German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran
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The German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran (HSK-8, Schiff 41, Raider G) was a warship used in World War II. She is perhaps best-known for the sinking of Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in November 1941, during a battle in which the Kormoran was also destroyed.
Kormoran was built by Germaniawerft of Kiel and originally launched on September 15, 1938 as the merchant ship Steiermark of the Hamburg-America Line. Renamed Kormoran (cormorant), she entered service as a Kriegsmarine auxiliary cruiser on October 9 1940, commanded by Fregattenkapitän (Commander) Theodor Detmers.
When in service, Kormoran weighed 8,736 tons and had a top speed of 18-19 knots. The ship was a prime example of the relatively successful "disguised freighter" technique used in commerce raiding by the Kriegsmarine in World War Two. The largest of the German raiders, Kormoran operated in the South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific. In common with other auxiliary cruisers, she had substantial (hidden) armament: six 150 mm (5.9 in) guns, torpedoes and seaplanes, but lacked the armour protection, control systems, and speed of a proper warship. Successful raiding depended on surprise and disguise. For 352 days, from December 3, 1940, Kormoran sank ten merchant ships, comprising a total of 56,965 tons.
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[edit] Final engagement with Sydney
On November 19, 1941, the Kormoran encountered HMAS Sydney in the Indian Ocean, somewhere off the coast of Western Australia between Carnarvon and Geraldton. The German vessel was posing as a Dutch freighter, the Straat Malakka at the time.
According to the crew of the Kormoran, the Australian warship was not fully prepared for battle, and her guns were not trained on Kormoran. Sydney was hit about 50 times by the raider's 5.9-inch heavy guns before she returned fire. The two heavily damaged ships drifted apart and Sydney was last seen by the crew of Kormoran in flames on the horizon. Sydney and her crew disppeared and have never been found.
However, Sydney had inflicted enough damage to ensure that Kormoran could not be saved. With the engine room destroyed, 20 dead and the fire rapidly approaching the mine storage deck, Detmers had little choice but to abandon ship. Explosive charges were placed and the surviving crew took to the boats, with Detmers the last to leave. A further 40 men, mostly wounded, lost their lives when their lifeboat capsized in the rough seas. Shortly after midnight the charges went off, followed 25 minutes later by the mines. The entire stern and midships section was engulfed in a gigantic sheet of flame that shot a thousand feet into the night sky as Kormoran went down by the stern.
Detmers and about 320 of his crew were rescued and spent the remainder of the war in an Australian prisoner of war camp, from which they were not released until 1947.
The fact that the only survivors of the battle were German has allowed the battle between Sydney and Kormoran to become the subject of much controversy, speculation and conspiracy theory. At present a private foundation, HMAS Sydney Search Pty Ltd, is attempting to locate the two wrecks.
[edit] General characteristics
- Length: 164 m (515 ft)
- Beam: 20.2 m (66 ft)
- Draft: 8.5 m (30 ft)
- Displacement: 8,736 tons
- Drive system: 2 shaft Diesel-electric propulsion
- Performance: Diesel 14,400 PS, electric drive motors 12,740 PS ( 16000 hp)
- Speed: 18 knots
- Armament:
- Complement: 397 officers and men
[edit] External links
- Sydney Morning Herald article (February 23, 2005) on expedition by David Mearns to find the wreck of Sydney
- HSK Kormoran page
[edit] Additional Reading
- Detmers, Theodor.The raider Kormoran 2nd ed. London [England]: William Kimber,1959. 158 p.
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