German auxiliary cruiser Widder
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Widder |
|
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Owner: | HAPAG |
| Builder: | Howaldtswerke, Kiel |
| Launched: | 1930 |
| Christened: | Neumark |
| Homeport: | Kiel |
| Fate: | 1939 requisitioned by Kriegsmarine |
| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
| Namesake: | Aries |
| Operator: | Kriegsmarine |
| Builder: | Blohm and Voss |
| Yard number: | 3 |
| Acquired: | 1939 |
| Recommissioned: | 9 December 1939 |
| Renamed: | Widder, 1939 Neumark, 1940 |
| Reclassified: | Auxilliary cruiser, 1939 |
| Homeport: | Kiel |
| Nickname: | HSK-3 Schiff-21 Raider D |
| Fate: | 1941 decommissioned |
| Career (Great Britain) |  |
| Namesake: | Ulysses |
| Acquired: | circa 1945 |
| Renamed: | Ulysses |
| Fate: | Sold, 1950 |
| Career (Germany) |  |
| Acquired: | 1950 |
| Renamed: | Fechenheim |
| Fate: | Wrecked near Bergen, 1955 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Merchant vessel |
| Displacement: | 16,800 (7851 GRT) |
| Length: | 152 m (500 ft) |
| Beam: | 18.2 m (60 ft) |
| Draught: | 8.3 m (27 ft) |
| Propulsion: | one geared turbine, four boilers; 6,200 hp (4,600 kW) |
| Speed: | 14 kn (26 km/h) |
| Range: | 34,000 nmi (63,000 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h) |
| Endurance: | 141 days |
| Complement: | 364 |
| Armament: | 6 × 150 mm, 1 × 75 mm, 1 × II 37 mm, 2 × II 20 mm, 4 × TT, 92 mines |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 × Heinkel He 114B |
Widder (HSK 3) was an auxiliary cruiser (hilfskreuzer) of the German Navy that was used as a merchant raider in the Second World War. Known to the KM as Schiff 21, to the Royal Navy she was Raider D. The name Widder (Ram) represents the constellation Aries in the German language. The name was given after the horoscope sign of the ship's master, Kapitan zur See Helmuth von Ruckteschell.
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[edit] Early history
Built for HAPAG, the Hamburg America Line, at Howaldtswerke, Kiel, she was launched in 1930 as the freighter Neumark. After an uneventful career she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine for use as a commerce raider. She was converted for this purpose by Blohm and Voss in the winter of 1939, and commissioned as the raider Widder on 9 December of that year. She sailed on her first and only raiding voyage in May 1940.
[edit] Raider voyage
Widder sailed as part of the German Navy’s first wave of commerce raiders, sailing on 6 May 1940 under the command of KK (later FK) Helmuth von Ruckteschell.
Leaving Germany on 6 May 1940 she slipped through the Denmark Strait, and made for her patrol area in the Atlantic. Over a 5 ½ month period she captured and sank ten ships, totalling 58,644 GRT.
Having completed her mission, she returned to occupied France on 31 October 1940.
[edit] Later history
Deemed unsuitable as a merchant raider, Widder was re-christened Neumark, and used as a repair ship in Norway. After the war she was taken into British service as Ulysses, then sold back to Germany as Fechenheim in 1950 before being wrecked off Bergen in 1955.
She was one of only two German auxiliary cruisers to survive the war, after one 1940 cruise. Her captain, Kapitän zur See Helmuth von Ruckteschell, was one of only two German naval commanders convicted of war crimes at the end of the war.
[edit] Raiding career
- 1040-06-13 British Petrol 6,891 gross register tons (GRT)
- 1940-06-26 Krosfonn 9,323 GRT
- 1940-07-10 Davisian 6,433 GRT
- 1940-07-13 King John 5,228 GRT
- 1940-08-04 Beaulieu 6,114 GRT
- 1940-08-08 Oostplein 5,059 GRT
- 1940-08-10 Killoran 1,817 GRT
- 1940-08-21 Anglo-Saxon 5,596 GRT
- 1940-09-02 Cymbeline 6,317 GRT
- 1940-09-08 Antonios Chandros 5,866 GRT
[edit] References
- Paul Schmalenbach (1977). German Raiders 1895–1945. ISBN 0 85059 351 4.
- August Karl Muggenthaler (1977). German Raiders of World War II. ISBN 0 7091 6683 4.
- Stephen Roskill (1954). The War at Sea 1939–1945 Volume I.
[edit] External links
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