The only thing they did over the years was to remove the anchors (they are at a museum) and the ship's bell (brought it to a german naval museum). The fortress's resistance blocked the route to … Wreck of WW2 Italian destroyer found under the Mediterranean Sea waters, Awesome Drone Footage: P-40 fighter aircraft lifted from the bottom of Kerch Strait - It Was Part of Lend-Lease Agreement, Yes! As Anderssen had overestimated the speed of his target slightly, the first torpedo hit near Blücher's forward turret (nicknamed "Anton"), creating only inconsequential damage. [23] The aim was corrected for the second torpedo launch and the torpedo struck Blücher amidships, hitting the same general area as the first 28 cm shell. 9th of April 1940. Blücher's fire-fighting system was also knocked out by shell fragments from the two Norwegian batteries, making attempts to control the fires aboard the ship and rescue the many wounded much more difficult. During the battle, another burning ship was spotted in the distance from Oscarsborg, leading the Norwegian defenders to believe they had sunk another German warship in addition to Blücher. As built, the ship had a straight stem, though after her launch this was replaced with a clipper bow increasing the overall length to 205.9 meters (676 ft).A raked funnel cap was also installed. All rights reserved. The oil rapidly caught fire, killing hundreds more Germans. At this point, however, Blücher entered the sights of Kommandørkaptein Anderssen as she slid past the torpedo battery at a range of only 500 m (550 yd). The bulkheads on that deck were blown out and the burning oil developed into an intense fire. One of the 15 cm rounds from Kopås disabled Blücher's steering gear and forced the cruiser's crew to steer her using the engines to avoid running aground. The heavy cruiser Blücher would sail into the Oslo harbor, turn its cannons against the royal palace, and Norway would surrender. Lützow was assigned to Group 5, alongside the new heavy cruiser Blücher and the light cruiser Emden under the command of Konteradmiral Oskar Kummetz. [2], While the main combat station for the Main Battery and the commander of Oscarsborg fortress was on the island Håøya north-west of South Kaholmen, due to the special circumstances in 1940, Oberst Eriksen took position in the backup station on the eastern flank of the main battery at South Kaholmen.[18]. Tamelander, Michael & Zetterling, Niklas: "Besøket på Oscarsborg festning lørdag 2 september", Oscarsborg Fortress Museum official website, Oscarsborg Museum – history of the fortress, Norwegian Armed Forces website page about the fortress, 50 year anniversary Aftenposten newspaper article on the invasion of Norway, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Drøbak_Sound&oldid=998625963, Battles and operations of World War II involving Norway, Battles of World War II involving Germany, Articles with Norwegian-language sources (no), Articles with dead external links from June 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with German-language sources (de), Articles containing Norwegian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 6 January 2021, at 07:51. [7], Obergefreiter Günther Morgalla—who survived the sinking—later said that, swimming toward his shivering crew mates onshore, he heard someone defiantly singing the Deutschlandlied followed by "Das kann doch einen Seemann nicht erschüttern." Blücher was the second of five Admiral Hipper -class heavy cruisers of Nazi Germany 's Kriegsmarine, built after the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles. 14.08.2014 - German cruiser Blücher in the Oslo fjord, April 9, 1940 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stay safe and healthy. U-637 U-boat Wreck Discovery by Famous Shipwrecks Hunter, Amazing discovery! [24] Although the main building at the battery caught fire, the Norwegians suffered no casualties. The second 28 cm shell also knocked out the electricity central for the ship's main guns, rendering them unable to return fire. Article 190 limited new cruiser designs to 6,000 long tons (6,100 t) and prohibited new construction until the vessel to be replaced was at least twenty years old. The fortress was surrendered intact on the morning of 10 April. The shelling lasted only for five to seven minutes. She was built as a response to what German intelligence at the time believed were the specifications of... SMS Blücher was the last armored cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine. On board Blücher were troops specially designated to capture the King, the Norwegian cabinet, the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) and the national gold reserve; the delay made it possible for all these to escape. After a break in the attacks from 12:00 to 13:30, during which time Lützow bombarded Hovedøya,[1] the Luftwaffe bombers returned at 13:30 and soon strafed the remaining Norwegian anti-aircraft guns, forcing the crew to seek shelter in the nearby forest at around 14:00. WW2live is a division of Yourwhislist E-commerce, S.L. The first 28 cm shell hit Blücher right in front of the aft mast,[19] and set the midship area up to the fore mast on fire. [16] Colonel Eriksen later explained his decision by alluding to the fact that the German naval force already had forced their way past the Oslofjord Fortress' forts and had received both warning shots and live rounds from these more outlying coastal fortifications. The Scharnhorst, an armoured battle-cruiser … [22] The second 28 cm round hit the base of the forward 20.3 cm (8.0 in) gun turret shortly thereafter, throwing large parts of it into the fjord and igniting further fires on board. It marked the end of the "Phoney War" and the beginning of World War II in Western Europe. [1][11][12] Brummer was indeed lost in connection with the invasion, but only when she was on her way back to Germany on 14 April, when she was torpedoed by the Royal Navy submarine HMS Sterlet and sank the next day. The invasion included a planned landing of 1,000 troops transported by ship to Oslo. And they pumped the remaining fuel out for saving the marine-enviroment reasons. Dreaded V1 Flying Bomb Flyes Again! [25][26][28][29][30] Later, at 04:35, Oberst Eriksen received a message from the Norwegian minesweeper HNoMS Otra confirming that the intruding ships were German. As an unidentified flotilla started forcing its way past the outer fortifications in the south of the Oslofjord, late at night on 8 April, Oberst Eriksen called Anderssen in and had him come down to the fortress. [25][26][27] Only at this point did it become clear to the men of the fortress whom they were fighting. [40][41] Many of the German wounded were initially taken to Åsgården summer hotel in Åsgårdstrand for medical care, where Norwegian wounded had already been brought. The Germans, on the other hand, lost a powerful heavy cruiser, 650-800 dead, approximately 50 wounded, and around 1000 were taken prisoner. According to the report, a major concern is a typhoon damaging the wreck and facilitating a … She sank after an heroic and epic fight against Beatty's own ships at the battle of the Dogger Bank in January 1915. The fjord was the scene of a key event in the German invasion of Norway in 1940. [17] The battery had three torpedo tunnels which could fire six torpedoes without reloading and a total of nine torpedoes were stored and ready for use. The occupation forces would then take care of the rest. The heavy cruiser Blücher would sail into the Oslo harbor, turn its cannons against the royal palace, and Norway would surrender. The hilariously parodical scenes which follow include the monsters encounter with a lonely, blind hermit (Gene Hackman) who befriends him, spill… The reality, however, was that the burning ship was the 107 long tons (109 t) Norwegian cargo cutter Sørland that had stumbled into the battle while on her way from Moss to Oslo with a cargo of paper. The whole of Oslo’s sea-traffic goes through, both freight ships and passenger ship to England. None of the prisoners were interrogated. [25] As Kommandørkaptein Anderssen pushed the firing mechanism button for the torpedoes, at approximately 04:30, the weapons turned out to work perfectly; first one and then another torpedo raced out of their underwater exit tunnels at 3 m (9.8 ft) below the surface toward the burning warship. After firing, the two other tubes were reloaded and readied for the next target. The Husvik battery had to be abandoned when Blücher passed in front of it and fired her light AA guns directly down into the positions. [2] The ship was intended for long-range overseas service, so the designers placed emphasis on a large cruising radius and capaciou… Mar 4, 2017 - German heavy cruiser "Blücher", in Oslo Fjord, Norway, on April 9th, 1940, early in the morning As the force made good its escape, the fortress managed to damage Lützow, the 15 cm guns of the Kopås battery scoring three hits and knocking out the ship's forward 28 cm turret ("Anton"). The guardsmen were supposed to take all the Germans prisoner, but mainly focused on caring for the many wounded and dying. Initially, four machine guns on the roof of the Main Battery also returned fire, but these had to be abandoned early on. [31], The return fire from Blücher was ineffective, with the light artillery mostly pointing too high and the main batteries, 20.3 cm guns, unable to fire due to the damage caused by the second 28 cm round from Oscarsborg's Main Battery. [23] This caused catastrophic damage to the cruiser and blew open many of her bulkheads, allowing water to flood her decks while she was burning furiously. It marked the end of the "Phoney War" and the beginning of World War II in Western Europe. [47], Although the German naval attack on Oslo had been thwarted by the actions of Oscarsborg, the city was seized later that day by forces that were airlifted into Fornebu Airport. "[20] Two rounds from the 28 cm (11.0 in) Krupp guns Moses and Aron engaged the German cruiser Blücher at 1,800 m (2,000 yd) range. The Kriegsmarine's newest ship at the outbreak of World War II, having been in commission for just over six months, she was sunk by Norwegian shore defences at the Battle of Drøbak Sound on April 9, 1940, the first day of the invasion of Norway (Operation Weserübung). [19] Upon giving the command, Eriksen was questioned. The German Kriegsmarine, Blücher Operational History, Heavy Cruiser, Blücher, Schwerer Kreuzer 1939-1940, Admiral Hipper class A German fleet led by the cruiser Blücher was dispatched up the Oslofjord to begin the German invasion of Norway, with the objective of seizing the Norwegian capital of Oslo and capturing King Haakon VII and his government. Design work on the first new light cruiser, ordered as "Ersatz Niobe", began in 1921. According to Article 181 of the Treaty of Versailles, the treaty that ended World War I, the German Navy was permitted only six light cruisers. The invasion included a planned landing of 1,000 troops transported by ship to Oslo. [42], By the time Blücher sank, the remaining naval force destined for Oslo had long since turned around and retreated back down the fjord. Norwegian shore batteries sink the Blucher From a range of approximately 1800 metres the two 11inch (28cm) shells from the Krupps guns that were capable of firing caused massive damage to the Blucher. Due to this the Blücher is only dived a few times a year. [19] There was no time to reload; there was not even time to fire the third gun, Josva, which was loaded but unmanned. In addition to the depth the vessel is turned upside-down, and strong tides make diving possible only at specific times. She was hit by shells from 15km distance and capsized near Doggersbank. However, unbeknownst to German military intelligence, the fortress' most powerful weapon was a torpedo battery, which would be used to great effect against the German invaders.[14]. Due to this, the retired Kommandørkaptein (Commander Senior Grade) Andreas Anderssen, who lived in nearby Drøbak, had been assigned as temporary commander for the battery. [23] There was only time for the Main Battery to fire these two rounds, due to their slow reload time with only 30 untrained recruits manning them at the time. He responded with his now famous response; "Either I will be decorated or I will be court martialled, Fire! The Blücher was the last and arguably the best German armoured cruiser, armed like the new Nassau dreadnoughts. VHF-radio and a skilled and experienced surface-crew is a must. The Blücher was a German Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser. Colonel Eriksen, Commander of the Oscarsborg fortress near Drøbak, mainly maintained for historical purposes, sank the German heavy cruiser Blücher in the Drøbak narrows. Colonel Eriksen, Commander of the Oscarsborg fortress near Drøbak, mainly maintained for historical purposes, sank the German heavy cruiser Blücher in the Drøbak narrows. For some time after the battle, the belief was that Oscarsborg had sunk the artillery training ship Brummer. Engelbrecht and Kummetz then made their way to Oslo. Thus, the Norwegian government was able to continue the defence of Norway until it had evacuated to exile in the United Kingdom on 7 June, with the Norwegian Army laying down their arms on 10 June. In one of the more peculiar battles of the war, a hundred year old fortification, manned by raw recruits and pensioners and armed with 40- to 50-year-old weaponry of German and Austro-Hungarian manufacture, had destroyed a ship so new, its crew was still finishing training. The loss of the German flagship, which carried most of the troops and Gestapo agents intended to occupy Oslo, delayed the German occupation long enough for King Haakon VII and his government to escape from the capital. Article 190 limited new cruiser designs to 6,000 long tons (6,100 t) and prohibited new construction until the vessel to be replaced was at least twenty years old. Named for Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, the Prussian victor of the Battle of Waterloo, the ship was laid down in August 1936 and launched in June 1937. The occupation forces would then take care of the rest. [1], One of the two 40 mm guns became unserviceable after only 22 rounds; the other gun kept firing until 12:00, but to little effect. Even though it and the country were ultimately captured and occupied, the effects of delaying the German advance were immediate and considerable. But she, like many other ships in history, was created and born in an era where she was vunerable to … The Blucher lies in 92m depth in the Oslo-fjord and is due to prevailing conditions a very demanding dive. The ship was launched on 8 June 1937, and was completed slightly over two years later, on 20 September 1939, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet. The hotel was the temporary improvised location for the Royal Norwegian Navy Hospital, which had been evacuated from Horten at midnight on 8 April. The flawless waterline hull has extensive superstructure detail cast in situ, as well as anchors, chains, and rolled-up torpedo nets. The Battle of Drøbak Sound took place in Drøbak Sound, the northernmost part of the outer Oslofjord in southern Norway, on 9 April 1940. She was the only ship of her class and was the first large warship built in Germany after the end of World War I.She was built at the Reichsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven; her keel was laid down in December 1921 and her completed hull was launched in January 1925. Enter a comma separated list of user names. SMS Blücher (wreck) SMS Blücher (wreck) SMS Blücher was the last armored cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine. [39] The leading German officers reached Oslo at 22:00, moving into the Hotel Continental, though without most of the troops intended to occupy the capital. Group 5 was tasked with capturing Oslo, the capital of Norway, and transported a force of … The wreck was originally discovered by sonar by Statnett, a power company inspecting under water lines, back in 2017. [1,621 × 1,137] After passing the line of fire of the fortress' gun batteries, the cruiser was burning and severely damaged, but her captain still hoped he would be able to save his ship. The fjord was the scene of a key event in the German invasion of Norway in 1940. The WSW 1:700th SMS Blucher is typical of the high quality we’ve come to expect from this German producer. The kit depicts Blucher subsequent to the fitting of a tripod foremast in 1913, the first German warship to be so fitted. Blücher was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel. The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust is pleased to announce that the wreck of SMS Scharnhorst has been located off the Falkland Islands. [27] After pulling out of range of the fortress guns, Lützow employed her remaining turret "Bruno" to bombard the defenders from a range of 9–10 km (4.9–5.4 nmi; 5.6–6.2 mi) down the fjord. The German navies of the 1920s through 1945—the Reichsmarine and later Kriegsmarine—built or planned a series of heavy cruisers starting in the late 1920s, initially classified as Panzerschiffe (armored ships). [33] The retired torpedoes the officer was aiming at the cruiser were 40-year-old Whitehead torpedo weapons of Austro-Hungarian manufacture. The two Norwegian guns had been loaded with live, 255 kg (562 lb) high-explosive shells;[21] firing them "in anger" was a violation of the pre-war Norwegian rules of engagement which dictated warning shots be fired first, as had been the case at Oslofjord Fortress further down the fjord. According to Article 181 of the Treaty of Versailles, the treaty that ended World War I, the German Navy was permitted only six light cruisers. Don't Miss. Sørland sank with two of her six-man crew near the village of Skiphelle in Drøbak, as the first civilian Norwegian ship lost during the invasion. [27] The message had been sent to the naval base in Horten at 04:10, but the massive communications problems that severely hampered the efforts of the Norwegian military throughout the Norwegian Campaign had prevented it from reaching Oscarsborg in time. ("That cannot shake a sailor"). [23], While fire raged aboard Blücher, the secondary Norwegian coastal batteries fired at her with guns ranging in calibre from the two small 57 mm (2.24 in) pieces at Husvik, intended to protect the fortress' missing mine barrier, to the three 15 cm (5.9 in) guns of the Kopås Battery on the eastern side of the fjord. [9] After the ship had disappeared from the surface, large quantities of oil floated up and covered the close to two thousand sailors and soldiers fighting for their lives in the freezing water. At 04:21 on 9 April, Eriksen gave the Main Battery guns the order to fire at the lead ship of the unknown flotilla forcing its way towards Oslo. Her keel was laid on 15 August 1936, under construction number 246. Hitler’s plan for conquering Norway was simple. German transport planes flying through Oslofjord; The Norwegian victory was short lived as, unbeknown to Eriksen, the Blücher was only the first step in the invasion. SMS Seydlitz was a battlecruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), built in Hamburg. [37], In all, 650–800 Germans died,[9] and 550 of the approximately 1,400 wet and cold survivors of Blücher were captured by soldiers from Company no. He was well aware that Norway was officially neutral, but that the government was inclined to side with the British in case of direct Norwegian involvement in the war. Blücher's torpedoes were fired against land to avoid them exploding in the uncontrolled fires aboard. Kummetz flew his flag in Blücher. The remaining ships turned around and landed the German invasion forces out of range of Oscarsborg. The planned coup against Oslo to force the surrender of the Norwegian government was replaced by a land advance up the Oslofjord.[43]. [1] Design work on the first new light cruiser, ordered as "Ersatz Niobe", began in 1921. Seeing the geysers of water from underwater explosions on Blücher, and unaware of the torpedo battery, the commander of the heavy cruiser Lützow (the recently renamed 'pocket battleship' Deutschland) assumed the flagship had hit mines and at 04:40 the decision was made for the flotilla to turn back and land the invasion forces out of range of the Oscarsborg batteries. The battle is depicted in the 2016 feature film The King's Choice. Emden was a light cruiser built for the German Reichsmarine in the early 1920s. Sten Stockmann - www.advanceddivermagazine.com | Snekker Anders (Youtube) | Esben Johannsen (Youtube) | Wouter Groenewegen (Youtube) - Northsea Explorers (Vimeo) - Stig Fredrik Johansson (Vimeo) - Stig Fredrik Johansson (Vimeo). German Heavy Cruiser Blücher Wreckage Site and Diving (five videos) Hitler’s plan for conquering Norway was simple. In one famous incident the German battle cruiser Blücher … In light of the fall of the capital, and with news of German landings at the village of Son south of Drøbak,[46] Colonel Eriksen decided that further fighting without adequate infantry support was in vain, and agreed to a ceasefire in the evening of 9 April. [48], The garrison at the main battery and at Håøya were treated separately by the Germans from those captured from the mainland batteries, and were released a week after the battle. The fortress' armaments worked flawlessly despite their age, sinking the Blücher in the sound and forcing the German fleet to fall back. By this point, Blücher was doomed. 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[16] When Anderssen had been called back into duty a month previously, he had been a pensioner for 13 years, having originally retired from his post as commander of the torpedo battery in 1927. German cruiser Blücher sinking in the Oslofjord, originally spearheading the capture of the Norwegian capital and Royal Family. Estimated Wreckposition of German Heavy Cruiser Blücher. [34] The crew's struggle ended when, at 05:30,[34] fires reached a midship ammunition hold for the 10.5 cm (4.13 in) Flak guns, blowing a large gap in the ship's side. In addition Norway’s gold reserves were moved out of reach of the invaders and ultimately shipped to the Allies for Norway’s use during the war. [34][35][36] The magazine blast ruptured the bulkheads between the boiler rooms and tore open the cruiser's fuel bunkers, igniting further fires. With all engines knocked out by the second torpedo hit, the cruiser anchored near the Askholmene islets just north and out of the arc of fire of the fort's guns to try to fight the ferocious fires raging throughout the vessel. [24], As the now crippled Blücher passed the fortress guns, a sudden outburst of voices from the burning cruiser could be heard above the battle noises; Norwegian sources state that the crew broke into singing Deutschland, Deutschland über alles. Blucher as an armoured cruiser was very good, with excellent main guns, healthy secondaries, good armouring as well as compartmenting and a very good speed. The larger guns wrought havoc on board Blücher, while the 57 mm guns concentrated on the cruiser's superstructure and the anti-aircraft weapons,[24] and were partially successful in suppressing the fire from her light artillery as Blücher slowly sailed past the fortress. The map created by people like you! 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