A New fascination..........Commerce Raiders

Hello everyone, I unfortunately have started out the month of April recovering from food poisoning that afflicted me on Sunday. As a result I took Monday off of school to recover, leaving me plenty of time to binge watch WW2 shows, and a good amount of time to read some books I haven't touched in a good while. I discovered, or in a way was re-educated on the Auxiliary Cruises in the war. I re-read the exciting exploits of the SMS Pinguin, and how it went on to sink 28 Allied ships. Then there was the tale of the legendary fight between the SS Stephen Hopkins and the SMS Stier, two Auxiliary Cruisers fighting to the death. "For the benefit of the uneducated among us".........Auxiliary Cruisers were transport ships that were modified to carry everything from 15cm guns, to 20mm Oerlikon AA, they would appear to be harmless transports, and when the hostile got close enough they opened fire, sinking or capturing the enemy vessel. In many ways, I see them as the pirates of WW2, a slightly dramatic and inaccurate view, but I like it nonetheless!

 

Some good places to start...
Ahoy - Mac's Web Log - Marauders of the Sea, German Armed Merchant Raiders During World War 2

Hilfskreuzer (Auxiliary Cruiser / Raider) - Menu

 

Quite a camouflage scheme on Cornwall, make her look like a freighter at a distance.

 

The Pinguin went as far as the Bass Straight between Victoria and Tasmania..!
Battle between HMAS Sydney and German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran - Wikipedia

But this is a story that Australians still remember...

 

An epic story to be sure.

 

Holy @#$%!!.............No Australian survivors?? Even the HMS Hood that essentially was ripped in half by an explosion had 3 survivors.........

 

the raider "Atlantis" captained by Bernhardt Rogge also is a fascinating story.

In my dim memory, I recall that there was a movie starring John Wayne as a German captain of perhaps a raider.

Edit: Ah yes, Sea Chase. Not a raider but a merchantman. A little bit out of character for Wayne.

 

In Hood's case there were destroyers near to hand which rescued the lucky three who survived both the explosion and the freezing water.

Some of Sydney's crew may have survived the sinking only to perish over the next few days since no one knew where they were or that Sydney had been lost.

I vaguely recall stories about bits of wreckage, maybe a life belt, even a body that might have been from Sydney - anyone? Again, at the time no one knew what had happened to her; years later, someone might remember seeing a piece of debris.....

 

Very good point Carronade, but still that's hard to believe survivors weren't even spotted, but that's how it went unfortunately.....

 

I don't recall anything about any bodies, just wreckage and the life belt.

 

One, maybe two Carley floats, and an inflatable life belt were recovered.

WRT the body...
It washed ashore on Christmas Island, and was found in early February, 1942. An inquest was held, but those records were lost or destroyed when the Japanese capture the island in March, 1942. The records were reconstructed post-war, but the body was never positively identified. While, it was not proven during the war or in the immediate post-war time period, the most likely possibility was that it was a crewman from HMAS Sydney.

It was not until the body was located and exhumed in 2006, that progress was made towards it's identity. While still not identified, it has been narrowed down to some 50 members of Sydney's crew.
Unidentified body on Christmas Island - Wikipedia

Article begins on page 9:
http://navalinstitute.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/headmark-132.pdf

 

The Three Volume 2009 Report "The Loss of HMAS Sydney II can be found here:
Home : Final Report : Department of Defence

Also worth checking out the Exhibits page:
Exhibits: HMAS Sydney II Commission of Inquiry : Department of Defence

Of course, the parent site:
Home : HMAS Sydney II Commission of Inquiry : Department of Defence

 

The Japanese also used Raiders, but to much less effect than the Germans, with most either being sunk or reconverted back to transports by the close of 1943.
Their TROM's can be found here:
Tokusetsu Junyokan!

 

Worth remembering that another Leander-class, HMS Neptune, was lost to mines in the Med...There was only one survivor that was rescued 5 days after the sinking. She went down so rapidly that only some 30 men made it off the ship.

 

Did anyone ever catch my BoB quote?

 

Sea Chase was a pretty good movie IMO....
...yes, the Raiders/etc are interesting

 

Without John Wayne the war would of lasted longer...surprised I don't have that movie in my collection. In his movie Operation Pacific, a Japanese merchant ship raises the white flag after being hit by their dud torpedo...as the sub surfaces to investigate, the merchant ship opens up with hidden guns on their decks.

 

With John Wayne, WW2 was over 20 years(1942-62).

 

..If I remember correctly, he also solved the torpedo problem in that movie?