Penguin (ship, 1936)

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penguin
The sister ship Kybfels
The sister ship Kybfels
Ship data
flag German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge) German Empire
other ship names

Kandelfels

Ship type Freighter
auxiliary cruiser
Shipping company DDG Hansa , Bremen
Shipyard AG Weser , Bremen
Build number 917
Launch November 12, 1936
Commissioning as an auxiliary cruiser:
February 6, 1940
Whereabouts Sunk on May 8, 1941
Ship dimensions and crew
length
154.4 m ( Lüa )
width 18.6 m
Draft Max. 8.7 m
displacement 17,600  t
measurement 7,766 GRT
 
crew 401 men
Machine system
machine 2 × 6-cylinder diesel
Machine
performance 		7,600 hp (5,590 kW)
Top
speed 		17 kn (31 km / h)
propeller 1
Armament

The Pinguin was a German cargo ship that was converted and armed for the trade war during World War II . It had been requisitioned by the Navy as Ship 33 for military service. It was used as an auxiliary cruiser under the designation Handelsstörkreuzer 5 (HSK 5) . The penguin was known as Raider F in the British Royal Navy .

The Pinguin's best- known success was the capture of a large part of the Norwegian whaling fleet in mid-January 1941 in the Southern Ocean southwest of Bouvet Island . The captured three whale factory ships with large quantities of whale oil and eight of the eleven fishing boats were transported as prizes to France.

On May 8, 1941, the Pinguin was brought to the Seychelles by the heavy cruiser Cornwall . A 20.3 cm salvo from the cruiser hit the mines still on board , whereupon the penguin was shredded. Only 60 men of the crew and 22 prisoners survived, 342 men of the crew and 203 prisoners died.

The penguin was with a total tonnage of 154,675 GRT most successful auxiliary cruiser in both world wars.

Technology and equipment

The 7,766 GRT cargo ship was built in 1936 under the name Kandelfels for the shipping company DDG "Hansa" at AG Weser in Bremen under construction number 917. It was the third ship in the Ehrenfels class , of which the shipping company received eight ships until the outbreak of World War II and of which another was completed in the first year of the war. The ships transported general cargo between Europe and India , Persia , Ceylon and Burma . When the war broke out, there were three ships at home, two in the Mediterranean and three in the Indian Ocean , seeking protection in Chisimao , Murmogoa and Bandar Shapur .

The Kandel rock was requisitioned after the outbreak of war in the Navy and converted to its shipyard to the auxiliary cruiser. She ran out of Gotenhafen on June 15, 1940 as a penguin for the trade war . At 155 m long and 18.7 m wide, the penguin displaced 17,600 t. Your two AG Weser-MAN-Diesel of the type D6-Zu53 / 76 together made up to 7600 HP on one screw and enabled a top speed of up to 17  knots . It was armed with six 15 cm guns from the First World War , which were camouflaged on the sides, and a 7.5 cm gun in the bow. There were also a 3.7 cm twin and two 2 cm twin flak (hidden in the superstructure) as well as two double torpedo tube sets with a diameter of 53.3 cm. Initially two seaplanes of the Heinkel He 114 type , and later the Arado Ar 196, were carried in order to locate enemy ships that might be a possible target or pose a threat themselves. The crew consisted of 13 officers, another 13 officers for prize commands and 375 NCOs and men. The commanding officer was the sea captain Ernst-Felix Krüder , who named the ship in view of the planned Antarctic mission against the Allied whaling fleet after the swimming bird typical of the Southern Ocean.

Her sister ship Goldenfels had already set sail on March 31, 1940 as the first German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis under Captain Bernhard Rogge for her capture voyage.

Trade war

On June 15, 1940, the Pinguin left Gotenhafen for the trade war. In addition to their armament, they carried 300 mines that were to be laid in front of Australian or Indian ports, and 25 torpedoes and 80 mines to supply submarines. On June 22nd, the auxiliary cruiser ran out of Sörgulenfjord to go through the Denmark Strait as an allegedly Soviet Pechora into the Atlantic. The ship's destination was the Indian Ocean and Antarctica. In the middle Atlantic, the penguin disguised itself as a Greek Kassos . She later disguised herself as the Norwegian motor ships Trafalgar and Tamerlane .

The first task was to supply the German submarine U A for its use in the Freetown area . It was the first supply of a submarine by a German support ship on the high seas. Since the weather was very bad at the agreed meeting point on July 17th, only 70 tons of oil were delivered and then calmer waters were sought. From the 20th, 700 miles southwest of Cape Verde, the replenishment of all stocks of the submarine began, which received, among other things, eleven new torpedoes in the following five days. Then the penguin dragged U A closer to the deployment area for another three days to allow the boat a longer deployment time.

As the first victim, the penguin sank the freighter Domingo de Larringa with a cargo of grain on July 31, 300 miles northwest of Ascension . It was then relocated to the waters around Madagascar and the Indian Ocean . After four more ships were sunk, the motor ship Nordvard , which had been hijacked on September 16, 1940, was sent to France with the bulk of the prisoners taken by then under a prize crew. On October 7, 1940, the Norwegian tanker Storstad was brought in and converted into the Passat auxiliary mine- layer in three days . The Passat was after several minelaying ventures off the Australian coast again Storstad renamed after replenishment of inventories with the prisoners of Penguin sent home, where they are the February 4, 1941 Gironde reached. Before the tanker was released, the Atlantis met with the sister ship in early December and took over oil from the Storstad . Some of their prisoners were also housed on the tanker.

After the sinking of four more ships, the penguin hit the South Atlantic in the so-called grid square Andalusia (southwest of St. Helena ) on December 26th with the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and the refrigerated ship Duquesa (8,651 GRT), which he had captured, carrying 14.5 million eggs and had over 3,000 t of beef on board, the auxiliary cruiser Thor as well as the tanker Eurofeld and the supply ship Nordmark .

The Pelagos whale boiling plant in 1931

The Penguin was then moved to the Southern Ocean and brought two whale boilers, a supply ship (the former factory ship Solglimt ) and eleven fishing boats southwest of Bouvet Island there in mid-January 1941 . The naval war command decided that all ships should be transferred to France. For this, the German ships had to deploy personnel in the South Atlantic, since the Pinguin could not provide sufficient personnel on its own without questioning their operational capability. The necessary personnel was collected at the Nordmark utility , with whom the auxiliary cruiser met again in mid-February in the “Andalusia” supply area. He also took supplies from the Duquesa Prize , which he subsequently sank. The supply ship Alstertor , which had arrived from home , was sent to the Kerguelen with one of the whalers , where the penguin wanted to meet the auxiliary cruiser Komet . The Pinguin also supplied the mother ship Ole Wegger and ten fishing boats for their transfer to France and then met with the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and the auxiliary cruiser Kormoran to discuss further procedures and areas of operation. She then followed the Alstertor . After meeting the Komet and equipping the restrained whaler Pol IX as an auxiliary ship adjutant , the Pinguin relocated to the sea area off Italian Somaliland on March 12, 1941 to restart the trade war , where two British freighters were sunk at the end of April. She had previously replenished her fuel supplies from the Orion's companion tank , the Ole Jacob . The tanker helped out because the expected Ketty Brövig had been intercepted by Australian cruisers.

The End

On May 7, 1941, the British tanker British Emperor was able to send a radio message before the penguin sank. The next day the penguin was caught by the heavy cruiser Cornwall near the Seychelles ( Lage ) . A 20.3 cm salvo from the cruiser hit the 130 mines still on board in the hold under hatch 5, whereupon the penguin was shredded. Only 60 crew members and 22 prisoners survived; 203 prisoners and 342 crew members as well as the commander died.

Ernst-Felix Krüder's penguin traveled over 59,000 nautical miles, more than twice around the entire globe. They sank or captured 28 ships with a total tonnage of 136,551 GRT, of which 52,000 GRT were sent back to occupied France as captured ships with a prize crew and, with the exception of two of the whalers, also reached their destination.

Sinkings and prizes

Ship name Type country GRT date comment
1 Domingo de Larrinaga freighter Great Britain 5,358 07/31/1940 sunk ( location ), 8 dead, grain load
2 Filefjell Tanker Norway 7,616 08/27/1940 Main load of aviation fuel, sunk after taking over 500 t of diesel ( location )
3 British Commander Tanker Great Britain 6,901 08/27/1940 shot on fire and sunk ( location )
4th Morviken freighter Norway 5,008 08/27/1940 sunk ( location ), empty
5 Benavon freighter Great Britain 5,872 09/12/1940 shot on fire and sunk ( location ), 23 dead
6th Nordvard (P) freighter Norway 4.111 16.09.1940 7,000 tons of wheat; Released under the prize garrison on September 19 with 179 prisoners (85 Norwegians), reached Bordeaux on December 3, 1940 .
7th Storstad (P) Tanker Norway 8,998 October 7, 1940 12,000 tons of diesel, used as a Passat mine- layer and reconnaissance aircraft,
released on November 30, 1940 as a prize with 405 prisoners, in the South Atlantic meeting with Admiral Scheer , naval supplier Nordmark and the Atlantis , from which a further 119 prisoners were taken over, delivery of most of the oil load , Breakthrough to western France, reached Pauillac on February 4th 1941
8th Cambridge Combined ship Great Britain 10,846 November 7, 1940 the Passat sunk on mine ( location )
9 City of Rayville freighter United States 5,883 November 9, 1940 The Passat sunk on mine ( location ), first US ship lost in World War II
10 Nowshera freighter Great Britain 7,920 11/19/1940 sunk ( location ), zinc, wool, wheat
11 Maimoa freighter Great Britain 10.123 11/20/1940 sunk ( location ), 5,000 t of frozen meat, 1,500 t of butter, eggs, grain
12 Port Brisbane freighter Great Britain 8,739 11/21/1940 sunk ( location ), 1 dead, 3 lifeboats with 27 men flee, u. a. 5,000 tons of food, 3,000 tons of wool
13 Port Wellington freighter Great Britain 8,303 11/30/1940 sunk ( location ), 2 dead, 4,000 tons of food
14th Nimbin freighter Great Britain 1,052 December 5, 1940 the penguin sunk on mine ( location )
15th Ole Wegger (P) Whaling mothership Norway 12,201 01/14/1941 7,000 tons of whale oil, 5,500 tons of fuel oil, released as a pinch from point Andalusia after February 18 with ten of the whalers to the west coast of France, the utilities Nordmark and Alstertor provide parts of the prize crews; reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
16 Solglimt (P) Whaling supplier Norway 12,246 01/14/1941 4,000 t whale oil, 6,000 t fuel oil, released with Pelagos after taking over 7,000 t whale oil from Ole Wegger on January 25, 1941 , reached Bordeaux on March 16
17th Torlyn (P) whaler Norway 247 01/14/1941 reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
18th Pole VIII (P) whaler Norway 298 01/14/1941 reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
19th Pole IX (P) whaler Norway 354 01/14/1941 held back by Pinguin as a “second eye” and sent to the Kerguelen together with the Alstertor , left at the meeting point in the Indian Ocean when this tanker was looking for mine operations;
on May 8, 1941, after the sinking of the penguin from the Alstertor at the meeting point, she was taken into care; surrendered to Komet , used by him as a mineship adjutant for mine operation New Zealand, sunk by Komet on July 1, 1941 near the Chatham Islands after completing the task .
20th Pole X (P) whaler Norway 354 01/14/1941 reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
21st Pelagos (P) Whaling mothership Norway 12,083 01/14/1941 9,000 t whale oil, low fuel stock, released on January 25, 1941 with Solglimt , reached Bordeaux on March 11
22nd Star XIV (P) whaler Norway 247 01/14/1941 released with Ole Wegger , discovered by a Gibraltar-England convoy on March 13th and escorted by escort vehicles; sunk ( location ), crew taken over by Scarborough .
23 Star XIX (P) whaler Norway 249 01/14/1941 reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
24 Star XX (P) whaler Norway 249 01/14/1941 reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
25th Star XXI (P) whaler Norway 298 01/14/1941 reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
26th Star XXII (P) whaler Norway 303 01/14/1941 reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
27 Star XXIII (P) whaler Norway 357 01/14/1941 reaches Bordeaux on March 20th
28 Star XXIV (P) whaler Norway 361 01/14/1941 posed with Star XIV on March 13th and sunk himself ( location ), although previously stopped and already dismissed as unsuspicious.
29 Milimumul trawler Australia 287 03/26/1941 the penguin sunk on mine ( location )
30th Empire Light freighter Great Britain 6,828 04/25/1941 Cargo ore and hides, sunk
31 Clan Buchanan freighter Great Britain 7,266 04/28/1941 Cargo of military equipment, sunk
32 British Emperor Tanker Great Britain 3,663 May 7, 1941 shot on fire and sunk

literature

  • Jochen Brennecke : Ghost cruiser HK 33. Penguin on a pirate trip. Special edition. Koehler, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-7822-0732-7 .
  • Hans Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. A mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present day. Biographies. Volume 8. Licensed Edition. Mundus Verlag, Essen 1990, ISBN 3-8364-9743-3 .
  • Paul Schmalenbach: The German auxiliary cruisers. 1895-1945. Stalling, Oldenburg et al. 1977, ISBN 3-7979-1877-1 .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ^ Jochen Brennecke: Ghost cruiser HK 33. Penguin on a pirate trip. Special edition. Koehler, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-7822-0732-7 , pp. 255f
  2. ↑ Data and pictures of the ships of the class on DDG Hansa photo page
  3. ^ Rohwer, p. 56
  4. ↑ Image as cash on DDG Hansa photo page
  5. ↑ Rohwer, p. 53.
  6. ↑ Rohwer, p. 68
  7. ^ Norwegian page on the fate of the Nordvard
  8. ^ Rohwer, p. 97
  9. ↑ There was no more fuel available for the coal-powered refrigerated ship. The prize, jokingly referred to as the Wilhelmshaven-Süd Provision Office , had already been hauled for a month from the Nordmark and only operated the cooling systems with their own machines, in which everything combustible on board was burned. The award crew then served to cast the penguin awards.
  10. ↑ Domingo de Larrinaga (1928) Lithgows, Port Glasgow
  11. ^ Filefjell 1930 Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Wallsend
  12. ^ British Commander (1922) Caledon Shipbuilding, Dundee
  13. ↑ Morviken , 1938 Öresundsvarvet , Landskrona
  14. ^ Benavon (1930) Lithgows, Glasgow
  15. ↑ Nordvard 1925 Sweden
  16. ^ Storstad , 1926 Blythswood Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, Glasgow
  17. ^ Nowshera ex War Ceres , 1919
  18. ↑ Maimoa , 1920 Palmers Shipbuilding, Newcastle
  19. ^ Port Brisbane , 1923 Workman, Clark & ​​Co, Belfast
  20. ^ Port Wellington , 1924 Workman, Clark & ​​Co, Belfast
  21. ↑ Torlyn , 1929
  22. ↑ Pol VIII , 1936 Moss ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. later UJ1711 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lardex.net
  23. ↑ Pol IX , 1936 Smith ( Memento of the original from January 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lardex.net
  24. ↑ Pol X , 1937 Smith  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.lardex.net  
  25. ↑ Star XIV , 1929 Nylands
  26. ↑ Star XIX , 1930 Kaldnœs
  27. ↑ Star XX , 1930 Kaldnœs
  28. ↑ Star XXIII , 1936 Smith's Dockyard
  29. ↑ Star XXIV , 1937 Smith's Dockyard
  30. ^ Empire Light , 1941 Barclay, Curle & Co, Glasgow
  31. ^ Clan Buchanan , 1938 Greenock & Grangemouth, Greenock
  32. ^ British Emperor , 1916 Armstrong-Whitworth, Newcastle