View source for German ship Doggerbank

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= Speybank Doggerbank.jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header         =
|Ship country        = [[United Kingdom]]
|Ship flag           = {{shipboxflag|UK|civil}}
|Ship name           = ''Speybank''
|Ship namesake       =
|Ship owner          = [[Bank Line|Andrew Weir & Co]]
|Ship operator       = [[File:Bank Line house flag.svg|15px]] [[Bank Line]]
|Ship registry       = [[Glasgow]]
|Ship identification= *UK [[official number]] 148902
*[[Code letters]] KTWS (until 1933)
*{{ICS|Kilo}}{{ICS|Tango}}{{ICS|Whiskey}}{{ICS|Sierra}}
*[[Maritime call sign|Call sign]] GLQF (1934 onward)
*{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Lima}}{{ICS|Quebec}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}
|Ship route          = 
|Ship ordered        =
|Ship awarded        =
|Ship builder        = [[Harland & Wolff]], [[Govan]]
|Ship original cost  =
|Ship yard number    = 686
|Ship way number     =
|Ship laid down      =
|Ship launched       = 25 February 1926
|Ship sponsor        =
|Ship christened     = 
|Ship completed      = 20 April 1926
|Ship maiden voyage  = 
|Ship renamed        = ''Doggerbank'', 1941
|Ship struck         =
|Ship nickname       =
|Ship honors         =
|Ship fate           = Captured, 31 January 1941
|Ship notes          =
|Ship badge          =
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header         = title
|Ship country        = [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]
|Ship flag           = {{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|naval}}
|Ship name           = ''Doggerbank''
|Ship namesake       = [[Dogger Bank]]
|Ship ordered        =
|Ship builder        =
|Ship laid down      =
|Ship acquired       =
|Ship commissioned   =
|Ship in service     = 1941
|Ship out of service =
|Ship struck         = 
|Ship renamed        =
|Ship homeport       =
|Ship motto          =
|Ship nickname       =
|Ship honours        =
|Ship fate           = Sunk by torpedoes, 3 March 1943
|Ship notes          =
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header     = 
|Ship class      = ''Inverbank''-class [[cargo ship]]
|Ship tonnage    = {{GRT|5154}}, {{NRT|3154}}
|Ship length     = {{cvt|420.3|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam       = {{cvt|53.9|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught    = {{cvt|29|ft|2|in|abbr=on|1}}
|Ship depth      = {{cvt|26.5|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship power      = 717 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]]
|Ship propulsion = *2 × 4-stroke [[diesel engine]]s
*2 × [[Propeller|screws]]
|Ship speed      = {{convert|12|kn|km/h}}
|Ship range      = 
|Ship complement = 108 (1943)
|Ship sensors    =
|Ship EW         =
|Ship armament   =
|Ship notes      =
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|}

The '''German ship ''Doggerbank'' (Schiff 53)''' was a [[United Kingdom|UK]] [[cargo ship]] that was built in [[Scotland]] in 1926, captured by the [[Kriegsmarine|German Navy]] in 1941, renamed ''Doggerbank'' and converted into an auxiliary [[minelayer]] and [[blockade runner]]. The German [[U-Boot]] [[U-43 (1939)]] sank her by mistake in 1943, leading to the deaths of all but one of her 257 passengers and 108 crew.<ref name=Uboat>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2707.html |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |title= ''Doggerbank'' |work= uboat.net |access-date= 16 May 2010}}</ref>

''Doggerbank'' was built in Scotland in 1926 as ''Speybank'', one of 18 ''Inverbank''-class [[motor ship]]s for Andrew Weir & Co's [[Bank Line]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck-search.aspx?encdaBxb4LVLbbPmLDRT9reRw== |title=Inverbank class cargo (br.) |work=Wrecksite |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref> She was the first of three Bank Line ships that were called ''Speybank''. The second was built in England in 1962 and sold in 1978.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/S-Ships/speybank1962.html |title=Speybank |work=Tyne Built Ships |publisher=Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref> The third was built in 1983 as ''Okha'', bought in 1995 and renamed ''Speybank'', and was still in service in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/bank.shtml |last1=Swiggum |first1=Susan |last2=Kohli |first2=Marjorie |title=Andrew Weir & Co. / Bank Line |work=TheShipsList |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>

==Building==
[[Harland & Wolff]] built ''Speybank'' at [[Govan]], [[Glasgow]], launching her on 25 February 1926 and completing her on 20 April that year. Her registered length was {{cvt|420.3|ft|abbr=on}},her beam was {{cvt|53.9|ft|abbr=on}} and her depth was {{cvt|26.5|ft|abbr=on}}. Her [[tonnage]]s were {{GRT|5154}} and {{NRT|3154}}. She had twin [[Propeller|screws]], each driven by a six-cylinder single-acting diesel engine. Between them the twin engines developed 717 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]]<ref name=LR30>{{cite book |year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II |place=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] of Shipping |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30b1117.pdf |via=[[Southampton City Council]] |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref> and gave her a speed of {{convert|12|kn|km/h}}.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?30842 |title= MV Doggerbank (ex-Speybank) (+1943) |work=Wrecksite.eu |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>

Andrew Weir & Co [[Ship registration|registered]] ''Speybank'' in Glasgow. Her United Kingdom [[official number]] was 148902 and her [[code letters]] were KTWS. By 1930 she was equipped for [[wireless telegraphy]],<ref name=LR30/> and in 1934 she was given the new [[Maritime call sign|call sign]] GLQF, which also superseded her code letters.<ref>{{cite book |year=1934 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II |place=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] of Shipping |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/34/34b0790.pdf |via=[[Southampton City Council]] |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>

==Capture==
On 31 January 1941 the {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Atlantis}} captured ''Speybank'' in the [[Indian Ocean]] and put aboard her a [[prize crew]] commanded by [[Kapitänleutnant|KptLt]] Paul Schneidewind. He took her to [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|German-occupied France]], reaching [[Bordeaux]] on 10 May 1941.<ref name=Uboat/>

The Kriegsmarine renamed her ''Doggerbank'' – ''Schiff 53'' (German: "Ship 53") and converted to an auxiliary [[minelayer]]. She was disguised with false name ''Levernbank'', which was another member of Bank Line's ''Inverbank'' class. She remained under Schneidewind's command.<ref name=Uboat/>

''Doggerbank'' left France in January 1942 to lay [[Naval mine|mines]] off the coast of [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]] and then to proceed to [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]. She successfully laid the mines in March and April 1942 and reached Japan later that year.

On 13 March the [[Royal Navy]] cruiser {{HMS|Durban|I99|6}} stopped ''Doggerbank''. ''Doggerbank'' identified herself as the Bank Line ship ''Levernbank'', which satisfied ''Durban'', who let her continue. The next day the Royal Navy [[Armed merchantman#Armed merchant cruisers|armed merchant cruiser]] {{HMS|Cheshire}} challenged ''Doggerbank''. ''Doggerbank'' again identified herself as a British freighter, and ''Cheshire'' let her proceed.<ref>{{harvnb|Gibson|1965|p=}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}</ref>

==Final voyage==
In Japan, ''Doggerbank'' took aboard many of the survivors of the auxiliary cruiser {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Thor||2}} and the German tanker ''[[German tanker Altmark|Uckermark]]'', the former ''Altmark'', which had been destroyed in an accident in [[Yokohama]] on 30 November 1942. When she left the Far East, ''Doggerbank'' carried a total of 365 men: her own crew of 108, plus 257 men from the other two ships. She also carried a cargo of 7,000 tons of raw materials and rubber, fats and fish oil.<ref name=Uboat/>

''Doggerbank'' travelled ''via'' [[Kobe]], [[Saigon]], [[Singapore]] and [[Jakarta]], which she left on 10 January 1943, heading back to France. In mid-Atlantic on 3 March 1943 she was travelling ahead of schedule when the U-boat {{GS|U-43|1939|2}} mistook her for a British ship "of the {{MV|Dunedin Star||2}} type". ''U-43'' fired a spread of three torpedoes, all three of which hit her. She sank within two minutes,<ref name=Uboat/> with perhaps 200 men killed instantly.{{sfn|Stilgoe|2003|p=257}}

==Aftermath==
''U-43'' saw ''Doggerbank'' launch five lifeboats, and tried to find the survivors, but failed to get close enough in the darkness.<ref name=Uboat/> ''Doggerbank'' had been unable to transmit a [[distress signal]], so the German [[Oberkommando der Marine|Naval High Command]] took days to realise she had been lost.

The eventual sole survivor of the crew of 108 and the 257 others on board, Fritz Kürt, was in ''Doggerbank'''s [[jolly boat]], together with the ship's captain, Schneidewind, a small number of other men and the ship's dog. The boat headed for the [[South America]]n coast, about three weeks' sailing away. Through suicide and accidents, the small crew was eventually reduced to two, Kürt and an old sailor by the name of Boywitt, the captain having shot himself and the ship's dog having drowned. Desperate for water and food, Boywitt drank sea water on the 19th day of their journey and died, while Kürt was too weak to even roll the dead body overboard.{{sfn|Stilgoe|2003|p=258}} Kürt was rescued on 29 March by the [[Francoist Spain|Spanish]] motor tanker ''Campoamor'', which took him to [[Aruba]].<ref name=Uboat/>

''U-43'' was sunk on 30 July 1943 without survivors.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.uboat.net/boats/u43.htm |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |title= U-43 |work= uboat.net |access-date= 16 May 2010}}</ref>

Kürt was exchanged in a prisoner-of-war swap in 1944, reported back to the German Navy, and then hid in [[Hamburg]] until the end of the war, as he was about to be arrested.{{sfn|Stilgoe|2003|p=259}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Gibson |first=Charles |year=1965 |title=The Ship with Five Names |place= |publisher=Abelard Schuman}}
* {{cite book |last=Gibson |first=Charles |year=1987 |title=Death of a Phantom Raider: The Gamble that Triumphed and Failed, Atlantic, 1942–43 |place= |publisher=Robert Hale Ltd |isbn=978-0709029472}}
* {{cite book |first= John R |last= Stilgoe |author-link= John R. Stilgoe |year=2003 |title= Lifeboat |place= |publisher= [[University of Virginia Press]] |isbn= 0-8139-2221-6}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |first= Hans |last= Herlin |author-link= Hans Herlin |year=1994 |title= The survivor: the true story of the sinking of the Doggerbank, German: ''Der letze Mann der Doggerbank'' |publisher= L. Cooper |isbn= 9780850524093 |url= https://archive.org/details/survivortruestor0000herl |url-access= registration |translator= John Brownjohn |edition= English |via=Internet Archive}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |url= https://www.navegar-es-preciso.com/news/el-doggerbank-ex-speybank-y-su-tragico-final/ |title=El "Doggerbank", ex Speybank, y su trágico final |work= Navegar es Preciso |language=es}}
* {{cite web |url= http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=5479 |title= Speybank (1926) |work=Clyde-Built Database |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060516164830/http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=5479 |url-status= usurped |archive-date= 2006-05-16}}

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{{Authority control}}
{{March 1943 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doggerbank}}
[[Category:1926 ships]]
[[Category:Friendly fire incidents of World War II]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in March 1943]]
[[Category:Ships built in Govan]]
[[Category:Ships built by Harland and Wolff]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:World War II minelayers of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]