Original Photo German Cruiser NURNBERG Sailors Manning the Rail Commissioning

Description

Original Photo German Cruiser NURNBERG  Sailors Manning the Rail Commissioning At Sea
6 1/2 x 4 1/4
Nürnberg was a German light cruiser of the Leipzig class built for the Kriegsmarine. She was named after the city of Nuremberg and had one sister ship, Leipzig. Nürnberg was laid down in 1934, launched in December of that year, and completed in November 1935. She was armed with a main battery of nine 15 cm (5.9 in) guns in three triple turrets and could steam at a speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph). Nürnberg was the longest-serving major warship of the Kriegsmarine, and the only one to see active service after the end of World War II, though not in a German navy.
In the late 1930s, Nürnberg took part in the non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War without major incident. After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, she was used to lay defensive minefields off the German coast. She was thereafter used to escort offensive mine-layers in the North Sea until she was torpedoed by a British submarine in December 1939. She was thereafter used as a training ship in the Baltic Sea for most of the rest of the war, apart from a short deployment to Norway from November 1942 to April 1943. In January 1945, she was assigned to mine-laying duties in the Skagerrak, but severe shortages of fuel permitted only one such operation.
After the end of the war, Nürnberg was seized by the Royal Navy and ultimately awarded to the Soviet Union as war reparations. In December 1945, a Soviet crew took over the ship, and the following month took her to Tallinn, where she was renamed Admiral Makarov. She served in the Soviet Navy, first in the 8th Fleet, then as a training cruiser based in Kronstadt. By 1960, she had been broken up for scrap.
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, Nürnberg was assigned to the blockade force that was intended to prevent the Polish Navy from escaping from the Baltic. Despite the Germans' efforts, several Polish destroyers and submarines escaped to Britain, where they continued the war. On 3 September, Nürnberg and the rest of the cruisers were withdrawn to the North Sea to lay a series of defensive minefields to protect the German coastline. She returned to the Baltic for training exercises in October. The following month, she was transferred back to the North Sea, where she was tasked with escorting destroyers laying minefields off the British coast. On 4–6 December, the ship conducted a mining operation off Kristiansand, Norway.
Nürnberg's forward gun turret in September 1940
On 13 December, while escorting a group of destroyers returning from a mine-laying operation off the British coast, the Royal Navy submarine HMS Salmon launched a spread of torpedoes at the German flotilla. Two torpedo tracks were spotted heading toward Nürnberg, and the ship turned hard to port in an attempt to evade them. One passed harmlessly ahead of the ship, but the second struck her in the bow. Nürnberg reduced speed to 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) to allow her crew to inspect the damage, when three more torpedo tracks were spotted to port. The ship immediately accelerated to full speed and turned to starboard; the torpedoes exploded in the cruiser's wake. The hit caused some minor flooding and minimal damage, but her watertight bulkheads held. The Germans spotted Salmon and briefly engaged her with Nürnberg's rearmost main battery turret, but to no effect. Nürnberg thereafter got underway at a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) and made for port. The following day, the Royal Air Force (RAF) launched an attack against Nürnberg and Leipzig which had also been damaged by Salmon. Approximately 20 Vickers Wellington bombers from No. 99 Squadron were intercepted by fighters from II. Gruppe (2nd group) of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing) under the leadership of Oberstleutnant Carl-Alfred Schumacher in the vicinity of Spiekeroog and Wangerooge. The RAF bombers failed to further damage the cruisers as JG 77 pilots claimed seven and one probable bomber shot down, including one claimed by Unteroffizier Herbert Kutscha. RAF records indicate that six bombers were lost in the attack. HMS Ursula also unsuccessfully attacked the damaged cruiser that day just before she entered the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel. After arriving in Kiel, Nürnberg went into drydock at Deutsche Werke for repairs, which lasted until April 1940.
In early June 1940, Nürnberg's commander, Kapitän zur See (KzS) Otto Klüber, was informed that the ship would not participate in Operation Juno, a sortie by the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. Instead, she was transferred to Norway, departing Kiel on 10 June under the escort of the torpedo boats Falke and Jaguar. On 12 June, the torpedo boats were sent to Stavanger for fuel, and in the meantime, Nürnberg steamed a zig-zag course at 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) to evade any submarines that might be in the area. The following day, the 2nd Minesweeper Flotilla took over her escort duty off Trondheim. On 17 June, Nürnberg reached Narvik, which was to be her base for the next month. During this period, one of her Arado Ar 196 floatplanes unsuccessfully attacked a British submarine. This was the only action the ship saw while in Norway. On 25 July, Nürnberg and several destroyers and torpedo boats escorted the damaged battleship Gneisenau, which had been torpedoed by a British submarine, from Trondheim, Norway, to Kiel. The flotilla arrived in Kiel on 28 July.
On 8 August, KzS Leo Kreisch replaced Klüber as the ship's commander. Nürnberg spent the rest of the year in the Baltic. The Italian Admiral Mavagini visited the ship while she was in Gotenhafen in September. A short refit was conducted at Deutsche Werke in October and November. On 15 February 1941, she was reclassified as a training cruiser and assigned to the Fleet Training Squadron, along with the other surviving light cruisers. These ships were tasked with training the crews for the U-boat arm, which was expanding rapidly to wage the Battle of the Atlantic. At the start of this period, many of her crewmen were themselves transferred to the U-boat fleet. After the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union in June 1941, Nürnberg was reassigned to the Baltic Fleet, which was centered on the new battleship Tirpitz. After it became clear that the Soviet Baltic Fleet did not intend to sortie, the German ships were dispersed. Nürnberg returned to her training duties for the remainder of the year. Another refit was conducted in January 1942; during this period, her aircraft equipment and aft torpedo tubes were removed, and her light anti-aircraft armament was increased. Allied air raids caused some damage, which delayed her return to service until 23 August.
Nürnberg underway in May 1945, escorted by RAF Coastal Command Liberator maritime patrol bombers
She thereafter conducted sea trials until October, after which she was deployed to Norway. On 11 November, Nürnberg left Gotenhafen, bound for Trondheim. She arrived there on 18 November, and remained there until she was transferred to Bogen Bay outside Narvik on 2 December. There, she joined the fleet in being, which was, again, centered on Tirpitz. Nürnberg saw no action during this period. On 27 April 1943, Nürnberg left Narvik for German waters via Trondheim. After arriving in Kiel on 3 May, she had her machinery overhauled. After the work was completed in late May, she was assigned to the Training Squadron in the Baltic. Frequent crew changes kept the ship at a very low state of readiness. She remained in this duty through 1944, and she saw no action. She was not assigned to the shore bombardment units that supported the retreating German Army on the Eastern Front, unlike most of the other ships of the Training Squadron.
At the start of 1945, she was assigned to mine-laying duty in the Skagerrak, and was based in Oslo, Norway. She completed only one mine-laying operation, Operation Titus, on 13 January. The forces assigned to the operation included two destroyers, two torpedo boats, and a mine-layer; Nürnberg herself carried 130 mines. Severe fuel shortages prevented any further operations. On 24 January, she steamed to Copenhagen, where she remained until the end of the war, as she had only 270 long tons (270 t) of synthetic fuel oil aboard. On 5 May 1945, she received the ceasefire order, and on 22 May, the British cruisers HMS Devonshire and HMS Dido arrived to take over Nürnberg.