Scuttling the Navy August 29, 1943:
Coast Defense Ship
NIELS IUEL
On August
29th, 1943 the coast defense ship
NIELS IUEL was anchored
in Holbæk harbor.
At 0420 the ship received the order to either sink the
ship or make for Swedish waters.
NIELS IUEL left Holbæk around 0600 and
set a course for Sweden.
From 0855 till 0935 the ship was repeatedly
attacked by German aircraft south of Hundested.
No bombs hit the ship, but a number exploded close to the ship, and caused
considerable damage, and it proved impossible to continue towards Sweden.
At 1048
NIELS IUEL was beached and the sea cocks were opened. The crew
destroyed as much as possible of the ship's engines and armament was thrown
overboard.
One man lost his life onboard the
NIELS IUEL during the air attacks, and
the rest of the crew was taken prisoners on August 30th, when
German naval units reached the ship.
NIELS IUEL was later salvaged by the Germans, who used it as a
training ship under the name NORDLAND.
The Germans removed the ships main
armament, which was used for close defense of a number of German artillery
positions on the west coast of Jutland.
NIELS IUEL was heavily damaged during a air raid at Kiel on
April 1st, 1945. The ship was towed to Eckernførde, where it sank - probably
scuttled by its crew - on May 3rd, 1945.
The wreck of
NIELS IUEL is located at 59o 29,00' North -
009o 58,00' East
The wreck was sold for scrap in 1952.
-586-1984.jpg)
-ufs.jpg)
-73-1987.jpg)
-77-1987.jpg)
(Photos: Royal
Danish Naval Museum)
44Get
more details of the Coasty Defense Ship
NIELS IUEL
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