Orion (ship, 1930)
 The sister ship Nordmark as Hapag's freighter
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The Orion was a German merchant ship that was converted and armed for the trade war in World War II . It was completed in 1931 as the Kurmark turbine freighter for Hapag and was initially used in service to the Dutch East Indies . In 1939 the Kurmark was requisitioned by the Navy as ship 36 for military service. Under the designation Handelsschutzkreuzer 1 (HSK 1), she was used as an auxiliary cruiser from April 1940 . The Orion was known as Raider A in the British Royal Navy .
The auxiliary cruiser, mainly used in the South Seas, which on its very long voyage also had to record a phase of almost seven months without a successful sinking, returned to southern France on August 23, 1941. At the end of the war involved in the evacuation of the German eastern territories, the Orion was sunk by an air raid on May 4, 1945 on the way to Copenhagen near Swinoujscie .
Technology and equipment
The ship was built in 1930/31 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as a freighter Kurmark for Hapag . It belonged to a class of six freighters that were mainly used in the shipping company's Far East and Australian service. The model ship was the Neumark built by the Howaldtswerke in Kiel , which was converted into the auxiliary cruiser Widder (HSK 3, Raider D) in 1939 . Other ships in the class were the Staßfurt from Bremer Vulkan , the Bitterfeld from the Krupp Germania shipyard , the Nordmark from the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft and the Uckermark, also built by Blohm & Voss , with its high-pressure vessels. All six freighters were propelled by a set of turbines from the four Albert Ballin class ships that had been expanded in the winter of 1929/30 and had new propulsion systems. The two remaining turbine sets were given to the combined ships Tacoma and Vancouver , which were built in 1930 at the Deutsche Werft in Hamburg for the shipping company's USA west coast service.
Kurmark , which was at home when the war broke out, was requisitioned by the Navy, converted into an auxiliary cruiser and put into service as Orion (HSK 1) on December 9, 1939 . At 148 m long, 18.6 m wide and 8.2 m draft , the Orion displaced 15,700 t . Her top speed was 14 knots . It was armed with six 15 cm and one 7.5 cm gun, two 3.7 cm and four 2 cm anti-aircraft guns and six torpedo tubes . Since the Orion had no radar , two seaplanes of the type Arado Ar 196 were carried in order to locate enemy ships that might be a possible target or pose a threat themselves. The commandant of the auxiliary cruiser was Korvettenkapitän Kurt Weyher , who had last commanded the sailing training ship Horst Wessel .
Trade war
On March 30, the first three German auxiliary cruisers (in addition to Orion and its sister ship Widder , the Atlantis , which was then the first to leave ), left Kiel through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to the North Sea. On April 6, 1940, the Orion left Germany with a crew of 376 to reach the Pacific through the Atlantic and around Cape Horn . At first she was accompanied by the torpedo boats Luchs and Wolf and an S-boat flotilla. But they then ran through the approach to operation weserübung as an alleged Dutch freighter Beemsterdijk to Jan Mayen and then on the pack ice through the Denmark Strait , disguised as a Soviet freighter in the Atlantic. There she disguised as a Greek freighter Rokos and should try to sink ships, to give the impression of a broken German armored ship to awaken. She was only successful in one case, as the freighter Haxby, which she discovered and sank off Newfoundland on April 26, radioed the attack of a warship.
In May she met the old tanker Winnetou assigned to her in the mid-Atlantic , which had called at the Canary Islands when the war broke out and was supposed to follow the auxiliary cruiser into the South Seas to ensure its supplies. With the help of her on-board aircraft, the Orion found the tanker that left Las Palmas on April 9 and had not yet reached the agreed meeting point due to its low top speed of 7 knots (kn). The ships passed the equator together and if the weather was suitable, the auxiliary cruiser then took over 1,900 t of oil. The next meeting point was agreed to be the Maria Theresa Reef in the South Pacific in two months.
The Orion disguised itself as a Brazilian Mandu , passed Cape Horn on May 21 and ran to New Zealand . During the night of June 13-14, 1940, she laid mines in front of the port of Auckland (New Zealand). Five days later, the passenger and mail ship Niagara ran into one of the mines and sank without the cause being clear. On board the Niagara was a large amount of gold bars from the Bank of England , which were kept strictly secret , which were intended as payment for war material from the United States , which had not yet entered World War II , and which were almost completely salvaged at the beginning of 1941 in the hitherto deep salvage at sea .
The Orion , cruising in front of various island ports in the South Seas , had not been able to park a ship until the sinking of the Niagara , so that her presence was still unknown. On June 19, after almost two months of searching, she made her second victim on the Norwegian motor ship Tropic Sea . The ship, which was on the way to the Panama Canal with a load of wheat for British accounts, was equipped for a trip to France with the help of the Winnetou . Its captain Fritz Steinkrauss also took over the management of the prize , whose crew consisted of 17 men from the tanker Winnetou and eleven navy men . All 55 prisoners came on board, and on June 30 the prize, renamed Kurmark , was released. After separating from the prize, the Orion took over another 1,500 t of oil from her tanker and again cruised in front of the main ports of the South Seas and on the well-known routes to New Zealand. At the end of July she took over another 800 tons of fuel from the Winnetou at an agreed meeting point and then ran north with her. On August 7, she took over another 400 tons of oil north of the Santa Cruz Islands and released the tanker, which now only had the oil supply necessary for this voyage, to Japan.
As a replacement for the supporting tanker, according to the instructions of the Naval Warfare Directorate (SKL), further supply should be provided by the motor ship Weser des NDL sent from Mexico or by auxiliary ships from Japan. The Ailinglapalap atoll in the Marshall Islands was to serve as the supply point in mid-October . Before she went there, the Orion managed to sink two freighters in August. When she reached Ailinglapalap on October 10th, the Regensburg utility was already there . Since the Weser, which was also intended to serve as a supplier, had been seized by a Canadian auxiliary cruiser just a few hours after leaving Manzanillo (Mexico) , the meeting point was not considered safe and it was decided to take the Regensburg to Lamotrek in the Karolinen , where one stopped the auxiliary cruiser Komet and the supplier Kulmerland would hit. On the way, the Orion provided the Norwegian motor ship Ringwood , a heavy lift carrier , which was in ballast to Ocean Island . Although it was well suited as a prize and support ship, it was sunk because of its limited supplies.
German South Sea Association
On October 18, 1940, the Orion met with the auxiliary cruiser Komet and its supplier Kulmerland in Lamotrek and formed the Far East Association . All four German ships were camouflaged as Japanese, but both suppliers were called Tokio Maru without any visual reference to an existing ship, and the camouflage of the Orion was very superficial except for the Japanese mark of neutrality. The strange accumulation in the atoll was reported to the Japanese authorities by a passing Japanese passenger ship . The German ships then quickly went back to sea. The Regensburg went to Japan to procure further supplies and necessary spare parts for the Orion . The other three ships went south in a broad reconnaissance chain to attack traffic from Australia and New Zealand across the Pacific. The success against the Rangitane , however, also led to the withdrawal from the warships and long-range flying boats immediately deployed on the British side .
The commander of the Komet , Robert Eyssen , who was in charge of the association as a senior , favored an operation against the phosphate island of Nauru . He wanted to thoroughly destroy the production and loading facilities on the formerly German island and also deposit the prisoners there who were not allowed to be brought to Japan on the orders of the SKL. On the approach, the island's supply ship was sunk. Four freighters waiting to be loaded off the island could also be sunk, but the planned landing of troops to destroy the island's facilities and the handing over of the prisoners had to be avoided due to the weather. The prisoners on board the unit became a significant problem, as there were now almost 700 people, including 52 women and eight children, who had a lot of knowledge about the German ships, their condition and how they worked. The commander of the Orion only wanted to give the women and children and the Asian seamen ashore and send the other British seamen to Germany with the blockade breaker Warmia announced by the Japan stage . Eyssen decided, however, that on Emirau , a remote island in the Bismarck Archipelago, at a station there, all prisoners, ie 153 of the "Komet", 257 of the Kulmerland and 265 of the Orion , should be given ashore with tents and food. However, Weyher kept his male prisoners on board, so that ultimately 343 Europeans and 171 Asians were disembarked on Emirau. They were able to contact Australian authorities very quickly and convey a lot of valuable information about the German ships to the enemy. Thereupon the German naval command basically forbade the landing of prisoners.
After that, the association, which had sunk seven ships during its existence and carried out the first attack on Nauru , disbanded . The Kulmerland went to Japan to procure supplies and spare parts, the Orion to a meeting with the Regensburg and a tanker to Lamotrek to carry out the urgent, thorough overhaul of the machinery there. The Komet ran again to Nauru and bombarded the island on December 27th without consulting Orion or the naval command. Because of the damage, the phosphate deliveries had to be completely stopped for a period of ten weeks and could only be resumed with great difficulty, especially since most of the special freighters had been sunk. Further attacks on the reefer ships, eight to nine of which left New Zealand every month, would have hit the UK's supply situation more sensitive and very directly, but only one ship still on the way, the Devon , was sunk by the Komet in August 1941 .
Further deployment of the Orion without success and retreat
The crew of the auxiliary cruiser tried another eight months to keep their ship operational and to achieve success. Despite considerable logistical efforts, the Orion was often only partially operational and did not achieve any success in the sea areas assigned to her.
On her return to Lamotrek, the Orion found the Regensburg and the former Norwegian tanker Ole Jacob . The almost new tanker was hijacked by the Atlantis in November 1940 in the Bay of Bengal and sent to Japan with its cargo of jet fuel and important documents . In exchange for the documents and the gasoline, he was now loaded with fuel and other supplies for the German auxiliary cruisers. He was commanded by Captain Steinkrauss, who as captain of the Winnetou had already supported the first part of the Orion's mission . He supported the Orion until June 3, 1941, in order to run to France with the Ole Jacob after all fuel and supplies had been surrendered . The Regensburg gave its supplies to the Orion and the Ole Jacob and left the meeting point immediately after the New Year in order to procure more goods in Japan.
On January 5, 1941, the Warmia arrived, to which the Orion handed over her remaining 183 prisoners. The Hapag motor ship began its onward journey through the Pacific around Cape Horn to Europe on the 9th and took over 148 more prisoners en route from the ships used in the South Atlantic, with whom it reached Bordeaux on April 3, 1941 as the first blockade breaker from Japan . After the prisoners were disembarked, the overhaul and re-camouflage of the Orion could begin. The auxiliary cruiser moved to the north of the Marianas to Maug . During the renewed machine overhaul, the Regensburg and Münsterland utilities arrived. The latter brought not only fresh water and food, but also a new Nakajima E8N -1 aircraft , as the old aircraft could no longer be used. The suppliers were left behind when the Orion left Maug with the Ole Jacob on February 6th to wage cruiser warfare in the Indian Ocean. The approach took place through the South Seas around New Zealand and Australia. During the following three months, the Orion first cruised west of Australia, then south of Ceylon and finally east of Madagascar , without being able to place an enemy ship. Only one or two neutral ships were sighted. The auxiliary cruiser used its aircraft on 38 reconnaissance flights and briefly used the Alstertor utility and more frequently its supply tanker Ole Jacob as an additional reconnaissance ship.
In mid-June, the Orion left the Indian Ocean to return home. Since another supply tanker was not available after emptying the Ole Jacob , the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis had to supply the Orion 300 miles north of Tristan da Cunha with fuel for the journey home on July 1 . The commandant of the Atlantis, Bernhard Rogge , rejected all requests from his comrade Weyher for more oil, because he was supposed to relocate to less promising hunting areas and he did not consider the Orion's high consumption and poor drive condition to be promising. Nevertheless, on the march back , the Orion succeeded in sinking another freighter west of the Cape Verde Islands almost nine months after its last successes off Nauru.
In total, the Orion sank ten ships with 62,915 tons (including the two victims of their mines), as well as two more with 21,126 tons together with the Komet - including the Rangitane, the largest ship sunk by an auxiliary cruiser. On August 23, 1941, the Orion returned to Bordeaux after a total of 511 days and 127,337 nautical miles .
Ships captured and sunk by the auxiliary cruiser Orion
| Surname | Type | country | date | Tonnage in GRT | Whereabouts | |
| 1 | Haxby | freighter |
 United Kingdom
|
April 24, 1940 | 5,207 | sunk ( location ), 17 dead |
| 2 | Niagara | Passenger ship |
United Kingdom
|
June 18, 1940 | 13,415 | walked on the Orion mine ( location ) |
| 3 | Tropic Sea | freighter |
 Norway
|
June 19, 1940 | 5,781 | 8,000 t of wheat, released on June 30th with a prize crew, self-sunk off the Spanish coast on September 3rd, 1940 ( Lage ) when it was stopped by the British submarine Truant |
| 4th | Notou | freighter |
 France
|
August 16, 1940 | 2,489 | sunk ( location ), 3,600 t coal |
| 5 | Turakina | freighter |
United Kingdom
|
20th August 1940 | 9,691 | sunk ( location ), 36 dead |
| 6th | Ringwood | freighter |
Norway
|
October 14, 1940 | 7,203 | sunk ( location ), empty |
| K | Holmwood | freighter |
United Kingdom
|
November 25, 1940 | 546 | sunk by comet ( location ), 192 sheep were slaughtered on the Orion |
| 7th | Rangitane | Passenger ship |
United Kingdom
|
November 27, 1940 | 16,712 | sunk together with comet ( location ), 16 dead |
| 8th | Triona | freighter |
United Kingdom
|
December 6, 1940 | 4,414 | Sunk together with comet ( location ), 3 dead, cargo of supplies for Nauru |
| K | Vinni | freighter |
Norway
|
December 7, 1940 | 5,181 | sunk by comet , empty |
| 9 | Triadic | freighter |
United Kingdom
|
December 8, 1940 | 6,378 | sunk ( location ), 1 dead, empty |
| K | Comata | freighter |
United Kingdom
|
December 8, 1940 | 3,900 | sunk by comet , 2 dead |
| 10 | Triasters | freighter |
United Kingdom
|
December 9, 1940 | 6,032 | sunk before Nauru |
| 11 | HMNZS Puriri | Minesweeper |
United Kingdom
|
May 14, 1941 | 927 | Sunk by Orion mine ( location ), 5 dead |
| 12 | Chaucer | freighter |
United Kingdom
|
July 29, 1941 | 5,792 | empty, sunk in the mid-Atlantic west of Cape Verde |
Later use and end
In 1944 the ship was renamed Hector and used as an artillery training ship . In January 1945 it was renamed Orion again and from then on it was used to transport refugees from eastern Germany to the west. She made 15 trips with around 1500 passengers each.
On May 4, 1945, the Orion took part of the crew of the old ship of the line Schlesien on board, which had run into a magnetic mine and had to be put aground in the roadstead of Swinoujscie. On the way to Copenhagen , the Orion was attacked by airplanes near Swinoujscie and sunk. Most of the 4,000 or so people who were on board at the time were rescued. Around 150 people were killed in the sinking.
The wreck was partially scrapped on site in 1952, but a remnant remained under water. On May 26, 1956, the merchant ship Hordnes of the Meidell shipping company from Norway , coming from Murmansk to Stettin , loaded with superphosphate , hit the wreck of the Orion off Swinoujscie and sank.
Known crew members
- Adalbert von Blanc (1907-1976), was from 1962 to 1964 as Flotilla Admiral in command of the Central Naval Command
literature
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships: Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. Koehler's publishing company, Herford,
- Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak VerlagsGmbH, Herrsching 1968, ISBN 3-88199-009-7
- Reinhart Schmelzkopf: The German Merchant Shipping 1919–1939. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg, ISBN 3 7979 1847 X .
- Kurt Weyher, Hans-Jürgen Ehrlich: Vagabonds at Sea - The war voyage of the auxiliary cruiser Orion 1940/41 , 1953
Web links
- The auxiliary cruiser Orion (Engl.)
- The auxiliary cruiser Orion (Engl.)
- Data and timing chart for Orion (Engl.)
- Norway's two victims of the Orion (Engl.)
- Track chart of German raider Orion
Footnotes
- ↑ melt head, p. 138
- ^ Winnetou ex Mohican , 1913 Howaldt, 5,073 GRT
- ↑ It did not reach France. It was on September 3, 1940 against El Ferrol by British submarine Truant made and the prize crew scuttled . When the British tried to save the ship, the prize crew managed to escape to the Spanish coast in a lifeboat and from there to return to Germany.
- ↑ Regensburg ex Trave , fast freighter of the NDL, 8,068 GRT, a ship that was considerably more modern than the Orion due to rebuilding in 1938 , later a successful blockade breaker to France and back to Japan
- ^ Kulmerland , Hapag, 1928 Deutsche Werft Hamburg
- ↑ Steinkrauss had transferred the Orion's Prize Tropic Sea to Europe, had escaped with the prize crew in a lifeboat when it was scuttled off the Spanish coast in September and had then accepted the offer to operate the Ole Jacob as a supply tanker. He had reached Japan on the Trans-Siberian Railway through the still-allied Soviet Union.
- ↑ Münsterland , Hapag, 1921 Blohm & Voss, 6,408 GRT, 12 kn, 1942 blockade breaker to Europe
- ↑ Information on Haxby , 1928 W. Gray, Sunderland
- ↑ Diver's page on Niagara ( Memento from October 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.1 MB)
- ↑ Information on the Tropic Sea , 1920 Naskov
- ↑ Information on Notou , 1930 W. Gray, Sunderland
- ^ Report on the sinking of the Turakina engl.
- ↑ Information on Ringwood , 1926 Armstrong-Whitworth, Newcastle oT
- ↑ Information on Rangitane , 1929 John Brown, Clydebank
- ↑ Report on the sinking of the Rangitane engl.
- ↑ Information on the Triadic , 1938 Lithgows, Glasgow
- ↑ Information on the Triaster , 1938 Lithgows, Glasgow
- ↑ Article on the history of Puriri , 1930 Laing, Sunderland
- ↑ Auxiliary Cruiser / Raider - Orion
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