#688-689 The USCGC Eagle
Fun Fact #688 Foe to Friend Christened in 1933, The Horst Wessel (Schiff 508) was the second ship in the Fock (3-mast) line, and an improvement on its predecessor. At the time, the Weimar republic had lost most of its ships in WW1 and The Horst Wessel was designed to be the flagship of the new Kriegsmarine Sail training fleet. Interestingly it had a purpose built Chickencoup onboard to house ducks to give the crew fresh eggs and meat on long voyages. Yet, its construction was rushed to so the space it vacated could be used to lay the keel of The Battleship Bismark (Schiff 509). Despite the hurried nature of the event, the ship received speeches at its christening (unfortunately) by Ruldof Hess, and Adolf Hitler. It then proceeded to serve in its intended training role until 1942 when it was fitted with guns and the last batch of Kriegsmarine trainees were sent to war. There it made multiple voyages as part of a convoy to places like Venezuela before it was captured by the...
