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Auxiliary Cruiser

The auxiliary cruisers of the Kriegsmarine were converted merchant, equipped with guns and torpedoes to attack Allied merchant shipping. The military equipment on board was camouflaged in a way that those ships still appeared to be "normal" merchant ships.

They carried enough material and paint to change their outer appearance often, like adding a second funnel, modifying the superstructure and repaint the whole ship. They often gave themselves the look of an existing allied merchant to deceive other allied ships.

Those ships archived some remarkable results. During their operations, the nine auxiliary cruisers sunk over 140 ships with over 700000 t. They operated in all major Oceans of the world, some of them had were temporarily stationed in Japan for Pacific operation. The longest voyage was the one of the Atlantis , during its 622 day mission the ships sailed 102000 sea miles.

With their six 15 cm guns, they were even capable to fight against "real" warships if they could surprise them. When the Australian CL Sydney wanted to inspect the auxiliary cruiser Kormoran and closed up to 1000m, the Kormoran opened fire and was able to sink the Australian ship (but was lost because of too much damage during this battle).


Orion (HSK 1)
Laid down: Blohm & Voss Hamburg, 1930
Launched:
Commissioned: 09.12.1939 (as auxiliary cruiser)
Fate: sunk on 04.05.1945

Atlantis (HSK 2)
Laid down: Bremer Vulcan, 1937
Launched:
Commissioned: 19.12.1939 (as auxiliary cruiser)
Fate: sunk 22.11.1941

Widder (HSK 3)
Laid down: Howaldtswerke Kiel, 1929
Launched:
Commissioned: 30.11.1939 (as auxiliary cruiser)
Fate: beached 03.10.1955

Thor (HSK 4)
Laid down: Deutsche Werft Hamburg 1938
Launched: 16.03.1938
Commissioned: 15.03.1940 (as auxiliary cruiser)
Fate: destroyed after explosion on 30.11.1942

Pinguin (HSK 5)
Laid down: A.G. Weser Bremen, 1936
Launched:
Commissioned: 06.02.1940 (as auxiliary cruiser)
Fate: sunk on 08.05.1941

Stier (HSK 6)
Laid down: Germaniawerft Kiel, 1936
Launched: 07.10.1936
Commissioned: 25.11.1939 (09.11.1941 as auxiliary cruiser)
Fate: sunk on 27.09.1942

Komet (HSK7)
Laid down: Deschimag Bremen, 1937
Launched: 16.01.1937
Commissioned: 02.06.1940 as auxiliary cruiser
Fate: sunk on 14.10.1942

Kormoran (HSK 8)
Laid down: Germaniawerft Kiel, 1938
Launched: 15.09.1938
Commissioned: 09.10.1940 as auxiliary cruiser
Fate: sunk on 20.11.1941

Michel (HSK 9)
Laid down: Danziger Werft Danzig, 1939
Launched: April 1939
Commissioned: 07.09.1941 as auxiliary cruiser
Fate: sunk on 17.10.1943