Hilfskreuzer (Auxiliary Cruiser) Thor

General Details

Nationality

German

Type

Hilfskreuzer (Raider)

Ship Number

10

HSK Number

IV

British Admiralty Letter

E

Builder

Deutsche Werft AG Hamburg-Finkenwärder, converted by Deutsche Werft AG

Launched

1938

Previous Owner

Oldenburg-Portuguesische Dampfschiffahrts Gesellschaft

Previous Name

Santa Cruz (banana boat)

Additional Information

Deutsche Werft AG also built Thor's (Santa Cruz's) sistership called Gran Canaria.

One of the smallest of the raiders, only Komet was smaller, Thor had to fight three British Armed Merchant Cruisers during her successful first tour, severely damaging the first two, putting them out of action, and sinking the third.

General Cruise Details (1. Cruise)

Commander (1. cruise)

Kapitän zur See (Captain) Otto Kähler (Knights Cross with Oak Leaves)

Sail date (1. cruise)

6 June 1940

End cruise (1. cruise)

30 April 1941

Fate (1. cruise)

Safely returned to Germany

Performance (1. Cruise)

Ships Sunk or Captured

12

Tonnage Sunk

96.547

Days at Sea

328

Tons/Day (average)

294,35

General Cruise Details (2. Cruise)

Commander (2. cruise)

Kapitän sur See Günther Gumprich (Ritterkreuz)

Sail date (2. cruise)

30 November 1941

End cruise (2. cruise)

9 October 1942

Fate (2. cruise)

Destroyed by fire in Yokohama harbour, Japan on 30 November 1942 by a series of accidental explosions on the German tanker/supply ship Uckermark, which was moored alongside her.

Performance (2. Cruise)

Ships Sunk or Captured

10

Tonnage Sunk

58.644

Days at Sea

314

Tons/Day (average)

177,03

Displacement

Displacement

3.862 tons

Dimensions

Length

122 metres

Beam

16,7 metres

Weapons

Main Battery

6 x 155 mm

Secondary Battery

2 x 37 mm

Torpedo Tubes

4

Mines

None

Aircraft

Aircraft

1 Arado Ar 196

Small boats

Schnellboot

None

Propulsion

Engine Type

Oil-fired steam turbine (AEG)

Horsepower

6.500

Endurance

40.000 nautical miles

Speed

17 knots

Fuel Type

Oil

Complement

Wartime

349

Outcome Of Thor’s First Cruise By Ship

1

Dispatched to Lorient. She arrived safely.

2

Sunk by explosive charges.

3

Sunk by explosive charges. 90 prisoners now on board Thor.

4

Sunk by gunfire after torpedo attack.

5

Sunk by explosive charges.

6

Sunk by explosive charges. Battle with British Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Alcantara, which, almost sinking, broke contact and sought safety in Rio de Janeiro.

7

A valuable ship and cargo, but slow and low in fuel. Sunk by gunfire.

8

Sunk by explosive charges. 368 prisoners now on board. Later transferred to the blockade runner Rio Grande.    Battle with British Armed merchant Cruiser HMS Carnarvon Castle, which broke contact on fire and with many dead, to seek safety in Montevideo. Meeting with the Admiral Scheer and four supply ships. Admiral Scheer’s captain, later Admiral, Theodor Krancke, suggests that the two ships hunt together, but Thor’s captain politely declines.  Later, meeting with supply ships Eurofeld, Alsterufer, Spichern and the 10 whale catchers captured by Pinguin.

9

Sunk by gunfire.

10

Sunk by gunfire.

11

Sunk by gunfire after a 55 minute battle. 72 dead, 197 rescued, including the captain. Prisoners transferred to the German tanker Ill which safely reaches Bordeaux.

12

Sunk with explosive charges. Thor safely reaches Hamburg through the English Channel.

Outcome Of Thor’s Second Cruise By Ship

1

Sunk by torpedo. Meeting with supply ship Regensburg. Through the excellence of her disguises Thor escapes the attentions of HMS Durban and some days later, the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Cheshire.

2

Seaplane removes radio aerials. Sunk by torpedo.

3

Sunk by torpedo after gunfire.

4

Sunk by explosive charges.

5

Sunk by torpedo after gunfire.

6

A valuable ship. Dispatched with prisoners to Japan. Meeting with supply ship Regensburg.

7

Sunk by gunfire.

8

Valuable cargo. Dispatched to Japan.

9

Valuable cargo. Dispatched to Japan.

10

Sunk by gunfire. Thor safely reaches Yokohama. Destroyed after a fire on supply ship Uckermark moored alongside.

Notes on Ships Captured or Sunk by Hilfskreuzer Thor – 1st Cruise – 9th April 1941

Just after sunrise on the morning of April 4 this 13,245-ton British Armed Merchant Cruiser armed with eight 6-inch and three 3-inch guns, with a crew of 269, was spotted 900 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.  Approaching head-on she signalled a series of AAA’s, to which Thor responded with a shot across the bow.

Only then did Kaehler realise that he had challenged an Armed Merchant Cruiser, the third he’d encountered on the cruise, and while ordering his entire battery to open up, he made his decision, (“This time, I have to finish him off”).

Thor’s first salvo ripped into the cruiser’s generator and radio room preventing any signal being sent, and within four minutes the former liner had been turned into a blazing inferno.

Although out of control with her steering gear out of action, taking water and steaming in circles, fire raging from her bridge to her mainmast, two of her 6-inch guns, one fore and one aft, bravely continued to engage the raider, but with little success, recording just one hit, which tore away the her radio aerial.                                                                                                

At this point Kaehler’s obsolete guns overheated and seized up, as they had in the two previous battles, forcing him to cease firing, but while maneuvering for a torpedo strike white flags were seen being waved on the stricken cruiser.

Standing off at a safe distance of 4000 yards for fear of explosions on the AMC, the Germans commenced the task of rescuing her crew, 72 of whom had died in the action, and once the doomed and badly listing Voltaire had slid stern-first below the waves, they spent over five hours motoring back and forth picking up as many as they could find, safe in the knowledge that she had been unable to use her wireless.

The captain and 196 of his men were rescued after a 55-minute action in which Thor had had to expend 724 rounds, more than half of her total ammunition.