German navy building 17 auxiliary vessels according to the Dutch magazine Marineblad dated 1939 no. 10

An item referred to the magazine U.S.R. dated 27 July 1939 reporting that for the German navy 17 auxiliary vessels were being built to be used as mother annex depot ships for submarines and light forces acting against the merchant shipping outside the North Sea. According to the source could such auxiliary ships never replaced bases and should England not be worried about such ships.

An item referred to the Proceedings dated August 1939 reporting that several auxiliary ships were built for the German navy like the Wilhelm Bauer and Valdemar Kophamel to be used as submarine mother ships just like the bought Erich Wassner. The Tanga recently completed was to be used as depot ship for the motor torpedo boats. The Samoa bought in 1938 was renamed Mars and added to the artillery training.