SMS Möwe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | Laeisz |
| Builder: | Tecklenburg |
| Launched: | 1914 |
| Christened: | Pungo |
| In service: | 1st Nov 1915 |
| Fate: | de-commissioned 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 9,800 tons (4,788 gross register tons (GRT)) |
| Length: | 123.7 m |
| Beam: | 14.4 m |
| Draught: | 7.2 m |
| Propulsion: | 1x3cyl Triple Expansion; 5x Boiler ; 3,200HP |
| Speed: | 13knot |
| Range: | 8,700 nm @ 12 kn |
| Complement: | 235 |
| Armament: | 4x150 mm 1x 105 mm 2xTT |
SMS Moewe (eng. “Seagull”) was an auxiliary cruiser of the Imperial German Navy which operated as a commerce raider during World War I.
Contents |
[edit] Early History
Built by the Tecklenborg yard at Geestemünde, she was launched as the freighter Pungo in 1914 and operated by the Afrikanissche Fruchtkompanie for F Laeisz of Hamburg. After an uneventful career carrying cargoes of bananas from the German colony of Kamerun to Germany she was requisitioned by Kaiserliche Marine for use as a minelayer. Her conversion took place at Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven in the autumn of 1915,and under the command of Nikolaus, Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien, she entered service on 1st November that year.
[edit] 1st Raiding voyage
Moewe slipped out of Wilhelmshaven on 29th December 1915 for her first task, to set a minefield in the Pentland Firth, near the main base of the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. This was completed in severe weather conditions and bore fruit … days later when the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS King Edward VII struck a mine and sank. Moewe then moved down the west coast of Ireland to France. There she laid another mine field off the Gironde estuary, which sank a further 2 ships.
This part of her mission complete, Moewe then moved into the Atlantic, operating first between Spain and the Canary islands, and later off the coast of Brazil. In 3 months she caught 15 ships, 2 of which were sent, with cargo and prisoners, to port as prizes; the rest were sunk. She returned to Germany, and a heroes welcome, on 4th April 1916.
[edit] Interlude as Vineta
In an effort to maintain security, Moewe was re-named Vineta, after another auxiliary cruiser which had been withdrawn from service. In this guise she set out on a series of short cruises during the summer of 1916 to attack allied shipping off the coast of Norway. This only brought one success, however, before she was ordered in for a re-fit prior to another sortie into the Atlantic.
[edit] 2nd Raiding Voyage
Departing on 23rd November 1916, Moewe had even more success on her second cruise into the Atlantic. In 4 months she accounted for another 25 ships totalling 123,265 GRT. One off these, SS Yarrowdale was sent as prize to Germany; which as Dohna Schlodien hoped, was outfitted as a commerce raider herself. Moewe also retained SS Saint Theodore as a collier, before arming and commissioning her as the auxiliary Geier. Geier operated in this role for 6 weeks, accounting for 2 ships sunk, before being disarmed and scuttled by Moewe prior to returning home. In March 1917 Moewe again successfully ran the British blockade, ironically at the same time as her prize, now the auxiliary cruiser Leopard, was cornered and sunk by the same blockading force. Moewe arrived home safely on 22nd March 1917.
[edit] Later History
On her return Moewe was de-commissioned as a raider, being counted to valuable as a propaganda tool to be risked again. She served in the Baltic as a submarine tender, before becoming the auxiliary minelayer Ostsee in 1918. After the Treaty of Versailles, she went to Britain, to be operated by Elder Fyffes as the freighter Greenbrier. In 1933 she returned to Germany, as the freighter Oldenburg, and served as such in World War II. On 7th April 1945 she was torpedoed off the coast of Norway, and sunk.
[edit] Further reading
- Hoyt, Edwin P Elusive Seagull (Frewin 1970) ISBN 0091015707.
- Hoyt, Edwin Palmer The Phantom Raider (Ty Crowell Co 1969) ISBN 0690617321.
- Schmalenbach, Paul German raiders: A history of auxiliary cruisers of the German Navy, 1895-1945 (Naval Institute Press 1979) ISBN 0870218247.
