Bron : Vlissingse Courant, 28/01/1925 Scheepsbouw. De Germainawerf te Kiel heeft thans 7 motorschepen op stapel staan, welke in verschillende stadia van afwerking zijn doch alle vóór het einde van 1925 gereed zullen komen. Drie dezer schepen van 12.000 ton d.w. elk, zijn in op-dracht gegeven door de Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft te Hamburg en het eerste dezer drie schepen zal onder den naam "Den Haag" onder Nederlandsche vlag varen en uitgerust worden met twee Krupp Germania motoren van 1400 p.k. elk. De andere vier schepen zijn door buitenlandsche firma's in opbracht gegeven en wel een zusterschip van "Den Haag", dat den naam "Rotterdam" zal voeren, voor rekening van de Petroleum In-dustrie Mij. Bron : Vlissingse Courant, 04/09/1925 Scheepsbouw. Bij de Germaniawerf te Kiel, is te water gelaten het motortankschip "Rotterdam", in aanbouw voor de Petroleum In-dustrie Maatschappij, te 's-Gravenhage. Het schip heeft een draagvermogen van 12.000 ton en wordt voorzien van twee Dieselmotoren, eveneens bij genoemde werf vervaardigd.

IDNo:	5606402	Year:	1925
Name:	ROTTERDAM	Launch Date:
Type:	Tanker	Date of completion:	10.1925
Flag:	NLD	Keel:

DWT:		Yard No:	478
Length overall:		Ship Design:
LPP:	143.2	Country of build:	DEU
Beam:	19.3	Builder:	Krupp Germania
Material of build:		Location of yard:	Kiel
Number of screws/Mchy/Speed(kn):	2D-11

Owner as Completed:

American Petroleum Co., The Hague

ON	LR/IMO	ID	Year	Name	Tons	Name change	Main Owner
		5606402	1925	ROTTERDAM	8968	-	American Petroleum co.

U boats in WW II U-511 Type : IXC Laid down : 21 Feb, 1941- Deutsche Werft AG, Hamburg Commissioned : 8 Dec, 1941 - Kptlt. Friedrich Steinhoff Commanders : 8 Dec, 1941 - 17 Dec, 1942 - Kptlt. Friedrich Steinhoff 18 Dec, 1942 - 20 Nov, 1943 - Kptlt. Fritz Schneewind Career : 4 patrols - 8 Dec, 1941 - 31 Jul, 1942  4. Flottille (training) 1 Aug, 1942 - 1 Sep, 1943  10. Flottille (front boat) Successes : 5 ships sunk for a total of 41.373 tons 1 ship damaged for a total of 8.773 tons Fate : Sold to Japan on 16 Sept, 1943 and became the Japanese submarine RO 500. Surrendered at Maizuru in August 1945. Scuttled in the Gulf of Maizuru by the US Navy on 30 April, 1946. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- During the summer of 1942 the boat under the command of Kptlt. Steinhoff took part in some of the most interesting experiments of the entire world war. Steinhoff's brother, Dr. Erich Steinhoff was working at Peenemünde on the rockets program and they worked it out so that U-511 was used for rocket tests. A rack for 6 30 cm rockets was installed and somewhat extensive tests were carried out. These were concluded with a successful launch of rockets from a depth of 12 meters. These amazing tests did not convince Dönitz' staff of their merit and they were not carried out. The rockets in question, the 30cm Wurfkörper 42 Spreng, was by no means advanced enough to target ships but it might have been used to bombard shore installations such as oil refineries in the Caribbean. That idea was born in late 1944 when type XXI boats were to tow V-2 launchers which would attack shore bases. The launchers, nor the XXI boats, were not available in time though. Men lost from U-boats : Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-511 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.