#commerce raider

[redarmyscreaming]

Graf Spee with false front Barbette and smoke stack.

[grayrazor]

It seems like a lot of the windjammers made after the 19th century ended that were for carrying cargo or fishing or other actual work rather than being racing boats or pleasure yachts were made in Germany. I wonder if that was because of that landlocked country's ongoing difficulties in acquiring oil.

[today-in-wwi]

U-Boat Campaign Crosses the Atlantic

U-151, seen from a Spanish passenger liner.

June 2 1918, Atlantic City--The cruises of the “submarine merchant ship” Deutschland and her sister boats in 1916 had demonstrated that Germany had U-boats that could cross the Atlantic.  They were converted to military purposes after America entered the war, but had not crossed the Atlantic since.  In part, this was because the Germans did not want to overly antagonize the Americans, but also because such a voyage would be much more difficult as they could no longer refuel in American ports.  U-151 was the first to make the journey, arriving off the eastern seaboard in late May, laying mines at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River, and attacking any American merchant ships she encountered.  The United States did not have a significant anti-submarine effort off her own coast, as most of their effort had gone to the other side of the Atlantic.  As a result, U-151 could safely follow prize rules: stopping ships on the surface, letting those on board evacuate, and then sinking the ships with charges.

On June 2, U-151 sank five ships this way off the coast of New Jersey.  A sixth, the passenger liner Carolina, en route from San Juan to New York, attempted to flee and the Germans fired shells in her direction.  Her captain, fearing loss of life if the shells struck, stopped and evacuated the vessel, after which the Germans finished off the ship with more shells.  During a storm that night, one of the Carolina’s lifeboats overturned and thirteen on board drowned.  The U-151 remained off of the American and Canadian coasts for the rest of June.  On June 18, U-151 had its only encounter with a Navy vessel, the USS Von Steuben, formerly the German commerce raider Kronprinz Wilhelm; a torpedo from the former and a depth charge from the latter both narrowly missed.

Today in 1917: Grand Duke Nicholas Arrested Today in 1916: Germans Attack Canadians at Ypres Today in 1915: Britain Announces Blockade of Turkey

[today-in-wwi]

Armed New Zealand Merchant Ship Damages German Raider

An artist’s depiction of the sinking of the Otaki.

March 10 1917, St. John’s--The auxiliary cruiser Möwe had had a very successful career in the Atlantic, laying mines that sunk a battleship and sinking and capturing many merchant vessels while successfully evading Allied warships in two separate trips. One vessel sunk by the Möwe contained a large cargo of dinosaur fossils on their way to British museums from Alberta.

Early in the afternoon of March 10, she encountered the Otaki, a merchant ship from New Zealand.  The Otaki tried to escape into the fog, but after a short chase the Möwe caught up with her.  However, unlike many of the Möwe’s other victims, she was prepared to fight back, though only with one, smaller gun. After a twenty-minute gun battle, the Otaki was mortally wounded, suffering (by the Germans’ count) thirty-seven hits before the Germans ceased fire.  However, she had inflicted heavy damage on the Möwe before her gun was knocked out.  Several holes along the waterline meant that the Möwe was quickly taking on water.  Equally serious were the fires that had been started by the Otaki’s shells.  The most serious of these were in the Möwe’s coal bunkers, which would take days to extinguish, and threatened at their worst extent to spread to the Möwe’s magazines.  Several German sailors were killed in the battle and in the firefighting efforts afterwards.

The survivors from the Otaki abandoned ship and, rather than try to brave the rough North Atlantic seas in March, surrendered to the Möwe.  The Otaki’s civilian captain, who had been killed in the fight, would later be posthumously given a naval commission so that he could be awarded the Victoria Cross.  The Möwe limped home, arriving back in Germany twelve days later (though she did manage to sink two more ships in that time).  The Otaki’s crew would remain prisoners of war in Germany for the remainder of the conflict.

Today in 1916: Townshend Refuses to Surrender Kut Today in 1915: Battle of Neuve-Chapelle

Sources include: Edwin P. Hoyt, The Phantom Raider.

[today-in-wwi]

Germans Lay Mines off of South Africa

The Wolf, pictured later in her cruise.

January 18 1917, Cape Agulhas--The German commerce raider Wolf had successfully made it through the British blockade, passing through Norwegian waters and around the north coast of Iceland to break into the Atlantic in December.  By mid-January, she had steamed the whole length of the Atlantic without incident, arriving off of the coast of South Africa.  Here, off of Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa, she laid 29 mines, eventually sinking 4 ships in this important shipping lane, and one which the Allies had thought was secure.  The mines themselves would not be completely swept until at least 1918.  The Wolf then proceeded into the Indian Ocean, where she would be the first armed German ship at sea since the scuttling of the Emden in November 1914 (the Königsberg having been holed up in the Rufiji River from October 1914 until her sinking in July 1915).

Today in 1916: Kaiser, Bulgarian Tsar Celebrate Triumph over Serbia  Today in 1915:  Germans Retake Jassin in East Africa

[steampunkwest]

Just a very normal suggestion from my word processor that seems applicable here...

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Disguised As British Corvettes, German Raiders Shell U.S. Ship,” Toronto Star. April 22, 1941. Page 1. ---- THIS IS WHAT SIBONEY CREW SAW AND PHOTOGRAPHED ----- Jersey City, April 22. - German raiders disguised as British corvettes are operating in the Atlantic, William Parker, correspondent of the New York Sun, said today. The captain of the U.S. freight Siboney told the reporters his ship had been shelled by two warships which he believed to be British. 

Some persons on board, Parker said, were ‘not convinced that the two craft which did the shelling were not German raiders disguised as British patrol boats.’

Parker said instructions to the Siboney were given in English with a strong German accent.

[capecodcurmudgeon-blog]

June 19, 1864 Single Combat

June 19, 1864 Single Combat

Hull #290 was launched from the John Laird & Sons shipyard in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England as the screw sloop HMS Enrica on May 15, 1862. She sailed in secret to the Terceira Island in the Azores, where she was met by Raphael Semmes, her new captain. Three days, 8 cannon and 350 tons of coal later, the Enrica was transformed into the 220′, 1,500-ton sloop of war and Confederate States of America…

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