V-1605 Mosel
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Mosel
was laid down in Wesermünde in 1937 as a trawler for Hans
Kunkel. She was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in
September 1939 and assigned to 19.Minesweeper Flotille in
Kiel. She received a military crew and armament, and was
renamed M-1903. Her first assignment came in April 1940
under the invasion of Norway. She got more than enough to
do, and participated in the rescuing of the cruiser
Lützow, and rescue tasks after the loss of M-1101\ Foch & Hubert. In 1943
she was transferred to 16.Vorpost Flotille in Denmark as
V-1605. 15 October 1944 she was ordered to escort Nachschubtanker Norwegen 15. At the
same time 21 Allied Beaufighter's and 17 Mosquito’s from
144 and 404 RAF squadron from Banff Strike Wing left
Scotland to attack enemy shipping. In the afternoon they
spotted Mosel and the tanker and attacked. Within a few
minutes the tanker who was loaded with petroleum was set
ablaze. Also Mosel is heavily damaged from the 20mm
grenades, but she keeps fighting. When the assault is over
at 15:37 she is on fire from bow to stern.Three minutes
later she disappears in the deep. The wreck was found in
the summer of 2001 outside Lillesand on a depth of approx
30 to 50 meter.
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GPS: N 58 10 611 - E 008 20 912 ( Source: OneOcean Dive Resort )  Picture: Mosel
Erling Skjold - Norwegian Shipwreck Archive 
“
A Separate Little War “
"15 October. In the
afternoon at 12.40 hours twenty-one, Beaufighters with
seventeen Mosquitoes engaged as anti-flak aircraft,
took-off crossing the Scottish coast. Twelve
Beaufighters carried rockets. The force went down to
fifty feet above the waves making for the Naze. Squadron
Leader Maurice led them again. They found a 1,202 ton
tanker laden with petrol sailing between Justøya and
Lillesand, south east of Kristiansund on a voyage from
Oslo to Kristiansand. With a single escort the steamship
Vp. 1605 ‘Mosel’ of 426 tons in position 58.08N-0817E,
with the German tanker ‘Ingeborg’ now sailing under the
Norwegian flag as ‘Niger Joanne’ of 1,202 tons going
around Justøya near Lillesand. Mosquitoes are directed
to shoot up the flakship, as light flak comes up to
greet the attackers, led by Squadron Leader Christison
of the Canadian squadron. Beaufighters worked in pairs
firing salvoes of rockets and cannon helped by the 144
Torbeaus. Columns of spray rose into the air; the tanker
was engulfed in flames followed by a plume of black
smoke, as a concentration of rounds found their mark.
Only burning oil remained on the surface with floating
debris. Sixteen are killed in the inferno, with several
survivors bobbing in the water although only one person
was pulled from the sea by a rescue craft. Fire rages
aboard Vp. 1605 with the last rounds fired bursting
above, it explodes and sinks with twenty-one perishing.
Survivors were seen in dinghies as the aircrews departed
the area and head home, black smoke being a sharp
contrast to the grey sea below. Smoke is visible from
over fifty miles away; the strike wing suffered no
losses although a few aircraft sustained light damage.
Flight Lieutenant George Lord DFC CdeG of 235 Squadron
reported: ‘One minute the tanker was there, erupting in
flames, then a large plume of smoke and a ring of fire
on the sea"
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