The fall of France gave the German Navy its first ever Atlantic bases, and opened up the Atlantic Ocean to German raiders, which included heavy warships, U-boats and armed merchantmen with false upper works that hid six 5.9 inch guns and torpedo tubes.

A total of seven armed merchantmen were sent out, and they hunted successfully in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Particularly valuable ships were kept as prizes, and were either sent back to Germany or used by the raiders as supply ships. The raiders were also able to alter their appearance by changing masts and superstructures, which repeatedly fooled British warships, but the strain of never putting into port gradually wore the ships down. Allied merchantmen quickly learned to avoid suspicious looking ships, which made capture difficult, but that still served the raiders’ purpose since each distress signal forced the British fleet to send ships out to chase them instead of protecting the convoys. However, as the raiders started shooting first, and boarding later, the increased casualties turned public opinion against Germany.

Despite the chameleon like ability of the ships, their disguises were penetrated on a number of occasions, and the raiders had to fight, with mixed results. The Thor successfully fought off an auxiliary cruiser on two separate occasions, and sunk a third. The Atlantis’ record of 22 prizes ended on November 22, 1941 when it was sunk by the cruiser Devonshire after it failed an hour long examination of its identity. The Pinguin had already sunk or captured 28 ships when it was sent to the bottom by the heavy cruiser Cromwell, which had a suspicious captain. The Kormoran had lured the light cruiser Sydney close enough during an inspection to cripple it with a surprise attack, and although return fire forced the Komoran’s crew to abandon ship, the Sidney sank with all hands. The surviving four raiders, the Orion, Komet, Widder and Thor, had all returned to Germany by mid-November 1941.

The second outing of the armed merchantmen was not as successful. The Thor, Michel, and Stier all managed to fight their way through the English Channel into the open seas, but the Komet was sunk, and when the Togo was forced back, the remaining raiders stayed in port. The Thor and two supply ships were destroyed in an accidental explosion while refitting in Yokohoma, Japan, and the Stier was sunk after a fight with an American Liberty merchantman. An American torpedo put an end to the last of the mystery ships, the Michel, on October 18, 1943. The nine ships had sunk a total of 129 ships with 800,000 tons, almost the equivalent of British annual construction of merchantmen, although the majority of the ships were sunk during the raiders’ first outing.

German heavy warships stirred up more commotion during their handful of sorties but their numbers were too limited to have much effect and they sank fewer ships than the merchantmen. The heavy cruiser Scheer made it through the Denmark Strait in early November 1940 and attacked a convoy guarded only by an auxiliary cruiser. The cruiser’s brave defense delayed the Scheer long enough for most of the convoy to escape, although the Scheer sank five merchantmen, as well as the cruiser. Aside from the lost ships, the attack forced the British to reorganize the convoy system, and delay convoys for a week until enough escorts could be found. From that point on, all major convoys were escorted by a battleship. The Scheer then commenced a successful 161 day cruise that reached the Indian Ocean. Like the Graf Spee, her heavy armament made resistance impossible, and painted like a British warship with two of her forward guns pointed up and one pointed down to mimic the double turrets of a British cruiser, the Scheer was able to get very close to merchantmen. Seven cruisers and an aircraft carrier were sent to hunt her down, but the Scheer managed to slip away, and had safely returned to Germany by the end of March. The Hipper had entered the Atlantic in early December 1940, a month after the Scheer, and she was the first German warship to make use of the newly available repair facilities at Brest, although she proved less effective as a raider because of persistent mechanical problems and frequent bombing of the French port.

The battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau also went raiding in the Atlantic in early February 1941, but the first convoy they found was guarded by an old battleship with the 15 inch guns that gave German sailors nightmares. They continued to hunt convoys protected by less formidable warships, and sank a total of 19 ships, while avoiding British ships sent to find them, arriving safely in Brest a month later. Their relatively low score highlighted the problems facing German surface raiders, namely the limited search ability available to the German Navy.

Despite the unimpressive record of German warships, especially when compared with the horrendous carnage wreaked by U-boat wolfpacks, the leadership of the surface arm of the navy still had hopes that the entry of the super battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz would change the balance away from the upstart U-boats. The destruction of the Bismarck during its maiden voyage ended those hopes and ensured that the German surface navy would play a supporting role to the U-boats for the rest of the war.

Related Movies:

Battle of the River Plate (1956)
Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, starring Peter Finch and Anthony Quayle
During the beginning stages of WWII, the British Navy struggles to protect convoys from powerful surface raiders like the Graf Spee, a German pocket battleship. Two light cruisers and a heavy cruiser finally corner the Graf Spee near the River Plate in Uruguay and although they are heavily outgunned, innovative tactics give them a fighting chance. (please click here to read the review)

Sink the Bismarck (1960)
Directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Kenneth More and Dana Winter
Britain did not win the Blitz, it survived the Blitz, but British troops had been defeated in the Balkans and North Africa, while German U-boats, bombers and Germany’s small surface fleet were cutting up the merchant fleets that Britain depended on. Therefore, the sinking of the Bismarck not only kept the lifeline from North America open, but was the first clear cut victory for Britain in a long time. (please click here to read the review)

Further Reading:

The German Navy in World War II-Edward P. Von der Porten, New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1969.

A good single-volume examination of the German Navy in WWII with a wealth of photos and maps. It provides a perceptive analysis of why the German surface navy was neglected by Nazi Germany, but also shows that there was more to the navy than U-boats, they were just always too few to be effective. The book benefits from the author’s access to many of the surviving senior officers of the German navy, and includes an appendix that compares the tonnage sunk by U-boats and surface raiders with the number of U-boats produced.

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