IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: CUXHAVEN

By: Dreadnought & AP

 

 

Chapter 55:

 

THE PHOTO TOUR

11

 

 

THE INNER BASIN

Most large harbors have something similar to an “Inner Basin” – especially in military/naval anchorages. This is a designated area where difficult or lengthy tasks are performed. These tasks could include repairs to a ship’s hull in a dry dock, or a simple bottom cleaning and painting job, also requiring a dry dock. Installation of new weapons systems – guns, or perhaps, fire control devices. Capital ships were constantly undergoing repairs to the engine condensers and replacement of the water tubes in their boilers. Even modernization of older warships can be a quite lengthy process. And, in addition to the regular “refit” and repair cycles of warships – construction slips were frequently found in the secluded Inner Basin. Since Cuxhaven was only a small harbor with limited facilities, only one permanent dry dock had been built for quick repair jobs or hull cleaning and, of course, there were no construction slips.

 

 

In this overview, moving counter-clockwise from the Repair Docks, there is an Inner Basin tug station, with a minesweeping station just below that. And around the corner from the Minesweepers we have the large Munitions Pier. In the center bottom of the Basin is the single Dry Dock, with berths for two destroyer flotillas to the right.

 

The Inner Basin tug station is one among many, but you may notice that each one is unique – either in composition or layout. Tug stations are a necessary working element of every harbor in the world – but they rarely get first crack at the “prime real estate”. All of the basic components should be familiar to you by now, but the layout has been improvised to fit the available space. The station can accommodate eight tugs at the piers, with berths for six more along the seawall.

 

 

Since this is the only tug station inside the Inner Basin, it was imperative to have enough tugboats to handle the traffic to the Repair Docks, the Munitions Dock, and the tricky entrance and exit of the Dry Dock. The two white harbor steam tugs were gifted by “WolfZe”, while all the remaining tugboats are the impeccable work of @AP.

 

 

The tug station from another angle. This gives you an excellent view of the basic layout of the station. The “Somy Tugboat Piers” are modified 2x1 lots with the overhanging pier props, the Quonset Hut is a custom-made 1x2, and the “control tower” is a 1x2 lot borrowed from the old Maxis Airports. The remainder of the base is composed of custom-lotted 1x1 modular pieces.

 

 

This is a close-up of the details worked into the tiny tugboats. Researched for authenticity, the tugs are magnificent models of what every good tugboat should look like. These models would be useful in any harbor scene up through the 1960’s – and most especially in industrial scenes around oil refineries or bulk terminals for coal or grain. Top to bottom – Midgard, Thor, Passat, and Nordwind. (The models are available in “AP’s” Historic Harbors 1900 Series – Volumes 14 and 16).

 

 

Simce I needed berthing space for additional tugs, I opted for “parking space” along the diagonal seawall which, otherwise, would have been useless space. I modified a diagonal section of the “NBVC Marina Seawalls” and double-nested the tugs on the new lot. The NBVC seawalls take a bit of “tinkering” to get the correct distance and height for the tug models, but the results are quite flexible and well worth the effort. Left to right, the diagonal models are – Passat, Odin, and Asgard – and are also available in the above mentioned prop packs. “AP” has gone to great lengths to try and provide as many diagonal models as possible – the “diagonals” provide more flexibility, authenticity for your harbors, and will greatly enhance your “grid-busting” efforts.

 

MINE WARFARE

Floating mines had been around since the 14^th Century -- believed to have been introduced by Imperial China during the Ming Dynasty. But science and technology was unable to live up to the potential of an unmanned, floating, explosive device until some 500 years later. Explosive naval mines were “toyed” with during the Napoleonic Wars, and the Crimean War of 1854 actually produced some positive results. But it was not until the American Civil War (1861-1865) that floating mines (or “torpedoes”) became effective enough to sink warships with any degree of regularity. Over the centuries, every conceivable type of water-borne explosive device was tried. Some naval mines were “floating” -- either on the surface or just below the water – while others were placed on the seabed in water just deep enough for large ships. Some were detonated by a burning fuse, some by a clockwork mechanism connected to the workings of a flintlock weapon, and still others were detonated by an electric charge sent through an underwater cable from a storage battery ashore. It was not until the late Victorian Era that “contact” detonators (Hertz Horns) became practical.

 

By 1904, the floating mine remained largely unproven in battle – but the Russo-Japanese War changed all that. Several ships on both sides were damaged by mines at one point or another during the brief conflict, but the Russians lost one battleship to mines, while the Japanese lost two of their six battleships, four cruisers, two destroyers, and a torpedo boat. The Russians may have started out with little experience in “offensive mining”, but they learned quickly. When war crept across Europe in 1914, the lessons of the Russo-Japanese naval conflict had been studied, digested, and transformed into military doctrine. Both Britain and Germany understood the concepts of “offensive” and “defensive” minefields; “offensive” mines were laid off enemy harbors and along their sealanes where ships could be sunk, while “defensive” mines were laid to protect one’s own harbors and sealanes against enemy intrusions.

 

This seemingly simple and straightforward “mission statement” resulted in active mine warfare in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and especially in the North Sea. Quite literally “millions” of mines were laid in hundreds of minefields scattered “willynilly” across the North Sea. Eventually, as protection against German submarines, the British laid massive mine barriers from Scapa Flow to Norway to close the north end of the North Sea, while an equally dense mine barrier closed the English Channel. Whether or not these millions of mines were actually effective has been debated for the last hundred-plus years, but the immediate problem in 1914 was how to remove enemy mines from your “sea space” to allow your own shipping and battle fleet to function. The answer to the problem was the creation of entire fleets of hundreds of small craft – “minesweepers” – to keep lanes “swept” and clear of mines to allow deployment of the battle fleets. And thus was born the concept of the “minesweeper”.

 

 

This is Cuxhaven’s minesweeper station. You will notice it is larger than the usual tugboat station. The minesweepers are somewhat larger than the seagoing Passat Class tugs, and I wanted at least six vessels to represent a minesweeping force – so I had to add at least one more pier to the arrangement. In reality, the six large, deep-sea tugs would have been used as “flotilla leaders”, backed-up by 30 or 40 smaller vessels. The smaller vessels would have been deployed to either beam of the “leader” in one long line – or possibly two lines – one following the other.

 

 

The British had a small force of purpose-built minesweepers in 1914, but they very quickly realized they did not have enough sweep vessels to deal with German mining activity. Every sort of small craft capable of deep water work was pressed into service – privately owned motor launches, river steamers, small English Channel packet steamers, and a bewildering variety of fishing vessels. (Eventually, a militarized version of the standard English fishing trawler was settled upon and built in mass quantities.) By the time I hit on the idea of including minesweepers in the CJ, it was too late to redesign the harbor to accommodate 40 or 50 minesweepers – so I settled on six vessels.

 

 

The piers and steel sheds were modified and re-lotted from “Somy’s Japanese Tugs”. The pier is actually an overhanging prop, which makes it easy to “plop” any tugboat alongside. The Quonset Huts are from the “SNM Naval Series”, and are being used as one administrative office and two workshops. The barracks building is re-purposed from Mattb325’s “UC Sydney” lot, and is provided for the civilian crews contracted to operate the minesweepers under the direct supervision of a naval officer.

 

 

The expanded size of the station and different layout would have been impossible if my tug stations had been modeled in a single, standardized lot. But the use of custom-made 1x1 and 1x2 modular lots provide a range of “mini-scenes” that can be used over and over in a variety of different situations – and they can be worked into whatever space you have available.

 

I chose a model of the French steam tug Goliath (coutyesy of @Barroco Hispano) for use as a minesweeper “flotilla leader” because of its particular characteristics and historical background. Launched in 1903 from the Penhoet shipyard in Saint Nazaire, Goliath was a 1,200 ton ocean-going steam tug. She was approximately 160 feet in length, with 1,400-ihp triple-expansion engines capable of 13 knots. During the 1915 Allied attack on the Dardanelles, Goliath formed part of the support forces and actually doubled as a part-time minesweeper. Goliath, courtesy of “Barroco Hispano” is a superbly detailed model and a joy to behold. She has a small raised forecastle deck designed to reduce the amount of water taken over the bow in rough seas. Larger and more powerful than the average tug of her day, Goliath was used for ocean-going work as well as for heavy hauling. Conversion to minesweeping duties was relatively quick and easy. Minesweepers had heavy wire cables (called “paravanes”) permanently attached to the fore-foot for sweeping operations. The cables would be paid-out on either beam and a “Paravane Kite” was attached at the end, then lowered into the water. The “kite” is that greenish object on the aft deck, shaped like a torpedo with wings. As the sweeper gathered speed, the kite would glide below the surface at a designated depth and pull the cables out until they formed a large inverted “V” to either side of the sweeper. The paravane cables would cut the anchor cables on the mines, which then floated to the surface and were destroyed by rifle fire. Primitive, but effective.

 

 

To the right of the Minesweeper Station, you see another “lighter basin”. Sometimes a lighter basin came about by accident – simply an empty spot off to one side where lighters could be “parked” to get them out of the way. You can see the crowded nature of the area – with the lighters squeezed in around the minesweepers. Occasionally a harbor was laid out with areas designated for lighter storage, but harbor space was usually scarce.

 

 

As lighters collected in the basin, the Harbor Master ordered the installation of a few mooring dolphins to control the clutter, but it was not successful. The lighters in the center have simply been roped to one another and tied off on other lighters. Other lighters have been squeezed in at odd angles, and even an improvised floating crane for light cargo work has been left along the seawall. This shot provides an excellent look at the detail and texturing “AP” has built into each of these tiny gems.

 

 

In this view, the harbor tug Odin has put a small boat in the water and they are hauling a tow line from the tug to the two large lighters on the left. The tug will eventually hook-up all four of the lighters and move them to the Munitions Dock. The four lighters are carrying “bagged powder charges”. We tried to make the bagged charges appear circular –as they are in real life -- but several attempts turned out unsatisfactory due to the small scale of the objects. So we settled on this arrangement. In the event of a minor accident, there are crewmen on each barge to see to the safety of the explosive cargo. (Of course, “no smoking” is permitted.)

 

 

These little beauties are Esmeralda Class steam paddle tugs moored to “barrel buoys”. Steam Paddle tugs were used all over the world from the early Victorian Era right through to the mid-1950’s (and some even longer). Though not as powerful as more modern tugs, they were cheap to build and operate, carried small crews, and were the real workhorses of any harbor. If cargo lighters or sailing vessels needed to be moved, the ”paddlers” were the first choice. Thoroughly researched for authenticity, they were based on a WW I era English working tug. (See previous chapters for details.) The level of detail for these small vessels is simply magnificent. Each tug was plopped as a separate lot, as were the barrel buoys. The buoy lots were specifically designed to be plopped in front of any ship as desired. (The paddle tug props are available in AP’s “Historic Harbors 1900” series – Volume 12.)

 

 

In Cuxhaven, the main Munitions Complex is set up with a connection to the main rail line and to the munitions distribution docks. Munitions can be brought to the storage bunkers either by rail or by sea, and are trans-shipped to the Munitions Docks for distribution. This is an overview of the distributions quays. Left to right you have the Italian heavy cruiser RM Zara, the US destroyer Clemson, and the battlecruiser KM Scharnhorst. You will note the rail line behind the quays has been arranged so that all three replenishment points can be accessed at the same time without traffic jams.

 

 

This very fine model of Scharnhorst is provided courtesy of @Barroco Hispano and shows her as she would have appeared upon commissioning in January 1939: 32,100 tons – 31 knots – 9x11-inch guns – 12x5.9-inch guns – 14x4.1-inch AA guns – 16x1.5-inch AA guns – 6x21-inch torpedo tubes – belt armor 13.8 inches – 1 catapult and 3 Arado, Ar-196A-3 float planes. There has long been a debate as to whether Scharnhorst was a battlecruiser or a battleship – but her design was based on the final plans of the Imperial battlecruiser Ersatz Yorck, which was never completed. The pedigree seems clear enough to me – so I absolutely had to work her into the CJ somewhere! In essence – she was the last battlecruiser ever commissioned by the German Navy. She was armed with an “improved” 11-inch gun – for political reasons. In the mid-1930’s, it was feared 15-inch guns might cause the British to “get the wind up”.

 

 

In this close-up of the dock activity, you can see the working parties unloading main gun ammunition from the shuttle locomotives to the quay for delivery to the warship. There are masses of people bustling about – unloading shells, checking them for imperfections, cleaning the rounds, and hauling them about with hand-trucks, or loading them into cargo racks to be hoisted aboard the battlecruiser. In real life, docks are seldom quiet places, and we have tried hard to recreate the hundreds of crew and working parties involved in servicing a capital ship. The docks are re-lotted from the “PEG SNM Series” Battleship Quays, and were constructed in three 11x3 sections – each section just large enough for one capital ship, or two smaller vessels. Since the whole structure would have been built at the same time, I did not make architectural changes to any of the dock sections – but altered some of the scenes and props on each one for variety’s sake.

 

 

This is a rear view of the quayside. The large dockside cranes were borrowed from the “PEG Trash Removal” lots and resized to better fit the surrounding models. The 100 ton cranes trackside are by “AP”. The ammunition shuttle locomotives and “rolling stock” were modeled by “AP” from old pictures of equipment on German WW I period military railroads. The Great War would not have been possible without railroads. Artillery battery commanders, in particular, were shocked to find out just how many shells could be fired-off in only a few hours. Going into the war, the British thought they had enough reserve artillery ammunition to last through a “short war” – perhaps a year. More than half of it was expended in the first two weeks of actual combat. Military railroads were essential to keeping the vital artillery batteries properly supplied with ammunition. Various props have been used to “dress-out” the scene, but the many “specialized” props were created by “AP” – sailors, shells, etc, etc.

 

 

Here a Clemson Class destroyer is preparing to take aboard a full load of torpedoes. The Clemson’s were a large class of destroyers built by the US Navy over a number of years. The early versions of the extended class served during WW I, while others were completed between the wars. Under the “Lend Lease” agreement, 20 Clemson’s were among the 50 US destroyers doing yeoman service with the Royal Navy in WW II. Characteristics: 1,215 tons – 35.5 knots – 4x4-inch guns – 1x3-inch AA gun -- 12x21-inch torpedo tubes – no armor. USS Clemson is by “Barroco Hispano”. The 100 ton cranes quayside and the 20 ton cranes trackside are by “AP”, as are the shuttle locomotives, rail cars, and torpedoes.

 

 

This is the Italian heavy cruiser RM Zara: Commissioned 1931 – 11,326 tons – 32 knots_8x8-inch guns – 16x3.9-inch guns – 34 AA guns – 2 seaplanes – belt armor 5.9 inches. As with all Italian warships built or modernized between the wars, they were quite handsome, with sleek lines and high speed. She is preparing to top-off her magazines with 8-inch shells and powder charges.

 

 

In this shot, you can see the powder charges in brass cases stacked in rows on the quayside. Next to them are the 8-inch shells – ready to be hoisted aboard and stowed in the magazines. Again, the shuttle engines and ammunition cars are by “AP”, along with the shell and powder stacks – and, of course – the sailors and 20 ton cranes. You will notice the large numbers of sailors and dock hands engaged in stacking and moving the shells, with others preparing them to be hoisted aboard the cruiser. Work details would have been sent ashore from the cruiser to speed up the process.

 

 

This rear view of the quay gives a good view of the ammunition handling parties and the ammunition trains.

 

 

 

 

NEXT TIME……

CUXHAVEN:

THE PHOTO TOUR

12

 

 

MANY THANKS to @Barroco Hispano for his beautiful warship models.

SPECIAL THANKS to my friend and partner, @AP, for his talents, meticulous models, colorful imagination, and extreme dedication.

 

If you enjoyed anything – please punch the “like” button so WE will know. A comment would be even more informative.

Comments and critiques requested and gratefully accepted. All questions answered promptly to the best of our ability.

THANK YOU for your visit!

 

 

You may wish to visit these CJ’s as well……

 

SERIES I:

IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: WILHELMSHAVEN

 

SERIES II:

IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: CUXHAVEN

Appearing – Work In Publication

 

SERIES III:

IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: BREMERHAVEN

Appearing -- ???

 

And please feel free to drop in at…

THE SIMTROPOLIS SHIPYARD

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/761469-simtropolis-shipyard/?tab=comments#comment-1766496