Volksmarine

The Hiddensee

Originally commissioned by the East German People's Navy as the Rudolf Eglehofer, the Hiddensee is a Tarantul I class corvette built at the Petrovsky Shipyard, located near the Soviet city of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad). The world's only exhibited example of a Soviet-built missile corvette, Hiddensee was designed to oppose any naval threat to the East German Coast, and to fulfill this mission carried long-range STYX anti-ship missiles and an array of defensive weapons designed to ensure her own survivability.

Following the reunification of Germany, the Hiddensee served with the Federal German Navy until her decommissioning in April 1991. Shortly thereafter she was reactivated and transferred to the U.S. Navy. Joined briefly by a crew of 20 former East German sailors, a small civilian U. S. crew conducted extensive testing with the vessel at the Navy's Solomons, Maryland, facility in the Patuxnet River. After 50 underway deployments in the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia Capes areas, Navy budget cutback severely curtailed operations, but she continued on as a research vessel until April 1996.

The Hiddensee joined the Battleship Cove fleet on June 14, 1997.

The Peoples Navy

The People's Navy (Volksmarine) of the NVA had a total strength in 1987 of approximately 16,300, of whom 50 percent were conscripts. The navy comprised three flotillas, the Coastal Border Brigade, and several supporting units; the command was in Rostock-Gehlsdorf.

The naval forces were viewed as the forward contingent of the Warsaw Pact's Combined Baltic Fleet. The commander of the Soviet Baltic Fleet was also the head of this alliance of the three Warsaw Pact fleets in the Baltic. The Soviet Navy--unlike the Soviet ground and air forces in the GSFG--had no bases with personnel of its own in East Germany.

The People's Navy, which in 1987 had surface and naval aviation forces but no submarine component, performed intelligence and patrol missions in the western Baltic, antisubmarine warfare operations, minesweeping and minelaying, and amphibious landing operations. The Coastal Border Brigade patrolled the east-west border into the Baltic to secure the sea border against "those GDR citizens who turn their backs on the republic." The Border Troops maintained their own boat companies on the ninety-three kilometers of the Elbe between East Germany and West Germany and in the waterways around West Berlin. These units, although linked through their work to the People's Navy, were subordinated to the Border Troops rather than to the NVA. The boat crews wore naval uniforms and held naval ranks, but bands on their caps and sleeves identified them as Border Troops.

In early 1987, East Germany's naval forces were structured as follows: the 1st Flotilla, headquartered in Peenemünde; the 4th Flotilla, based in Rostock-Warnemünde; the 6th Flotilla, headquartered in Dranske on Rügen Island; the Coastal Border Brigade in Rostock, and one communications regiment, stationed on Rügen Island. Also subordinated to the People's Navy Command were a naval fighter regiment in Laage; a naval helicopter squadron in Parow; a combat swimmer company in Kühlungsborn; a naval engineer battalion in Stralsund; the Naval Hydrographic Service in Rostock; the Karl Liebknecht Officer School in Stralsund; the Walter Steffens Fleet School in Stralsund; the Naval Manning Division, with offices in Rostock, Stralsund, and Wolgast; a testing facility at Wolgast; the Central Military Hospital in Stralsund; at least one coastal rocket regiment, probably in Tarnewitz; the Central Supply Depot in Waren; and coastal artillery detachments

The People's Navy had bases at Peenemünde, Warnemünde, Rostock, Stralsund, Tarnewitz, and Dranske. The People's Navy and the Coastal Border Brigade also made use of berths at Darsser Ort, Greifswald, Ueckermunde, Wisborn, Kühlungsborn, and Sassnitz. According to one source, patrol vessels from the Soviet Baltic Fleet were frequently present at Sassnitz. The construction of a large rail ferry port at Mukran on Rügen Island, linking East Germany with Klaipeda in the Soviet Union, might indicate an intention to make Sassnitz into a base as well.

The approximately 131 surface combatants and 48 auxiliary craft operated by the People's Navy in 1987 were designed and built at shipyards in East Germany or in the Soviet Union. The largest were three Soviet Koni-class frigates--Rostock, Berlin, and Halle--which were commissioned in 1978, 1979, and 1986, respectively. There were also sixteen Parchimclass corvettes; fifteen OSA-I (three of which were in reserve for training and were to be replaced) and two Tarantul-I-class fast attack craft (missile); and fifteen Shershen-class and twenty-five Libelle-class fast attack craft (torpedo). The mine force included twenty-five Kondor-II-class coastal minesweepers. The amphibious capability was structured around twelve Frosch-I- class amphibious vehicle landing ships. The Coastal Border Brigade had ten Bremse guard boats and eighteen Kondor-I-class submarine chasers. In addition to the combatants, the navy operated two salvage and rescue ships; six underway replenishment ships; a training ship, the Wilhelm Pieck; thirty-nine other auxiliaries (including intelligence-collection ships, hydrographic survey ships, and cargo ships); and a large number of service craft.

The naval aviation branch was equipped with twenty Mi-8 and Mi-14/HAZE helicopters configured for antisubmarine warfare, coastal observation, and reconnaissance, and ten jet fighter-bombers.

The Coastal Border Brigade, headquartered at Rostock, accounted for approximately 2,750 of the 16,300 members of East Germany's naval forces. The brigade was organized into eight boat groups to patrol coastal waters and twelve battalions to patrol beaches and shores. The Coastal Border Brigade operated its own school.

Amphibious forces were subordinated to the 1st Flotilla, based at Peenemünde. Although the NVA did not have a naval infantry as such in 1987, the Ernst Moritz Arndt Motorized Rifle Regiment 29, stationed at Prora on Rügen Island, and the Wilhelm Florin Motorized Rifle Regiment 28, at Rostock, were trained as amphibious landing units. Both were equipped with the BTR-60PB, an eight-wheeled amphibious armored personnel carrier; both participated in amphibious training in cooperation with landing ships of the People's Navy. If the NVA were to create a force of naval infantry, these motorized rifle regiments undoubtedly would form its nucleus. In 1987 the principal shipyard supporting the People's Navy was the Peenewerft shipyard in Wolgast. Peenewerft was apparently the primary source of amphibious ships.

The People's Navy was generally rated by Western observers as professionally competent and fully capable of securing the country's Baltic seacoast. For more ambitious operations, however, the navy would be employed as part of the Combined Baltic Fleet.

Data as of July 1987

Originally commissioned by the East German People's Navy as the Rudolf Englehofer, Hiddensee was designed to oppose any naval threat to the East German Coast. To fulfill this mission, Hiddensee carried long-range STYX anti-ship missiles and an array of defensive weapons designed to ensure her own survivability.

Following the reunification of Germany, Hiddensee served with the Federal German Navy until her decommissioning in April 1991. Shortly thereafter she was reactivated and transferred to the U.S. Navy. Joined briefly by a crew of 20 former East German sailors, a small civilian U. S. crew conducted extensive testing with the vessel at the Navy's Solomons, Maryland, facility in the Patuxnet River. After 50 underway deployments in the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia Capes areas, Navy budget cutbacks severely curtailed operations, but she continued on as a research vessel until April 1996.

The only ship of her kind on display in the world, Hiddensee joined Battleship Cove, the world's largest collection of historic naval ships, on June 14, 1997.

Class: Tarantul I Class

Type: Missile Corvette

Launched: 1984

At: Petrovsky Shipyard 01714 in Leningrad, Russia

Commissioned: 1985

Length: 185 feet

Beam: 36 feet, 2 inches

Draft: 12 feet, 5 inches

Displacement: 455 tons

Armament: One AK-176 76mm gun - 120 rpm

Two AK-630 30 mm six barrel gatling guns - 4,000 rpm

Two twin STYX KT-138E missile launchers

Two PK-16 chaff launchers aft - 16 rds each

One FAM-14 Strella surface-to-air missile launcher

East German Minesweeper rams Danish Home Guard Cutter

The Naval home guard cutter MHV 94 was July 8, 1980 rammed by an East German minesweeper.

Luckily, only material damage occurred.

In the diplomatic game, the two sides in the incident was standing firmly on their story, in spite of the pictures telling the true story of the incident at Gedser.

These incidents wasn’t uncommon, during the entire duration of “The Cold War”, and already earlier that same year, a Danish minelayer and a Russian frigate had a collision.

By Leo Bram

(Translated by Jakob Dalgaard)

On July 8, 1980, the Naval Home Guard cutter MHV 94, with crewmembers from the 136th Home Guard Flotilla in Sønderborg embarked, left Lübeck, heading for the naval base at Holmen in Copenhagen.

On a south-easterly heading, south of Gedser, MHV 94 observed an East German naval vessel, a KONDOR-class Mine Sweeper.

The KONDOR-class trailed along on the starboard side of MHV 94, at a distance of 2,2 nautical miles for approximately 2 hours, then the vessel increased speed and overtook MHV 94.

On a south-easterly heading, south of Gedser, an East German naval vessel,

a KONDOR-class, was observed by MHV 94. After a while, the KONDOR-class turned port and steamed directly towards MHV 94 from a distance of a couple of miles.

The bearing didn't change

The KONDOR-Class were checked several over the compass for changes in the bearing from MHV 94, but the bearing didn’t change.

The thick black smoke, rising from the chimney, and the large wave from the bow, revealed that the KONDOR-Class had increased its speed considerably, properly 20-24 knots.

At that time, I came up on the foredeck, with my camera, and realized that a WAPA (Warsaw-pact) vessel was heading straight towards us, and would come very close to MHV 94, maybe so close that I could take some nice close-up of the ship.

Master of the vessel, Svend Elefsen, that were on duty on the bridge as navigator, realized that the KONDOR-Class came closer with high speed, and that a anti-collision-situation was imminent.

MHV 94 was on a steady course and speed, as prescribed in "International Rules of The Sea".

The KONDOR-class mine sweeper is heading straight toward the MHV 94.

On the foredeck, I began taking a series of pictures of the KONDOR-Class as is came closer and closer.

At approximately 100 meter, the KONDOR-Class changed its course a bit towards port in order to pass close to the bow of MHV 94.

Across the bow of MHV 94 and in contradiction to the rules of the sea A manoeuvre, crossing in front of another vessel are against the rules of the sea and good seamanship.When the bow of the KONDOR-Class was directly aligned with the bow of MHV 94, I took a picture.

KOMET heads directly in front of MHV 94 and a collision seems almost unavoidable.The name of the ship, KOMET, was written on the bow of the ship. KOMET was going high speed, and it directly occurred to me, that a collision was unavoidable.

I let got of my camera, so that it hanged in its strap, and grasped the railing with both hands.The long slender vessel raced in front of our bow at a distance of 5 – 10 meters.

When the bridge of the KOMET was directly aligned with the bow of MHV 94, a door on the starboard side opened, and an officer in his mid-twenties came out. For a split second, our eyes met, but no salutes or smiles were exchanged from either side. The officer then looked aft along his vessel.

As I saw it, there was the expression of surprise painted in the mans face, when he realized that a collision was unavoidable. He quickly returned to the wheelhouse where a fatal command to the helmsman was given.

The KOMETs port turn forced its stern to starboard, right into the bow of MHV 94.

Notice the bump in the plate on the starboard side of the KOMET.

The KOMET turned port and her stern swung into the bow of MHV 94.If the master had maintained his course, or had turned starboard, a collision could might be avoided, but this was not to be.

The Collision

A loud crash, and MHV 94 rolled heavily to starboard, and at the same time, it was thrown 180° to an opposite course.

The bow of MHV 94 hit the bulwark of the KOMET and it was bend inwards for 5-10 meters. The bow of MHV 94 grated along the side of the KOMET, until the two vessels were free from each other.

Not thinking about it, I raised the camera and took a picture of the KOMET from the rear, when it was heading away, high speed. This photo was displayed in Ekstra Bladet (a Danish newspaper) a couple of days later on page 2.

KOMET slowed down shortly after the crash, and lay dead in the water at a distance of 3-400 meters.

KOMET steaming full speed away from the place of the collision.

(Photo: Leo Bram)

In the collision MHV 94 received a dent and a hole in the bow, between the waterline and the free deck.The hole was adjacent to the anchor chain guard, and their was no danger of flooding.

No one onboard was hurt.

Enroute Holmen with a hole in the stern

Master Svend Elefsen contacted the duty officer at Admiral Danish Fleet headquarter via Lyngby Radio who told him not to contact KOMET, and proceed directly towards Holmen.

KOMET disappears from the collision site without further contact to MHV 94.