German auxiliary cruiser Komet

"Komet" (German for comet) (HSK-7) was an auxiliary cruiser of the German Kriegsmarine in the Second World War, intended for service as a commerce raider.Known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 45, to the Royal Navy she was Raider B.

Construction and conversion

Launched on 16 January 1937 as the merchant ship "Ems" at DeSchiMAG shipyards in Bremen for Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), she was requisitioned at the start of the Second World War in 1939, converted into an auxiliary cruiser at Howaldtswerke in Hamburg, and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 2 June 1940. The ship was 115.5 m long and 15.3 m wide, had a draught of 6.5 m, and registered GRT|3,287|metric|first=yes. She was powered by two diesel engines that gave her a speed of up to 16 knots (30 km/h).

As commerce raider, "Komet" was armed with six 15 cm guns, one 7.5 cm gun, one 3.7 cm and four 2 cm AA guns, as well as 6 torpedo tubes. She also carried a small 15-ton fast boat ("Meteorit", of the "LS2" class) intended to lay mines and a seaplane of the type Arado 196 A1. Her crew numbered 274. [cite web | title=Hilfskreuzer Komet|url=http://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/hilfskreuzer/komet.html| work=www.scharnhorst-class.dk| accessdate=February 24| accessyear=2007]

Initial raiding voyage

Breakout into the Pacific

Under the command of Kapitän zur See (later Konteradmiral) Robert Eyssen, HSK7 departed for her first raiding voyage from Gotenhafen on 3 July 1940. With the consent of the then neutral Soviet Union and with assistance from Soviet Icebreaker Joseph Stalin, "Komet", disguised as the Soviet steamer "Dezhnev", passed through the Arctic Ocean north of Russia and entered the Pacific Ocean.

Raiding in South Pacific waters

In early November, "Komet" resupplied and refueled in Japan, disguised as the Japanese merchantman "Manio Maru". [cite web | title=The Komet raider|url=http://argo.net.au/andre/raiderKOMETENFIN.htm| work=http://argo.net.au/| accessdate=February 24| accessyear=2007] "Komet" operated with the German auxiliary cruiser Orion, disguised as "Mayebashi Maru", and the supply ship "Kulmerland", posing as the "Tokio Maru". During the month of November, "Komet" sank five Allied merchant ships, with a combined tonnage of about 41,000 tons, that had been waiting off the island of Nauru to load phosphate. On 27 December 1940 she shelled the phosphate processing and loading facilities on Nauru. Cooperating with the German auxiliary cruiser "Orion", she sank two more British ships in August 1941 and captured the Dutch 7,300 ton freighter "Kota Nopan" which was sent as a prize to Bordeaux.

Return voyage

"Komet" then sailed through the West and East Pacific, around Cape Horn and north through the Atlantic, returning to Cherbourg (France), thus circumnavigating the globe. She reached Hamburg on 30 November 1941 after a voyage of 516 days and about convert|100000|nmi|km.

econd raid

Her second raid, under the command of Kapitän zur See Ulrich Brocksien began in early October 1942. However, only a week out of Hamburg, on 14 October, she was attacked by British motor torpedo boats near the Cap de la Hague. She was hit by a torpedo from "MTB 236" and sank with no survivors.

"Komet" discovered

The wreck of HK "Komet" was discovered by wreck hunter Innes McCartney off Cap Le Hague in July 2006 and was surveyed in 2007. She is in two halves and upside down. [cite web|title=The Armed Merchant Raider HK "KOMET"|url=http://www.periscopepublishing.com/KOMET%20exhibition.htm|work=www.periscopepublishing.com|accessdate=February 24| accessyear=2007]

Raiding career

*1941-08-14 "Australind" GRT|5,020|metric
*1941-08-17 "Kota Nopan" GRT|7,322|metric
*1941-08-19 "Devon" GRT|9,036|metric

In concert with "Orion"
*1940-11-25 "Holmwood" GRT|546|metric
*1940-11-27 "Rangitane" GRT|16,712|metric
*1940-12-06 "Triona" GRT|4,413|metric
* 1940-12-07 "Vinni" GRT|5,181|metric
* 1940-12-07 "Komata" GRT|3,900|metric
* 1940-12-08 "Triadic" GRT|6,378|metric
* 1940-12-08 "Triaster" GRT|6,032|metric

Books

*cite book|author=Paul Schmalenbach|title=German Raiders 1895–1945|year=1977|id=ISBN 0 85059 351 4
*cite book|author=August Karl Muggenthaler|title=German Raiders of World War II|year=1977|id=ISBN 0 7091 6683 4
*cite book|author=Stephen Roskill|title=The War at Sea 1939–1945 Volume I|year=1954
*cite book|author=Stephen Roskill|title=The War at Sea 1939–1945 Volume 2|year=1954

References