The auxiliary cruiser, also known as the armed merchant cruiser, was a type of warship employed by nearly all naval participants in World War II.
While the typical British auxiliary cruiser was usually an armed passenger liner used to protect convoys, the German auxiliary cruiser was a normal freighter provided with camouflaged weapons and used as commerce raider.
Compare to the Q-ship.
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2 German Auxiliary Cruisers |
The British auxiliary cruiser will be described here.
The German auxiliary cruiser -- Hilfskreuzer or Handels-Stör-Kreuzer (HSK) -- approached its target under a false flag with its guns concealed and its appearance altered with fake funnels and masts. The victim was thus engaged at point-blank range and had no chance to evade.
At the outbreak of war, the German Admiralty requisitioned a number of fast merchantmen and immediately sent them into naval shipyards. These ships had been built with extra strong decks to facilitate the installation of military equipment, but this was the only difference between them and other merchantmen of the period. Indeed, no precise plans had been drawn up for the conversion of these ships into warships, and consequently the conversion process was painfully long.
Unlike the diversity of British auxiliary cruisers, the Hilfskreuzer were standardized in so far as possible. The ships
themselves averaged approximately 7,000 tons. Armament usually consisted of six 5.9 inch guns, between two and six torpedo tubes, and an assortment of 40mm, 37mm, and 20mm automatic weapons. Most raiders carried a Arado 196 scouting airplane. Kormoran, Komet, and Michel were also equipped with small motor torpedo boats. In addition to armament, increased fuel, water, and coal, storage had to be provided for as well. Furthermore, the raiders could not abandon the crews of their captures, so space had to be provided for prisoners. The first Hilfskreuzer got under way in March 1940, shortly before the Norwegian campaign.British Auxiliary Cruisers
Ships
German Auxiliary Cruisers
