An item reported that the former British frigate Flamingo (1) which was to serve as a training ship for the West German navy last Saturday duringa ceremony at Kiel was renamed Graf Spee. A socialist member of the British Parliament protested against renaming a former British warship after the pocket battleship Graf Spee which harassed in 1939 the allied merchant navy shipping. A spokesman of the West German department of defence stated that the new name had nothing to do with the former German emperor Wilhelm II of with Adolf Hitler but just to honour the important navy officer vice admiral Graf Spee.(2)
Notes
1. The HMS Flamingo (U 03) was not a frigate but a sloop of the Black Swann-class of which the keel was laid downon 26 May 1938 at the shipyard of Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun, Glasgow, launched on 18 April 1939 a year, completed on 3 November and commissioned on 3 December of the same year and finally sold to West Germany in January 1959 to became the Graf Spee. She was in actual service until 1964 when she was on 31 July laid up. Three years later sold on 25 October to be broken up (at Hamburg).
2. Named after Vice Admiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee (22 June 1861 Copenhagen, Denmark-8 December 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands on board of his flagship Scharnhorst)).
Notes
1. The HMS Flamingo (U 03) was not a frigate but a sloop of the Black Swann-class of which the keel was laid downon 26 May 1938 at the shipyard of Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun, Glasgow, launched on 18 April 1939 a year, completed on 3 November and commissioned on 3 December of the same year and finally sold to West Germany in January 1959 to became the Graf Spee. She was in actual service until 1964 when she was on 31 July laid up. Three years later sold on 25 October to be broken up (at Hamburg).
2. Named after Vice Admiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee (22 June 1861 Copenhagen, Denmark-8 December 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands on board of his flagship Scharnhorst)).
