UJ 1704 UHLENHORST

Uhlenhorst was originally built as a trawler for the fishing company Andersen & Co in 1939. After the outbreak of the war the boat was requisited by the german navy and fitted with guns and depth charges, as were many trawlers at that time....

The night before December 12 '42 the germans were expecting the battleship "Lutzow", escorted by the destroyers Karl Glaster, Theodor Riedel and Z 31 in transit, heading for northern Norway. Uhlenhorst was assigned to patrolduty in the Skude fjord to repel submarine attacks. Shortly after 2 AM they hit the rocks at Treboen, south of Skudenes. She was stuck on the rocks for a couple of hours, giving the crew time to send distress signals and launch the raft and lifeboat. The wind was of gale force from SSW, giving high sea. Six men set out with the pilot's boat "Høines" and rescued 28 germans from the rafts and one floating in the sea. They were subsequently looked after by the Red Cross of Skudeneshavn. Later an other patrol boat and the tug "Jomsburg" rescued five more, and picked up four corpses from the sea. The participants in the rescue party were given 30 Kr each, which was promptly forwarded to the local equivalent to the Lifeboat assosciation, and a couple of bottles which were promptly dealt with otherwise, one must presume. Diplomas were also awarded. Kristian Midbøe, the chairman of the local Red Cross, were doing intelligence work for for the allies. He used to display his diploma in a conspicuous place, one never knew when there would be a razzia......