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German Armed Raiders in the Two World Wars
Presented by Brian FloranceProbus Moss Vale Military History Meeting Feb 08
For many centuries when countries have been at war disguised raiders have been sent to prey on theships of the enemy. One classic example was the use of “Letter of Marque” Ships known a “Privateers”in the Napoleonic wars. These ships harried the merchant ships of the enemy and were used by bothsides. At the start of WW I Germany had a squadron in the Pacific at Tsing-tao in China Commanded byVizeadmiral Maximilian Graf von Spee. These ships left just before the Japanese who surrounded andcaptured the base at Tsing-tao.
 Emden
under Fregattenkapitan von Müller was ordered to cruise theGerman possessions in the Pacific. He was ordered to search and destroy any enemy ships for as long ashe could, and then to return to Germany if possible. The High command considered that it would beunlikely that he could get back.
 Emden
was built at Danzig and commissioned on 10 July 1909. She was armed with ten 10.5 cm guns(4.1 inch) & 1 Torpedo tube on each beam andwas powered by 2 Triple expansion steamengines. Along with her sister ships,
 Dresden, Konigsberg 
and a later member of the same class
 Karlsruhe
, they werewell designed for raider warefare.
 Emden
cruised the Pacific from 1
st
Augustto 9
th
November 1914 and during this timedestroyed 15 merchant ships (a total tonnageof 66023grt) and 2 warships, The Russian Cruiser 
 Zhemchug 
and the French destroyer 
Mosquet 
both inthe harbour of Penang. She also entered the harbour at Madras and shelled the oil tanks, which burned,after this she shelled the ships in the harbour. Von Müller also sank the twin screwDredger “
 Ponrabbel 
” on a delivery trip to the Launceston Harbour Board inTasmania. On the 9
th
of November Von Müller decided to attack the Wireless andCable relay station on Direction Island in the Cocos Keeling Group. The radiooperators seeing a strange warship sent messages, which were heard by, theANZAC troop convoy, which was only 60 miles away and HMAS
Sydney,
wasdetached to investigate. She replied to the signals from the island at half power and this deceived the
 Emden
into thinking she was much further away. Emden sighted Sydney at 0915.
 Emden
steamed out of the Harbour at 0930 leaving her shore party behind and as soon as
Sydney
was in range began heavy andaccurate fire, which destroyed
Sydney’s
rangefinder. Captain Glassop opened the range and with his
 
heavier guns gradually reduced
 Emden
to a wreck. The landing party left on the Island by the rapiddeparture of Emden commandeered and made off in the trading barquentine
 Ayesha
and finally foundtheir way back to Germany via Aden and other Turkish possessions Next we look at the other cruisers, first is the
 Dresden,
which was attached to Von Spee’s Squadron.
 Dresden
cruised from 1st August 1914 to 14 March 1915 and sank 4 ships 12,960 grt. At sea when war was declared Fregattenkapitan Ludecke sailed to the busy shipping lanes off the eastern seaboard of South America. Off Brazil on the 6/8/1914 he stopped the
 Drumcliffe
as she was in ballast and theCaptain had his wife and young daughter on board so Ludecke released them. Eighty minutes later hestopped the
 Lynton
 
Grange
also in ballast and he freed this ship also. Almost at once he stopped the
 Hostilis
, he released her also and after this he captured and sank four ships of 12960 GRT.
 Dresden
 joined the Krzeurgeschwader on 12 10 1914.
 Dresden
participated in the battles of Coronel and theFalklands and fled after the last battle.
 Dresden
cruised around Cape Horn and the coast of Chile untilthe 14
th
March1915 when she was caught in Cumberland Bay, Juan Fernandez Island and sunk by HMS
Glasgow
. This was a very poor return for the time and fuel expended. A memorial service was held onJuan Fernandez and in the picture the leutnant is Wilhelm Canaris who was head of the Abwher in WWII Next was
Karlsruhe,
a very modern cruiser initially commissioned on15 January 1914. She cruised from 1
st
August 1914 to 4
th
November 1914 and sank 16 ships with a total 72,225grt a very successful cruise inthe Caribbean, as there were several British cruisers in the areasearching for her. On the evening of the 4
th
November1914, while shewas cruising peacefully along, a sudden violent explosion destroyed everything forward of the 1st funnelkilling the Captain and 262 members of the crew. The survivors were picked up by an attending collier and escaped back to Germany.
 Konigsberg 
was the last of the Cruisers and she was at large from 1
st
August1914 to the 11 July 1915 however she only sank 1 merchant ship 0f 6,600grt and one very old British Cruiser “
 Pegasus
” built in 1897 and 2135 tons,that is smaller than a WWII destroyer.
 Konigsberg 
sailed up the Rufiji deltaand was found on 29
th
October 1914 by the British Cruiser 
Chatham
. She was further up the river thanthe3Larger British ships were able to go. She was penned up but it took another 8 months before she could bedestroyed, as the British could not get into gunnery range. Spotter aircraft were brought out fromEngland and finally Shallow Draft Monitors with 6” guns were used and
 Konigsberg 
was finallydestroyed on the 6
th
July 1915. Most of the crew escaped and for the rest of the war served in GermanEast Africa under von Lettow-Vorbeck as Infantry where many were killed or died of disease.
 
The next group of ships were the large liners,
Cap Trafalgar, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kronprinz Wilhelm and Prinz Eitel FreidrichCap Trafalgar 
sailed from Montevideo on 23 August 1914and met the Gunboat
 Eber 
at sea.
 Eber’s
Guns were transferred andfitted to the
Cap Trafalgar 
she proceeded to Ilha da Trindadewhere she was found by the Armed Merchant Cruiser 
Carmani
a a converted Cunard Liner. After an heroic duel
Carmania
sank the
Cap Trafalgar 
and being badly damaged called for help. She was supported by
 HMS Cornw
all whose engineers managed to fix the worst damage and
Cornwall 
then escorted her to Gibraltar.
 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
was built in 1897 as an Atlantic liner and wasthe first German liner to hold the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. She was armed with six 10.5 cm guns (4.2’) this wasdone in the first 3days of August 1914 and on the 4
th
of August she sailedand escaped into the Atlantic. On the 7
th
August while only 50 nauticalmiles NW of Iceland she sank the trawler 
Tubal Cain
of 227GRT A few days later she stopped
Galacian
This ship was found to be carrying 250 passengers, mainly women and children and was released. Later she sank a large freighter. And late that afternoon captured the liner 
 Arianza
that also was released because of the large number of women and children aboard (How different to the Nazi U-boat captainsof WWII). Running short of coal she went to the Spanish colony of Rio de Oro where she coaled ship, Awarship was seen approaching and this was the old British Cruiser 
 Highflyer 
and as
 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
was stopped she was unable to useher speed to escape, She was sunk by the British cruiser 
 Highflyer.
She had only sunk 10,685 Grt of shipping which was not a good result.The liner 
 Kronprinz 
 
Wilhelm
was in New York when war was declared. She was ordered to sail at onceand she sailed at top speed, by the 6
th
August she met the Cruiser 
 Karlsruhe
, which transhipped two 8.0cm guns. She then cruised in the eastern Atlantic sinking 16 ships with a total tonnage of 51,363 grt. By26
th
of April the ship was in a poor way with sprung plates and a crew showing signs of Scurvy. Shemanaged to get past HMS
Suffolk 
and enter Newport News where she was interned. It was a very goodcruise for she had kept several British Cruises searching for her for some 8 months.
 Prinz Eitel Friedrich
was in Tsingtau at the outbreak of hostilities andshe was fitted with four 10.5 cm guns and six 8.8 cm guns She sailedinto the Pacific and captured eleven ships with a total of 33424grt.
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