German Navy supply tanker ERMLAND (12,898 ts / 22,850 ts)
17 Dec. 1937: laid down by the Ferdinand Schichau Werke, Danzig (Gdansk), yard number 1407, launched in 1939.
2 Sept. 1940: commissioned as an overseas supply tanker for the German Navy (Kriegsmarine), a so-called Troßschiff.
Armament: three hidden 15-cm guns, two 3.7-cm guns and 4 x 20-mm AA-guns, 8 MG’s, crew of up to 208 men, besides the planned task to fuel German capital ships during their raiding operations, the Troßschiff ERMLAND should also act as a merchant raider and lookout for the battleships.
Nov. 1940: despatched to act as a supply tanker for the battleships SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU, recalled when the warships were unable to break out into the Atlantic.
Jan. 1941: departed France for central Atlantic.
24 Febr. 1941 and beyond: refueled and supplied the battleships SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU in the Atlantic, position 32°30‘N 42°0‘W, during Operation Berlin, in which 22 Allied ships with 116,500 grt were sunk.
23 March 1941: returned to Nantes.
May 1941: stood-by for Operation Rheinübung to fuel battleship BISMARCK as it struggled to reach occupied France, recalled after BISMARCK was sunk on 27 May.
Sept. 1942: run onto a mine and sustained damages that required a longer repair in dry-dock.
23 Sept. 1943: whilst at Nantes, severely damaged during an Allied air raid, rendered unserviceable after breaking in two.
11 Aug. 1944: eventually scuttled as a blockship in Nantes.
1947: wreck raised by France to clear the waterway and subsequently scrapped.
