German auxiliary cruiser Orion

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Orion (HSK-1) was a German auxiliary cruiser which operated as a merchant raider during World War II.

Built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg in 1930/31 as the freighter Kurmark, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine at the outbreak of World War II and converted into the auxiliary cruiser Orion, commissioned on 9 December 1939. Her Royal Navy designation was "Raider A"

One of the first auxiliary cruisers operated by Germany in WWII, Orion left Germany on 6 April 1940, passed south through the Atlantic disguised as a neutral vessel, rounded Cape Horn and entered the Pacific. Orion entered New Zealand waters in June 1940 and laid mines off Auckland during the night of 13/14 June 1940, one of which sank the ocean liner RMS Niagara five days later. Occasionally collaborating with the auxiliary cruiser Komet, Orion raided Allied shipping in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, returning to Bordeaux in occupied France on 23 August 1941 after 510 days and 127.337 nautical miles at sea. She had sunk 10 ships with a combined tonnage of 62,915 t, plus two more (totalling 21,125 t) in cooperation with Komet.

The ship was renamed Hektor in 1944 and used as artillery training ship. In January 1945 it was again renamed Orion and used to transport refugees from Germany's eastern provinces across the Baltic Sea to ports in northern Germany and occupied Denmark. On her way to Copenhagen on 4 May 1945, the ship was hit by bombs off Swinemünde and sank. Of the more than 4,000 people on board, only 150 survived. The hulk was scrapped in 1952.

[edit] General Characteristics

From Conway's All the World's Fighting ships 1922-1946

Displacement: 15,700 tons
Length: 148 m
Beam: 18.6 m
Draught: 8.2 m
Machinery: 1 shaft geared turbine, 4 boilers 6200 hp
Speed:13.5 knots
Armament
- 6 - 150 mm guns
- 1 - 75 mm gun
- 4 - 37mm guns
- 4 - 20 mm anti-aircraft guns
- 6 - 533mm Torpedo tubes
- 228 mines
- 2 - Arado Ar 196 float planes
Crew: 376