155-640: Theodor Detmers (22 August 1902 – 4 November 1976) was a German naval officer and captain of the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran during World War II . He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany . Detmers commanded the commerce raider Kormoran when it sunk the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in a mutually destructive battle . Detmers joined
310-484: 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
465-431: A monophyletic group, even after the removal of the distantly-related tropicbirds . Their relationships and delimitation – apart from being part of a "higher waterfowl" clade which is similar but not identical to Sibley and Ahlquist's "pan-Ciconiiformes" – remain mostly unresolved. Notwithstanding, all evidence agrees that the cormorants and shags are closer to the darters and Sulidae (gannets and boobies), and perhaps
620-551: A mutually destructive battle off Western Australia on 19 November 1941. Damage sustained during the battle prompted the scuttling of Kormoran . While 318 of 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
775-468: A British warship for not observing blackout regulations, and it was not until the armed Germans arrived on the ship that 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
930-585: A Japanese submarine was involved, or that details of 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
1085-401: A boarding party attempted to save the ship for use as a mine-layer, the severity of damage made this impossible. The Australian ship 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
1240-426: A book about his Kormoran experiences, which has been translated into English. German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran 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
1395-480: 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
1550-481: 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
1705-408: 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
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#17327945206601860-443: 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 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
2015-515: A lifeboat carrying the ship's master and five crew rowed to Kormoran , 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
2170-866: A patch of bare yellow skin at the base of the bill. Breeds in European Arctic, winters in Europe and North Africa. Maritime. Mid-sized (70–80 cm), glossy black, in breeding plumage with a forehead crest curled to the front. Throughout the Americas. Mostly freshwater. Smallish to large (65–100 cm), nondescript brownish-black. One species with white tufts on sides of head in breeding plumage. Generally Subantarctic, but extending farther north in South America; many oceanic-island endemics. Maritime. Smallish to largish (65–80 cm), typically black above, white below, and with bare yellow or red skin in
2325-718: 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
2480-473: 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
2635-445: A recently expired code. This allowed the Germans to identify where the merchant ship 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
2790-428: 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
2945-504: 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
3100-601: 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 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
3255-471: Is a nomen dubium and given its recent age probably not a separate genus. The remaining fossil species are not usually placed in a modern phylogenetic framework. While the numerous western US species are most likely prehistoric representatives of the coastal Urile or inland Nannopterum , the European fossils pose much more of a problem due to the singular common shag being intermediate in size between
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#17327945206603410-485: Is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags . Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven genera . The great cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo ) and the common shag ( Gulosus aristotelis ) are the only two species of
3565-460: Is commonly attributed to the proximity of the two ships during the engagement, and 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
3720-524: Is liable to result in some degree of convergent evolution and the bone is missing indisputable neornithine features, it is not entirely certain that the bone is correctly referred to this group. Phylogenetic evidence indicates that the cormorants diverged from their closest relatives, the darters, during the Late Oligocene, indicating that most of the claims of Cretaceous or early Paleogene cormorant occurrences are likely misidentifications. During
3875-455: Is long, thin and hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes. All species are fish-eaters, catching the prey by diving from the surface. They are excellent divers, and under water they propel themselves with their feet with help from their wings; some cormorant species have been found to dive as deep as 45 metres (150 ft). They have relatively short wings due to their need for economical movement underwater, and consequently have among
4030-515: Is not even clear how many species are involved. Provisionally, the fossil species are thus all placed in Phalacrocorax here: The former "Phalacrocorax" (or "Oligocorax" ) mediterraneus is now considered to belong to the bathornithid Paracrax antiqua . "P." subvolans was actually a darter ( Anhinga ). Humans have used cormorants' fishing skills in various places in the world. Archaeological evidence suggests that cormorant fishing
4185-674: Is not sufficient to properly resolve several groups to satisfaction; in addition, many species remain unsampled, the fossil record has not been integrated in the data, and the effects of hybridisation – known in some Pacific species especially – on the DNA sequence data are unstudied. A multigene molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 provided a genus-level phylogeny of the family. Microcarbo – 5 species Poikilocarbo – red-legged cormorant Urile – 4 species Phalacrocorax – 12 species Gulosus – European shag Nannopterum – 3 species Leucocarbo – 16 species As per
4340-657: Is the Cornish name of the sea giant in the tale of Jack the Giant Killer . Indeed, "sea raven" or analogous terms were the usual terms for cormorants in Germanic languages until after the Middle Ages . The French explorer André Thévet commented in 1558: "the beak [is] similar to that of a cormorant or other corvid", which demonstrates that the erroneous belief that the birds were related to ravens lasted at least to
4495-626: The Reichsmarine in 1921 and served on the battleships Hannover and Elsass . He was educated on the sail training ship Niobe and also served on Berlin . Detmers became a sublieutenant on the cruiser Emden . From 1926 to 1928, he served on the Albatross . In 1927, he was promoted to lieutenant. From 1930 to 1932, he served as staff officer and was then stationed on the cruiser Köln , on which he visited Australia in 1933. In 1934, he served on torpedo boats and destroyers of
4650-615: 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
4805-551: The Clements Checklist , formerly recognised only Microcarbo as a separate genus from Phalacrocorax . For details, see the article " List of cormorant species ". The details of the evolution of the cormorants are mostly unknown. Even the technique of using the distribution and relationships of a species to figure out where it came from, biogeography, usually very informative, does not give very specific data for this probably rather ancient and widespread group. However,
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4960-524: 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
5115-642: 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
5270-791: The IOU , the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International , the family contains 7 genera: Around Indian Ocean, one species extending from Central Asia into Europe. Mostly in freshwater habitat. Small (about 50–60 cm long), nondescript black to dark brown (except for one species with white underparts). Subtropical to subantarctic Pacific South America, ranging a bit into the southwestern Atlantic. Maritime. Mid-sized (around 75 cm), grey with scalloped wings and contrasting white/yellow/red neck mark and bare parts. Its high-pitched chirping calls are quite unlike those of other cormorants. Northern Pacific, one species extending into subtropical waters on
5425-534: 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
5580-575: The Quercy Phosphorites of Quercy (France), dating to some time between the Late Eocene and the mid- Oligocene . All these early European species might belong to the basal group of "microcormorants", as they conform with them in size and seem to have inhabited the same habitat: subtropical coastal or inland waters. While this need not be more than convergence , the phylogeny of the modern (sub)genus Microcarbo – namely, whether
5735-457: 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
5890-586: 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
6045-535: The 16th century. No consistent distinction exists between cormorants and shags. The names "cormorant" and "shag" were originally the common names of the two species of the family found in Great Britain – Phalacrocorax carbo (now referred to by ornithologists as the great cormorant ) and Gulosus aristotelis (the European shag ). "Shag" refers to the bird's crest, which the British forms of
6200-560: 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
6355-612: The American West Coast. Maritime. Smallish to large (65–100 cm), generally black with metallic sheen (usually blue/green), in breeding plumage with bright bare facial skin in the eye region and two crests (crown and nape). Mostly around Indian Ocean, one species group extending throughout Eurasia and to Atlantic North America. Maritime to freshwater. Size very variable (60–100 cm), blackish with metallic sheen (usually bronze to purple) and/or white cheek and thigh patches or underside at least in breeding plumage; usually
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6510-518: 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
6665-610: 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
6820-487: The Dutch merchant ship Straat Malakka — on the triatic stay and hoisted a Dutch civil ensign. As 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
6975-564: The Early Oligocene, perhaps some 30 million years ago, and that the Cretaceous fossils represent ancestral sulids, "pelecaniforms" or "higher waterbirds"; at least the last lineage is generally believed to have been already distinct and undergoing evolutionary radiation at the end of the Cretaceous . What can be said with near certainty is that AMNH FR 25272 is from a diving bird that used its feet for underwater locomotion; as this
7130-1119: 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. Cormorant Microcarbo Poikilocarbo Urile Phalacrocorax Gulosus Nannopterum Leucocarbo Australocorax Lambrecht , 1931 Compsohalieus B. Brewer & Ridgway , 1884 Cormoranus Baillon , 1834 Dilophalieus Coues , 1903 Ecmeles Gistel, 1848 Euleucocarbo Voisin, 1973 Halietor Heine, 1860 Hydrocorax Vieillot , 1819 ( non Brisson, 1760: preoccupied ) Hypoleucus Reichenbach , 1852 Miocorax Lambrecht, 1933 Nesocarbo Voisin, 1973 Notocarbo Siegel-Causey, 1988 Pallasicarbo Coues, 1903 Paracorax Lambrecht, 1933 Pliocarbo Tugarinov , 1940 Stictocarbo Bonaparte, 1855 Viguacarbo Coues, 1903 Anatocarbo Nanocorax (see text) Phalacrocoracidae
7285-577: 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
7440-434: 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
7595-433: 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
7750-542: The Japanese merchant ship Kinka Maru , as 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
7905-637: The North American ones placed in the expanded Phalacrocorax ; the latter might just as well be included in Nannopterum . A Late Oligocene fossil cormorant foot from Enspel , Germany, sometimes placed in Oligocorax , would then be referable to Nectornis if it proves not to be too distinct. Limicorallus , meanwhile, was initially believed to be a rail or a dabbling duck by some. There are also undescribed remains of apparent cormorants from
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#17327945206608060-587: The Phalacrocoracidae; this was from a rather smaller bird, about the size of a long-tailed cormorant . However, cormorants likely originated much later, and these are likely misidentifications. As the Early Oligocene "Sula" ronzoni cannot be assigned to any of the sulid families—cormorants and shags, darters, and gannets and boobies—with certainty, the best interpretation is that the Phalacrocoracidae diverged from their closest ancestors in
8215-610: The Reichsmarine. In October 1938, he was in command of the destroyer Hermann Schoemann and participated in Operation Weserübung in April to June 1940. In July 1940, Detmers became captain of the commerce raider Kormoran , and captured or destroyed 11 enemy merchant ships. On 19 November 1941 Kormoran was intercepted by HMAS Sydney . Detmers tried to pose as a Dutch merchant ship. He allegedly lacked
8370-631: The Western Eurasian M. pygmaeus is a basal or highly derived member of its clade – is still not well understood at all as of 2022. Some other Paleogene remains are sometimes assigned to the Phalacrocoracidae, but these birds seem rather intermediate between cormorants and darters (and lack clear autapomorphies of either). Thus, they may be quite basal members of the Palacrocoracoidea . The taxa in question are: The supposed Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene " Valenticarbo "
8525-399: The afternoon of 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
8680-399: 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
8835-423: The area. Kormoran then took to patrolling the shipping routes from Fremantle to Colombo or Lombok. A merchant ship 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
8990-518: 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
9145-530: The attempt was unsuccessful. Later during his imprisonment, he suffered a stroke. Detmers returned to Germany in 1947 and was released from British captivity in Munster . Due to his stroke, he was incapacitated for service in the post-war German navy . In the early 1950s he married Ursula Reinhardt, daughter of a Protestant pastor. They had no children and he died in Rahlstedt , Hamburg in 1976. Detmers wrote
9300-464: The available evidence suggests that there has also been a great deal of convergent evolution ; for example the cliff shags are a convergent paraphyletic group. The proposed division into Phalacrocorax sensu stricto (or subfamily "Phalacrocoracinae") cormorants and Leucocarbo sensu lato (or "Leucocarboninae") shags does have some degree of merit. The resolution provided by the mtDNA 12S rRNA and ATPase subunits six and eight sequence data
9455-439: 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
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#17327945206609610-460: 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
9765-463: The birds to fish. In a common technique, a snare is tied near the base of the bird's throat, which allows the bird only to swallow small fish. When the bird captures and tries to swallow a large fish, the fish is caught in the bird's throat. When the bird returns to the fisherman's raft, the fisherman helps the bird to remove the fish from its throat. The method is not as common today, since more efficient methods of catching fish have been developed, but
9920-401: 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
10075-464: The breeding season. The bill is long, thin, and sharply hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes, as in their relatives. Habitat varies from species to species: some are restricted to seacoasts, while others occur in both coastal and inland waters to varying degrees. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands. All cormorants and shags are fish-eaters, dining on small eels , fish, and even water snakes. They dive from
10230-742: 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
10385-495: The city of Inuyama , Aichi . In Guilin , Guangxi , cormorants are famous for fishing on the shallow Li River . In Gifu, the Japanese cormorant ( P. capillatus ) is used; Chinese fishermen often employ great cormorants ( P. carbo ). In Europe, a similar practice was also used on Doiran Lake in the region of Macedonia . James VI and I appointed a keeper of cormorants, John Wood , and built ponds at Westminster to train
10540-569: 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
10695-554: The closest living relatives of the cormorants and shags are the other families of the suborder Sulae — darters and gannets and boobies —which have a primarily Gondwanan distribution. Hence, at least the modern diversity of Sulae probably originated in the southern hemisphere. While the Leucocarbonines are almost certainly of southern Pacific origin—possibly even the Antarctic which, at the time when cormorants evolved,
10850-420: 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
11005-600: The creamy white patch on the cheeks of adult great cormorants , or the ornamental white head plumes prominent in Mediterranean birds of this species, but is certainly not a unifying characteristic of cormorants. The cormorant family are a group traditionally placed within the Pelecaniformes or, in the Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy of the 1990s, the expanded Ciconiiformes . Pelecaniformes in the traditional sense—all waterbird groups with totipalmate foot webbing—are not
11160-445: 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
11315-504: The cruiser to make the flags visible, the signals officer aboard Kormoran did so by lengthening 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
11470-488: 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 ") 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
11625-520: The early morning of 26 June, a darkened merchant ship was spotted. Signals were sent to 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
11780-406: 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
11935-405: 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
12090-486: 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
12245-544: The facial region. A circumpolar group of several species (the blue-eyed shag complex) is characterised by bright blue orbital skin. Prior to 2021, the IOU (or formerly the IOC) classified all these species in just three genera: Microcarbo , Leucocarbo , and a broad Phalacrocorax containing all remaining species; however, this treatment rendered Phalacrocorax deeply paraphyletic with respect to Leucocarbo . Other authorities, such as
12400-459: The family commonly encountered in Britain and Ireland and "cormorant" and "shag" appellations have been later assigned to different species in the family somewhat haphazardly. Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large birds, with body weight in the range of 0.35–5 kilograms (0.77–11.02 lb) and wing span of 60–100 centimetres (24–39 in). The majority of species have dark feathers. The bill
12555-535: The family into two genera and attach the name "cormorant" to one and "shag" to the other, but this nomenclature has not been widely adopted. Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large seabirds . They range in size from the pygmy cormorant ( Microcarbo pygmaeus ), at as little as 45 cm (18 in) and 340 g (12 oz), to the flightless cormorant ( Nannopterum harrisi ), at a maximum size 100 cm (39 in) and 5 kg (11 lb). The recently extinct spectacled cormorant ( Urile perspicillatus )
12710-440: 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
12865-419: The first class Iron Cross . From 1941 to January 1947, Detmers was held as a POW at HM Prison Dhurringile . While a prisoner, he wrote a coded account of the battle between HMAS Sydney and German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran that survived the war. Detmers tried to escape Australian captivity with other members of his crew, through a tunnel and then hoped to capture a sailboat to get to Indonesia ; however,
13020-508: 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
13175-452: 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
13330-596: The great cormorant lack. As other species were encountered by English-speaking sailors and explorers elsewhere in the world, some were called cormorants and some shags, sometimes depending on whether they had crests or not. Sometimes the same species is called a cormorant in one part of the world and a shag in another; for example, all species in the family which occur in New Zealand are known locally as shags, including four non-endemic species known as cormorant elsewhere in their range. Van Tets (1976) proposed to divide
13485-451: The highest flight costs of any flying bird. Cormorants nest in colonies around the shore, on trees, islets or cliffs. They are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonised inland waters. The original ancestor of cormorants seems to have been a fresh-water bird. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands. "Cormorant" is a contraction probably derived from Latin corvus marinus , "sea raven". Cormoran
13640-572: 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
13795-474: The late Paleogene, when the family presumably originated, much of Eurasia was covered by shallow seas, as the Indian Plate finally attached to the mainland. Lacking a detailed study, it may well be that the first "modern" cormorants were small species from eastern, south-eastern or southern Asia, possibly living in freshwater habitat, that dispersed due to tectonic events. Such a scenario would account for
13950-403: The layer of air next to the skin. The wing drying action is seen even in the flightless cormorant but not in the Antarctic shags or red-legged cormorants. Alternate functions suggested for the spread-wing posture include that it aids thermoregulation or digestion, balances the bird, or indicates presence of fish. A detailed study of the great cormorant concludes that it is without doubt to dry
14105-602: 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
14260-402: 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
14415-425: 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
14570-437: The merchantman's bow to reach a favorable firing position and revealing her identity. Orders to stop were ignored, and 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
14725-402: The merchantman. On 24 June, while approaching Madras, 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
14880-460: The most extreme case be reduced to the great , white-breasted and Japanese cormorants . In 2014, a landmark study proposed a 7 genera treatment, which was adopted by the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International , and later by the IOC in 2021, standardizing it. The cormorants and the darters have a unique bone on the back of the top of the skull known as the os nuchale or occipital style which
15035-440: The necessary naval codes, however, and was finally forced to engage Sydney . He sank the Australian cruiser in battle off Western Australia . His own ship was severely damaged and had to be scuttled , after which Detmers was captured and became a prisoner of war (POW). In December 1941, Detmers was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and in 1943, was promoted to the rank of Kapitän zur See . He had earlier received
15190-563: The other two European cormorant lineages, and as of 2022 still of mysterious ancestry ; notably, a presumably lost collection of Late Miocene fossils from the Odesa region may have contained remains of all three (sub)genera inhabiting Europe today. Similarly, the Plio-Pleistocene fossils from Florida have been allied with Nannopterum and even Urile , but may conceivably be Phalacrocorax ; they are in serious need of revision since it
15345-468: The pelicans or even penguins , than to all other living birds. In recent years, three preferred treatments of the cormorant family have emerged: either to leave all living cormorants in a single genus, Phalacrocorax , or to split off a few species such as the imperial shag complex (in Leucocarbo ) and perhaps the flightless cormorant . Alternatively, the genus may be disassembled altogether and in
15500-427: The plumage. Cormorants are colonial nesters, using trees, rocky islets, or cliffs. The eggs are a chalky-blue colour. There is usually one brood a year. Parents regurgitate food to feed their young. The genus Phalacrocorax , from which the family name Phalacrocoracidae is derived, is Latinised from Ancient Greek φαλακρός phalakros "bald" and κόραξ korax "raven". This is often thought to refer to
15655-502: The present-day distribution of cormorants and shags and is not contradicted by the fossil record; as remarked above, a thorough review of the problem is not yet available. Even when Phalacrocorax was used to unite all living species, two distinct genera of prehistoric cormorants became widely accepted today: The proposed genus Oligocorax appears to be paraphyletic – the European species have been separated in Nectornis , and
15810-491: The raider at a predetermined rendezvous point from 12 October. Late on 23 September, the navigational lights for a ship were sighted. After signalling 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
15965-402: 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
16120-419: 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
16275-421: 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
16430-413: 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 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
16585-695: 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
16740-456: 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
16895-423: 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
17050-530: 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
17205-518: 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
17360-457: 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
17515-434: The sea floor. After fishing, cormorants go ashore, and are frequently seen holding their wings out in the sun. All cormorants have preen gland secretions that are used ostensibly to keep the feathers waterproof. Some sources state that cormorants have waterproof feathers while others say that they have water- permeable feathers. Still others suggest that the outer plumage absorbs water but does not permit it to penetrate
17670-471: 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
17825-588: 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 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,
17980-412: 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
18135-451: 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
18290-529: 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
18445-458: The surface, though many species make a characteristic half-jump as they dive, presumably to give themselves a more streamlined entry into the water. Under water they propel themselves with their feet, though some also propel themselves with their wings (see the picture, commentary, and existing reference video ). Imperial shags fitted with miniaturized video recorders have been filmed diving to depths of as much as 80 metres (260 ft) to forage on
18600-415: 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
18755-407: 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
18910-591: 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,
19065-498: 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
19220-449: Was 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
19375-408: 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
19530-508: 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
19685-447: 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, 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,
19840-404: Was called a xiphoid process in early literature. This bony projection provides anchorage for the muscles that increase the force with which the lower mandible is closed. This bone and the highly developed muscles over it, the M. adductor mandibulae caput nuchale, are unique to the families Phalacrocoracidae and Anhingidae. Several evolutionary groups are still recognizable. However, combining
19995-688: 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
20150-560: 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
20305-612: Was declared. Following World War I, German naval power had limits placed upon it by 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
20460-443: 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
20615-416: 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
20770-468: 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
20925-635: Was found in the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia; it is now in the PIN collection. It is from a bird roughly the size of a spectacled cormorant, and quite similar to the corresponding bone in Phalacrocorax . A Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous, c. 66 mya) right femur , AMNH FR 25272 from the Lance Formation near Lance Creek, Wyoming , is sometimes suggested to be the second-oldest record of
21080-500: 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
21235-607: Was further off the coast. That afternoon, 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
21390-400: 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
21545-558: 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
21700-415: 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 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
21855-424: Was killed by electrocution. Kormoran ' s disguise was changed to the Dutch freighter Straat Malakka , and notice was received of 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
22010-496: Was left to sink, but another eight sailors remained on board, and kept Velebit afloat until she ran aground on 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
22165-410: 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
22320-470: 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
22475-627: Was not yet ice-covered—all that can be said about the Phalacrocoracines is that they are most diverse in the regions bordering the Indian Ocean, but generally occur over a large area. Similarly, the origin of the family is shrouded in uncertainties. Some Late Cretaceous fossils have been proposed to belong with the Phalacrocoracidae: A scapula from the Campanian - Maastrichtian boundary, about 70 mya (million years ago),
22630-633: Was practised in Ancient Egypt, Peru, Korea and India, but the strongest tradition has remained in China and Japan, where it reached commercial-scale level in some areas. In Japan, cormorant fishing is called ukai ( 鵜飼 ) and is performed by a fisherman known as an usho. Traditional forms of ukai can be seen on the Nagara River in the city of Gifu , Gifu Prefecture , where cormorant fishing has continued uninterrupted for 1300 years, or in
22785-432: 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
22940-470: Was rather larger, at an average size of 6.3 kg (14 lb). The majority, including nearly all Northern Hemisphere species, have mainly dark plumage , but some Southern Hemisphere species are black and white, and a few (e.g. the spotted shag of New Zealand) are quite colourful. Many species have areas of coloured skin on the face (the lores and the gular skin ) which can be bright blue, orange, red or yellow, typically becoming more brightly coloured in
23095-408: 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
23250-479: 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
23405-413: 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
23560-522: 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
23715-430: 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
23870-402: 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
24025-411: 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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