Gorch Fock-class training ship

The Gorch Fock class is a class of sailing training ships consisting of five vessels. Three of these ships were built for the German Navy, one each for the Romanian Navy and the German Federal Navy. All were constructed at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. Five ships of the Gorch Fock class still exist today, four of which are still in service as sailing training vessels in various navies. The class is named after the first ship, also called Gorch Fock, built in 1933, which is currently located in the harbor of Stralsund.

The Imperial German Navy decommissioned its last sailing training ship, Charlotte, in 1909. Training for sea cadets and ship's boys was then carried out on converted ships of the Victoria Louise class. It wasn't until 1922 that a sailing training ship, the Niobe, was reintroduced into service with the Reichsmarine. However, on July 26, 1932, the Niobe sank near Fehmarn due to a white squall, resulting in the drowning of 69 crew members. Since the Reichsmarine did not want to abandon training on sailing ships, several shipyards were asked to submit designs for a new vessel. Special emphasis was placed on the ship's stability, and an over-rigging like that of the Niobe was to be strictly avoided. The contract was ultimately awarded to Blohm & Voss, where, after a very short construction period, the new sailing training ship — named after the writer Gorch Fock — was launched on May 3, 1933.

The Gorch Fock proved to be highly effective. However, due to the rapid expansion of the Kriegsmarine, its capacity soon became insufficient, leading to the construction of three additional ships between 1936 and 1939. These vessels were built based on slightly modified designs and were somewhat larger than the original prototype. In 1938, the Kingdom of Romania commissioned the shipyard to build a fifth ship of the class, which was the only one constructed exactly identical to the original model. With the exception of the Herbert Norkus, which was not completed due to the war, all of these ships were used as training vessels before and during the Second World War.