Antique & Militaria

RARE**WW2 GERMAN KRIEGSMARINE DESTROYER Z18 HANS LÜDEMANN**Brass Cased Bulkhead Ship’s Clock With Key Mounted On Oak Wall Mount With Identification Plaque. Sn 23360 - 23360

Z18 Hans Lüdemann was one of six Type 1936 destroyers built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) in the late 1930s. Completed in 1938, the ship spent most of her time training. At the beginning of World War II in September 1939, she was initially deployed to lay minefields off the German coast, but was soon transferred to the Skagerrak where she inspected neutral shipping for contraband goods. In late 1939, Z18 Hans Lüdemann helped to lay two offensive minefields off the English coast that claimed one destroyer and twenty merchant ships. Z18 Hans Lüdemann was named after Engineer-Midshipman Hans Lüdemann who saved the lives of the remaining men in the engine room in the torpedo boat S-13 after the high-pressure cylinder exploded on 14 May 1913. The Hans Lüdemann was allocated to Group 1 for the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung in April 1940. During the battle of Narvik the ship received battle damage from British Royal Navy destroyers resulting in the ship being beached, abandoned by the crew and eventually torpedoed & destroyed by the Royal Navy (a copy of an original black & white photograph of the destroyer taken in 1939 is illustrated in image 1). This is an excellent rare & desirable original WW2 era Battle Ship’s clock with brass case & face complete with key numbered 10. The clock is in perfect working order and the key winds the clock & locks the hinged glazed cover. It has its original brass casing with three fixing brackets. The clock including case measures 8 ½” in diameter (including face lock) and is 3 ¾” depth. Its dial set has numerals within minute marker chapter ring and fast slow adjustment lever. The clock face has a hinged glass cover with brass rim numbered & lock which works correctly. The face is marked with the Reichsadler over 'M' (Kriegsmarine) mark together with serial number ‘13782 over ‘N’. The clock is in good working order. The Oak mount has a brass identification plaque engraved ‘BRIDGE CLOCK HANS LUDERMAN DETROYER OF THE JOHN ROEDER CLASS’. The price for this rare fully functional Ships clock worthy of further research includes UK delivery. Sn 23360 (NB A WW1 era German Ship’s clock recovered from a Battle Ship sunk at Scapa flow is also available on this website Sn 23307)

£2,450.00