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146-549: The German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran (HSK-8) was a Kriegsmarine (German navy) merchant raider of World War II . Originally the merchant vessel Steiermark (" Styria "), the ship was acquired by the navy following the outbreak of war for conversion into a raider. Administered under the designation Schiff 41 , 'Ship 41', to the Allied navies she was known as "Raider G". The largest merchant raider operated by Germany during World War II, Kormoran (" cormorant ")

292-610: A Russian Volunteer Fleet . Germany and the United Kingdom responded to the precedent by asking their shipping companies to design fast steamers with provision for mounting guns in time of war. In 1890 German and British shipyards built new civilian ships designed for wartime conversion, and France , Italy , Japan , Austria-Hungary , and the United States made similar agreements with their shipyards. In 1892 Russia likewise built two more auxiliary cruisers. In 1895

438-481: A catapult , such equipment would have spoiled any merchant ship disguise used by Kormoran ; instead, the planes were stored inside No. 5 cargo hatch, and were launched and recovered from the water with hoists. Mechanical problems, difficulties in moving the aircraft between the hatch and the water, plus a lack of opportunities meant that only seven flights were made during the ship's operational deployment. The day after commissioning, Kormoran sailed to Kiel, where she

584-479: A distress signal indicating Straat Malakka was being approached by a suspicious ship. Transmitted at 17:03 and repeated at 17:05, it contained the distress call for a merchantman under attack from a raider, rather than a warship (QQQQ as opposed to RRRR), the latitude and longitude of the transmitting ship, the time per Greenwich Mean Time instead of local time (a deliberate error to let the Kriegsmarine know

730-478: A distress signal, which was jammed as Kormoran opened fire. Agnita signaled surrender after two salvoes; 12 British and 25 Chinese sailors were captured, along with maps of the minefields surrounding Freetown Harbour. Efforts to scuttle the tanker failed, and Kormoran had to waste another torpedo to sink the ship at 3°20′S 23°40′W  /  3.333°S 23.667°W  / -3.333; -23.667 . Against usual practice, Detmers decided to return to

876-406: A distress signal; wireless operators aboard Kormoran were unable to jam it, but there was little concern as the transmission was an SOS instead of the more specific QQQ or RRR for a raider attack, while also giving the wrong coordinates. Kormoran fired for effect, but it was not until the merchant ship's bridge was destroyed that her 35 crew abandoned ship. A boarding party identified the ship as

1022-841: A false flag with guns concealed, and sometimes with her appearance altered with fake funnels and masts and often a fake paint scheme. The victim was thus engaged at point-blank range and had no chance to escape. In World War I, the Imperial German Navy initially used fast passenger ships, such as past holders of the Blue Riband for fastest North Atlantic crossings, but they made obvious and easy targets because of their very familiar silhouettes. The Germans, therefore, soon moved on to using captured and refitted Allied vessels, but principally modified transport ships. These were slower, but less recognizable. In both world wars, these ships were vulnerable to attack, and were withdrawn before

1168-452: A further 100 Second Class Iron Crosses and five First Class Iron Crosses awarded to the ship. On completion, Detmers set course for the Bay of Bengal intending to lay a second mine field, but aborted this on 30 July when he learned the aircraft carrier HMS  Hermes would be in the area. Kormoran then took to patrolling the shipping routes from Fremantle to Colombo or Lombok. A merchant ship

1314-403: A number of small arms and the use of the ship's fire hoses to repel boarders. One notable exception to this were the ships of Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited , which are used to transport spent nuclear fuel and reprocessed uranium on behalf of British Nuclear Fuels Limited . Transporting enough fissile material between them to produce 50–60 nuclear weapons, these ships, beginning with

1460-716: A point off the Abrolhos Islands (the area for the battle advocated by supporters of the "southern position"). American shipwreck hunter David Mearns first learned of the battle and mutual destruction of Sydney and Kormoran during a conference in 1996, and began studying the battle in 2001. With the assistance of historians and the Western Australian Museum , Mearns focused on primary source documents, during which he discovered or rediscovered several archive files and diaries of Kormoran personnel believed lost; these documents led him to believe that

1606-675: A raider at the German colony Kiautschou . She was forced to seek port at Apra Harbor on the US territory of Guam on 10 December 1914. The United States, then declared neutral in the war, refused to supply provisions sufficient for Cormoran to make a German port. After the US declaration of war on April 6, 1917, the Naval Governor of Guam informed Cormoran that she would be seized as a hostile combatant, prompting her crew to scuttle her. Ryazan

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1752-469: A raider was likely about to be lost), and her name. This message was partially received by the tugboat Uco ("QQQQ [unintelligible] 1000 GMT") and a shore station at Geraldton, Western Australia ("[unintelligible] 7C 11115E 1000 GMT"). The Geraldton station broadcast a message to all ships asking if there was anything to report, which was interpreted by the Germans as acknowledgement of their signal. During

1898-426: A request on 18 February for WM-80 white metal ( Babbitt (metal) ), as the softer WM-10 used in bearings for two of the four diesel engines were wearing out too quickly. Some metal was acquired from the raider Pinguin on 25 February, but this was not enough to replace all the bearings. On 15 March, Kormoran met German submarine  U-124 to transfer torpedoes, provisions, and spare parts, but rough seas forced

2044-525: A second lifeboat carrying the other 24 avoided capture in the dark. A search using one of the Arado seaplanes found them late the next morning. A few days later, Kormoran ' s wireless operators intercepted transmissions between the Norwegian tanker Thelma and a shore station — initially in a new code, then repeated in a recently expired code. This allowed the Germans to identify where the merchant ship

2190-431: A shipping container, in theory enabling any cargo ship to be armed with an anti-ship missile. This type of missile was allegedly capable of disabling or even sinking an aircraft carrier, but "it's not known how many of them would have to hit a carrier to knock it out of action, much less sink it." During the 2011 Libyan civil war , forces loyal to Gaddafi armed several merchant vessels and attempted to use them to blockade

2336-442: A single fighter aircraft. The merchant aircraft carrier or "MAC" was a British or Dutch cargo ship with a flight deck that could carry a small number of aircraft. CAM and MAC ships remained as civilian ships operated by civilian crews, with Fleet Air Arm or Royal Netherlands Navy "air parties". Despite a rise in modern piracy , it was up until the early 2010s very unusual for modern merchant ships to be armed, save for maybe

2482-500: A stop in Cape Town. After scuttling charges failed to sink Craftsman , she was torpedoed at 0°32′N 23°37′W  /  0.533°N 23.617°W  / 0.533; -23.617 . After fleeing the scene, Kormoran headed south, and early on 12 April encountered another ship. After slowly closing on the merchantman over three hours, Kormoran de-camouflaged and fired several warning shots. The freighter turned away and sent

2628-443: A tanker flying no flags, showing no lights, and zigzagging to thwart submarine attack, leading Detmers to conclude she was an Allied vessel. With little time before the sun set and the likelihood the tanker would resist capture, Kormoran commenced fire at 7,000 yards (6,400 m) in an attempt to disable the ship. When the third salvo hit, the merchantman broadcast a distress call, identifying herself as British Union and saying she

2774-895: A total of 15 ships in 1914 and 1915, before finally running out of supplies and having to put into port in Virginia , where the Americans interned her and eventually converted her into the United States Navy troop transport USS Von Steuben . The most famous German commerce raider of World War I probably was Seeadler , a sailing ship under the command of the legendary Count Felix von Luckner . However, both Wolf and Möwe were each much more successful than Seeadler . In World War II, Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine operated ten very successful auxiliary cruisers, ranging in tonnage from 3,860 to 9,400; typically these vessels were equipped with: To preserve their cover, these ships flew

2920-571: A year after the war's end. The wreck of the Cormoran II rests 110 ft (34 m) below the surface on her starboard side. A Japanese cargo ship, the Tokai Maru , sunk by the submarine USS Snapper on August 27, 1943, leans against her screw. The wreck is one of the few places where a World War I shipwreck lies next to a ship from World War II. In 1974, the Cormoran monument in

3066-511: The Action of 4 April 1941 . During World War II, German auxiliary cruisers are believed to have either sunk or captured some 800,000 long tons (812,838 t) of Allied shipping. Compare to the Q-ship , which was a disguised merchantman for anti-submarine operations. The CAM ship (from catapult armed merchantman) was a British merchantman fitted with a catapult that could launch, but not recover,

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3212-611: The Afrika Korps , and their shipmates rescued by Aquitania , while officers were sent to the Dhurringile homestead . One sailor died in captivity on 24 March 1942 from lung cancer, and was buried in the Tatura war cemetery. On 11 January 1945, Detmers and nineteen other Axis officers broke out from Dhurringile through a tunnel excavated during the previous seven months, although all were recaptured within days of escaping. Detmers

3358-535: The Cormoran that a state of war existed between the two countries, that the crew were now prisoners of war , and that the ship must be surrendered. Meanwhile, the USS Supply blocked the entrance to Apra Harbor to prevent any attempt to flee. In a separate boat, the two officers were accompanied by a barge commanded by Lt. W.A. Hall, who was designated prize master, and had brought 18 sailors and 15 Marines from

3504-520: The Denmark Strait before heading south. The longer route was justified by its greater distance from British naval and aviation bases, and was thus less likely to be patrolled. The raider reached the strait late in the evening of 12 December, passed through it under the cover of a heavy storm, and entered the Atlantic by the following midday without encountering any Allied ships. Having cleared

3650-638: The Gold Coast . These intercepts also indicated that several parties, including the Air Ministry , were aware of the attack, prompting Detmers to order the torpedoing of Eurylochus . This was accomplished with a single torpedo, sinking the British ship and her cargo at 8°15′N 24°04′W  /  8.250°N 24.067°W  / 8.250; -24.067 , three and a half hours after Afric Star . 39 Chinese and four British crew were recovered by

3796-402: The Imperial German Navy mobilized the provisional auxiliary cruiser Normannia for a 15-day trial armed with eight 6-inch guns, two 3.5-inch (89 mm) guns, six 37-millimetre (1.46 in) guns, and two torpedo boats. In both World Wars, both Germany and the United Kingdom used auxiliary cruisers. While the British used armed passenger liners defensively for protecting their shipping,

3942-529: The Kriegsmarine for conversion following a declaration of war. Steiermark was one of these ships. Receiving the designation Schiff   41 (Ship 41) for administrative purposes, she was taken into dockyard hands following the outbreak of World War II . Conversion of the merchant ship commenced in early 1940, and was prioritized as second only to work on the U-boat fleet. The conversion work included installation of camouflaged weapons, fitting of bunks for

4088-609: The National Park Service , "probably the most popular wreck diving site on Guam." Over one thousand divers annually visit the wrecks. The 90th anniversary of the Cormoran's scuttling in 2007 was marked by wreath-laying ceremonies and exhibits and lectures as War in the Pacific National Historic Park . The centenary commemoration of the ships sinking was attended by a representative of the German embassy to Manila . Divers laid wreaths on

4234-605: The Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal , became armed in 1999 to avoid the cost of a Royal Navy escort. Travelling together in convoy during these ships' intermittent voyages, they have an onboard escort of armed police from the UKAEAC and its successors and are equipped with two or three 30 mm (1.18 in) autocannons . Another exception were various ships of the Soviet Union's Merchant Marine (MORFLOT) during

4380-570: The Rawalpindi was quickly sunk. The Spanish and United States Navies used auxiliary cruisers during the Spanish–American War of 1898. In World War I , too, American auxiliary cruisers fought several engagements with German U-boats. The German practice was to arm merchantmen with hidden weapons and use them as commerce raiders . An auxiliary cruiser, Hilfskreuzer or Handels-Stör-Kreuzer (HSK), usually approached her target under

4526-522: The Treaty of Versailles , which were later eased by the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement . By the 1930s, the discrepancy between the conventional warship strength of Germany and that of other nations led the German military to recognize that auxiliary cruisers engaged in commerce raiding could play a significant role in future wars, as they had during World War I. Merchant ships that could be converted into raiders were identified, and were to be taken up by

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4672-454: The blockade runner Monte Pascoal . Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Theodor Detmers was selected to command Schiff   41 in July 1940; the 37-year-old was the youngest man to command a German merchant raider. Detmers named the ship Kormoran , inspired by SMS  Cormoran (a Russian merchant ship captured by the Germans during World War I and operated as a raider) and

4818-581: The cormorant (with Detmers comparing the seabird's use in fishing to his ship's attempts in catching Allied vessels). After a successful trials cruise in September 1940, Kormoran was commissioned on 9 October. Kormoran was one of nine civilian ships taken up by the German Navy for conversion into merchant raiders; they were referred to alternately as Hilfskreuzer ( auxiliary cruisers ) or Handelsstörkreuzer (trade disruption cruisers). She

4964-399: The halyard and swinging it around to the starboard side. By 16:35, with Sydney 8,000 metres (8,700 yd) away, the malfunctioning engine aboard Kormoran was repaired, but Detmers chose to keep it in reserve and maintain speed. Further flag signals were exchanged, with Sydney asking the raider's destination and cargo. At around 17:00, Detmers instructed his wireless operators to send

5110-477: The 399 aboard the German ship were rescued and placed in prisoner of war camps for the remainder of World War II, there were no survivors from the 645 aboard the Australian cruiser. The wreck of Kormoran was rediscovered on 12 March 2008, four days before that of her adversary. Kormoran ' s success against HMAS Sydney is commonly attributed to the proximity of the two ships during the engagement, and

5256-558: The 5,486-ton Greek freighter Nicholas D.L. , carrying Canadian timber. Because of her buoyant cargo, the scuttling charges failed to have major effect, but after firing some shells into Nicholas D.L. , Detmers chose to leave the ship to sink slowly at 1°54′S 22°12′W  /  1.900°S 22.200°W  / -1.900; -22.200 . Until 1943, the Admiralty accepted the SOS location, 18° further north, as fact, while attributing

5402-399: The Australian light cruiser HMAS  Sydney , which approached too close, though Kormoran was also sunk in the engagement. This was the only occasion in history when an armed merchantman managed to sink a modern warship ; in most cases, auxiliary cruiser raiders tried to avoid confrontation with warships. Kormoran ' s attack upon Sydney was motivated by desperation. She was not

5548-516: The Australian military in the years following the war, but these were primarily concerned with finding the Australian cruiser, technologically restricted to shallow waters, and made to verify or prove false civilian claims that Sydney or Kormoran was at a particular location. In 1990, Robert Ballard and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution were approached to lead a search for the ships, which he agreed to on

5694-608: The British blockade, Kormoran ' s instructions were to search the Atlantic Ocean for targets of opportunity, then move to the Indian Ocean and seek out Allied merchant shipping, with additional orders to lay mines around one or more Allied ports in India or Australia. Kormoran was also expected to replenish U-boats when ordered to do so, and carried extra torpedoes and spare parts. The raider's first operational area

5840-624: The Cold War (MORFLOT often operated as an adjunct to Soviet foreign and military policy, both overtly and otherwise). In 2007, facing a chronic shortage of naval vessels the Cuban Navy placed into service the Rio Damuji class of frigates , which are large fishing trawlers converted into warships. In April 2010, it was reported that a Russian company was offering a version of the 3M-54 Klub missile that could be disguised and launched from

5986-492: The German accounts were truthful. After identifying a potential search area, the Australian government announced several million dollars of funding for the search, but German government assistance was limited to formal approval for Mearns to film Kormoran if she was found. Auxiliary cruiser While armed merchantmen are clearly inferior to purpose-built warships, sometimes they have scored successes in combat against them. Examples include East Indiamen mimicking ships of

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6132-533: The German approach was to use them offensively to attack enemy shipping. The armed merchant cruisers (AMC) of the British Royal Navy were employed for convoy protection against enemy warships. They ultimately proved to have limited value and many, particularly ocean liners , were later converted into troopships, a role for which they were more suited. Documentary evidence quoted by the BBC researched from

6278-531: The German crew should be treated as guests of the United States. The Cormoran was not allowed to leave the harbor, but the crew were treated as friends, achieving a minor celebrity status on the island. On the morning of April 7, 1917, word reached Guam by telegraph cable that the US Congress had declared war on Germany . The Naval Governor of Guam , Roy Campbell Smith , sent two officers to inform

6424-575: The German raider before she fled the area with British warships Norfolk and Devonshire in pursuit. Another 28 survivors were found by the Spanish merchant ship Monte Tiede later that night, with 10 men killed during the attack or lost at sea. Eurylochus ' master was among those rescued by the Allies, and recounted that two ships had attacked, one of them armed with 11-inch (280 mm) guns, which led British Naval Intelligence to conclude that

6570-617: The German ship attacked the convoy. Though she and five vessels of the convoy were sunk, this enabled the rest of the convoy to escape. Her master, Acting Captain Edward Fegen was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his actions. Another famous action involving an armed merchant cruiser was the November 1939 battle between HMS  Rawalpindi and the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau . Outgunned,

6716-432: The German survivors were taken to Fremantle and interrogated . Attempts to learn what had happened were hampered by the German officers instructing their sailors to obfuscate the enemy with false answers, people describing events they did not witness but heard of later, and difficulty in keeping groups separated in order to check their stories against each other. Despite this, Australian authorities were able to piece together

6862-428: The Germans' perspective, as that combination was shorthand for "You should prepare for a cyclone, hurricane, or typhoon". However, those two letters were part of the real Straat Malakka ' s secret secondary callsign, and Sydney was expecting the ship to confirm her identity by responding with the callsign's other two letters. Fifteen minutes later, the cruiser signalled, "Show your secret sign". Detmers knew there

7008-730: The Naval Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). In 1975, the wreck itself was placed on the NRHP because of her association with World War I. The National Park Service conducted surveys in 1983 of the SMS Cormoran and Tokai Maru , publishing maps of the two ships' positions. In 1988, a mooring buoy was attached to the Tokai Maru to allow easier access by divers. It is, according to

7154-532: The US Territory of Guam , on 14 December. Having expended most of her fuel raiding commerce, her crew burned much of her woodwork in the boilers in order to make port. With only 50 t (55 short tons) of coal remaining in her bunkers, her captain requested provisions and 1,500 t (1,700 short tons) of coal in order to reach German ports in East Africa. Due to strained diplomatic relations between

7300-694: The US declaration of war against Germany. The dead crew were buried with full military honors in the naval cemetery at Hagåtña . After the American sailors rescued and made prisoners the surviving Germans, Governor Cronan congratulated Captain Zuckschwerdt for the bravery of his men. The US Navy later conducted a limited salvage operation and the ship's bell was recovered. It is exhibited at the US Naval Academy Museum at Annapolis, Maryland . Other artifacts have been removed by divers over

7446-475: The United States and Germany, plus the limited amount of coal stored at Guam, Governor William John Maxwell refused to supply Cormoran with more than a token amount of coal. He ordered the ship to leave within 24 hours or submit to detention. This created a standoff between the German crew and the Americans that lasted nearly two years, until Governor Maxwell was involuntarily placed on the sick list and replaced by his subordinate, William P. Cronan , who decided

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7592-411: The area, he maintained wireless silence and did not report his discovery until three days later. The lifeboat carrying Detmers saw the troopship but did not make their presence known, as the German officer hoped to be picked up by a neutral merchant ship. Attempts to locate Sydney , which was several days overdue in returning to port, commenced on 23 November. However, it was not until the afternoon of

7738-519: The attack, and initially attributed it to the raider Thor . Kormoran then headed southeast, avoiding the convoy routes from the Mediterranean to America or down the African coast, in order to seek vessels sailing alone and without warship escort. Before sunset on 18 January, smoke was spotted on the horizon, so Kormoran accelerated and altered course to pursue. The source of the smoke was

7884-561: The barracks at Sumay . Seeing a launch from Cormoran hauling a barge of supplies back shore, Hall ordered shots fired across the bow of the launch until it hove to. Meanwhile, the two officers reached Cormoran and informed Captain Adalbert Zuckschwerdt of the situation. Zuckschwerdt agreed to surrender his crew but refused to turn over the ship. The US officers informed Zuckschwerdt that the Cormoran would be treated as an enemy combatant and left to inform Governor Smith of

8030-436: The battle coordinates as 26°S 111°E  /  26°S 111°E  / -26; 111 ), efforts to find Kormoran and Sydney were hampered by the size of the search area indicated by such broad coordinates, and claims by Australians that the Germans had lied about the coordinates (among other aspects of the fight ) and the ships would be found further south and closer inshore. Several searches were made by

8176-458: The battle was assembled from communications intercepts during the search for survivors, then combined with Allied news articles and published in early 1943 for internal consumption by German officials. A member of Kormoran ' s crew sent home in a prisoner exchange later that year confirmed the details of the battle, and accounts were published by the German media in December 1943. Most of

8322-618: The battle were concealed through a wide-ranging coverup . None of these claims were substantiated by any evidence. The merchant vessel Steiermark was constructed by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel for the Hamburg-Amerika Line . Launched in 1938, the ship was to operate on the East Asia run, but had completed only sea trials when war was declared. Following World War I, German naval power had limits placed upon it by

8468-398: The bottom at 8°44′N 24°38′W  /  8.733°N 24.633°W  / 8.733; -24.633 . Later that day, lookouts aboard the raider spotted a merchant ship sailing without lights. Sneaking up on the vessel, Kormoran opened fire; her first salvo missed, but within minutes, the target was heavily damaged and aflame. The ship transmitted a distress signal, which Kormoran

8614-738: The broad details of the battle, which was verified by German sailors recovered by Aquitania who had been taken to Sydney instead. Their interviews showed similar commonalities and inconsistencies as those in Fremantle, and the interrogators concluded that the true story was being recounted. Initially, the sailors were imprisoned at Harvey while the officers were imprisoned at Swanbourne Barracks , but after interrogations were concluded in December, they were all relocated to prisoner-of-war camps near Murchison, Victoria . Sailors were interned in No. 13 Prisoner of War Camp, which already hosted 1,200 soldiers of

8760-565: The close proximity of the target allowed the use of lighter weapons to rake Sydney ' s flank and interfere with attempts to man the cruiser's secondary weapons. In contrast, Sydney was only able to fire a single full salvo before her forward turrets were knocked out, shells from which punched through Kormoran ' s exhaust funnel and wireless room, and caused shrapnel wounds to two sailors. Kormoran ' s gunners shifted their aim to Sydney ' s waterline with their next three salvoes. Sydney responded from her aft turrets: one damaged

8906-509: The coast of Western Australia; the original intention was to mine shipping routes near Cape Leeuwin and Fremantle, but after wireless signals were detected from a warship (Australian heavy cruiser HMAS  Canberra ) escorting a convoy in the area, Detmers decided to sail further north and mine Shark Bay , then proceed to the East Indies before looping back west to the Bay of Bengal. On 19 November 1941, shortly before 16:00, Kormoran

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9052-418: The condition that the search area be narrowed down considerably. A forum in 1991 unsuccessfully attempted to do this, and Ballard withdrew his offer. A 1999 Australian government report recommended that a seminar be organised to identify the most likely search area for the warships, but again, participants were still split between the battle location given by the Germans (referred to as the "northern position") or

9198-440: The cruiser passed harmlessly aft. By 17:35, the cruiser was heading south, heavily damaged, on fire, and losing speed, with her main guns destroyed or jammed facing away from their target and her secondary weapons out of range. Kormoran maintained her course and speed, but discontinued salvo firing; her stern guns continued to score hits as Sydney passed through their firing arcs. The cruiser fired torpedoes at Kormoran , but as

9344-429: The cruiser was on Kormoran ' s starboard quarter at 15,000 metres (16,000 yd), the flags were obscured by the raider's funnel; German accounts vary as to if this was done deliberately to make the ship seem civilian, a ruse to lure Sydney closer, or the signaller's honest mistake. After receiving an instruction from the cruiser to make the flags visible, the signals officer aboard Kormoran did so by lengthening

9490-678: The early stages of the First World War suggests that the express liners had greater speed than most warships (few warships of the period could exceed 21 knots), which made them suitable as AMCs. The downside proved to be their high fuel consumption; using them in a purely AMC role would have burned through the Admiralty reserve supplies of steam coal in less than three months. The ships were vulnerable to enemy fire because they lacked warship armour, and they used local control of guns rather than director fire-control systems , which reduced their effective fire power. A famous AMC of World War I

9636-455: The engagement site around midnight in pursuit, but failed to locate Kormoran , and returned that morning to collect a third lifeboat carrying seven survivors. These sailors stated their attacker had fired on the other two lifeboats, a claim not made by those rescued by the Germans. The Allies initially assumed that the German pocket battleship  Admiral Scheer was responsible, but after this

9782-401: The evacuation, a rubber liferaft carrying 60, mostly wounded, sank without warning; the three survivors were placed in other boats. Total German casualties were six officers, 75 German sailors, and one Chinese sailor. The first life raft of German survivors, carrying 26 men, was recovered by the troopship Aquitania early on 23 November, but as the ship's master believed a raider was still in

9928-483: The exchanges and distress signal, Sydney positioned herself off the raider's starboard beam on a parallel course, approximately 1,300 metres (1,400 yd) from Kormoran . Her main guns and torpedoes trained on the raider, but secondary weapons did not appear to be manned, personnel were standing on the upper deck, and although the cruiser's seaplane had been readied for launch, it was soon stowed away. During her manoeuvre, Sydney signalled "IK", which made no sense from

10074-437: The fire-fighting systems, and as it was only a matter of time until the oil fire reached the magazines or mine hold, Detmers ordered "abandon ship" at 18:25. All boats and rafts were launched by 21:00, during which a skeleton crew kept the weapons manned while their colleagues evacuated and the officers made preparations for scuttling. During all this, Sydney was seen to proceed south-southeast at low speed; she disappeared over

10220-552: The first prize of World War I from the Russian empire. She was taken to Qingdao in the German colony Kiautschou , where she was converted to an armed merchant raider . The new Cormoran replaced the original SMS  Cormoran , a small shallow draft cruiser that had a long Imperial Navy career in the Pacific, having taken part in the events that brought Kiautschou into the German colonial empire in 1897–98. The old Cormoran

10366-637: The flags of neutral or occasionally Allied nations. They were refueled and provisioned from special supply ships, from Japanese island bases or from prizes they had taken. To counter the effectiveness of these disguises, the Allies introduced the check-mate system in 1942 to identify individual ships on a one-by-one basis with the Admiralty in London. In one incident, the German Kormoran (ex-merchantman Steiermark ) managed to surprise and sink

10512-505: The four Chinese laundry workers) had survived. During searches in late 1941, none of the 645-strong ship's company from Sydney was found; the only confirmed remains found were a damaged carley float and a lifebelt. In February 1942, a carley float carrying a then-unidentifiable body reached Christmas Island. In 2021, familial DNA research verified that the remains were those of Able Seaman Thomas Welsby Clark , an ASDIC (sonar) operator on Sydney . In Germany, information about

10658-448: The four officers were imprisoned aboard Kormoran . After the captured tanker left, it was realised recognition signals to avoid Luftwaffe attack had not been supplied, and Kormoran raced to meet the tanker when she rendezvoused with the supply ship Nordmark . The raider met the supply ship on 27 March, but it appeared Canadolite had enough fuel to reach France and had chosen to sail straight there. Two U-boats were scheduled to reach

10804-530: The home countries were at war, a convoy system would be used whereby the ships were escorted by a warship . However, many East Indiamen also travelled on their own, and therefore were heavily armed in order to defend themselves against pirates and privateers . They also defended themselves against warships, scoring signal victories at the Battle of Pulo Aura and the action of 4 August 1800 . The British Royal Navy purchased several that it converted to ships of

10950-431: The horizon during the afternoon and could not be relocated. Two days later, Detmers was informed that Kormoran would be replaced by Thor at the end of December, and that he would be resupplied by the supply ship Kulmerland , which had come from Japan and would wait for the raider at a predetermined rendezvous point from 12 October. Late on 23 September, the navigational lights for a ship were sighted. After signalling

11096-569: The horizon shortly after the engagement, but the glow of the burning ship was seen on the horizon consistently until 22:00, and sporadically until midnight. Kormoran was abandoned and scuttled at midnight; she sank slowly until the mine hold exploded half an hour later. The German survivors were in five boats and two rafts: one cutter carrying 46 men, two battle-damaged steel life rafts with 57 and 62 aboard (the latter carrying Detmers and towing several small floats), one workboat carrying 72, one boat with 31 aboard, and two rafts, each bearing 26. During

11242-495: The line and chasing off regular French warships in the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804, and the German auxiliary cruiser  Kormoran sinking the Australian light cruiser HMAS  Sydney in their battle in 1941, although Kormoran was also destroyed and had to be scuttled. East Indiamen of various European countries were heavily armed for their long journeys to the Far East . In particularly dangerous times, such as when

11388-710: The line . In 1856, privateering (or seizure of a belligerent country's merchant ships as a private enterprise) lost international sanction under the Declaration of Paris . From 1861 to 1865 European countries built high-speed ships to run the Union Blockade during the American Civil War . Some of these were armed and served as Confederate States Navy raiders. Russia purchased three ships in 1878 of 6,000 long tons (6,100  t ) armed with 6-inch (150 mm) guns for use as auxiliary cruisers for

11534-420: The lookout spotted a strange object on the horizon; this was worked out to be the peak of Boea Boea Mountain on Enggano Island , and the first sighting of land in 258 days. Kormoran then moved to waters south of Ceylon, and around midday on 1 September, a large vessel, which Detmers determined to be an unaccompanied troopship, was spotted. Plans were made to attack that night, but the transport disappeared over

11680-599: The merchant sailors did not comply until after the raider resumed fire, having observed an attempt to man the ship's stern gun. A boarding party identified the victim as the 11,900-ton refrigerator ship Afric Star , carrying meat and butter to England. The complicated configuration and damaged condition of Afric Star ruled against her capture as a prize ship; after confiscating code books and other vital documents, and recovering 76 people, including two women, attempts were made to scuttle her. The merchantman refused to sink, and Kormoran had to use shells and torpedoes to send her to

11826-456: The merchant ship for her name and nationality, which identified her as the 3,941-ton Greek freighter Stamatios G. Embiricus , the raider shone searchlights on her and ordered her to stop and accept a boarding party. Those aboard the Greek ship assumed they were being pulled up by a British warship for not observing blackout regulations, and it was not until the armed Germans arrived on the ship that

11972-399: The merchantman to stop. The ship did not comply, and after a warning shot elicited no response, Kormoran fired for effect . A distress signal was transmitted but jammed by the raider, and after unsuccessfully trying to break away from the faster German ship, the merchant vessel came to a stop and ceased attempts to transmit. The crew was ordered by signals from Kormoran to abandon ship, but

12118-422: The merchantman was abeam of the raider and 5,000 yards (4,600 m) to port. The German ship dropped her camouflage, increased speed, and ordered the freighter to stop or be fired upon. In response, the merchantman attempted to transmit a distress call (which was jammed by Kormoran ) and tried to man her stern gun, prompting the Germans to open fire. The freighter took heavy damage, as every time Detmers ordered or

12264-698: The most successful German raider of World War II (both Atlantis and Pinguin scored higher kill tonnages). Another, Stier , was also sunk in a mutually destructive engagement with the American Liberty ship SS  Stephen Hopkins . The only encounters between Allied and Axis auxiliary cruisers in World War II were all with the raider Thor . This small vessel, which captured or sank 22 merchantmen, encountered three British AMCs in her career, defeating RMS  Alcantara and HMS  Carnarvon Castle and later sinking HMS Voltaire in

12410-417: The nature of the 'warship' was revealed. Although captured intact, Stamantios G. Embiricus was a coal-fuelled ship, and did not have enough fuel to reach any destination other than her intended port, Colombo. The ship was scuttled at 0°01′S 64°30′E  /  0.017°S 64.500°E  / -0.017; 64.500 , but while a lifeboat carrying the ship's master and five crew rowed to Kormoran ,

12556-421: The next day, after the British tanker Trocas reported finding the second Kormoran life raft with 25 men (one having perished) a full-scale search was begun. Several German lifeboats were spotted on 25 November during the air search off Western Australia: the 46-man cutter had come ashore at 17-Mile Well , the 57-man lifeboat was nearing Red Bluff , and a third lifeboat was further off the coast. That afternoon,

12702-495: The owners of Sakito Maru rarely operated in the western Indian. After patrolling around the Maldives without success, Kormoran sailed towards the Bay of Bengal with plans to lay mines in the approaches to Madras and Calcutta. Although a target was spotted en route on 15 June, the raider's smoke generator malfunctioned and started to produce thick, black smoke, which scared off the merchantman. On 24 June, while approaching Madras,

12848-448: The port of Misrata . In October 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that British merchant shipping passing through areas known for piracy were permitted to carry firearms. Since the late 19th century various navies have used armed merchant ships in the role of auxiliary cruisers , also called armed merchant cruisers . Significant use of this type of ship was made by Britain and Germany in both World Wars. Some of

12994-446: The raider opened fire after a distress call was sent. Within 30 seconds, shells from the raider destroyed the merchantman's wireless room and forecastle, damaged the engine room, and started several fires. Some 48 sailors from the 3,472-ton Australian vessel Mareeba were recovered by Kormoran , and although a boarding party attempted to save the ship for use as a mine-layer, the severity of damage made this impossible. The Australian ship

13140-401: The raider set the merchant ship alight and forced the crew to abandon ship. The decision was made to destroy the 6,987-ton tanker with a torpedo, although two torpedoes and shells from the raider's main guns were required to sink her, while a third torpedo exploded as soon as it cleared its safety distance and armed; Detmers later stated the quantity of ammunition used during the attempted capture

13286-432: The raider was spotted and shadowed by what the Germans assumed was a British auxiliary cruiser. The suspicious ship later resumed her original course without incident, but Detmers decided to postpone the mine-laying operation and leave the area, as Allied forces would become suspicious when the 'Japanese' ship failed to reach port. During the early morning of 26 June, a darkened merchant ship was spotted. Signals were sent to

13432-416: The raider was turning to bring her port broadside to bear, these passed harmlessly astern. After completing the turn, battle damage caused Kormoran ' s engines to fail completely, leaving the raider dead in the water while Sydney continued to limp southwards. Despite being immobilised, Kormoran continued to fire at a high rate — some of the German sailors reported that up to 450 shells were used during

13578-430: The raider's advantages of surprise and rapid, accurate fire. Prior to the discovery of the wrecks in 2008, the cruiser's loss with all hands compared to the survival of most of the German crew created controversy and spawned numerous conspiracy theories ; some alleged that the German commander, Theodor Detmers , used illegal ruses to lure Sydney into range, others that a Japanese submarine was involved, or that details of

13724-417: The raider's machinery spaces and started a fire in an oil tank, while the other fired only a few ineffective shells. Around the time of the eighth or ninth German salvo, one of Kormoran ' s torpedoes struck Sydney forward of "A" turret, ripping a hole in her side and causing her to settle by the bow. After the torpedo hit, Sydney turned hard to port in what the Germans assumed was an attempt to ram, but

13870-500: The reefs surrounding the Andaman Islands. That afternoon, smoke from another ship was spotted by Kormoran . Maintaining a steady course away from the merchantman until a rain squall enveloped the raider, Kormoran then altered onto a converging course, and closed to within 600 yards (550 m) before crossing the merchantman's bow to reach a favorable firing position and revealing her identity. Orders to stop were ignored, and

14016-690: The relatively luxurious facilities aboard Kormoran , and a sick sailor from the submarine was traded for a healthy man from the raider. Kormoran sailed north to the Freetown -South America shipping route, and began to patrol near where it intersected the border of the Pan-American Security Zone. On the morning of 22 March, the raider encountered a tanker, which identified herself as the British vessel Agnita . Kormoran instructed her to stop and maintain wireless silence or be fired upon. The tanker instead broke away and began to transmit

14162-455: The rendezvous point for resupply; Detmers suggested he meet U-105 , which was carrying more white metal for Kormoran ' s engines, while Nordmark focused on U-106 . The commanding officer of U-105 agreed to transmit a warning to Germany regarding Canadolite once the U-boat had left the rendezvous point, which did not occur until six days later because of equipment problems delaying

14308-476: The rendezvous point over the next few days and transferred provisions, ammunition, and fuel to the raider. Prisoners from Kormoran were handed over to the other ships, and the raider received new sailors to make up numbers. Kormoran departed on 22 April, and spent two days changing her disguise to the Japanese freighter Sakito Maru before sailing into the Indian Ocean. On reaching the Indian Ocean, Kormoran

14454-525: The replenishment. The tanker arrived safely on 13 April, was renamed Sudetenland , and remained operational until her sinking by the Royal Air Force in 1944. Kormoran was due to rendezvous with the tanker Rudolf Albrecht on 4 April, and had no opportunity to search for new targets. The 42 prisoners from Kormoran were transferred to the Albrecht , but as she was a civilian vessel, her master

14600-516: The responsible ships were Thor and Admiral Scheer , or an unknown raider operating in concert with one of these. Among the rescued was ship's gunner Frank Laskier who, on returning to England, was interviewed by BBC radio and proved so popular he became a figurehead for Merchant Navy enlistment propaganda for the rest of the war. After evading pursuit, Kormoran made for a point off the Cape Verde Islands , where she rendezvoused with

14746-454: The sailors, creation of internal passageways leading to their stations. Prisoner accommodation, consisting of an open area for hammocks and facilities to keep ship's masters and women separate from the general population, were constructed. The raider was also provided with equipment with which to modify her appearance and allow her to masquerade as other merchant vessels. While the ship was being refitted, her future crew underwent training aboard

14892-467: The second phase of the battle — and scored hits on the cruiser, although misses would have increased as the range grew. The raider fired her guns for the last time around 17:50, with the range at 6,600 yards (6,000 m), and a torpedo was fired at 18:00, but missed. By the end of the half-hour engagement, the ships were about 10,000 metres (11,000 yd) apart, with both heavily damaged and on fire. Damage to Kormoran ' s engine room had knocked out

15038-542: The ship without response, and after the merchantman appeared to ignore a warning shot, Kormoran opened fire and caused massive damage. Nine men, identifying themselves as crew from the 4,153-ton Yugoslavian cargo ship Velebit , were recovered from a lifeboat; the lack of response was attributed to the actions of inexperienced Indian sailors taken on in Bombay. The ship was left to sink, but another eight sailors remained on board, and kept Velebit afloat until she ran aground on

15184-469: The ships used in this role include: SMS Cormoran (1909) SMS Cormoran or SMS Cormoran II was a German armed merchant raider that was originally a German-built Russian merchant vessel named Ryazan . The ship was active in the Pacific Ocean during World War I . Built in 1909, she was captured by the German light cruiser SMS  Emden on 4 August 1914 and converted into

15330-408: The sinking to the raider Atlantis . On 17 April, Kormoran sighted a passenger ship, but was unable to lure her into range before the vessel disappeared into a rain squall. Two days later, Kormoran met Atlantis and the blockade runner Dresden . An expected shipment of white metal for Kormoran had been supplied to a different blockade runner, which was delayed. Several supply ships arrived at

15476-449: The site of the action three days later, where another tanker was spotted. Kormoran revealed her weapons and fired a warning shot at the tanker, which initially attempted to flee but then chose to surrender when the morning mist lifted and revealed the nature of her attacker. The 11,309-ton (German-built) Canadian tanker Canadolite was taken as a prize ship, with a German crew taking the ship and her 44 sailors to Bordeaux , France, while

15622-431: The situation. Unbeknownst to the Americans, the Germans had secreted an explosive device in the ship's coal bunker. Minutes after the Americans left, an explosion aboard Cormoran hurled debris across the harbor and her crew began abandoning ship. The two American boats and USS Supply immediately began to recover German sailors from the water, saving all but seven of the roughly 370 Cormoran crew. This incident, including

15768-558: The staff of Quobba Station rounded up the two groups that had made landfall, who did not resist capture. The 31-man boat was recovered by the passenger ship Koolinda just before sunset on 26 November. The passenger-freighter Centaur , which had been instructed to make landfall at Carnarvon to collect the Germans captured so far and transport them to Fremantle, encountered Detmers' lifeboat that night at 22:00 and took it in tow, as they were unwilling to let 62 enemy naval personnel aboard, but did not want to leave them to their fate. During

15914-456: The sun (heading 260°) at maximum achievable speed (which quickly dropped from 15 to 14 knots (28 to 26 km/h; 17 to 16 mph) because of problems in one of her diesels), while setting the ship to action stations . Sydney spotted the German ship around the same time, and altered from her southward heading to intercept at 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph). As the cruiser closed from astern, she began to send searchlight signals. The first

16060-525: The supply ship Nordmark on 7 February. During a three-day replenishment operation, Kormoran topped up Nordmark ' s supply of spare U-boat parts with components brought from Germany, and transferred 170 of the 174 prisoners acquired so far. The four Chinese sailors from Eurylochus were hired to stay aboard the raider as laundrymen, and the British Union crew left their pet monkey aboard as thanks for their treatment while in captivity. A piano

16206-412: The tanker's sailors were drafted. Food, mail, and newspapers were received from Rudolf Albrecht , along with news that another three First Class Iron Crosses and 50 Second Class Iron Crosses had been awarded to Kormoran . Having returned to the waters off Freetown, Kormoran encountered a merchant ship at dawn on 9 April. As the ship was behind Kormoran and on a similar course, the raider slowed until

16352-405: The two vessels to head south, where they met the German cruiser Admiral Scheer a day later. The raider's broken radar and a sailor with an eye injury were transferred to Scheer , but attempts to replenish the U-boat were again interrupted by bad weather, forcing the two vessels to relocate again. The equipment transfer and refueling took another three days, during which crewmen from U-124 enjoyed

16498-589: The voyage to Carnarvon, the damaged and overloaded German lifeboat was swamped, and the Kormoran survivors were transferred into two of Centaur ' s lifeboats. Arriving in Carnarvon on the afternoon of 27 November, the Germans were relocated from the boats to Centaur ' s number one cargo hold, where they were joined by the sailors from the two lifeboats that had reached shore and 40 Australian Army guards. The last boat, carrying 70 Germans and two Chinese,

16644-424: The war ended. Many were sunk after being caught by regular warships – an unequal battle, since auxiliary cruisers had poor fire control and no armor. There were, however, a few success stories. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was a former passenger liner that sank two freighters in 1914 before being caught by HMS  Highflyer . Her sister ship, Kronprinz Wilhelm , had a legendary journey, sinking or capturing

16790-495: The war, departing from Port Phillip with other Axis prisoners aboard the steamer Orontes on 21 February 1947. Ironically, tied up to the opposite pier was the real Straat Malakka . On arrival in Cuxhaven , the prisoners were searched before leaving the ship, and while several written reports were gathered, none provided new information. Despite the approximate last position of Kormoran being known (most German accounts giving

16936-541: The warning shots against the launch, accounted for the first violent action of the United States in World War I , first shots fired by the US against Germany in World War I, the first German prisoners of war captured by the US, and the first Germans killed in action by the US in World War I. The shots ordered by Teófilo Marxuach against the merchant ship Odenwald in San Juan Bay on March 21, 1915, predate

17082-672: The years. As the crew waited to be sent to a POW camp on the mainland, they were given permission to erect an obelisk next to their buried dead. Capt. Zuckschwerd was allowed to speak at a ceremony honoring their dead. The obelisk reads, "Den Toten von S.M.S. Cormoran, 7 IV 1917," meaning "To the dead of the S.M.S. Cormoran, 7 April 1917." The German crew was initially imprisoned in Fort Douglas, Utah . In April 1918, all remaining prisoners of war from Cormoran and SMS  Geier were transferred from Fort Douglas to Fort McPherson , Georgia . All returned home on 7 October 1919, almost

17228-422: Was 150 nautical miles (280 km; 170 mi) south-west of Carnarvon, Western Australia . The raider was sailing northwards (heading 025°) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph). At 15:55, what was initially thought to be a tall ship sail was sighted off the port bow, although the sighting was quickly determined to be the masts of a cruiser, HMAS  Sydney . Detmers ordered Kormoran to alter course into

17374-404: Was about to order a cease-fire, the target ship attempted to escape or transmit another distress signal. Eventually, the 46 survivors of the crew (five were killed in the attack) abandoned their burning vessel, and boarding parties were sent from the raider. She was identified as the 8,022-ton British freighter Craftsman , carrying an anti-submarine net for Singapore, which was to be delivered after

17520-502: Was also equipped with six torpedo tubes : two dual launchers on the upper deck, and a single underwater tube on each side. The underwater tubes were amidships, angled at 135° from the bow, and could only be fired if the raider was travelling at less than 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph). Kormoran carried a payload of mines , with an LS-3 fast boat carried inside No. 6 cargo hatch for minelaying. The raider carried two Arado Ar 196 floatplanes for reconnaissance. Although Detmers wanted

17666-559: Was built at the Schichau shipyard in Elbing , Imperial Germany in 1909 for the Russian merchant fleet (Rjasan or Rjäsan, from the Russian town of Ryazan ). She was used by imperial Russia as a combination passenger, cargo and mail carrier on North Pacific routes. The Ryazan was captured southeast of the Korean peninsula by the German light cruiser SMS  Emden on 4 August 1914 as

17812-686: Was changed from a minesweeper to the Soviet freighter Vyacheslav Molotov . The Royal Navy had blockaded German waters at the start of the war, and Kormoran had to break through to reach her first patrol area. It was suggested that the raider either sail through the English Channel with support from captured French coastal batteries and the Luftwaffe , or around the Faroe Islands . Detmers chose to travel north of Iceland and through

17958-554: Was concealed by fake cargo hatch walls. The secondary armament consisted of five 2-centimetre (0.79 in) anti-aircraft guns: two on the forecastle, two on the after funnel deck, and the fifth in the quarterdeck. All five were hidden by the structure of the ship until they were raised clear on hydraulic platforms. There were plans to fit four 3.7-centimetre (1.5 in) anti-aircraft guns, but only two ex-army anti-tank guns could be scrounged; these were installed on Kormoran ' s superstructure, hidden by sheet metal panels. Kormoran

18104-441: Was disproven, the Admiralty was unable to determine the identity of the attacker. Just after 13:00 on 29 January, Kormoran encountered a large merchantman which altered course on sighting the raider, but returned to her original heading after Kormoran made no aggressive moves. Detmers instead waited until the distance between the ships had decreased before the raider altered course to intercept, dropped her camouflage, and ordered

18250-412: Was excessive for the result obtained. The tanker's master, 27 sailors, and a pet monkey were recovered from two lifeboats as the tanker sank at 26°29′N 31°07′W  /  26.483°N 31.117°W  / 26.483; -31.117 , and the raider fled the area. The distress call and glow from the fires attracted the attention of the armed merchant cruiser HMS  Arawa , which passed through

18396-466: Was fitted with six 15-centimetre (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns as primary armament: two each within the forecastle ("1" and "2") and quarterdeck ("5" and "6"), and one each fore and aft ("3" and "4" respectively) on the centreline. These guns were World War I-vintage ; gun "3" had been removed from the battlecruiser SMS  Seydlitz in 1916. The forecastle and quarterdeck guns were hidden behind counter-weighted false hull plates, while each centreline gun

18542-498: Was found with a German-English dictionary which included two accounts of the battle (a deck log or action report, and an engineering log) encrypted within using a Vigenère cipher , although these accounts provided little new information. Shortly after returning to the camp, Detmers suffered a stroke, and spent over three months at the military hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria . The German officers and sailors were repatriated after

18688-602: Was heading to, and make some progress on breaking the new code. However, the tanker could have taken several routes to her Cape Town destination, and Kormoran did not encounter her during four days of searching. The raider then headed south, and met the supply ship Kulmerland on 16 October. Supplies and parts were transferred to Kormoran , while the raider's prisoners were moved to Kulmerland , along with documents captured from ships and five slightly ill German sailors to serve as guards. After leaving on 24 October, maintenance and repairs were carried out. Plans were made to sail up

18834-441: Was immediately diverted to refuel the whaling ship Adjutant and supply ship Alstertor ; refuelling was carried out between 13 and 17 May. Although originally confined to waters northeast of latitude 20°S and longitude 80°E, the raider's area of operations expanded on 1 June to encompass the entire ocean. The ship's disguise was altered again on 5 June, with Kormoran taking the identity of the Japanese merchant ship Kinka Maru , as

18980-492: Was in the Atlantic, below latitude 40° north, which she crossed during the night of 19–20 December. The German ship initially patrolled the western mid-Atlantic, outside the Pan-American Security Zone . During the first two weeks, the only ships spotted were merchant vessels flying the United States flag, which merchant raiders were forbidden to attack as they were still neutral. By 6 January 1941, Detmers

19126-603: Was laid up at Qingdao with serious maintenance issues and unable to go to sea, and her armaments were transferred to the captured merchant ship. On 10 August 1914, the new Cormoran (or Cormoran II ) left Qingdao harbor and sailed through the South Pacific region . After Japan declared war on the German Empire, her warships discovered and pursued the Cormoran , forcing her to seek refuge in Apra Harbor , in

19272-406: Was no chance of fooling Sydney for much longer, so ordered Kormoran ' s disguise dropped, the German battle ensign raised, and for all weapons to commence firing. The raider's opening salvo bracketed the ship, while the next four salvoes destroyed Sydney ' s bridge, gun direction tower, forward turrets, and aircraft. Two torpedoes were launched simultaneously with the raider's attack, and

19418-469: Was not answered because the Germans did not understand the coded Morse . Sydney repeated for half an hour, but then began to send, "You should hoist your signal letters", both by plain-language Morse and signal flag . After another delay, Kormoran raised flags reading "PKQI"—the callsign for her disguise, the Dutch merchant ship Straat Malakka — on the triatic stay and hoisted a Dutch civil ensign. As

19564-466: Was not at war with Greece, the presence of Allied weapons and cargo allowed Detmers to sink her or take her as a prize . As coal was of little use to the Kriegsmarine , the weapons, ammunition, and 29 crew were transferred to Kormoran , and the boarding party scuttled her at 18°17′N 28°32′W  /  18.283°N 28.533°W  / 18.283; -28.533 . Admiralty notifications for raider activity gave an incorrect date and location for

19710-429: Was provisioned for a 12-month voyage. The raider then travelled to Gotenhafen ( Gdynia , Poland) and underwent further trials of the ship's weapons, aircraft, and minelaying boat. Despite a range of problems and defects, Detmers elected to repair problems at sea instead of taking the ship into dock and delaying their mission. The raider departed on 3 December, and once she cleared German waters on 10 December, her disguise

19856-403: Was ready to relocate to a point west of the Mediterranean because of a lack of targets, but that afternoon, Kormoran encountered the 3,729-ton Greek freighter Antonis . The raider ordered the freighter to heave to and not send any wireless transmissions, and sent a boarding party over. Antonis was armed with three British machine guns and loaded with 4,800 tons of Welsh coal . Though Germany

20002-402: Was responsible for the destruction of 10 merchant vessels and the capture of an 11th during her year-long career in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. She is also known for sinking the Australian light cruiser HMAS  Sydney during a mutually destructive battle off Western Australia on 19 November 1941. Damage sustained during the battle prompted the scuttling of Kormoran . While 318 of

20148-400: Was scuttled, and sank quickly at 8°15′N 88°06′E  /  8.250°N 88.100°E  / 8.250; 88.100 . After retreating to open waters, a 15-day overhaul of the engines was carried out. While working on one of the seaplanes, a sailor was killed by electrocution. Kormoran ' s disguise was changed to the Dutch freighter Straat Malakka , and notice was received of

20294-474: Was spotted from the air during the late morning of 27 November, and was recovered shortly afterward by HMAS  Yandra . The next day, HMAS  Wyrallah recovered a German lifebelt and two four-man liferafts, one of which was carrying a deceased German sailor, who was buried at sea . The search was terminated at sunset on 29 November. By this point, all of the German lifeboats were accounted for, and 318 of Kormoran ' s 399 personnel (including three of

20440-486: Was spotted near sunset on 13 August, but the ship's actions (which included heading directly for Kormoran on spotting her, broadcasting a raider distress call without coordinates, and repeatedly broadcasting homing signals) caused Detmers to think the target was either an Allied auxiliary cruiser or was attempting to lure Kormoran into range of an Allied warship. Kormoran broke off pursuit and retreated. The raider continued to search for ships without success. On 25 August,

20586-411: Was sworn in by Detmers as a naval officer, and an armed guard had to be supplied. Detmers ordered the transfer of four men from Nordmark to Rudolf Albrecht as guards, along with a fifth to Kormoran in exchange for the sick sailor taken from U-124 two weeks before. The supply ship's commander attempted to obstruct the transfers, and then demanded replacements; one came from Kormoran , while three of

20732-519: Was taken from Nordmark ' s companion Duquesa , a captured coal-burning ship that was to be scuttled when her fuel ran out, but Detmers warned that if the piano caused any problems among the crew, it would be pushed overboard. Kormoran left the rendezvous on 10 February and headed south. During the transit, Detmers received a signal from Germany indicating that his ship had been awarded two First Class Iron Crosses , and 50 Second Class Iron Crosses, to be distributed as he saw fit. Detmers transmitted

20878-549: Was the British RMS ; Carmania which, after a battle that caused heavy damage on both sides, sank the German auxiliary cruiser SMS  Cap Trafalgar near the Brazilian island of Trindade in 1914. By coincidence, Cap Trafalgar was disguised as Carmania . In World War II, HMS  Jervis Bay , the sole escort for convoy HX 84 in November 1940, stood off the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer , when

21024-427: Was the largest of the raiders, and the most recently constructed when she was taken up for modification. After modification, Kormoran was 164 metres (538 ft 1 in) long and 20.20 metres (66 ft 3 in) wide, with a gross register tonnage of 8,736. She was propelled by four 9-cylinder diesel engines driving electric motors, which could propel the ship at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). The raider

21170-400: Was unable to jam completely, but this ceased as crew members started to abandon ship. The raider stopped firing, but resumed when the merchantman attempted another transmission, and shore stations responded. Communications intercepts and the code books taken from Afric Star earlier that day revealed the target's identity: the 5,273-ton British freighter Eurylochus , with a cargo of bombers for

21316-409: Was under attack by an unknown vessel at 26°24′N 30°58′W  /  26.400°N 30.967°W  / 26.400; -30.967 . Firing continued until British Union directed a light towards Kormoran , which the Germans assumed was a surrender signal, but as the raider closed to 4,000 yards (3,700 m), four shots were fired by the tanker. All four missed, and heavy retaliatory fire from

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