Diving on the wreck site
The wreck of the German World War II minesweeper Nettelbeck lies very shallowly on its keel. It rests on a coastal shoal 200 meters from the beach near highest point of Hel Peninsula - Góra Szwedów. The depth is only 2 to about 6 meters. The close proximity to shore and shallow depth cause the wreck to be periodically buried and exposed during strong winds and high waves. As a result of these conditions, the wreck’s appearance is constantly changing: at times it is almost entirely buried in the seabed, with hard-to-identify stumps of hull sections protruding from the sand, and the dive depth does not exceed 3 meters. At other times, it is unearthed, revealing portholes set in the steel hull, red-and-white ceramic tiles covering the floor in the central part of the wreck, and brass details of the ship’s fittings. There, you can see the base of the bow gun and a massive anchor winch equipped with large anchor chain links. Every dive on this wreck is different, depending on the whims of the waves and sea currents. Despite this element of chance, it’s a wreck with an interesting history that’s well worth exploring while diving in this area.
Story
The vessel was built as the Minensuchboot M 138 and commissioned into the Reichsmarine on March 17, 1919. On September 1, 1921, it was renamed the tender Zeiten. In 1924, the ship was rebuilt and, starting September 11, 1924, operated alongside fishing boats as a Fischerieschutzboot (fisheries protection vessel). On October 4, 1932, it served as a station tender; from October 1, 1933, as a fleet tender. From March 5, 1936, it served as a Raumbootbegleitschiff (base ship for Raumboots). On May 10, 1939, it was renamed Nettelbeck and served in the 1st Motorboat Flotilla. In September 1939, it was placed under the command of the Bundeswehr-Kommando Ost. It played a very active role in the September Campaign. Among other things, it took part in the shelling of Hel and Oksywie alongside minesweepers. On October 2, 1939, a detachment of sailors arrived on board; they were among the first to enter the naval port in Hel and began manning it. In 1940, it served in mine-sweeping operations in the Baltic and North Seas. In 1940, it was transferred to the Netherlands. Its name was changed to M 528. The ship was refurbished in 1942 and subsequently operated in the northern Baltic Sea, where it participated in the blockade of the Soviet fleet in the Gulf of Finland. In September 1944, off Tallinn, the ship was severely damaged during an attack by Soviet ground-attack aircraft, sustaining three bomb hits that completely destroyed the stern. Fifteen sailors were killed and 24 wounded during the attack. The ship was towed to Königsberg for repairs and remained moored there. As the situation at the front changes drastically and Soviet troops approach the city, the port is crowded with people trying to reach the West.
On January 26, 1945, the damaged vessel took 149 people on board, including 60 children. The ship’s engines were out of service; the Nettelbeck required towing, with the cable being handled by the minesweeper M 801. The port the ships are heading for is Świnoujście. As a result of a violent storm reaching force 7 on the Beaufort scale, the Nettelbeck breaks free from its tow and runs aground near Góra Szwedów on the Hel Peninsula. The wind and temperatures as low as minus 14 degrees Celsius hamper the rescue operation. The close proximity to shore - about 200 meters - and the shallow waters prevent the vessel from being towed again or the survivors from being rescued. Under the influence of strong winds and waves, the vessel begins to list to starboard. The ship's commander, Captain Daniel Devaux, orders a lifeline to be fired toward shore. Passengers and crew members are brought ashore one by one, secured to the line with special harnesses. Despite the inclement weather, the rescue operation is a success. After losing the ship, the captain assumes command of the R 76. The Nettelbeck is finally struck from the Kriegsmarine fleet list on February 3, 1945.
Technical specifications
Built by: J. C. Tecklenborg Geestemunde, hull number 336
Displacement: 785 t
Length: 64 m
Width: 8.3 m
Draft: 2.2 m
Propulsion: 2 six-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engines. On the port side: MAN; on the starboard side: Germania
Speed: 14 knots
Crew: 51
Armament: 1 x 10.5 cm L/45, 1 x 3.7 cm, 6 x 2 cm
Interesting facts about the wreck
1 - For a long time, divers referred to the wreck as "Two in One" (2-in-1), and it was described as such in official documents from the Maritime Authority. This was due to a lack of historical information and an assessment of the wreckage, which identified both steel and wooden hull components - a finding that erroneously led to the hypothesis that two wrecks lay at the same site: an older wooden vessel upon which a newer steel vessel had settled. It wasn’t until 2005, when Daniel Devaux, the captain of the stranded vessel, came to the peninsula on a nostalgic visit and requested a diving inspection of his former ship, that the name of the Nettelbeck wreck began to appear in Maritime Authority documents and within the diving community, and in the list of shipwrecks open to scuba diving, under the “2-in-1” designation, the abbreviation (U-J) was added, which stands for (U-Boot-Jäger) – a submarine hunter.
2 - In January 2022, storm waves eroded a dune located a short distance from the wreck, revealing a wooden DZ-type lifeboat painted with the gray paint used by the Kriegsmarine to paint its vessels. This lifeboat likely served the survivors of the “Nettelbeck” to evacuate to the dry shore of the Hel Peninsula in January 1945, when the ship ran aground in shallow water after the towline connecting it to the tugboat snapped.
Text by: Karol Wójcik, Kamil Stankiewicz
Translation: Bartosz Słaboń
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