GRAUPNER THEODOR HEUSS 2013 Operating Instructions Manual Download Page 11

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04/2008

Operating Instructions for the THEODOR HEUSS model boat, Order No.: 2013

The full-size vessel

(text © DGzRS [German Association for the Rescue of the Shipwrecked] Bremen)

The centre of Bremen was definitely busier than on a normal day. It was 12 February 1957, which was a
Friday. Despite the early hour, there were many people at the main railway station of the Hanseatic city to
welcome a special train arriving from Bonn - the Federal capital at the time. The train carried an important
passenger in Professor Theodor Heuss, Federal President and patron of the rescue service, who wanted to
be present at the ceremonial christening of the first ocean-going rescue cruiser of the DGzRS.
Accompanied by DGzRS Chairman, Hermann Helms Snr., and Bremen’s mayor, Wilhelm Kaisen, the Head
of State embarked on the experimental ocean-going cruiser HERMANN APELT, which sailed down the We-
ser into Bardenfleth, in Lower Saxony. Dense crowds of people lined the river banks and dykes; even the
local schools had given the children the day off.
The destination of this short journey along the Weser was the premises of the Schweers dockyard, which is
Lürssen-Bardenfleth today. Inside the shipbuilding hall, which was beautifully decorated for the occasion,
Hanne Heuss, the Federal President’s daughter-in-law, pronounced the following christening poem:

Fahre, Schiff,

Sail on, ship,

Du tapf’rer Retter

Through tempest steaming,

Durch der Stuerme boeses Wetter,

Troubled shipwrecked souls redeeming;

zu dem Bruder, der in Not

Save our brothers, who indeed

bis Dein Helfen sich ihm bot -

Stand of timely help in need.

dass als grosses Vorbild bliebe:

Help us with courageous love

Tapferkeit und Menschenliebe

All our fears to rise above

By breaking the mandatory bottle of sparkling wine on the ship’s bow, Frau Heuss christened the new, mod-
ern, ocean-going emergency cruiser by the name THEODOR HEUSS; the daughter boat was named
TEDJE.
The THEODOR HEUSS was the first fast ocean-going rescue cruiser with a continuous maximum speed of
20 knots; back in 1957 she was approximately twice as fast as any other all-weather ocean-going rescue
ships operating in Germany or Europe, and is now acknowledged as a milestone in specialist shipbuilding. In
the same year of her commissioning the ocean-going rescue cruiser took part in a presentation at interna-
tional level at Gdingen, Poland (Gdynia, formerly Gotenhafen), where a meeting of the rescue services of the
Baltic Sea coastal states was held to mark the fiftieth birthday of the Swedish Sea Rescue Association
SSRS. The THEODOR HEUSS was widely admired and praised at the event, especially by the marine res-
cue experts present.
After the vessel’s christening, the THEODOR HEUSS was initially stationed on the East Frisian island of
Borkum, but was re-located to Laboe on the Kieler Foerde from 1963 until being taken out of service. Under
the stewardship of Wilhelm Eilers, Johann Eberhardt and Johann Eberhardt Jnr. the ocean-going rescue
cruiser proved its worth in numerous rescue missions.
Johann Eberhardt Jnr. joined the crew of the THEODOR HEUSS in 1964, and six years later took control of
the ocean-going rescue cruiser as successor to his Father. Today the 74-year old enjoys reminiscing about
one event in particular: the 1972 Olympic Games: “During the event the various sailing competitions were
secured by a whole fleet of DGzRS units assigned to our district, and overall responsibility for regatta secu-
rity was assigned to the THEODOR HEUSS; nowadays this task is known as On-Scene Co-ordinator. For
several weeks the world was our guest at the Kieler Foerde, and everything went off peacefully and
smoothly.”