Waldemar Kophamel

The three Wilhelm Bauer-class vessels were the Kriegsmarine's largest fleet tenders. They originated in a 1936 program for eight large escort ships intended to support the expanding U-boat fleet. Four ships were laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Kiel, but only Wilhelm Bauer, Waldemar Kophamel and the slightly larger Otto Wünsche were completed.

The second, Waldemar Kophamel, was commissioned in October 1940. The ship was sunk by bombs on 18.12.1944, but raised by the Soviets in 1950. Added to Soviet fleet lists on 30.7.1951 it was towed to the Neptun shipyard in Rostock one month later and repaired until October 1955. Renamed to Kuban, it served into the Northern Fleet until 17.09.1973 and was used as floating barrack PKZ-12 after that. On 09.02.1978 it was removed from the fleet lists and transferred for scrapping.