Robert Kennedy III is displaying his model of R 96/Salisbury that formerly worked out of Lewes as a fishing research vessel for Fish Products. The model is on exhibit at the Cannonball House in historic downtown Lewes.

A scale model of a World War II German in-shore minesweeper (Raumboot R 96) was recently placed on display in the Lewes Historical Society's Cannonball House Maritime Museum. The 1:33 scale model was commissioned by Robert J. Kennedy III of Milford and was built in Germany by Mr. Juergen Pasche, a retired policeman. The model took over eight months to construct.

The original R 96 was built at the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyard in Lemwerder, Germany and entered service with the German Navy on March 14, 1942. It was initially assigned to the Eighth Minesweeping Flotilla and operated in the North Sea and the English Channel.

After the end of WWII, the R 96 was seized by the United States government as a war prize and assigned to the German Minesweeping Administration for post-war mine clearing operations.

In 1947 the R 96 was leased to a German company Peglow-Kreutzer, A.G. in Hamburg, Germany for experimental fishing work.

The R 96 was purchased by Fish Products in 1953 and brought to Lewes. Upon its entry into the United States the R 96 was renamed "Salisbury." Dr. Conradin Kreutzer, the German physicist who began working with the R 96 in Germany, emigrated to lewes and continued his work on experimental fishing techniques for Fish Products Company. Dr. Kreutzer and his family lived in Lewes for many years while he worked on various ways to use electrical fields in order to improve the efficiency of commercial fishing operations.

In accordance with the terms of the purchase, once the boats experimental work was completed, it had to be destroyed. Destruction was accomplished by sinking the boat off Holland Island in the Chesapeake Bay on May 5, 1960. The R 96/Salisbury now forms a barrier to help minimize erosion of the island due to the effects of wind and tide.

Mr. Kennedy said that his interest in the R 96/Salisbury began soon after the boat was brought to Lewes. He remembers the boat when it was tied up at the Fish Product dock. Due to the R 96/Salisbury's unique propulsion system (Voith-Schneider propellors) the boat was very maneuverable and the captain often would bring the boat into the center of the docking area and then move the boat laterally to bring it to the dock. Such a maneuver never ceased to amuse the dock workers and crews of the other menhaden boats who saw it.

In addition to the model, the collection includes various documents, photographs and momentoes many of which were provided by former crew members - both German and American.

Mr. Kennedy said that he hoped that while the model is on display it will be of interest to all who visit the Cannonball House and that it will add to the general knowledge of a unique vessel that operated from the port of Lewes - one that began its service as a ship of war and ended as a research vessel advancing new methods of commercial fishing.

The cannonball House is located at the corner of Front and Bank Streets in Lewes. For more information please call 645-7670 or email research@historiclewes.org.

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