Hilfskreuzer Kormoran

The German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran (HSK-8) was a Kriegsmarine merchant raider of World War II. Originally the merchant vessel Steiermark, the ship was acquired by the Kriegsmarine following the outbreak of war for conversion into a raider. Administered by the Kriegsmarine under the designation Schiff 41, to the Allied navies she was known as Raider G. The largest merchant raider operated by Germany during World War II, Kormoran was responsible for the destruction of ten merchant vessels and the capture of an eleventh during her year-long career in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

The raider was fitted with six 5.9 in guns as primary armament. These guns were World War I-vintage; gun "3" had been removed from the battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz in 1916. The forecastle and quarterdeck guns were hidden behind counter-weighted false hull plates, while each centreline gun was concealed by fake cargo hatch walls. The secondary armament consisted of five .79 in anti-aircraft guns. Two were located on the forecastle, two on the after funnel deck, and the fifth in the quarterdeck. All five were hidden by the structure of the ship until they were raised clear on hydraulic platforms. Kormoran was also equipped with six torpedo tubes: two dual launchers on the upper deck, and a single underwater tube on each side. The underwater tubes were amidships, angled at 135° from the bow, and could only be fired if the raider was travelling at less than 3 knots. The raider carried two Arado Ar 196 floatplanes for reconnaissance.

She is also known for sinking the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney during a mutually destructive battle off Western Australia on 19 November 1941. Damage sustained during the battle prompted the scuttling of Kormoran. While 318 of the 399 aboard the German ship were rescued and placed in prisoner of war camps for the duration of World War II, there were no survivors from the 645 aboard the Australian cruiser. The wreck of Kormoran was rediscovered on 12 March 2008, five days before her adversary.

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