2/1/1939 A.G. Weser Werft, Commissioning Pier
“Ship 35” put into commission. In this shot we see the vessel shortly after the commissioning ceremony the 400 man crew has been dismissed and are now preparing for departure.
After many months of work ( and frustration at my end) the Kriegsmarine’s first Hilfskreuzer is put into commission. She began her life in 1935 as the DDG Hansa Line freighter “Weserfels” 7,700 grt part of the Ehrenfels Class of motorships. She sailed the East-Asia Line (Hamburg-Calcutta) 4 times before being requisitioned in Hamburg on 19.November. 1937 at 08:00 hrs. by a commission of officers and technicians from the Kriegsmarine/A.G. Weser Werft she was placed under the temporary command of Kplt Jürgen Krebs he took the freighter to the Port of Bremen where the “Weserfels” remained for 1 month at the Naval Personnel Office a 31 year old officer walked in, his name was KKpt.z.S Hans Felix Hartmann currently serving as Kommandant of the Minesweeper M8. After all the necessary paperwork and fuss of bureaucracy Hartmann took a train from Kiel to Bremen and began searching for his “raider” he eventually found it tied alongside an empty Pier he took command at once and sent for tugs to tow the vessel into the A.G. Weser Werft’s dry docks work took place from 18.December.1937-8.June.1938 here she was turned inside out, lengthened and armed. During this time Hartmann began assembling his crew starting with officers he demanded the best afterwards he exhausted the rosters for petty officers and ratings and 3 months later he had his 441 man crew assembled.
Ship 35 was a formidable raider, armed with 10 x 15cm L/45 taken from the old battleships Hessen (6)and Schleswig-Holstein(4) along with smaller cannons, flak guns, 25 torpedoes, 500 EMC mines, 1 Leichte Schnellboote, and 5 Arado At 196 aircraft she would sail from the Arctic to the Antarctic and from the coasts of Africa to the shores of the Galapagos. She could cruise for 250 days her bunkers could hold (5.100 cbm3 of diesel fuel, 3.300 t of water, and 1.800 t of coal) and she had a range (10 knots) 110,000 km.
Soon “Ship 35” will sail for Bremerhaven later to Kiel for final provisioning and loading before setting sail on her training cruise.
