World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseGerman airline company Deutsche Luft Hansa's 8,500 gross register tons merchant vessel Schwabenland was launched at Hamburg, Germany in Mar 1925. In 1934, a K-9 aircraft catapult built by Heinkel and an aircraft crane were installed on the stern for the purpose of delivering mail by air from Europe to the Americas via United States and Brazil. Between 1938 and 1939, the German government leased the ship from Deutsche Luft Hansa for the purpose of the German Antarctic Expedition of 1938-1939. In Oct 1939, she was acquired by the German Air Force. In military service, she was equipped with BV 138 Seedrache long range reconnaissance flying boats. After the conquest of France in 1940, Schwabenland was relocated to Le Havre and Boulogne, France. In Aug 1942, she was transferred to Tromsø, Norway. In Mar 1944, while sailing with a German convoy just off Stave, Norway, she was hit by a torpedo from submarine HMS Terrapin. She was grounded to avoid sinking. She was refloated in Jun 1944 and was towed to Bergen, Norway, only to be damaged once again by the British air raid of 4 Oct 1944. In Feb 1945, she became a store ship for naval infantrymen at Sandvika, Norway. After the war, Schwabenland was taken by the British Royal Navy in Jan 1946 and was used as an accommodation ship at Sandvika. In Dec 1946, she took on 1,400 tons of poison gas ammunition and was sent to the Skagerrak to be scuttled.

Schwabenland Interactive Map

Photographs

Schwabenland Operational Timeline