At the urging of the anti-aircraft command and the commander of Cuxhaven, the naval command was forced to plug an entry hole for Allied aircraft. The aircraft of the Royal Air Force's Coastal Command used this loophole in the middle of the Elbe between Cuxhaven and the coast of Dithmarschen to attack ships in the Altenbruch roadstead or to lay mines without hindrance. They were not in danger of being shot at by light anti-aircraft weapons from land during a surprise attack. To prevent this, the recently commissioned anti-aircraft cruiser Nymphe was anchored in the Klotzenloch abeam of the Kugelbake from the beginning of August 1941. The ship officially went into service on August 8, 1941. A separate underwater cable was laid from the ship to land to enable rapid contact with the Cuxhaven anti-aircraft command. The "Nymphe" was the former Norwegian coastal armored ship "Tordenskjold", built in 1897. After the invasion of Norway, the ship was confiscated and converted in Kiel into a floating anti-aircraft cruiser for air defense. At this time, its armament consisted of 6 x 10.5 cm Flak 38, 2 x 4 cm Bofors, 14 x 2 cm Flak 30. On May 5, 1942, the floating anti-aircraft battery "Nymphe" left Cuxhaven after a stay in the shipyard and moved to Tromsö, Norway. Here it was used to protect the battleship "Tirpitz" in order to fend off the increasingly intense air attacks against the "Queen of the North". The artificial "Flakinsel Medemsand" in the middle of the Elbe, which was still under construction at the time, then mainly took over protection against low-flying aircraft, although it did not have the firepower of the ship. It was supported by vehicles from the 4th/ HSF.-Cuxhaven. The Nymphe was involved in several shooting down of Allied low-flying aircraft during its stay in the Klotzenloch. During its deployment in Cuxhaven, the ship was subordinate to the Flak Command in Cuxhaven. Source: MB, KTB. Kom. Cuxhaven, https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Waffen/NympheFlak.htm

Reports from the war diary T 1022 R 2242 - Commander in the Cuxhaven sector