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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 98268:  German light cruiser Köln underway, during the later 1930s, with a He 60 floatplane overhead

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the GERMAN NAVY --

Köln (Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Köln, a 6000-ton Königsberg class light cruiser built at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, was commissioned in mid-January 1930. Like other cruisers of the German Navy she made extensive training cruises during the 1930s and, after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, patrolled off that strife-torn nation. The latter duty demonstrated the structural weaknesses of Köln and her sister ships, a problem that, with her heavy fuel consumption and resulting short range, would limit her usefulness in the years to come.

After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Köln mainly operated in the Baltic. On 13 December 1939 she participated in a cruiser sortie into the southern North Sea that left two of her consorts badly damaged by British submarine torpedoes. During the invasion of Norway in April 1940, Köln carried troops to Bergen, engaging the defending batteries as she successfully landed her passengers. For the next two years she was back in the Baltic, primarily on minelaying and training service, but in October 1941 she bombarded a Soviet short battery in the Gulf of Riga.

In July 1942 Köln steamed north to Trondheim, Norway, and later moved further up the coast to Narvik and then to the Alta Fjord. Her intended use in laying mines in Russian waters was thwarted by weather and her poor steaming radius. The ship returned to the Baltic in 1943 and spent most of the rest of the War inactive, under refit, or on training duties. She was used for minelaying between Denmark and Norway in late 1944. While at Wilhelmshaven on 30 March 1945, Köln was sunk in shallow water by U.S. Army Air Force bombs. She was scrapped after the end of World War II.

This page features all the views we have related to the German light cruiser Köln.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 82428

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Underway, circa the early 1930s.
This photograph was presented as a gift to Mrs. Ruth M. Bence at the time of the ship's visit to Guam in late June 1933.
See Photo # NH 82428 (extended caption) for her comments on Köln's stay at Guam.

Donation of Mrs. Ruth M. Bence, 1975.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 515 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98266

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Underway in confined waters, circa 1930.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 108KB; 550 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98267

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Underway in confined waters, circa 1930.
Note the offset arrangement of her after two triple 150mm gun turrets.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 112KB; 525 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: 242-HB-14598a55

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Photographed from astern, while manning her rails in 1935.
Note the decorative National Socialist eagle mounted on her transom, and the recessed anchor stowage.
Photographed by Hoffman.

Photograph from the Hoffman collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 98KB; 595 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 81765

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Underway with rails manned, circa 1936.
Note the heraldic shield mounted on her bow and the large flag flying from her foremast peak.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 49KB; 740 x 295 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98268

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Underway during the later 1930s.
A He 60 floatplane is flying overhead.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 590 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 80983

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Photographed from a Royal Air Force aircraft from Thorney Island, United Kingdom, 2 March 1939.
Plane's altitude was 150 feet. Distance from ship was 800 yards. Ship's speed was 12 knots.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 535 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 61839

"Conquest of Bergen by German Light Cruisers"


Artwork by Adolf Bock, 1941, published in a book on the German Navy published by Erich Klinghammer, Berlin, during World War II.
It depicts the light cruisers Köln and Königsberg landing troops at Bergen, Norway, on 9 April 1940.

Courtesy of Mr. Jacoby.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 142KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98269 (cropped)

Köln (German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Reconnaissance photograph, probably taken by the British Royal Air Force, showing the ship (marked by arrow) moored to the shore in the Fætten Fjord, about 30 KM ENE of Trondheim, Norway, 19 July 1942.
Note rafts and netting used to camouflage the ship, and anti-torpedo booms moored to protect her from attacks from abeam and astern. Booms abeam have been folded to similate a ship.
This image is cropped from Photo # NH 98269.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 600 pixels

Note:
The lighter-toned patterns on the water surface result from flaws on the original photographic print.

 
Photo #: NH 98270

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Reconnaissance photograph, probably taken by the British Royal Air Force, showing the ship (marked by arrow) moored to the shore in the Fætten Fjord, about 30 KM ENE of Trondheim, Norway, 19 July 1942.
The southern side of the Fjord is in the top center of the image.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 150KB; 740 x 635 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98271

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

World War II recognition drawings, probably prepared by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98272

Köln
(German Light Cruiser, 1930-1945)

Plan for making a recognition model of the ship.
Dated November 1942, it is part of the World War II "Master Models" series, which was probably prepared by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 150KB; 1200 x 800 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 26 January 2003