German trade troublemakers during the world wars
The German trade troublemakers during the world wars were mostly auxiliary cruisers , i.e. converted, armed merchant ships or passenger steamers for the trade war as an instrument of German naval warfare in World War I and World War II . However, conventional cruisers were also used for the cruiser war .
General
The purpose of the auxiliary cruiser concept was to make other warships available to a country's fleet quickly and without a large amount of material by converting merchant ships. This conversion mostly only consisted of the installation of several guns and the associated fire control system . Major changes, such as the installation of armor or the redesign of the internal structure of a merchant ship with large cargo holds to become a warship with small rooms to limit damage, were practically not carried out because they would have been too time-consuming and ultimately would have been of little use in an emergency. In any case, auxiliary cruisers were always far inferior to a real warship in terms of combat power and, with a few exceptions, also in speed.
The area of application also resulted from the limitations of the auxiliary cruiser. It was mostly used for tasks where the risk of contact with enemy naval forces was relatively low, the task did not require a full-fledged warship or there were not enough ships available. The exact type of operation depended on the tasks and the strategy of the naval forces in the respective country.
The German auxiliary cruisers were supposed to pass through the British blockade undetected in both wars and then attack British merchant ships far away from the war zone so that the Royal Navy had to withdraw ships from the war zone and use them to protect their convoys.
During the First World War one also used on the German side, such as B. also in Great Britain, fast passenger ships, but soon recognized this as unfavorable due to the difficult supply overseas and then chose cargo ships that had sufficient storage space for supplies, or sailing ships (partly also motorized) that had no (or only little) need of fuel .
The armament of the auxiliary cruisers consisted of several often outdated guns of various calibres and torpedo tubes . Occasionally up to two seaplanes with swimmers for reconnaissance purposes , mines and light speedboats , which were intended to lay mines or to launch torpedoes, were carried along .
Since the German auxiliary cruisers used as trade troublemakers were supposed to capture or destroy enemy ships as undetected as possible, they usually drove under the enemy or neutral flag until the actual attack and carried various materials with them for camouflage. The appearance of the HSK could thus be completely changed. With the exception of the armament of a merchant ship (usually a cannon at the stern), which was widespread in times of war, the weapon systems were initially hidden and were only exposed when the enemy approached. Since it was important for auxiliary cruisers not to be discovered, the enemy merchant ship was then asked not to transmit. If it did, it was shot at. Usually the entire crew was captured and the ship sunk. In the case of particularly valuable ships or cargoes, a prize squad was sent on board to try to bring the captured ship to its own port.
German traffickers in World War I
In order to cut off the British economy from supplies during the First World War , submarine warfare was used , but in the overseas territories mainly cruiser warfare was used.
Initially, as planned, small cruisers from overseas stations were used for the trade war.
The use of German auxiliary cruisers in the First World War took place according to plans that had already been established. As with other nations, large passenger steamers were to serve as ships. The high speed was advantageous, at least 18 knots were required , as well as the large hull, which offered a quiet gun platform. The armed ships were relatively weak (up to 6 × 10.5 cm SK L / 40). A retrofitting of a passenger steamer was tried out in 1895 and could also be carried out outside of Europe without a shipyard. The cruisers stationed abroad had additional armament on board to equip auxiliary cruisers with it.
As with other nations, shipping companies received financial support if their ships were prepared accordingly. The supply should take place through the stage system (stage = supply zone). In neutral ports with diplomatic representation, a naval officer (stage officer ) organized the supply of cruisers and auxiliary cruisers with the help of chartered merchant ships.
In 1915 it was recognized that the large passenger steamers were unsuitable under Germany's strategic boundary conditions. The ships were coal eaters, and concern about coal supplies largely determined the decisions of the commanders. The stage system had collapsed, as there were hardly any benevolently neutral states from whose ports supply ships could be sent. In addition, the passenger steamers had characteristic features so that they could be identified very easily. For Great Britain, with its different geostrategic setup and a different deployment profile for auxiliary cruisers, passenger steamers have proven their worth, especially in the surveillance service.
A memorandum from First Lieutenant Wolff, as well as the successes of SMS Meteor resulted in a rethinking of the naval command . Now inconspicuous cargo ships with strong armament (up to 7 × 15 cm SK L / 40 and torpedoes) were used in a concealed position. Camouflage and deception through changes to the silhouette and coloring became important components of warfare by auxiliary cruisers.
Another task - in addition to disrupting enemy shipping - was the laying out of sea mines in front of enemy ports and naval bases according to a predetermined plan. This was z. B. the auxiliary cruiser SMS Wolf was equipped with 600 mines when it left the port.
Chronological list of small cruisers
| designation | Period of use | description |
|---|---|---|
| SMS Bremse and SMS Brummer (mine cruiser) | October 16-18, 1917 | 9 merchant ships (10248 GRT) and 2 warships (1950 ts) of a Scandinavian convoy sunk; returned to Germany and sunk himself in Scapa Flow in 1919 |
| SMS Dresden | August 1, 1914 to March 14, 1915 | 4 merchant ships (12,960 GRT) sunk; sunk in Cumberland Bay on Robinson Crusoe Island off San Juan Bautista itself. |
| SMS Emden | August 1, 1914 to November 9, 1914 | 16 merchant ships (70825 GRT) and 2 warships (3491 ts) sunk or seized; was defeated in a battle with the Australian cruiser Sydney near the Cocos Islands . |
| SMS Karlsruhe | August 1, 1914 to November 4, 1914 | 16 merchant ships (72,225 GRT) sunk or seized; sunk by internal explosion. |
| SMS Koenigsberg | August 1, 1914 to July 11, 1915 | 1 merchant ship (6601 GRT) and 1 warship (2135 ts) sunk; self- sunk after blocking in the delta of the Rufiji River . |
| SMS Leipzig | August 1, 1914 to December 8, 1914 | 4 merchant ships (15,279 GRT) sunk or seized; sunk in the sea battle in the Falkland Islands . |
| SMS Geier (gunboat since May 1914) | August 1, 1914 to November 8, 1914 | 1 merchant ship (3586 GRT) seized and damaged; interned in Honolulu, Hawaii , and confiscated by the United States in 1917. |
Chronological list of auxiliary cruisers
| designation | date | description |
|---|---|---|
| SMS Kaiser Wilhelm the Great | August 2, 1914 | Passenger steamers; 3 merchant ships sunk; sunk herself after only 24 days at sea after fighting with the cruiser HMS Highflyer . |
| Victoria Luise ex Germany | August 3, 1914 | 1900 Blue Ribbon, converted into an auxiliary cruiser for the First World War, but not used due to inadequate propulsion systems. Due to the poor condition of the ship in 1919, it was not claimed by the victorious powers of the First World War, making it the only remaining large steamer flying the German flag. |
| SMS Prince Eitel Friedrich | August 5, 1914 | Passenger steamers; equipped outside Germany; 11 merchant ships sunk; interned in Newport News (USA) on April 9, 1915 after 217 days at sea and a lack of water and coal and confiscated by the USA in 1917 when it entered the war. |
| SMS Crown Prince Wilhelm | August 6, 1914 | Passenger steamers; equipped outside Germany; 14 merchant ships sunk; interned after 251 days at sea in the USA. |
| SMS Cormoran ex Rjäsan | August 7, 1914 | Merchant ship, had been picked up by the small cruiser SMS Emden ; equipped outside Germany; no successes; interned in Guam / USA after 123 days at sea due to lack of coal . April 1917 blown up by the occupation during the seizure by the USA. |
| Cap Trafalgar | August 31, 1914 | Passenger steamers; equipped outside Germany; no successes; sunk by British auxiliary cruiser Carmania on September 14, 1914 after 14 days at sea . |
| SMS Berlin | September 18, 1914 | Passenger steamers; used as mine layer; Battleship HMS Audacious and 1 merchant ship sunk on mine lock ; interned in Norway after 33 days at sea . |
| SMS Vineta ex Cap Polonio | February 8, 1915 | Passenger steamers; after being converted into an auxiliary cruiser, only 16.9 knots were achieved instead of 17 knots and no use due to the complex propulsion system (2 triple expansion machines and 1 exhaust turbine on 3 propellers). |
| SMS Meteor ex Vienna | May 6, 1915 | Merchant ship; used as mine-layer and auxiliary cruiser; 2 companies; 1 auxiliary cruiser and 1 merchant ship sunk; sunk after discovery by British ships. |
| SMS Möve ex Pungo | November 1, 1915 | Also appeared as SMS Vineta ; Merchant ship; used as mine-layer and auxiliary cruiser; 2 companies as Möve ; 42 merchant ships sunk; back after a total of 186 days at sea. |
| SMS Wolf ex Belgravia | January 14, 1916 | Merchant ship; when running out on sandbank, no use due to damage. |
| SMS Greif ex Guben | January 23, 1916 | Merchant ship; 1 auxiliary cruiser sunk; Sunk when 2 British auxiliary cruisers and one small cruiser ran out. |
| SMS Wolf ex Wachtfels | May 16, 1916 | Merchant ship; Mine layers u. Auxiliary cruiser; 27 merchant ships sunk; back after 444 days at sea; was equipped with a seaplane. |
| SMS Seeadler ex Pass of Balmaha | December 2, 1916 | Sailing ship with powerful auxiliary engine; was applied by SM U 36 ; 15 merchant ships sunk; stranded after 253 days at sea. |
| SMS Geier ex Saint Theodore | December 14, 1916 | Merchant ship; had been raised and equipped by SMS Möve ; 2 merchant ships sunk; Sunk himself after 33 days at sea with unusable machinery. |
| SMS Leopard ex Yarrowdale | January 19, 1917 | Merchant ship; had been attacked by SMS Möve ; no successes; sunk by two British warships on departure. |
| Polecat ex Turritella , Gutenfels | February 27, 1917 | Merchant ship; had been raised and equipped by SMS Wolf ; no successes; Discovered by British warship after 6 days at sea, sunk by myself. |
| triumph | August 20, 1918 | Fishing trawler; had been applied and equipped by SM U 156 ; apparently sunk eight British and Canadian fishing boats; sunk after 5 days at sea by the German prize crew. |
The German auxiliary cruisers in World War I were part of a navy whose one of the main tasks for which it was not built was to interrupt the flow of goods to England. As part of this Navy, the auxiliary cruisers did this effectively:
- the 12 active auxiliary cruisers destroyed a total of 316,226 GRT,
- the 8 armored cruisers and small cruisers 181,660 GRT and
- the 351 submarines 7,759,090 GRT trading tonnage.
If you convert the numbers to one unit each, then
- 26,352 GRT per auxiliary cruiser,
- 22,707 GRT per cruiser and
- 22,105 GRT per submarine
Trading tonnage destroyed.
German auxiliary cruiser in World War II
The auxiliary cruisers used by the German navy during World War II were designated as trade protection cruisers , later referred to as trade sturgeon cruisers ( HSK) and divided into heavy auxiliary cruisers (from 7,000 GRT ) and light auxiliary cruisers (max. 5,000 GRT). During the Second World War, former express or refrigerated freighters with powerful steam turbine or diesel engines were used on the German side without exception. They were armed with six 15 cm caliber guns, light artillery (2 cannons up to 10.5 cm), some anti-aircraft cannons and up to six torpedo discharge tubes.
The total of ten equipped auxiliary cruisers succeeded in sinking 133 ships with a total tonnage of 829,644 tons in their 43 months of operation - almost twice as much as the tonnage sunk by conventional German warships. Nevertheless, their strategic importance was not great because, on the one hand, they only hunted down individual ships and not the convoys, and on the other hand, because they in no way represented a threat to British naval rule. In addition, they achieved their greatest successes in 1940–1941, when the Royal Navy was under the greatest pressure.
Long before the outbreak of war, the German naval command had made preparations to supply these camouflaged warships as well as the larger warships with fuel and ammunition by means of supply ships at a number of secret meeting points at sea. The first of these camouflaged warships had a breakthrough in early 1940. Most of them set course for the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they could ambush merchant ships with less danger from enemy warships. Individual ships such as the Atlantis and the Pinguin achieved great success. They hijacked or sunk a number of merchant ships. The Thor even sank a British auxiliary cruiser and put two more out of action. The Kormoran sank the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney . However, the crew of the cormorant also had to give up their burning ship.
With the increase in Allied air and sea power, the increasingly dense blockade , advances in aerial reconnaissance and ship identification (the Allies introduced a special code for their merchant ships) and in view of the fact that Germany was using fewer auxiliary cruisers, this campaign began to exhaust oneself. Towards the end of 1943, only the auxiliary cruiser Michel was still at sea, which was sunk a little later in the Pacific by a US submarine .
A number of the camouflaged ships managed to return, but the majority were lost: the Atlantis by the British cruiser HMS Devonshire , the Kormoran by self-sinking after the sinking of the Australian light cruiser Sydney (the only known case in which an auxiliary cruiser sank a warship), the comet by a British motor torpedo boat . The Thor sank on November 30, 1942 in the port of Yokohama after an explosion on the Uckermark (ex Altmark ) moored next to it . The penguin sank on May 8, 1941 in the sea area off Italian Somaliland by a volley hit by the British heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall in the mine dump.
List of auxiliary cruisers
| Ship name | HSK number |
Classification | Kriegsmarine code |
Royal Navy code |
Commander (s) | commitment | Days at sea | sunk or applied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orion | HSK 1 | Heavy auxiliary cruiser | Ship 36 | Raider A | FK Kurt Weyher | 04/06/40 - 08/23/41 | 511 | 10 / 62,915 GRT + |
| Atlantis | HSK 2 | Heavy auxiliary cruiser | Ship 16 | Raider C | Concentration camp Bernhard Rogge | 03/31/40 - 11/22/41 | 622 | 22 / 145,960 GRT |
| Aries | HSK 3 | Heavy auxiliary cruiser | Ship 21 | Raider D | KK Hellmuth from Ruckteschell | 05/12/40 - 10/31/40 | 180 | 10 / 58,644 GRT |
| Thor | HSK 4 | Light auxiliary cruiser | Ship 10 | Raider E. | KzS Otto Kähler KzS Günther Gumprich |
06.06.40 - 30.04.41 12.01.42 - 10.10.42 |
329 321 |
12 / 96,603 GRT 10 / 52,037 GRT |
| penguin | HSK 5 | Heavy auxiliary cruiser | Ship 33 | Raider F | Concentration camp Ernst-Felix Krüder | 15.06.40 - 07.05.41 | 327 | 28 / 136,642 GRT |
| bull | HSK 6 | Light auxiliary cruiser | Ship 23 | Raider I | Concentration camp Horst Gerlach | 05/19/42 - 09/27/42 | 131 | 4 / 30,728 GRT |
| comet | HSK 7 | Light auxiliary cruiser | Ship 45 | Raider B | Concentration Camp Robert Eyssen | 07/03/40 - 11/30/41 | 516 | 7 / 43,162 GRT + |
| cormorant | HSK 8 | Heavy auxiliary cruiser | Ship 41 | Raider G | FK Theodor Detmers | 03.12.40 - 19.11.41 | 352 | 10 / 68,274 GRT, 1 cruiser |
| Michel | HSK 9 | Light auxiliary cruiser | Ship 28 | Raider H | KzS Hellmuth by Ruckteschell KzS Günther Gumprich |
03/20/42 - 03/02/43 05/01/43 - 10/17/43 |
358 170 |
14 / 99,386 GRT 3 / 27,632 GRT |
| Coronel | HSK 10 | Auxiliary cruiser | Ship 14 | Raider K | Concentration camp Ernst-Ludwig Thienemann | No use | ||
| Hansa | HSK 11 | Heavy auxiliary cruiser | Ship 5 | - | Concentration camp Horst Gerlach | No use | common Orion / Comet |
2 / 21,125 GRT |
Remarks:
- Coronel (HSK 10) was only a short trade sturgeon cruiser. On the march to the south of France, she had two basic contacts in the English Channel ; a bomb hit in France at the beginning of February 1943 finally canceled the operation.
- Hansa (HSK 11) was no longer actually used and was used as a cadet training ship.
- The two motor ships Neidenfels and Moltkefels had to be canceled as HSK conversions because there were bottlenecks in the shipyards at the beginning of 1940.
Trivia
- The SMS Seeadler was the only sailing ship among the German auxiliary cruisers.
- When the British troop transporter Britannia was sunk by the Thor , eleven survivors who had clung to a small life raft after the ship's sinking reported unanimously that one of them had been pulled into the depths by a large cephalopod ( giant squid ).
- The only known success of an auxiliary cruiser against a regular warship was the battle between the Kormoran and HMAS Sydney .
- The Thor was only one of the light auxiliary cruisers , but defeated three larger and more powerful British auxiliary cruisers.
See also
literature
- Jochen Brennecke : The German auxiliary cruisers in World War II. 4th edition. Koehler, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0828-5 .
- Jochen Brennecke: Ghost cruiser HK 33. Auxiliary cruiser Pinguin on a pirate trip. Special edition. Koehler, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-7822-0732-7 .
- Jochen Brennecke: auxiliary cruiser Thor. Pike in the Atlantic. Special edition. Koehler, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-7822-0733-5 .
- Robert Eyssen: HSK Comet. Pirate voyage on all seas. 2nd edition, special edition. Koehler, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-7822-0856-0 .
- Wolfgang Frank , Bernhard Rogge : Ship 16. Factual report. The pirate journeys of the heavy auxiliary cruiser Atlantis on the seven seas (= Heyne books 1, Heyne general series. No. 469). Approved paperback edition, 10th edition. Wilhelm Heyne, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-453-00039-0 .
- Zvonimir Freivogel: German auxiliary cruiser of the Second World War. Pirates on the oceans. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02288-5 .
- August K. Muggenthaler: Those were the German auxiliary cruisers. 1939-1945. Armed merchant ships in action. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-87943-261-9 .
- Karl August Nerger : SMS Wolf. Scherl, Berlin 1918.
- Paul Schmalenbach: The German auxiliary cruisers 1895-1945. Stalling, Oldenburg u. a. 1977, ISBN 3-7979-1877-1 .
- Albert Semsrott : The privateer seagull. The Bremer helmsman tells of the other acts of the auxiliary cruiser. K. Thienemanns Verlag, Stuttgart 1928.
- John Walter: Pirates of the Emperor. German trade troublemakers 1914–1918. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-613-01729-6 .
- Barbara Winter: Duel against Australia. Auxiliary cruiser Kormoran against cruiser Sydney. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin a. a. 1994, ISBN 3-8132-0441-3 .
- David Woodward: The Secret Raiders. New English Library, London 1975, ISBN 0-450-02451-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Elmar B. Potter, Chester W. Nimitz : Seemacht. A history of naval warfare from antiquity to the present. German version published by Jürgen Rohwer on behalf of the Defense Research Working Group . Revised edition. Manfred Pawlak Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herrsching 1986, ISBN 3-88199-082-8 .
- ^ Reinhold von Werner : Marine. In: World tour of Reclam's universe. 1903, ZDB -ID 974494-0 , p. 226.
- ↑ John Walter: Pirates of the Emperor. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, p. 183f.
- ↑ a b Freivogel: German auxiliary cruiser of the Second World War. 2003.
- ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. 2 volumes. License issue. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2004, ISBN 3-8289-0512-9 .
- ↑ Freivogel: German auxiliary cruiser of the Second World War. 2003, p. 18.
- ↑ Roland Hanewald : The tropics book. About life and survival in tropical and subtropical countries. A handbook for travelers. 3. Edition. Jens Peters, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-923821-07-7 , p. 188.
- ↑ Freivogel: German auxiliary cruiser of the Second World War. 2003, p. 72.