Raiders Talk 08

German Armed Raiders in the Two World Wars Presented by Brian Florance Probus Moss Vale Military History Meeting Feb 08 For many centuries when countries have been at war disguised raiders have been sent to prey on the ships of the enemy. One classic example was the use of “Letter of Marque” Ships known a “Privateers” in the Napoleonic wars. These ships harried the merchant ships of the enemy and were used by both sides. At the start of WW I Germany had a squadron in the Pacific at Tsing-tao in China Commanded by Vizeadmiral Maximilian Graf von Spee. These ships left just before the Japanese who surrounded and captured the base at Tsing-tao. Emden under Fregattenkapitan von Müller was ordered to cruise the German possessions in the Pacific. He was ordered to search and destroy any enemy ships for as long as he could, and then to return to Germany if possible. The High command considered that it would be unlikely that he could get back. Emden was built at Danzig and commissioned on 10 July 1909. She was armed with ten 10.5 cm guns (4.1 inch) & 1 Torpedo

tube on each beam and

was powered by 2

Triple expansion steam

engines. Along with

her sister ships,

Dresden, Konigsberg

and a later member of

the same class

Karlsruhe, they were

well designed for

raider warefare.

Emden cruised the

Pacific from 1st August

to 9th November 1914

and during this time

destroyed 15 merchant

ships (a total tonnage

of 66023grt) and 2 warships, The Russian Cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mosquet both in the harbour of Penang. She also entered the harbour at Madras and shelled the oil tanks, which burned, after this she shelled the ships in the harbour. Von Müller also sank the twin screw Dredger “Ponrabbel” on a delivery trip to the Launceston Harbour Board in Tasmania. On the 9th of November Von Müller decided to attack the Wireless and Cable relay station on Direction Island in the Cocos Keeling Group. The radio operators seeing a strange warship sent messages, which were heard by, the ANZAC troop convoy, which was only 60 miles away and HMAS Sydney, was detached to investigate. She replied to the signals from the island at half power and this deceived the Emden into thinking she was much further away. Emden sighted Sydney at 0915. Emden steamed out of the Harbour at 0930 leaving her shore party behind and as soon as Sydney was in range began heavy and accurate fire, which destroyed Sydney’s rangefinder. Captain Glassop opened the range and with his

heavier guns gradually reduced Emden to a wreck. The landing party left on the Island by the rapid departure of Emden commandeered and made off in the trading barquentine Ayesha and finally found their way back to Germany via Aden and other Turkish possessions Next we look at the other cruisers, first is the Dresden, which was attached to Von Spee’s Squadron. Dresden cruised from 1st August 1914 to 14 March 1915 and sank 4 ships 12,960 grt. At sea when war was declared Fregattenkapitan Ludecke sailed to the busy shipping lanes off the eastern seaboard of South America. Off Brazil on the 6/8/1914 he stopped the Drumcliffe as she was in ballast and the Captain had his wife and young daughter on board so Ludecke released them. Eighty minutes later he stopped the Lynton Grange also in ballast and he freed this ship also. Almost at once he stopped the Hostilis, he released her also and after this he captured and sank four ships of 12960 GRT. Dresden joined the Krzeurgeschwader on 12 10 1914. Dresden participated in the battles of Coronel and the Falklands and fled after the last battle. Dresden cruised around Cape Horn and the coast of Chile until the 14th March1915 when she was caught in Cumberland Bay, Juan Fernandez Island and sunk by HMS Glasgow. This was a very poor return for the time and fuel expended. A memorial service was held on Juan Fernandez and in the picture the leutnant is Wilhelm Canaris who was head of the Abwher in WWII Next was Karlsruhe, a very modern cruiser initially commissioned on 15 January 1914. She cruised from 1st August 1914 to 4th November 1914 and sank 16 ships with a total 72,225grt a very successful cruise in the Caribbean, as there were several British cruisers in the area searching for her. On the evening of the 4th November1914, while she was cruising peacefully along, a sudden violent explosion destroyed everything forward of the 1st funnel killing the Captain and 262 members of the crew. The survivors were picked up by an attending collier and escaped back to Germany. Konigsberg was the last of the Cruisers and she was at large from 1st August 1914 to the 11 July 1915 however she only sank 1 merchant ship 0f 6,600 grt and one very old British Cruiser “Pegasus” built in 1897 and 2135 tons, that is smaller than a WWII destroyer. Konigsberg sailed up the Rufiji delta and was found on 29th October 1914 by the British Cruiser Chatham. She was further up the river than the 3 Larger British ships were able to go. She was penned up but it took another 8 months before she could be destroyed, as the British could not get into gunnery range. Spotter aircraft were brought out from England and finally Shallow Draft Monitors with 6” guns were used and Konigsberg was finally destroyed on the 6th July 1915. Most of the crew escaped and for the rest of the war served in German East Africa under von Lettow-Vorbeck as Infantry where many were killed or died of disease.

The next group of ships were the large liners, Cap Trafalgar, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kronprinz Wilhelm and Prinz Eitel Freidrich Cap Trafalgar sailed from

Montevideo on 23 August 1914

and met the Gunboat Eber at sea.

Eber’s Guns were transferred and

fitted to the Cap Trafalgar she

proceeded to Ilha da Trindade

where she was found by the

Armed Merchant Cruiser

Carmania a converted Cunard

Liner. After an heroic duel

Carmania sank the Cap Trafalgar and being badly damaged called for help. She was supported by HMS Cornwall whose engineers managed to fix the worst damage and Cornwall then escorted her to Gibraltar. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was built in 1897 as an Atlantic liner and was the first German liner to hold the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. She was armed with six 10.5 cm guns (4.2’) this was done in the first 3days of August 1914 and on the 4th of August she sailed and escaped into the Atlantic. On the 7th August while only 50 nautical miles NW of Iceland she sank the trawler Tubal Cain of 227GRT A few days later she stopped Galacian This ship was found to be carrying 250 passengers, mainly women and children and was released. Later she sank a large freighter. And late that afternoon captured the liner Arianza that also was released because of the large number of women and children aboard (How different to the Nazi U-boat captains of WWII). Running short of coal she went to the Spanish colony of Rio de Oro where she coaled ship, A warship was seen approaching and this was the old British Cruiser Highflyer and as Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was stopped she was unable to use her speed to escape, She was sunk by the British cruiser Highflyer. She had only sunk 10,685 Grt of shipping which was not a good result. The liner Kronprinz Wilhelm was in New York when war was declared. She was ordered to sail at once and she sailed at top speed, by the 6th August she met the Cruiser Karlsruhe, which transhipped two 8.0 cm guns. She then cruised in the eastern Atlantic sinking 16 ships with a total tonnage of 51,363 grt. By 26th of April the ship was in a poor way with sprung plates and a crew showing signs of Scurvy. She managed to get past HMS Suffolk and enter Newport News where she was interned. It was a very good cruise for she had kept several British Cruises searching for her for some 8 months. Prinz Eitel Friedrich was in Tsingtau at the outbreak of hostilities and she was fitted with four 10.5 cm guns and six 8.8 cm guns She sailed into the Pacific and captured eleven ships with a total of 33424grt.

She sailed the pacific until Christmas 1914 when it was decided to try and round Cape horn. She sailed south as far as 61 south and by 26th January was back in mid Atlantic. She continued her cruise until early March, when short of fuel; she also entered Newport News and was interned. Use of the light cruisers and large passenger ships had not proved very successful as they needed too much coal and all had been hunted down in a short period. By early 1915 all available light cruisers has been sunk and there were none in either the Atlantic or the Pacific. It was decided to use merchant ships with concealed guns. Of the disguised Merchant

ships Mowe and Wolf were

the most famous both being at

sea for very long periods.

However the first was the

Greif, a new ship launched in

July 1914 and converted in

1915 to a raider (hilfskrzeur).

She was armed with four 15

cm (6’’) guns and one 10.5

cm gun on her poop. She sailed on 25 February 1916 and because of poor security the British knew when she started to sail down the Norwegian coast. Admiral Jellicoe dispatched several cruisers and destroyers to support the armed merchant ships of the close blockade. Greif was sighted by Alcantra and Andes at 0855 on the 29th February 1916, Alcantra signalled MN. (Stop Instantly) and Grief hove to and claimed to be a Norwegian steamer headed for Rio de Janeiro. As Alcantra was preparing to send a boarding party Greif opened fire with her poop gun hitting Alcantra’s bridge and cutting all communications and telegraphs, then all Greif’s guns opened up and for 10 minutes Alcantra was out of control. Once control was regained Captain Wardle increased speed to get ahead of the slower ship. The first 6’’shell fired by Alcantra demolished Greif’s poop gun and alerted Andes who increased speed to close being some 5 miles away. Greif and Alcantra fought fiercely and both were damaged on the waterline, Greif then torpedoed Alcantra amidships but the bunkers buffered much of the explosion. Andes now came up and by 1022 Greif was ablaze and ceased fire, boats were noticed pulling away from her. Alcantra developed a list to port and was sinking, she was abandoned at 1045 and rolled over and sunk at 1100 Greif sank at 1301 still flying the German flag. Mowe was a very successful raider, she sailed from 1st December 1915 to 22nd March 1917 and had 2 cruises in this period. She was commanded by Nikoulas Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien She first laid a field of more than 250 mines off the Orkneys making it harder for ships to enter the Pentland Firth. Her first victim was the old Battleship King Edward VII. It proved impossible to sweep these mines and all shipping had to avoid the area until after the War. In mid 1916 Mowe had managed to return to Germany having destroyed 14 ships and the old Battleship. Graf zu Donha-Schlodien was promoted to Fregatten Kapitan and awarded the Iron Cross 1st class and the coveted Pour le Merite. In November1916 Mowe was sent to sea for an unprecedented second cruise. This cruise lasted until 22nd March 1917 and

during this time 24 more ships were sunk. In his career Graf zu Donha-Schlodien had deprived the allies of 165,304Grt of shipping and he had acted most honourably and had adhered to the international rules of cruiser warfare. Wolf sailed 7 days after Mowe left on her second cruise, She was launched in March 1913 and was a relatively new ship, she was slow but had a prodigious range, she was also the first and only raider of WWI to carry a seaplane. She was armed with six modern 15cm guns and one 10.5 cm gun on her poop. She was commanded by Korvettenkapitan Karl Nerger, who was ordered to lay mines in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Nerger sailed the Indian Ocean around Australia and New Zealand and near Singapore where he laid more mines and also around Dutch East Indies. He returned home from here arriving in Keil on the 19th February 1918 after a cruise of 452 days and some 64000 miles (Approx 2.5 times around the world). The last important raider was a

sailing ship Seeadler Commanded

by Korvettenkapitan Graf Felix

von Luckner. Seeadler was a three

masted ship originally named

“Pass of Balmaha” Von Luckner

was an experienced officer having

fought at the battle of Heligoland

Bight, the raids on Yarmouth and the Yorkshire Coast and as a Battleship turret Commander at Jutland. Seeadler sailed on the 23rd December 1916 and cruised in the Atlantic and then around Cape Horn into the Pacific. She captured 14 ships, mainly sailing ships, and on 2nd August put into Ile Mopelie one of Sous le Vent group in the Tahitian archipeligo where Seeadler was wrecked. Von Luckner set of in a 10 metre motor lifeboat and sailed to Atiu Island in the Cook Group then to Aitutaki, on to Raratonga where he was nearly captured. From here they headed to the Fijian islands, however they were suffering from scurvy and were short of water and food, they were forced to land at Nuie to recuperate. They sailed from there and finally landed at Wakaya Island of Vita Levu where they booked a passage on a trading schooner planning to steal it. However the steamer Amra arrived with armed policemen aboard. Von Luckner would not allow his crew to fight them as they were out of uniform and could have been shot or hung as spies. They were sent to captivity in N Z, Von Luckner and his men escaped from NZ on 13 12 1917 in a motor boat owned by the prison Camp Commandant. They captured the schooner Moa and sailed to Curtis Island where they were recaptured by an armed patrol boat and returned to captivity. Von Luckner returned to Germany in mid 1919.

Before WWII started Germany sailed 2 of her “Pocket Battleships” which were in fact large armoured cruisers of some 12000 tons and armed with 11” guns. There were 3 ships Admiral Graf Spee and Deutschland were

sailed on last days of

August 1939 and a

third, Admiral Scheer

was damaged by RAF

bombing on 4th

September 1939 and

it was decided to

modify her and this

was completed by

mid 1940. Admiral

Graf Spee was at sea

and in her short

career she sank 9

ships before she was

brought to battle by

Cdre Harwood’s

British Squadron off

the River Plate, after

a running battle when

she badly damaged

HMS Exeter but was

herself damaged. She

entered the neutral

harbour of

Montevideo and 5

days later she was

scuttled on Hitler’s

orders and her

Captain Hans

Langsdorf committed

suicide, a great pity a

he was an honourable

and humane raider

captain. Her sister ship Deutschland sank 2 ships and returned to Germany where she was renamed Lutzow. She was torpedoed twice by the RAF and later was badly damaged by 3 Six-ton Tallboy bombs She was scuttled in 1945. Admiral Scheer sailed on 14th October 1940 and her first target was Convoy HX-84. She attacked the convoy, which scattered in all directions. The only convoy escort was an old Aberdeen & Commonwealth Liner converted to an AMC named HMS Jervis Bay armed with WWI 6”guns. She attacked the raider and was finally sunk after a hard fight. By her sacrifice she saved many of the ships as she delayed Scheer’s attack on the convoy that scattered in all directions into the Mid Atlantic. Because of this she was only able to sink 5 of the ships. After this Scheer slipped southwards and sank several ships, transferring supplies and prisoners to various ships for return to Germany, In February she moved into the Indian Ocean where she sank 3 more ships and then sailed back into the Atlantic. She sailed northwards and passed through the Denmark Strait and into Keil on the 1st April 1941. .Germany’s two Battle cruisers were next to sortie , Scharnhorst sailed in November1939 and encountered the AMC Rawalpindi which she sank in minutes, (6’ guns and no armour cannot stand up to 11’ guns and a fully armoured ship). Both sailed on 3 February and after a close call with the battleship Ramillies they found a westbound convoy and sank 5 ships, On 15 March they found the ships of a

convoy which scattered and Gneisenau sank seven freighters and Scharnhorst sank six ships and they captured 3 tankers, This cruise cost the Allies a precious ships to a tonnage of 115,622 tons. Gneisenau just managed to escape the Battleship Rodney and both returned to occupied France. This was the end of their raiding. The ball then passed to the Merchant cruisers. The next slide will list them and the various numbering systems used by RN, German ship numbers and HSK Numbers (in Roman Numerals). They sailed in two waves, in the first wave the first ship Atlantis sailed on 30 March 1940 in the company of the next two, Orion and Widder. Atlantis carried 2 floatplanes for scouting and was commanded by Kapitan zur See Bernard Rogge. Rogge was an excellent raider captain and his first disguise was as a Soviet ship, after she crossed the equator Atlantis altered her outline and became the Kasii Maru. On may 2nd she met the British passenger liner City of Exeter and Captain Rogge did not attack her as he did not want to cause massive civilian injuries. The next day he captured his first ship The Scientist, he continued to sail south past the Cape of Good Hope where he laid a field of 92 mines. He sailed into the Indian Ocean where he captured several ships; on one he found the communication codes for merchant ships. He captured 6 more ships in September and on 11th November he captured a British Ship Automedon which was a valuable prize as he found on board secure mail for the Far East command, new code tables, a British War cabinet report on British forces, the defences of Singapore, information regarding Aust & NZ and an appraisal of the Empire of Japans intentions. All of this mail, captured POWs and 10,000 gallons of aviation fuel were sent back to Japan on one of his prizes and from there back to Germany via the Trans Siberian Railway. They then sailed south to Kerguelen Island in the Antarctic Ocean where they had Christmas and refurbished the ship. One sailor fell from the funnel and died, He was buried on Kerguelen Island and his grave is referred to as “the most southerly German Soldiers grave” In January 1941 off the east coast of Africa he refuelled from a captured Norwegian tanker, that also refuelled Admiral Scheer and an Italian Submarine. By April 17 he was back in the Atlantic where he sank the Egyptian Liner Zamzam mistaking her for a British troopship. He sank 4 more ships and then becoming scared of the RN he sailed back into the Pacific where he patrolled near French Polynesia, however he captured no ships despite using his seaplanes. On 19 October he headed back to the Atlantic passing Cape Horn 10 days later. He had been ordered to refuel 2 Uboats. He refuelled U-68 800 km south of St. Helena on November 13 and on November 22 he met U-126 and started to refuel her. At 0816 the foremast lookout shouted “Enemy Cruiser in Sight” This was the HMS Devonshire and at this U-126 dived. From some 14 Km away Devonshire opened fire and after 20-30 seconds her 8’shells arrived, the 1st salvo missed but the next 2 salvos smashed into Atlantis. The crew abandoned ship and ammunition exploded and Atlantis sank. Devonshire could not stop as U-126 had been sighted and after her departure U-126 surfaced and picked up 300 Germans and a wounded American prisoner. The submarine towed these survivors towards Brazil. Two days after this the supply ship Python arrived and took the survivors on board, however their troubles were not at an end. On 1st December another cruiser HMS Dorsetshire

appeared and Python was scuttled. The survivors were picked up by U-Boats and eventually Rogge’s crew were returned to Germany after a cruise of 602 days and 161,000 Km .22ships of 144,384 tons were sunk. Kapitan Zur See Rogge was awarded Oak leaves to the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. The next ship was Orion, which sailed on 6th April 1940 and sailed south through the Atlantic. In May 1940 Orion rounded Cape Horn and entered the Pacific, in June she entered N Z waters and laid mines off Auckland on night of 13 June. These mines sank RMS Niagara 5 days later, she was carrying £4,000,000 gold, the minefield also sank 2 ships, 2 trawlers and an auxiliary minesweeper. Next she sailed across the Indian and Pacific oceans sinking 3 ships and sending a fourth ship back to Germany. On 20th October Orion met the raider Komet and a supply ship. The two raiders worked together and sank 7 ships including the NZ liner Rangitane. Over Christmas 1940 they anchored at Emirau Island until the New Year. Then they then separated and Orion cruised the Indian Ocean for the next 6 months. She only sank 1 ship in this time. Orion returned to Bordeaux on 23 August 1941. A cruise of 510 days, 127,337 nautical miles during which she sank 62,915t as well as 2 more with Komet totalling 21,125 t. Widder was the 3rd raider to sail and she reached the Atlantic. Over a 51/2-month period she sank 10 ships of 58,644 GRT. As she had then completed her mission she returned to occupied France on 1st October 1940. This was regarded as a very successful cruise. Next was Thor a small but fast ship with a long range. She sailed on June 6 1940 and by the 23rd was well below the Azores, she was heading for her allotted area of South Atlantic operations. By the1st July Thor had captured her 1st ship, which was sent to Germany with a prize crew, arriving there only 12 days after capture. Seven days later Thor captured Delambre and her crew of 45 were taken aboard the Raider. Delambre’s captain had suffered the same indignity in WWI being captured by the Mowe. By the 18th July Thor had captured 6 ships with a tonnage of 32,501.On the 28th a large ship was sighted and was an AMC HMS Alcantara. Following his orders he tried to avoid combat but Alcantara was faster, Thor turned and fired a 4 gun salvo, Alcantara replied but Thor scored 3 hits, one in the engineroom, which slowed Alcantara and she came to a stop. Thor”s captain decided to break off the action and steamed away. He had used 284 shells of his 5.9’magazine. His next prize was most unusual; it was the 17000 ton Norwegian whaling ship factory ship Kosmos and had a full load of whale oil. She was sunk despite this valuable cargo, as she was a very slow ship as well as being easily identified as her funnels that were side-by-side and very far aft. On his return to Germany he was criticised by his senior officer for this action, Thor next sunk a refrigerated ship and then met a supply ship where he was able to offload 368 prisoners relieving much worry about food. A course was taken to go to the River Plate/Capetown Shipping lane despite being warned by Berlin that 8 British cruisers were in those waters. On an early December day at 0531 a large ship appeared out of the mist, this was the AMC Carnarvon Castle, which pursued Thor and by 0700 was overtaking him and started firing. Thor returned the fire and also fired 2

torpedoes that missed. The engagement lasted about 1 hour and Thor scored 5 hits, which caused many casualties on the exposed crew of the AMC. The AMC made for Montevideo where she was repaired; her hull was patched with steel plates from the wreck of the Graf Spee. The crews continued with very few ships seen, the next victim was the small liner Britannia with 300 passengers and a crew of 200, after the crew and passengers had taken to the life boats Britannia was sunk. As Sierra Leone radio reported that a British cruiser was less than 100 miles away the boats were left for it to rescue. The same afternoon another ship was sunk. On the 4th April Thor attacked a ship, which turned out to be another AMC HMS Voltaire. Her first salvo hit Voltaire causing a fire amidships and damaged the steering gear and by 0835 Voltaire sank. Thor stayed in the area until 1300 and picked up the Captain and crew of the sunken ship. One more ship was captured and scuttled and Thor turned for Home arriving in Hamburg after 329 days at sea and sinking 12 ships of 76547 tons. Freattenkapitan Kahler was an efficient and resourceful Raider Commander who had been very successful in destroying Allied ships and surviving 3 actions against British AMCs and sinking one. In 1944 he was promoted Rear Admiral and appointed NOIC Brittany where he was captured by the Americans and sent to USA as a PoW. The next to leave was the Pinguin, she sailed on the 15th June 1940 and slipped through the Denmark straits and headed for her patrol area in the Southern Ocean. In 10 1/2 months she captured 28 ships to a total of 136,000 tons. Her most successful capture was the Norwegian whaling fleet in Antarctica, this comprised of 3 factory ships and 11 catchers. All but 1 catcher were sent back as prizes arriving in Bordeaux in March 1941. Pinguin was sunk by HMS Cornwall on the 8th may 1941, she was the first of the raiders to be sunk and 532 persons were lost including 200 prisoners. Cornwall picked up 60 crewmen and 22 prisoners. The last ship of the first wave was the Komet commanded by Kapitan zur See Fryssen. Helped by the Russians who provided ice pilots and icebreakers, Komet made the difficult northern passage to the Pacific, for this the Soviet Union charged 950,000 Reichmarks (80000 Pounds Sterling). It was September 10 when Komet reached the Pacific; she made for the Japanese Island of Lamutrik where she had been ordered to meet Orion, arriving on October 14 After her sorties with Orion she was on her own again on December 23rd and she proceeded to Nauru. After wirelessing the Administrator to clear everybody from the loading pier, lighters and oil tanks they were destroyed by gunfire. There were no casualties but heavy damage was caused to both plant and buildings. This caused problems between Japanese and Germans as it revealed that the Japanese were providing facilities to the Germans contrary to International Law. Despite this Kapitan zur See Fyssen was promoted Rear admiral on New Years Eve 1940. Fyssen was ordered to the Ross Sea in Antarctica; here they only encountered a Japanese Whaling factory ship. From here they sailed to Kerguelen Island and on March 12 were joined by Pinguin. 2 Days later Komet sailed for area Siberia west of Perth, by May 8 Komet was off Onslow West Aust and they learned that Pinguin had been sunk. Komet was then joined by Pinguin’s tender Adjutant and both sailed to the south of Australia and NZ. Adjutant to lay

mines off South Island of NZ, by June 24 Adjutant was off Wellington and started to lay mines when searchlights pinpointed her and the mines were uselessly laid too early in deep water. Adjutant‘s engines failed and 3 days later Komet picked the crew up. On July21 Komet refuelled at area Balbo and then set out for the Galapogos Islands and in this area he finally sighted an enemy ship after a period of 227 days scouring the oceans which had remained totally empty Komet now captured several ships and the British warned of a raider in the vicinity. The Americans were alerted that a ship was in the area of The Pan American zone of neutrality and they dispatched warships. German HQ directed Komet and Atlantis to go to area Balbo and refuel. On November 1 Komet was ordered home and reached Hamburg despite being hit by an RAF bomb off the French Coast. Despite Fyssen’s hard work this was not a successful cruise. Second Wave: The 1st ship of this

wave was the Kormoran,, which

ship I am sure is known to you all.

Under the command of

Fregattenkapitan Theodor

Detmers she sailed on 3rd

December 1940. She was a prime

example of a disguised freighter

as she was 8740 tons and had a

speed of 18-19 knots, which was

faster than most merchant ships. She was the largest of the raiders and with six 5.9’ guns, torpedo tubes and two seaplanes as well as a small schnellboot (E-Boat). She first operated in the Sth Atlantic and sank 8 ships. In April 1941 she moved to the Indian Ocean but here she only captured 3 prizes between April and November. By November she was off the west Australian coast and just about to move to the South Pacific when she sighted HMAS Sydney and here her cruise ended. Richard Cant will be telling you the Kormoran –Sydney saga on Monday 28th July. On her cruise Kormoran sank 10 ships that is about 1 every 5 weeks. Next to sail was Thor on her 2nd cruise,

she was commanded by KzS Gumprich.

She crawled down the French coast and

under cover of bad weather sailed from

the Gironde and escaped into the

Atlantic. Near Capetown on 13 March

she was challenged by HMS Durban an

old cruiser and again the next day by an

AMC. She bluffed her way past both.

During this time her seaplanes had been

used for scouting but she had not seen

any ships. After this things improved and

in six months she captured 10 ships including the liner Nankin. After this Thor was ordered to meet the tanker Uckermark and to proceed to Yokohama. Here both ships were alongside in a basin together with the captured Nankin and a Japanese ship, at 1400 the was a loud explosion from Uckermark followed by a 2nd and then a third explosion which badly damaged both ships. Fire now spread rapidly and by 2200 all 4 ships in the basin had sunk with 13 crewmen of Thor and 43 from Uckermark being killed. Uckermark was originally Altmark of the Cossack rescue fame. Next to sail was Michel, she sailed in March 1942 under the command of KzS von Ruckteschell (who was the only raider captain to be tried for war crimes). After grounding and other troubles she finally

reached the Atlantic 15 days later .She sailed the South Atlantic and from that area she moved to the Indian Ocean and in a cruise lasting 346 days sank 15 allied ships, totalling 99,000 GRT. Michel then proceeded to Yokohama and was refitted, at this time Kapitan zur See von Ruckteschell handed command to KzS Gumprich, who had commanded Thor on her second cruise, until she was sunk. Michel sailed from Japan on 21 May 1943 and cruised the west coast of Australia and then around to and across the Pacific to the coast of Sth America. In 5 months she sank 3 ships, (A poor return for 5 months cruise). Michel returned to Japan but was sunk by USS Tarpon 50 miles from shore. Stier sailed on 10 May 1942 and after getting to Royan in occupied France she started a 4-½ month cruise during which she sank 3 ships and fought a fourth, a liberty ship with a single gun on the poop. This engagement ended in both ships being sunk The last to depart was Komet on her second cruise. One week after sailing from Hamburg she was attacked by British MTBs near Cap de la Hague and was torpedoed by MTB 236 and sank with no survivors. Her wreck was discovered in July 2006 and as surveyed in 2007. She lies off Cap de la Hague, upside down and broken in two. By this stage of the war the Allies had many new cruisers and carriers and in view of this German High Command decided that no more Raiders would be despatched. *******