Niobe (schooner)
schooner
Segelschulschiff Niobe was a tall ship used by the Reichsmarine to train cadets and aspiring NCOs. She sank during a white squall on 26 July 1932, with the loss of 69 lives. A memorial monument to Niobe was erected at Gammendorfer Strand on Fehmarn island, within view of the site of the sinking.
History
Design
The ship had a steel hull and displaced 645 tonnes. After her conversion into a training ship she measured 57.8 m (189 ft 8 in) in length overall, 46.1 m (151 ft 3 in) without the bowsprit, and 9.17 m (30 ft 1 in) in width. The height of the main mast was 34.8 m (114 ft 2 in), and she carried 15 sails with 983 square metres (10,580 sq ft) of total sail area. She had an auxiliary diesel engine with 160 shaft horsepower (120 kW). Her regular crew comprised seven officers and 27 men. Usually 65 cadets would be trained.
Early service
She was built as a four-masted schooner in 1913 by the Danish shipyard Frederikshavns Værft og Flydedok under her original name Morten Jensen and initially sailed as a freighter for F. L. Knakkergaard in Nykøbing Mors.
“Niobe (schooner)” enters the record as schooner. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Niobe and schooner can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q877162. Authority coordinates are 54.595, 11.187. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932 and 1913.
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