German trawler V 313 Eifel

Eifel was a German fishing trawler that was built in 1929 as Marie Richardson. Renamed Eifel in 1936, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in the Second World War for use as a Vorpostenboot, serving as V 313 Eifel. Returned to her owners post-war, she was scrapped in 1955.

Description
The ship 41.45 m long, with a beam of 7.25 m. She had a depth of 3.98 m and a draught of 3.65 m. She was assessed at,. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine, which had cylinders of 13+1/2 in, 23 in and 37 in diameter by 26 in stroke. The engine was built by C. D. Holmes & Co., Hull, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. It was rated at 96nhp. It drove a single screw propeller. It could propel the ship at 10 kn.

History
Marie Richardson was built by NV IJsselweft, Gorinchem, South Holland, Netherlands for Deutsche Fischerei Gesellschaft AG, Germany. She was launched in 1929 and completed in March 1930. The fishing boat registration PG 392 was allocated, as were the Code Letters KRSF. Her port of registry was Wesermünde In 1934, her Code Letters were changed to DFBE. In 1936, she was sold to the Norddeutscher Hochseefisherei.

She was scheduled to have participated in Unternehmen Seelöwe in 1940. On 20 April 1941, Eifel was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine for use as a vorpostenboot. She was allocated to 3 Vorpostenflotille as V 313 Eifel. In 1945, she was returned to her owners. She arrived at W. Ritscher, Hamburg for scrapping on 28 December 1954.