World War Photos

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The Königsberg is one of three Königsberg class light cruisers of the Kriegsmarine (together with the Köln and Karlsruhe). The Königsberg was built by the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven on 12 April 1926, launched on 26 March 1927 and commissioned on 17 April 1929. The crew can range from 514 to 850 men. After a series of foreign voyages in the 1930s, she participated from November 1936 until the end of January 1937 in the observation of the Spanish coast during the Spanish Civil War. The ship saw little use on the high seas and was converted after the outbreak of the Second World War as a training ship in the Baltic Sea and for mine warfare operations in the North Sea.

In April 1940, the Königsberg took part in Operation Weserübung and, like the Köln, the Bremse, the torpedo boats Wolf and Leopard, the bunker ship Carl Peters, transported troops to Bergen. She managed to repel an attack by the Norwegian destroyer Garm. But, like Bremse, it was quickly damaged by Norwegian shore batteries at Kvarven and had to stay in port while the other ships returned to Germany. The next day, fifteen British Blackburn Skua dive bombers attacked the cruiser, which was badly damaged in three places. It capsized and sank in Bergen harbour. The wreck was raised on 17 July 1942 and used as a dock for U-boats. On 22 September 1944, the Königsberg capsized a second time and was abandoned in Bergen after the war.