In Service: 20 September 1942 to 14 June 1944
Ordered:
Builder: AG
Neptun, Rostock
Construction No:
Laid down:
Launched: 6 December 1941
Commissioned: 20 September 1942
Type: 1940 Type Minesweeper/Minensuchboot
Class: M 261 Class
Displacement: 543 tons standard 775 tons full load
Length: 62.3 m
Beam: 8.9 m
Draft: 2.82 m
Propulsion: 2 × vertical 3 cylinder triple expansion
engines producing up to 2,150 shp
Propellers:
Speed: 17.2 knots
Range: 4,000 nautical miles at 10 knots
Crew: 65 men and officers
Armament:
1 × 10.5 cm L/45
carried 120 rounds
1 × 3.7 cm L/83 SK C/30
carried 2000 rounds
2 × 2 cm MG L/65 C/30
carried 4000 rounds
7 × 2 cm MG L/65 C/30 after 1941
carried 14000 rounds
30 mines
Armour 10 mm
Aircraft:
Electronics:
Operators: Kriegsmarine
Variants:
Other: Minesweepers
Articles:
The M 343 Minesweeper (Minensuchboot) was built in the 1940s
by
AG
Neptun shipyard located in Rostock, Germany as a minesweeper
or escort vessel for the Kriegsmarine.
Construction was transverse frame of steel construction,
which was partly welded, this vessel also had eleven watertight
compartments and a double bottom with hard chine foreship and tug stern. The superstructure, Bridge etc was armored
up to 10 mm in thickness. The propulsion system installed
in these vessels was the two vertical three cylinder triple
expansion engines. And when used as minesweepers the Kabel
Fern Raum Gerat (KFRG) system was employed, which used generators
producing 60 V, 20 kW to power the magnetic sweeping gear.
This vessel went on to serve in the 21. Minensuchflottille and 24. Minensuchflottille
during World War II.
20 September 1942
The Minesweeper M 343 is commissioned.
1942
The Minesweeper M 343 served with the following flotilla's
21. Minensuchflottille and 24. Minensuchflottille.
14 June 1944
The Minesweeper M 343 is sunk after being attacked by HMS
Ashanti and the Polish destroyer Piorun at 0130 hrs, near
Jersey.
German Warships, 1815-1945: Major Surface Vessels.
ISBN-10: 0851775330
German Warships, 1815-1945: U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels.
ISBN-10: 155750301X
German warships of the Second World War.
ISBN-10: 0668040378
For a complete list of
sources
