Nordmark

Germany's lack of overseas bases made supply ships and tankers essential for sustained naval operations in the Atlantic. The Kriegsmarine trained for underway replenishment during the 1930s and employed its supply network extensively during the Spanish Civil War. In spring 1939, warships and auxiliaries, including Gneisenau, conducted a major exercise in the central Atlantic that rehearsed procedures used during the first years of World War II.

The supply network reached its greatest operational importance during Operation Rheinübung in May 1941. After the loss of Bismarck, the Royal Navy located and captured or sank many of the German support ships deployed in the Atlantic.

Alongside converted civilian tankers, the Kriegsmarine ordered the purpose-built Dithmarschen class. Five of the nine planned ships entered service. Each could carry 7,933 tons of fuel, 972 tons of ammunition, 790 tons of provisions and 100 tons of spare parts. They also carried towing equipment for assisting damaged warships.

Plans to employ the ships as auxiliary cruisers were abandoned because combat would have exposed their vulnerable cargo and replenishment equipment. Two members of the class survived the war and continued in British and United States service into the 1950s.

Nordmark began the war under the name Westerwald, supplying the Panzerschiff Deutschland during its 1939 Atlantic deployment. Renamed after returning home, the ship later supported Admiral Scheer on a 252-day cruise covering 33,664 nautical miles and served in Norwegian waters from 1942 until 1945. Britain took the vessel over at the end of the war, commissioned it as Bulawayo in 1947 and retained it until 1955.