The Hilfskreuzers - corsairs of the Kriegsmarine

[Jumarka]

The Hilfskreuzers

 

They were only 9 ships, their guns were mostly old 15cm secondary guns from deactivated warships and a mix of AA guns and even some antitank guns, their lines were not gracefull,  none of them passed the 20 knots mark, they had no armor or like submarines the ability to dive for safety.

They operated in all major Oceans of the world, some of them were temporarily stationed in Japan for operation in the Pacific. The longest voyage was the one of the Atlantis, during its 622 day mission the ship sailed 102.000 sea miles.

Their sorties led to the mobilization of significant Allied naval and air resources, and caused disruption to supply routes.

 

They were the Auxiliary Cruisers of the Kriegsmarine, converted merchants, equipped to attack Allied merchant shipping. The military equipment on board was camouflaged in a way that those ships still appeared to be "normal" merchant ships.

They also carried enough material and paint to change their outer appearance often, like adding a second funnel, modifying the superstructure and or even repainting the whole ship while at sea. They often gave themselves the look of an existing allied or neutral merchant to deceive other allied aircrafts and ships.  Aboard it would be a "disguising party". Every time an aircraft came to close,  or a suspicious ship crossed their path, or even an enemy warship appeared on the horizon, the "party" appeared on the decks. These were often very skilfully simulated "women"’, simulated "coloured" people  and miscellaneous other people such as a clergyman sitting in a deckchair with two or three large "ladies" beside him, and even some "children" playing games nearby.

They also have onboard a "Prize Group", a number of officers and men selected to command and man captured ships taken as prizes. Their task was a rather dangerous one, as they always needed the "co-operation" of at least part of the captured crew. The task of the prize crew was to reach a German held port, usually Bordeaux , undetected by British naval forces, and according to very specific timings, in order to avoid being torpedoed by "friendly" U-Boats.

 

And with their six 15 cm guns and torpedo tubes, they were even capable to fight or at least hurt "real" warships if they could surprise them. When the Australian Light Cruiser Sydney wanted to inspect the auxiliary cruiser Kormoran and closed up to 1000m, the Kormoran opened fire and was able to sink the Australian ship (but was lost because of too much damage during this battle, http://forum-na.worl...25-hmas-sydney/ awesome post from Tanz about that encounter).

 

They also carried one or two Arado Ar 196 float planes - http://en.wikipedia....ki/Arado_Ar_196

 

The ships were HSK1 Orion, HSK2 Atlantis, HSK3 Widder, HSK4 Thor, HSK5 Pinguin, HSK6 Stier, HSK7 Komet, HSK8 Kormoran and HSK9 Michel.

The combined displacement of this 9 ships was about 55.900 tons you can compare that to the battleship Tirpitz at 50,954t. And while the Tirpitz spent most of the war sitting on port being a nuisance those 9 second hand Auxiliary Cruisers sunk or captured 142 ships, grossing more than 870.000 tons.

 

HSK1 Orion (ex transport ship Kurmark)

It left Germany on 1940 and first operated in the Atlantic ocean, later sailed to the Pacific and Indian Ocean. Laid a mine field off the harbor of Auckland. On 1941 it returned to Bordeaux after 511 days on sea without entering a base. During this operation sunk 10 ships with 62.915 t.  and two additional ones 21.125 t. together with the auxiliary cruiser Komet . It was renamed as Hektor and used as a repair and artillery training ship. In January 1945 it was again renamed to Orion and used to transport refugees over the Baltic Sea. On its last trip on 1945 it was sunk by bombs in Swinemünde.

One Nakajima E8N float plane was purchased in early 1941 by the German naval attaché to Japan, Vice-Admiral Wenneker, and dispatched on board the supply ship Münsterland to rendezvous with the Orion at Maug Island in the Marianas. http://en.wikipedia....ki/Nakajima_E8N

 

http://www.bismarck-...hk_orion_01.jpg

 

HSK2 Atlantis (ex transport ship Goldenfels)

The first auxiliary cruiser commissioned by the Kriegsmarine. From March 1940 on, the ship operated in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and the Pacific. On November 22, 1941 it was resupplying the U-boat U-126 (Kapitänleutnant Ernst Bauer) when it was detected by the HMS Devonshire a County class heavy cruiser. As the cruiser approached its floatplane had spotted U-126, Devonshire‘s attack caught Bauer taking a bath on Atlantis, and he was unable to return

before U-126 dove for safety. Devonshire prowled about, outside of gunnery range for over an hour as it tried to verify whether the disguised Atlantis was a surface raider or not, but  Bauer‘s 1st Officer (Oberleutnant  z. S. Kurt Neubert), temporarily in command of U-126,  failed to attack and Devonshire finally opened fire and sank Atlantis after discerning her true nature. Bauer survived the sinking, and resumed  command  of U-126 when  it  surfaced  after Devonshire had left. U-126 then towed Atlantis‘ lifeboats to a rendezvous with the covert supply ship MS Python. But the adventure of the Atlantis crew didnt end there. Ultra intercepts guided HMS Dorsetshire to Python‘s location and the cruiser‘s floatplane reported the presence of a suspiciously stationary ship. The U-boats  dived  immediately while Python turned to flee in the hope the cruiser would come close enough for the U-boats to intercept: U-A dived  normally,  but U-68 had not completed its dive preparations when it dove and the boat nearly sank before Merten regained control. U-A launched five torpedoes at Dorsetshire, but all the torpedoes missed. Dorsetshire closed in and fired warning shots near Python, but Python could not hope to resist and scuttled, leaving in the water over four hundred survivors: Dorsetshire left the area to avoid any further U-boat attacks. BdU ordered U-124 (Kapitänleutnant Johann Mohr) and U-129 (Kapitänleutnant Nicolai Clausen) to assist; U-124 arrived on December 4 after having  torpedoed and sunk the light cruiser HMS Dunedin, which had also been searching for Python. U-129 arrived on December 5, and the four U-boats began the long journey to St. Nazaire, France, with 50 additional men packed inside each U-boat and 50 men on deck (sitting in life rafts, in case the U-boats had to dive quickly). Four Italian submarines  (Luigi  Torelli, Enrico  Tazzoli, Giuseppe  Finzi,  and Pietro  Calvi) met the  U-boats near the Cape Verde Islands. The eight submarines divided the survivors between them to allow  the U-boats to submerge and returned to France, with the final boat arriving on December 29, 1941.

Atlantis was lost after 622 days of operation with 22 ships with 145.697 t sunk.

 

 

HSK3 Widder (ex transport ship Neumark)

The Widder started its Atlantic operation in May 1940, lasted 180 days in which 10 ships were sunk. One notable event during this operation was the encounter with the British submarine Clyde while the ship was still in Norwegian waters. On November 1940 it returned to Brest. During this operation the Widder sunk or captured 10 ships with 58.644 t. From 1941 on it was used as the repair ship Neumark in Norway. After the war, it was taken over by the British and used as the transport ship Ulysses . In 1950 it was sold back to Germany where and renamed to Fechenheim . On 1955 it beached near Bergen during a storm and broke into two parts six days later.

 

http://www.bismarck-..._04_Neumark.jpg

 

HSK4 Thor (ex transport ship Santa Cruz was intended to be a banana boat)

It was one of the few German auxiliary cruisers that did two operations. The first one lasted 329 days and covered 57.532 miles, it ended in Hamburg on April 30 1941. The Thor engaged 3 British auxiliary cruisers, destroying one of them (Voltaire), and badly damaging the other two (Carnarvon Castle and Alcantara). Half a year later it started his second operation. An after 321 days at sea it ended on Yokohama, Japan on 1942. The two operations amounted for 152.125 t of allied ships. While being in Yokohama the supply ship Uckermark exploded, the resulting fires spread on the Thor as well and destroyed the ship.

 

http://www.bismarck-...939_or_1940.jpg

 

HSK5 Pinguin (ex transport ship Kandelfels)

The Pinguin left Germany on 1940. Besides merchant warfare, it had the secondary task to resupply German U-Boats, therefore it had a payload of 25 spare torpedoes on board. After a short operation time in the Atlantic, the ship operated most of its time in the Indian Ocean. It got famous during a raid into Antarctic waters where it captured three whale factory ships and 11 whale hunters. On 8 May 1941, after 357 days of operation, the Pinguin was surprised by the British heavy cruiser  HMS Cornwall near the Seychelles. After a hit in the mine storage, the Pinguin exploded and sunk. On its operations between 1940 and 1941 the Pinguin sunk or captured 32 ships with 154.619 t.

 

http://www.bismarck-..._pinguin_01.jpg

 

HSK6 Stier (ex transport ship Cairo)

The former Cairo was put into Kriegsmarine services in November 1939. After merchant warfare operations in the Baltic Sea, it was converted into a mine layer and was planned to be used during operation Seelöwe. After this operation was cancelled, the now named Stier was modified into an auxiliary cruiser in Rotterdam in April 1941. On 10.05.1942 it left Germany for its operation in the Atlantic. On the 27 October of 1942 the ship came across the US cargo ship Stephen Hopkins in heavy fog and rain. Raising the battle flag and firing a warning shot, Stier tried to stop the Hopkins, instead of stopping the cargo ship opened fire with his single 4 inch gun and AA guns. In the very close, less then 1000 meters, and short battle both ships were set ablaze. The Hopkins took the worst of it and sunk very fast, his radio operator never stopped transmiting during the battle. With the fires in the Stier out of control and closing to the torpedo hold the german crew abandoned the ship. They were picked by the Tannenfels, a blockade-runner that was close by, and carried to France. The 15 survivors of the Hopkins arrived at a beach in Brazil after a month drifting in the ocean.

During its operation, the Stier sunk 4 ships with 29.409 t.

 

http://www.bismarck-...er_03_cairo.jpg

 

HSK7 Komet (ex transport ship Ems)

The auxiliary cruiser Komet got famous because of its unique way to reach the Pacific Ocean. With assistance of several Soviet ice breakers, the ship sailed through the ice barriers north of Siberia in August and September 1940 and arrived in the Pacific Ocean three weeks after it left Norway. Komet operated in the Pacific for about one year and returned to Germany on 1941. It was planned to use the ship for a second operation one year later, therefore it left Germany on 1942 and sailed through the British Channel. But the Komet and its escorts were attacked by British MTBs near Cape de la Hague. The auxiliary cruiser sunk, after a torpedo hit by the British MTB 236, with not survivors. The Komet sunk or captured about 41.568 t.

 

http://www.bismarck-...hk_komet_01.jpg

 

HSK8 Kormoran (ex transport/passenger ship Steiermark)

The Kormoran was the biggest auxiliary cruiser used by the Kriegsmarine in World War II. And it was the only one which was able to sink a major warship in a direct battle. The ship left Germany on 1940 and entered the North Atlantic through the Denmark Strait. Until April of the following year, the ship operated in the North Atlantic, after that it sailed into the Indian Ocean. On 1941, the auxiliary cruiser was detected by the Australian Ligh Cruiser Sydney. Unaware that the Kormoran was armed, the Sydney close-up to the German ship which opened fire form very close range. The Sydney was badly damaged and on fire when it was last seen by the German ship and sunk after the battle. The Kormoran was so heavily damaged  in this battle that it had to be abandoned and blown up. Before engaging the Sydney the raider had captured or sunk 75.375 t.

 

 

HSK9 Michel (ex Polish transport ship Bielsko)

The incomplete Polish transport Bielsko was taken over by the Germany after the invasion of Poland. It was first completed as the hospital ship Bonn , but it was then decided to modify it to an auxiliary cruiser. To complete the armament guns were taken over from the decommissioned  HSK3 Widder. The first operation started in March 1942 and after a forced breakthrough of the British Channel, the ship operated in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. In this operation, the Michel was able to sink 14 ships. After almost one year, the ship arrived in Japan and after two months of refits and repairs, it started its second operation. This time, the ship was not very successful and on 1943 it was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine Tarpon east of Yokohama. In his two cruises she sunk 127.018 t.

 

http://www.bismarck-...k_michel_02.jpg

 

I worked on this article using mainly sources from the web, the two most important were:

http://www.german-na...iser/index.html

http://www.bismarck-...troduction.html this article is just awesome GO READ IT.

And of course Wikipedia, and some books about World Ward 2 that i have around.

[JeeWeeJ]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

[Ariecho]

Good read and thanks for your research (+1)

[Chiyeko]

Great read up indeed, pain in the rear end these things could be.

[Carrier_Enterprise]

Awesome info!

 

Thanks for the post!

[Tanz]

Sweet read man :Smile_great:

(+1)

[IotaOmicron]

good constructive post +1

[zcv45]

lol love the insult on tripitz

Good job!

[Tanz]

zcv45, on 10 October 2012 - 12:17 AM, said:

lol love the insult on tripitz

:Smile_veryhappy: Hey the Tirpitz did a lot....she sank the... :Smile_unsure:...wait...she... :Smile_amazed:...she,she  :Smile_hiding:  curse you Auxiliary Cruisers, making her look bad :Smile_teethhappy:

[Strait_Raider]

Tanz, on 10 October 2012 - 06:47 PM, said:

:Smile_veryhappy: Hey the Tirpitz did a lot....she sank the... :Smile_unsure:...wait...she... :Smile_amazed:...she,she  :Smile_hiding:  curse you Auxiliary Cruisers, making her look bad :Smile_teethhappy:

She tied up a large portion of the British Fleet, several times her number in warships in fear she might break out.

She caused the near-complete destruction of convoy PQ-17 because the meer hint that she had slipped her berth sent the US and UK escorts running, leaving the merchentmen to lose 24 of 35 ships.

Ultimately she was effective as a weapon of terror, though she cost a pretty penny for a ship that never really got to flex her muscles.

[Jumarka]

Strait_Raider, on 10 October 2012 - 07:38 PM, said:

She tied up a large portion of the British Fleet, several times her number in warships in fear she might break out.

She caused the near-complete destruction of convoy PQ-17 because the meer hint that she had slipped her berth sent the US and UK escorts running, leaving the merchentmen to lose 24 of 35 ships.

Ultimately she was effective as a weapon of terror, though she cost a pretty penny for a ship that never really got to flex her muscles.

She was effective only on that role. The German lost a lot of time, money and resources on building those Battleships. They were pretty to look at, an quite fearsome in battle as the Bismark would prove. But in the end, they were a baddly made call, the Kriegsmarine didnt need battleships, but ships that coul endanger the allied supply routes around the world.
I wonder how things would have been if instead of 2nd hand "slow" merchants the Hilfskreuzers would have been a from zero approach to the subject, a warship that just looks like any (or even has the ability to disguise) merchant, fast enough to outrun the merchants and have a good chance of avoiding the escorts.

Also, I will expand the information on each ship as i can. Just added a boatload of it to the Atlantis one.

[Gigaton]

Jumarka, on 10 October 2012 - 11:22 PM, said:

I wonder how things would have been if instead of 2nd hand "slow" merchants the Hilfskreuzers would have been a from zero approach to the subject, a warship that just looks like any (or even has the ability to disguise) merchant, fast enough to outrun the merchants and have a good chance of avoiding the escorts.

During early WW1 the Germans first used armed fast passanger liners that had been previously earmarked for such service. While they were fast (20+ knots) they were apparently conspicuous and not very cost effective. I suspect similar problems would have applied to purpose built fake merchantmen, particularily since merchantmen's hull forms aren't exactly designed for high speeds.

By far the bestest of the Hilfskreuzers was, of course, the eco-friendly solution they tried out during the WW1:

SMS Seeadler on the left being the ship in question here. Yes, it's an armed windjammer filled to the brim with scurvy German seadogs intent on some high seas privateering. Arr! Incidentally, it was said that captain von Luckner buried the ship's treasure on Mopelia atoll after the ship was grounded there. In 1938 Austrialian newspapers reported that von Luckner himself had recovered the treasure. Shiver me timbers!

[JeeWeeJ]

Gigaton, on 11 October 2012 - 03:54 PM, said:

SMS Seeadler on the left being the ship in question here. Yes, it's an armed windjammer filled to the brim with scurvy German seadogs intent on some high seas privateering. Arr! Incidentally, it was said that captain von Luckner buried the ship's treasure on Mopelia atoll after the ship was grounded there. In 1938 Austrialian newspapers reported that von Luckner himself had recovered the treasure. Shiver me timbers!

LOL! Thanks for the laugh Gigaton! :Smile_teethhappy: To bad international talk like a pirate day has just passed, this would've fit right in!

[Gigaton]

JeeWeeJ, on 11 October 2012 - 04:16 PM, said:

LOL! Thanks for the laugh Gigaton! :Smile_teethhappy: To bad international talk like a pirate day has just passed, this would've fit right in!

Well, the story is actually true and I found digitalized newspaper article about it online: http://trove.nla.gov...rticle/39749228

i do find the existance of the treasure to be a bit dubious though. Von Luckner might be just fishing for publicity.

[JeeWeeJ]

Gigaton, on 11 October 2012 - 04:35 PM, said:

Well, the story is actually true and I found digitalized newspaper article about it online: http://trove.nla.gov...rticle/39749228

i do find the existance of the treasure to be a bit dubious though. Von Luckner might be just fishing for publicity.

Sorry, i did not mean to question the validity of the story! (maybe i had to make that a bit more clear) I just found it funny that the Germans actually had a pirate-like sailship hunting merchants. :Smile_playing: