World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseBremse was commissioned into service in 1932 as an artillery training ship with a secondary function as a test bed for new marine diesel engines. She was initially attached to the artillery training school at Kiel, Germany. Later in the year, she had her mast shortened to improve stability, and her artillery director was removed. Her first commanding officer was Fanger (Jul 1932-Mar 1933), followed by Liebetanz (Mar 1933-Sep 1934), Tobye (Sep 1934-Sep 1935), Matthies (Sep 1935-Sep 1936), Goetze (first term, Sep 1936-Nov 1937), Dominik (first term, Nov 1937-Jun 1938), Goetze (second term, Jun 1938-Oct 1938), Dominik (second term, Oct 1938). When the European War began in Sep 1939, she was under the command of Förschner (Oct 1938-Dec 1940). In the fall of 1939, she briefly escorted troop transports in the Baltic Sea before returning to Kiel to serve her previous role with training. In Apr 1940, during the Norwegian invasion, she was shelled by coastal artillery at Bergen and sustained two direct hits; she was later repaired at Stavanger, Norway further down the coast. In Dec 1940, Jacobs was named her commanding officer. In Jun 1941, she returned to Kiel, where Brosy-Steinberg was named her new commanding officer, and she was assigned to escort duties. On 6 Sep 1941, she was escorting troop transports Trautenfels and Barcelona in Hammerfjord in northern Norway when the convoy was discovered by the British. She successfully drew fire away from the troop transports, but British cruiser HMS Nigeria was able to ram the gunfire-damaged Bremse, sinking her in two pieces at 0130 hours. 160 were lost in her sinking.

Bremse Interactive Map

Photographs

Bremse Operational Timeline