Orion 1940
| Laid down as transport ship Kurmark. |
Contruction Data
| Laid down: |
Blohm & Voss Hamburg, 1930 |
| Launched: |
|
| Commissioned: |
09.12.1939 (as auxiliary cruiser) |
| Fate: |
sunk on 04.05.1945 |
| Costs: |
|
Commanders
| FK Weyher: |
Dec 1939 - Apr 1941
|
| KKpt Meyer: |
Oct 1942 - Oct 1944
|
| KKpt Kiesewetter: |
Oct 1942 - Dec 1944
|
| KzS Asmus: |
Dec 1944 - May 1945
|
Technical Data
| Size: |
15700t |
| Length: |
148m |
| Beam: |
18,6 m |
| Draft: |
8,2 m |
| Armament: |
6 x 15 cm; 1x 7,5 cm; 1 x 3,7 cm; 4x 2 cm;
6x torpedo tubes, 2 x Arado Ar 196 float planes; 228 mines
|
| Performance: |
6200 shp, 14kn |
History
| The Orion
was among the first auxiliary cruisers was operated by Germany in World War II. It left Germany on 06.04.1940 and first operated in the Atlantic ocean, later sailed to the Pacific and Indian Ocean. It laid a mine field off the harbor of Auckland. During its operation, the ships was camouflaged as several different allied or neutral ships. On 23.08.1941 it returned to Bordeaux after 511 days on sea without entering a base. During this operation, the ship sunk 10 ships with 62915 t and two additional ones (21125 t) together with the auxiliary cruiser Komet
. In 1944 it was renamed as Hektor
and used as a repair and artillery training ship. In January 1945 it was again renamed to Orion
and used to transport refugees over the Baltic Sea. On its last trip on 04.05.1945 it was sunk by bombs in Swinemünde with over 4000 people on board. All but 150 were rescued, the wreck of the ship was scrapped in 1952. |
|
