captured, SHORTLY BEFORE D Day and , AROUND THE SAME TIME, a second invasion fleet left Hawaii bound for Saipan
Grand Admiral Erich Raeder knew going in that the Kriegsmarine would get its ass kicked by the Royal Navy. I remember reading somewhere that when Hitler told him that he expected victories against the British, Raeder said “I can assure you that our Navy will show the world our ability to die bravely.”