World War II German raider comet. Swimming raider "comets" along the Northern Sea Route

He headed north and, rounding the Scandinavian Peninsula, entered the territorial waters of the USSR. The ship refueled in one of the ports of the Kola Peninsula and crossed the ice-free Barents Sea without any problems. In a village on the banks of the Novaya Zemlya, tall people in leather coats with fur and felt boots climbed onto the deck of a mysterious ship. These were Soviet pilots, sea captain D.N. Sergievsky and his colleague A.G. Karelskikh. They took the ship under wiring and confidently led it to the Kara Sea ...

Soviet pilots paved the way for the German raider "Komet" with a displacement of 7.5 thousand tons, it was almost a cruiser. It was armed with six 150 mm guns, 1 75 mm gun, 2 x 37 mm and 4 x 20 mm anti-aircraft artillery, 6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes. In addition, "Komet" was armed with two hydroplanes, sea mines. The crew consisted of 270 people. Stocks of food and equipment, the presence of desalters of sea water allowed the ship to be in autonomous navigation for at least a year. A variety of equipment allowed the ship to operate in all natural conditions: sledges, fur clothes, skis, tropical uniforms and mosquito nets were taken.

The Comet was commanded by an experienced sailor, hydrographer and polar explorer captain zur see (captain of the first rank) Robert Eissen.

Having passed the Matochkin Shar Strait, the Komet entered the Kara Sea. On August 25, the Lenin icebreaker approached the Comet and the German ship entered its wake. The ships passed the Vilkitsky Strait, and in the Laptev Sea they were met by the powerful linear icebreaker "Stalin". At 10 am on August 26, "Stalin" led the "Komet" further east. Soon the small caravan entered powerful ice fields, almost obscured by fog. Here, the icebreaker more than once had to free the Comet, which was stuck in a broken passage, from ice captivity. To the east of the Bear Islands, the Komet was met by the icebreaker Kaganovich, on board of which was the head of marine operations of the eastern sector of the Arctic, the famous ice captain A.P. Melekhov. The most difficult part of the journey remained - fields of exceptionally thick ice opened up before the sailors. "Kaganovich" had to repeatedly approach the "Comet" in order to break off the closing ice fields. Captain Eissen recalled decades later: “I will never forget this night. Ice 9 points, wind, snow charges. Constant fear behind the wheel and propeller... Steering gear failure. Helpless drift. I've been on the bridge for 22 hours now. Again terrible darkness - and this is in such and such ice! It took four hours to repair the steering gear - all this time the Komet drifted helplessly in the ice.

Soon "Komet" went east after the Soviet icebreaker already through completely clear water. The icebreaker raised the flag signal "I wish you a happy voyage!" and headed west. September 6 "Komet" passed the Bering Strait under the Japanese flag. In November 1940, having replenished fuel and food supplies in Japan, "Komet" went further south and began to hunt for passenger and cargo ships. It was disguised as a Japanese cargo ship, the Manio Maru.

and hunted with the Japanese raider "Orion" (Maebashi Maru) and the auxiliary vessel "Kulmerland" (Tokyo Maru). On November 25, in New Zealand waters off the Chatham Islands, they sank their first victim, the small cargo steamer Holmwood. On November 27, German raiders sank a large liner, the Rangetine, with a displacement of 16,000 tons, bound for Great Britain with several thousand tons of meat and food. The captain of the liner, however, managed to transmit an alarm signal by radio. The next day, the cruiser Achilles and the minesweeper Puriri arrived at the site of the disappearance of the Rangitaine, but found only floating wreckage, an empty boat and oil slicks on the water. The crews of hydroplanes launched from the Achilles could not find anything either.

December 6 "Komet" and "Orion" sank the cargo-passenger ship "Tryona" between the Solomon Islands and Nauru. The next day, Komet sank the Norwegian ship Vinnie. On December 8, the Orion sank the Triadic phosphorite carrier in full view of the inhabitants of the island of Nauru, then caught up and sank the Triaster transport. The Nauru radio station transmitted a radiogram to the headquarters of the Australian Navy, all ships in the area were ordered to disperse and move to other ports.

At that time, the Australian Navy could do little to protect sea lanes: there was not a single Australian warship in the Pacific Ocean. The nearest port where the warship "Manoora" (auxiliary cruiser) was located was Darwin, located four days' journey. The headquarters of the Navy knew that on December 5, off the coast of New South Wales, on mines laid by another German raider "Penguin", the cargo ship "Nimbin" was blown up, two days later - the British ship "Hartford". So the war came to the shores of Australia. By the way, the Australian communists, meanwhile, continued to agitate against the "imperialist" war and enrollment in the army.

The Australian Navy Headquarters asked the British Admiralty to return a certain number of Australian warships from the Mediterranean to Australia.

December 21, 1940 "Komet", "Orion" and "Kulmerland" (directly "wolf pack") anchored near the island of Emirau, north of Kavieng. All captured crew members and passengers from the sunken ships were landed ashore, with the exception of a small number of captured military personnel. There were about 500 people on the beach. A small boat was left for them so that they could get to the larger island and ask for help. Later, the released prisoners spoke highly of Captain Eissen, who behaved exemplarily towards them. German raiders, as a rule, opened warning fire on cargo and passenger ships only if the latter did not obey the order to stop. They sank the ships after the crew and passengers were removed from them.

After calling at Emirau, "Kulmerland" went back to Japan, "Orion" - to Maug Island in the Mariinsky Archipelago for engine repairs. Captain Eissen led the Comet back to Nauru to bombard port facilities. Stopping abeam the island, the Komet raised the war flag of the Kriegsmarine and sent a radio signal with the order to clear the piers and the oil storage. But since the crowd of curious people did not disperse, Eissen fired a warning shot, which quickly dispersed the onlookers. Then shelling began, leaving ruins in place of the port. It is noteworthy that the fire destroyed a large pile of phosphorites, already purchased by the Japanese, who so recklessly provided the German raiders with the opportunity of intermediate basing in their ports. "Komet", meanwhile, was heading south ...

The crew members and passengers of the sunken ships left on the coast of Emirau island somehow learned about the plans to bombard Nauru. Those who managed to get to Kavieng in time sent a warning to the Australian Navy headquarters about the impending attack, but there were simply no warships capable of preventing the raid. This was the last straw that overflowed the cup of patience. The cruiser Sydney and the auxiliary cruiser Vestralia were urgently recalled home from the Mediterranean. In early January 1941, "Sydney", which brilliantly proved itself in battles with ships of the Italian Navy, went to Australia. On February 9, the cruiser arrived in Sydney, where it was enthusiastically received by the inhabitants of the city.

Around the same time, on December 3, 1940, another German raider, the Kormoran, left the pier in Gdansk. On the second day of the voyage, the raider disguised himself as the Soviet cargo ship Vyacheslav Molotov, port of registry - Leningrad. All superstructures were painted brown, the chimney black with a red stripe. A red flag was raised on the mast. For some time after that, the team had fun using the word “comrade” in address and greeting each other in a mouth-front manner by raising their right hand bent at the elbow with a clenched fist. The officers did not pay attention to this, rightly considering it a sign of a good mood ...

But let's get back to the Comet. After the bombing of Nauru, Captain Eissen led the raider to the shores of New Zealand to hunt on the New Zealand-Panama trade route. Here he reached the southernmost point of his voyage - the team saw the coast of Antarctica. At the end of February 1941, Captain Eissen received an order to move to the southeastern sector of the Indian Ocean. He knew that the Sydney cruiser was based in Fremantle (a seaport near Perth), and tried to stay away from the coast of Western Australia, realizing that if he met a first-class cruiser, his chances would be slim. For several months, the raider unsuccessfully searched for new victims away from the usual routes of cargo and passenger ships. Luck seemed to have left the Comet. On May 21, according to the new order, Komet again set off for the Pacific Ocean.

Seaplane "Comet"

In early August, Captain Eissen heard a report on the radio that Australian Air Force patrol planes had driven the German raiders out of their territorial waters, and made a corresponding entry in the logbook. An experienced sailor was well aware that such a task was beyond the power of the Australians - the continent is too large. However, it is likely that the radio report played a role in his decision to move closer to the coast of New Zealand and then move east to the coast of South America. On August 14, near the Galapagos Islands, the Comet stumbled upon the British ship Australind. Its radio operator tried to transmit a distress signal and the ship was fired on, killing several sailors. The surviving crew members were removed from the British vessel, after which it was blown up. Five days later, a German raider captured the Dutch ship Kota Napan and sank the British transport Devon. Most of the prisoners were transported to the captured Dutch ship, the prize crew took the Devon to the Atlantic and further to Germany (later, off the coast of Sierra Leone, the German raider Atlantis would reload its prisoners on it).

The last segment of the journey across the Atlantic proved to be the most difficult - the Komets were constantly attacked by British aircraft. But here, too, luck accompanied Captain Eissen - one of the bombs hit the Comet, but did not explode. On November 16, 1941, the captured Cota Nopan successfully arrived in France, and on November 26, met by its submarines, arrived in Cherbourg and Comet. On November 28, with a strong guard, he passed the English Channel and on November 30, 1941 was already in Cuxhaven, then moved to Hamburg. A solemn meeting was organized for the crew: in Berlin, in the presence of the Nazi leadership, the sailors were honored. Having made a round-the-world trip, the Komet spent 516 days at sea and left a total of about 87,000 miles astern in four oceans. The total tonnage of 10 ships sunk and captured by the Komet was approximately 42,000 gross tons.

The second campaign with a new crew under the command of Captain zursee Ulrich Brokzin began in the autumn of 1942. Only a week after leaving Hamburg, the Komet, despite strong security, was attacked by British torpedo boats in the English Channel off Cape Hog abeam Cherbourg. Two torpedoes fired by the MTB236 hit the ship, after which the ammunition detonated; The ship broke into two pieces and sank to the bottom. 251 people died, there were no rescues.

August 27, 1940 - the commander of the auxiliary cruiser "Komet" of the German Kriegsmarine, captain zur see (captain of the 1st rank) Robert Eissen thanked the icebreaker "I. Stalin" for conducting through the ice of the Laptev Sea. From August 13 to September 3, 1940, the Soviet icebreakers "Lenin", "I. Stalin" and "L. Kaganovich" carried out the posting of the German raider by the Northern Sea Route. Until November 1941, the Komet raider was piracy in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and then in the Atlantic.

"Komet" ("Comet", it. Komet) - German auxiliary cruiser during the Second World War. HSK-7, the former merchant ship "Ems" (German: Ems), in the German Navy was designated as "Ship No. 45", in the British Navy - "Raider" B "".
In the summer of 1940, with the help of the USSR, he passed the Northern Sea Route from the North Sea to the Bering Strait and further to the Pacific Ocean. In 1940-1941, he fought on the allied sea lanes in the Pacific Ocean in the region of Australia and Oceania. The tonnage of the ships of the Anti-Hitler coalition sunk and captured by him amounted to 42,000 gross tons.

HISTORY OF CREATION

The merchant ship "Ems" was built in Bremen by the firm "Deschimag" for the "North German Lloyd". Launched on January 16, 1937. One of the ships of a series of dry cargo ships (four sisterships - Drau, Ayder, Iller and Muir, and two semi-sisterships, Saar and Memel)
At the beginning of World War II, she was requisitioned, converted at the Howaldtswerke AG shipyard into an auxiliary cruiser, and as such joined the Kriegsmarine on June 2, 1940.
The smallest of these ships, the Komet, in addition to powerful artillery and mine-torpedo weapons, had on board a high-speed boat designed for torpedo attacks and mine laying, and seaplanes.

In the process of re-equipment, the Ems was equipped with six 150-mm guns camouflaged with folding shields, ten torpedo tubes (also under camouflage shields) and nine anti-aircraft guns. Before sailing, four hundred anchor mines were taken on board (significantly more than was required by state even for larger raiders), a speedboat specially designed for covert minelaying, and a large stock of artillery shells and torpedoes.

A seaplane of the Arado type was also placed in a special ship hangar. The presence on board the aircraft allowed the raider to conduct long-range reconnaissance at sea, including ice. Radio communications and radio intelligence on the ship were provided by six high-class radio operators who were fluent in Russian and English.

Officially, the cruiser had a large supply of fuel on board, which allowed it to cross the Northern Sea Route to the Pacific Ocean without refueling. Other reserves ensured the independent operation of the raider both in Arctic and Pacific waters. By the way, what else was in the holds of the raider is generally unknown.

Captain zursee Robert Eissen was appointed the head of this responsible expedition, who, back during the First World War, aboard the auxiliary cruiser Meteor, participated in several military campaigns to the shores of Murman, and in June 1915 laid mines in the throat of the White Sea. Later, R. Eissen was appointed commander of the already new Meteor, specially built for research in the Arctic. He studied well the peculiarities of navigation in Arctic waters when he was engaged in hydrological work near the border of the ices of Greenland and Iceland,

Even at meetings on December 30, 1939 and January 2, 1940, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, reported to Hitler on the need to use the Northern Sea Route, which at that time was absolutely closed for navigation, in order to save 35 German ships stuck in the ports of Southeast Asian countries foreign courts.
Further, it turned out that the main part of the implementation of the "Green Case" plan was recognized as the need for passage into the summer navigation of 1940 along the Northern Sea Route from Murmansk to the Bering Strait of some German raider.

FIGHTING

FIRST TRIP

Under the command of Captain zur see Robert Eissen, the ship left Gotenhafen on the evening of July 3, 1940 and, accompanied by security forces, headed north through the Danish Straits along the coast of Norway. At Kristiansand, he refueled and refueled with fresh water and waited out the alarm caused by the appearance of British warships west of the Skagerrak.

On July 9, the Komet, already like the Soviet icebreaker Semyon Dezhnev, left Vergen and headed east. In general, the name of the raider, depending on the areas of navigation, was constantly changing. In fact, he had at least five sets of ship documents on board, including those for the Soviet ships Semyon Dezhnev and Danube, the German ship Donau and the Japanese ship Tokyo-Maru.

In accordance with the approved plan, the transition of the Kometa through the Arctic seas was to be provided by icebreakers of the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (GU NSR). To do this, already on July 15 in Varneka Bay (Vaigach Island), the raider was supposed to take on board Soviet ice pilots. But the date for the start of the passage along the Northern Sea Route unexpectedly changed. This was probably due to the fact that the special purpose expedition (EON-10) included our submarine Shch-423, which, perhaps, was not yet ready for the Arctic transition.
Therefore, even in the North Cape region, Eissen received a radiogram from the leadership of the Main Directorate of the NSR about the delay in leaving for the Arctic, and the Comet was asked to go to Murmansk, where it would wait for the start of the wiring. But Eissen categorically refused this proposal, motivating the impossibility of visiting the Soviet polar port by violating the secrecy of the Komet crossing along the Northern Sea Route. And, as a result, "Komet" "delayed" for about two weeks off the northern coast of Norway, where during this time he managed to meet with another raider - the heavy cruiser "Admiral Hipper", and then escorted the Finnish steamer to the Finnish port of Petsamo " Esther Thorden.

A reliable cover legend was initially prepared for the transition of the Komet. It provided that the German raider would pass through the Norwegian and Barents Seas disguised as the new Soviet icebreaking steamer Semen Dezhnev.
To do this, some differences in the silhouette of the German auxiliary cruiser from the silhouette of the Soviet icebreaking steamer were eliminated with the help of canvas body kits and other special devices made at the Khovalvdtswerke shipyard. Other additions to this "gentleman's set" were also made there, which made it possible to very significantly change the silhouette of the raider by changing the height of the masts, the shape and height of the chimney, as well as the number of columns of cargo arrows.
All this allowed the ocean werewolf to completely change its silhouette. Moreover, in order to reliably cover the False Dezhnev in Soviet waters, the leadership of the Main Directorate of the NSR removed the real Dezhnev from the Barents Sea, radically changing the plans for the summer operation of this vessel. Indeed, instead of working on the Murmansk-Spitsbergen route in the interests of the Soviet trust "Arktikugol", "Dezhnev" was sent to the Kara Sea to deliver supplies to the most remote polar stations in the region. Thus, an ideal cover story was created for the German raider, since, on the one hand, the new Soviet icebreaking steamer generally left the Barents Sea (to avoid extra “eyes”), and on the other hand, it went in the same areas of the Kara Sea where it followed and its German counterpart.

Disguised as the Soviet icebreaker Dezhnev, the ship rounded the North Cape and reached the area north of Kolguev Island. There, while engaged in combat training of the crew and hydrographic research, for some time he waited for the approach of Soviet ships, which were supposed to accompany him on the next section of the journey.
Due to the difficult ice conditions, the meeting with the Soviet icebreakers was postponed several times. Finally, on August 13, a radio message from Berlin announced that the Lenin icebreaker would be waiting for them in the Matochkin Shar Strait.

The next day, not finding the promised escort vessel at the rendezvous point, Eissen entered the strait without a pilot, and here it turned out that the Lenin with the caravan of ships had already left a week ago. Having taken on board two Soviet pilots, the Komet (this time as the Donau merchant ship) continued its journey along the Kara Sea, but was soon forced to return again, since the icebreaker was already far away and it was not safe to be here.

On August 19, permission was received to move on, but only on the 25th did they meet with the Lenin icebreaker, which led them to the Laptev Sea, where they handed over the Comet to the Joseph Stalin icebreaker. Having hardly made its way through the area covered with ice, through free water, the Komet continued its journey to the Sannikov Strait on its own. Here he was met by the Malygin icebreaker, however, due to the low speed of the latter, Eissen, at his own peril and risk, refused his services.

Passing between the Bear Islands, he was met by the Kaganovich icebreaker and continued his journey along the East Siberian Sea, accompanied by it. Further advance to the east was carried out in conditions of severe ice conditions. On the night of September 1, a steering failure occurred on the Comet, but it was repaired by the forces of its mechanics.

When the ships had already reached clear water and were in the area of ​​​​Aion Island, a radiogram was received from the head of the Glavsevmorput I. D. Papanin demanding that the German ship be returned back under the pretext that ships hostile to Germany appeared in the Bering Strait. Eissen refused to comply and, in the end, permission to proceed further east was obtained. "Komet" continued the rest of the journey alone and in early September passed the Bering Strait. During a short stop in the deserted bay of Anadyr, the Komet, which had previously flown under the Japanese flag, again disguised itself as the Soviet Dezhnev and on September 10, 1940 entered the Pacific Ocean.
The data obtained by the raider were later used by German cruisers and submarines during the fighting in the Arctic.

The Komet made the transition along the Northern Sea Route in a record short time - in just 23 days, of which only fifteen were running. Usually, caravans of Soviet ships and ships spent at least 26 days on such a passage.
Meanwhile, the real Semyon Dezhnev, having actually visited 15 remote Arctic points, returned to Murmansk in November and left for Svalbard in early December 1940 to work in the Ice Fjord according to the plans of the Arktikugol trust.
Although in general the secrecy and secrecy of the transition of the Comet to the Pacific Ocean was preserved, some information nevertheless reached the British Isles.

So, on November 2, 1940, an article appeared in one of the English newspapers about the passage of a submarine and a German steamer by the Northern Sea Route from west to east, which were undoubtedly considered as one detachment of Kriegsmarine ships. We will learn about the consequences that the publication of this information entailed below.

Heading to the cruising area assigned to him, the Komet withstood a strong storm and on September 30, 1940 approached the Caroline Islands. Two days later, during landing, the hydroplane he had on board crashed, which significantly reduced his reconnaissance capabilities.
Near the island of Lamotrek, the Kriegsmarine assigned the Comet a rendezvous with another auxiliary cruiser, the Orion. On October 14, near this island, the cruiser met with the Kulmerland supply vessel, on October 18, the Orion joined them with the Regensburg transport. At the meeting, the captains of the ships planned joint actions over the next month.

German raider "Komet", disguised as a Japanese ship

On October 29, the Komet (disguised as the Japanese steamer Maniyo Maru), the Orion (Mayebashu Maru) and the Kulmerland (Tokyo Maru) as a reconnaissance vessel headed for the area of ​​the island of Nauru, hoping to find suitable targets and destroy the phosphate mines on the island itself. His first potential victim for the entire campaign - the American ship "Town Elwood" - had to be released, since America still remained neutral and there were no military cargoes on board the ship. The next target, the New Zealand steamer Holmwood, was sunk by artillery, having previously removed the team. Two days later, a new target, the British refrigerated passenger ship Rangitin. The ship refused to stop, broadcast a warning and, in accordance with the instructions of the Kriegsmarine, was sunk by gunfire. Encountered on the way to Nauru, another ship, the Australian ship with a cargo of phosphates "Trayon", was stopped, the crew was removed, the ship was sunk by a torpedo.

Three more ships were found in the parking lot in Nauru: the Norwegian transport "Vinnie", the New Zealand "Tristar", the Australian "Komata" and "Truidek", they were also sunk, the crews were previously removed. On December 8, a formation of German ships was ready to shell the port of Nauru, but the weather did not allow this to be done. The ships withdrew to the island of Emirau and landed prisoners there. From that moment on, the paths of the ships diverged: the Komet went to Rabaul, the Orion, due to the required minor repairs, returned to Lamotrek, and the Kulmerland, having fulfilled its purpose, went to Japan.
The disappearance of ships sunk by the Germans did not go unnoticed, martial law was declared in the territorial waters of Australia and New Zealand, and patrolling of sea lanes began.

Eissen after some time returned to the idea of ​​​​destroying industrial and port facilities on Nauru, an action quite in the spirit of German raiders during the First World War. Having approached the island, on December 27, 1940, he sent his representatives there to warn the authorities of the island in order to avoid possible victims, and at the same time, by the threat of physical destruction, to stop a possible attempt by local radio operators to go on the air. The administration of Nauru accepted these conditions.
"Komet" for an hour from all the guns fired at the island: warehouses, fuel storage, industrial facilities. The shelling led to great destruction and fires. Phosphate supplies stopped for several months.

The attack on Nauru caused a great international outcry, including in Japan - she was also heavily dependent on this valuable raw material, which she lost for a long time because of this action. The Japanese government said that these actions of the German raider called into question the maintenance of German ships in Japanese bases. As a consequence of this, Eissen received a reprimand from the leadership of the Kriegsmarine, which, however, was of a formal nature. Shortly before that, on January 1, 1941, he was awarded the rank of Rear Admiral.

Given the intensification of the actions of the Allied fleets in this area, it was decided to redeploy to the Indian Ocean.

January 1, 1941 "Komet" moved west. The transition was carried out along the Ross Sea, at the very edge of Antarctica, in the hope of meeting enemy whaling ships, but only Japanese fishermen came across.

On Kerguelen Island, large food supplies were found abandoned due to the war; they replenished the holds of the Comet. During the stay, the ship's hull was also inspected. On March 11, the ship went on a rendezvous with the Penguin, which was in the Indian Ocean along with the supply ship Alsterior and its auxiliary ship Adjutant. Then he was in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean for six weeks, but did not meet a single enemy ship. On May 8, he moved even further east - on communications between Australia and Colombo.

After the death of the Penguin, the auxiliary vessel of the latter, the Adjutant, joined the Comet, was equipped for laying mines and sent to New Zealand. After laying mines near Wellington, she rejoined the Comet on July 1, but due to engine problems, she was soon flooded.

In mid-July, the Komet replenished its fuel and food supplies from the supply vessel Annelise Essberger, after which it turned east.

On August 14, 1941, on the way to Chile, the Comet discovered and sank the British ship Ostralind. Three days later, he met the Dutch ship "Kota Nopan" with a valuable cargo - rubber, tin and manganese ore. A prize team was sent to him and both ships continued their journey to Europe. Two days later, the British steamship Devon was sunk.

In the western Pacific, the Komet met up with the Atlantis and the supply ship Münsterland, sailing from Yokohama. Having replenished its fuel and food supplies, the Komet, disguised as the Portuguese steamer Toma, together with the Kota Nopan, rounded Cape Horn. Here they split up and headed for Europe. On November 6, Komet was 180 miles from the blockade breaker Odenwald, whose crew sank their ship to avoid being captured by the enemy.

On November 16, 1941, Cota Nopan successfully arrived in France, and on November 26, met by its submarines, arrived in Cherbourg and Comet. On November 28, with a strong guard, he passed the English Channel and on November 30, 1941 was already in Cuxhaven, then moved to Hamburg. A solemn meeting was organized for the crew; in Berlin, in the presence of the Nazi leadership, the sailors were honored.

Having made a round-the-world trip, the Komet spent 516 days sailing and left behind a total of about 87,000 miles in four oceans.

SECOND CAMPAIGN AND DEATH

The second campaign with a new crew under the command of Captain zur see Ulrich Brokzin began in the autumn of 1942.
Only a week after leaving Hamburg, the Komet, despite being heavily guarded, was attacked by British torpedo boats in the English Channel off Cape Hoag abeam Cherbourg. Two torpedoes fired by the MTB 236 hit the ship, after which the ammunition detonated; The ship broke into two pieces and sank to the bottom. 251 people died, there were no rescues.

MODERN RESEARCH

On July 4, 2006, the remains of the Comet raider were discovered by explorer Innes McCartney. Innes McCartney) in the English Channel at a depth of 70 meters. It was determined that the explosion caused the ship to break in half and capsize.

"Komet" (first trip)

The last raider of the "first wave" of German auxiliary cruisers was the Komet. The bulk carrier "Ems" was laid down at the shipyard of the Deshimag concern in Bremen for the NDL company in 1936, on January 16, 1937 the ship was launched. In the same year the building was completed. In total, the series included six units: Drau, Eider, Ems, Iller, Lech and Moore.

It is noteworthy that it was originally planned to turn the same type of Iller into an auxiliary cruiser. However, at that time it was under loading in Murmansk, so the decision was made to replace it with Ems. In November 1939, the fleet mobilized a cargo ship. He was assigned the number of an auxiliary vessel 45 ("Schiff-45") and sent for conversion to the shipyard "Hovaldtswerke" in Hamburg. On December 1, 1939, the most experienced forty-seven-year-old zur-see captain Robert Eissen was appointed commander of the future raider.

Robert Eyssen.

Born April 2, 1892 in Frankfurt am Main in a wealthy family: his father owned a coffee plantation in Guatemala. In 1911 Eissen joined the Kaiserlich Marina. Before the outbreak of World War I, he was on board the light cruiser Karlsruhe off the coast of South America. With the outbreak of hostilities, the cruiser received the task of destroying merchant ships of the Entente countries in the Atlantic Ocean. A twenty-two-year-old officer could not have imagined then that in 26 years he himself would command a raider and sink enemy ships in the same waters. On November 4, 1914, 400 miles from the island of Barbados, the Karlsruhe sank after an internal explosion. At the same time, 263 people died, but Eissen managed to survive and, together with other survivors, returned to Germany on the steamer Rio Negro. In 1915–1916 he is the commander's adjutant and communications officer on the Amazon armored cruiser. In the future, his service took place on destroyers, and by the end of the war Eissen had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Zur See. In the interwar period, he held various positions; in particular, he commanded the minesweepers M-4, M-85, M-110 and the destroyer G-8. But it is especially necessary to note the positions of the first officer (1929–1930), and then the commander of the Meteor hydrographic vessel (1935–1937), during his service on which he earned a reputation as the best hydrograph specialist in the German fleet with great practice sailing in the Arctic. Before the war, Eissen was on the shore, being from October 1937 the head of a department in the OKM.

Having been appointed to the post of commander of an auxiliary cruiser, the captain-zur-see himself chose a ship for himself. He had clear ideas about the raider he wanted to command. They became the former Ems, which of the ships preparing for the campaign had the smallest dimensions and draft, as well as a fortified hull for sailing in northern waters. Therefore, it is not surprising that when Germany reached an agreement with the Soviet Union on the passage in 1940 of the “auxiliary ship with a military crew” by the Northern Sea Route to the Pacific Ocean, it turned out to be the Schiff-45 under the command of Eissen. It is interesting to note that he received from the British Admiralty the designation " Raider "B"". Since "Atlantis" after laying mines at Cape Agulhas already in May 1940 appeared as " Raider "C"”, it turns out that the British knew about the appointment of the former Ems even before it went to sea!

On June 2, 1940, the work was completed, and the Schiff-45 became part of the Kriegsmarine as auxiliary cruiser number 7 (HSK-7). The next day he left Hamburg, heading for Kiel to prepare for the voyage. On June 15, Grand Admiral Raeder visited the ship with a check. Then the raider went to the Baltic to conduct various kinds of exercises and training, based on Gotenhafen.

July 3 at 18:30 "Komet" left Gotenhafen in his, as it turned out later, a very long voyage. Its fully packed holds stored 35.6 tons of meat, 30 tons of potatoes, 60 tons of flour, 32.1 tons of vegetables, 12.3 tons of fats, 6 tons of legumes, 3 tons of coffee, 5 tons of sugar, 5 tons of marmalade, 12,000 cans of milk, 10,000 eggs, 1.15 million cigarettes, 46,000 cigars, 100,000 liters of beer, 2,500 bottles of spirits, 25,000 chocolate bars, 6,000 packs of cookies, 99 movies, 540 music records, sports equipment, 569 books, tents , skis and sledges for reindeer. And this is not counting fuel, two seaplanes, weapons and ammunition, freon gas cylinders, acetylene burners, spare heaters, piston rings, etc. In addition, the light torpedo boat LS-2 was on board the cruiser. However, due to the fact that 450-mm torpedo tubes for it had not yet been created, the boat was supposed to be used as a mine layer, for which there were 30 TMV mines.

At first, accompanied by an escort from minesweepers M-17 and M-18, the raider crossed the Baltic and the Danish Straits, then made a stop in the Norwegian port of Kristiansand due to the unclear situation in the North Sea; then he moved to Bergen, where on July 7 he received fuel and fresh water from the Esso tanker. Two days later, disguised as the Soviet icebreaker Dezhnev, the auxiliary cruiser left Bergen. At the same time, Eissen announced to his crew that he had named the ship "Komet" ("Comet"). The seaplane - "Space" ("Sparrow") - and the boat - "Meteorite" also received their own names. The cruiser sailed along the Norwegian coast, heading for the Novaya Zemlya region, where Soviet icebreakers were supposed to be waiting for it. But then the political games of the Soviet leadership began, which, having initially agreed to escort the German ship through the Northern Sea Route, then began to come up with various reasons for delaying the transition. The raider was offered to go to Murmansk. Aissen refused this and, entering the Barents Sea, headed to the area north of Kolguev Island, where he spent about a crescent. During this period of time, the "Komet" was constantly working out the tasks of combat training of the crew and hydrographic surveys. The ship, in order to save fuel, drifted for a long time with stopped cars, constantly changing anchorages and not staying long in one place. After numerous unrest, only on August 13 Aissen received a telegram from Berlin, in which he was ordered to head to the Matochkin Shar Strait, where the Lenin icebreaker would be waiting for him.

Disguised this time as the German ship Donau, the raider entered the strait on August 14. There, Soviet pilots arrived on board - sea captain D.N. Sergievsky and A.G. Karelsky. Continuing the voyage, the ship entered the Kara Sea. However, it soon became clear that there was no icebreaker and was not yet expected. Sergievsky suggested that Aissen return to Matochkin Shar and wait for the icebreaker there in a quiet place. The captain-zur-see had to obey.

"Komet" entered the strait and anchored in Yagel Bay. After numerous altercations with the Soviet pilots, the cruiser commander managed to get permission from them to land the crew on the shores of Novaya Zemlya for a rest. In general, the pedantic Germans had to endure a lot from the constantly changing orders and instructions of the Soviet side. Eissen in KTV caustically called it all a "Soviet booth". Only on August 19, "Komet" received permission to continue the journey. By August 22, after a fair storm, the ship approached Tyrtov Island in the Nordenskiöld archipelago and anchored. Again, incomprehensible delays began, which completely pulled Aissen.

Finally, on August 25, following the wake of the Lenin icebreaker, the raider continued on his way, passing the Vilkitsky Strait and entering the Laptev Sea. There he was met by the icebreaker Joseph Stalin. The commander of the "Comet" was invited to board the Soviet icebreaker, where, to his surprise, at six o'clock in the morning he found a served table with snacks and drinks in the form of vodka and bison. The dumbfounded captain of the zursee at first refused such a treat, but the translator persuaded him to "live with the wolves, howl like a wolf." The Germans had to drink in Russian and exchange protocol toasts. It turned out that the "Komet" still adhered to the Central European time, and the Russians - the local one. On August 26, already behind the icebreaker "Joseph Stalin", the raider moved on. The next day, having passed through heavy ice, the icebreaker left the German ship, and it moved along the Sannikov Strait alone. At the estimated time on August 30, Komet met the Lazar Kaganovich icebreaker, which continued its escort through the East Siberian Sea. The night from August 31 to September 1, due to ice shifts and powerful snow charges with a hurricane wind, became the most difficult of the entire journey, even decades later Aissen always remembered her. That night, due to strong ice compression on the Comet, a piece of ice pinched the rudder stock and disabled the steering gear. He began to drift uncontrollably, but fortunately the damage was fixed in four hours.

After reaching clean water, "Komet" was already expecting political misfortunes. On September 1, when 400 miles remained to the Bering Strait, Eissen was called to the Soviet icebreaker and offered to return due to the presence of unknown warships in the Bering Strait area. The captain-zur-see answered with a sharp refusal. After a long discussion, it was possible to reach an agreement that the icebreaker would accompany the German raider for another day. On September 2, red tape and bickering began again. As a result, the enraged Eissen handed over to the head of the naval operations of the eastern region of the Arctic, A.P. Melekhov, a memorandum in which he said that he had no claims against the Soviet side, but was not going to fulfill its demand to return to the west, but would continue on his own to the Bering Strait .

On September 3, after receiving permission, Komet parted ways with Lazar Kaganovich and moved east on its own. September 5, already under the Japanese flag, the Germans passed the Bering Strait. Eissen made an entry in KTV:

“I passed through the Bering Strait between 2:00 and 2:30 this morning. This journey is enough for me; I wouldn't do it voluntarily a second time."

Then the raider again disguised itself as the Soviet steamship Dezhnev and went for a short inspection and repair in Anadyr Bay. There, divers repaired damage to the rudder caused by ice. Five hours later, the Komet left the Land of the Soviets forever. On September 10, HSK-7 entered the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean, immediately falling into a strong storm, and a few days later - into a typhoon. "Komet" made a unique transition for that time, passing the Northern Sea Route from west to east 3300 miles in just 22 days. The Soviet Union estimated its services at 950 thousand Reichsmarks (about 80 thousand pounds sterling at the exchange rate of that time), which were then taken into account in mutual settlements.

After entering the Pacific Ocean, the raider headed for the Caroline Islands, which he reached on September 30, meeting only a few Japanese ships along the way. During this transition, Eissen sent the Spatz flying several times. However, already on October 2, the seaplane crashed and drowned. Initially, on October 15–20, a meeting with the Orion was supposed to take place at Ailinglapalap Atoll. However, due to the capture by the Canadian auxiliary cruiser Prince Robert of the German supply ship Weser, which was heading there from the Mexican port of Manzanillo, the rendezvous point was moved to Lamotrek Atoll. The Kulmerland supply, which left Kobe on October 4, was also supposed to come there. Eissen still had time to spare, and from Ailinglapalapa he headed southeast. The raider, masquerading as a Japanese ship, entered the waters of the Solomon Sea, hoping to intercept ships sailing along trade routes between Australia, New Zealand and the countries of the Far East, but after an unsuccessful search turned back to the north.

On October 14, a long-awaited meeting with Kulmerland took place near Lamotrek Atoll. The Komet made its first refueling since leaving Bergen. On the same day, they launched and tested the Meteorite. However, the captain-zur-see clearly had something wrong with the auxiliary combat units. During the first test, the left engine immediately failed. In general, Aissen's diary reveals an open dislike and distrust for the new technology - the seaplane and the boat. Subsequently, he will write down with relief that he finally got rid of both, transferred spare parts from Spatz to Orion and sighed calmly.

On October 18, the Orion with the Regensburg and the Japanese passenger steamer Palao Maru approached the atoll at the same time. Those on board were very interested in the fact that a whole detachment of German ships was in the Lamotrek lagoon. Soon after the departure of the liner, a ship with officials on board already showed up there. Eissen had to use all his diplomatic skills in dealing with officials, taking a Japanese officer on an inspection trip to the unarmed Kulmerland, and also presenting official papers from Tokyo to ward off annoying guests.

Having met, the commanders of the raiders discussed plans for joint action. It was decided to act on the trade routes connecting Panama and New Zealand. The commander of the Comet also offered to organize an attack on the island of Nauru, where the largest phosphate deposit in the Pacific Ocean was located, but this time it was not possible to convince Vayer. Eissen, as a senior in rank, took command of a detachment of German ships and named it the "Far Eastern Squadron", in honor of the squadron of Vice Admiral Count Maximilian von Spee, which operated in these waters in 1914. Then the Germans redistributed the stocks of equipment available on the ships and provisions.

On October 20, German ships left the atoll. The devastated "Regensburg" went to Japan to refuel and load a new batch of equipment and provisions. On the same day, the camouflage was changed on the Comet, turning it into the Japanese ship Manyo-Maru. The rest of the ships also disguised themselves as Japanese: Orion - Maebashi-Maru, and Kulmerland - Tokyo-Maru. Initially, the detachment headed for the island of Nauru. To increase the coverage area, the raiders marched in front with the Kulmerland in the middle, blocking the area up to 100 miles, approaching visual contact at night. Despondency reigned on the Comet: five months at sea and without a single success. Not a single enemy vessel was encountered off Nauru. With the same success, the Germans explored the waters between the New Hebrides and the Fiji Islands. In KTV, Eissen complained that because of the Orion's constantly breaking down machine, he had to go in an uneconomical 12-knot course.

November 3 "Orion" finally stopped an unknown transport. However, to disappointment, it turned out to be the American "City of Elwood" - they had to let him go with polite apologies. Four days later, the Far East Squadron reached an area of ​​operations in which trade routes from the Cook Strait and from Auckland to Panama intersected, and located at a distance of 400 miles from the nearest air base. Until November 11, the raiders unsuccessfully cruised in these waters in conditions of poor visibility, after which the captain-zur-see led the detachment three hundred miles to the south in the hope of intercepting ships coming in the direction from Wellington. However, even there, about 530 miles east of Cape Palliser, the surface of the ocean was deserted. Beginning on 21 November, the raiders spent several days about two hundred miles southeast of the Chatham Islands with similar success. Finally, patience snapped, and at the next meeting, Eissen managed to convince Vayer to attack Nauru.

On November 24, the detachment turned north. Passed west of Chatham Island at night. Eissen at KTB noted that lights were visible on the island. The next day, the raiders met their first victim. It turned out to be a small New Zealand coastal steamer "Holmwood" (546 brt, 1911) owned by the "Holm Shipping Company" from Wellington. It sailed from Huyetanga (Chatham Island) to Littleton (New Zealand), having 17 crew members and 12 passengers on board, including several women and children. The cargo consisted of 1370 sheep, 2 dogs and 1 horse, which played, so to speak, a fatal role in the history of "Holmwood" and "Ranjitein" ...

At 0610 the raider's lookouts spotted two masts in the eastern part of the horizon. Eissen ordered the ship to continue on its current course, reckoning that an unknown ship moving west would cross the Comet's course three miles ahead. Half an hour later, a warning shot was fired and the order was given to stop and identify themselves. The steamboat turned to the right and only after the second shot did it stop without signaling for help. At 7.20, a boarding team from the Comet landed on board. After capturing the prize, the detachment quickly moved away from the island. At 0915, Captain J. Miller and others from Holmwood were transferred aboard the raider. A valuable part of the booty was official papers and mail from Chatham for the last two weeks. All canned food, fruits and vegetables were taken from the merchant. In addition, 100 live sheep were loaded on the Komet, 192 on the Orion, and 19 slaughtered on the Kulmerland. For each ship, the Germans took a life buoy from the transport as a keepsake.

At first, Eissen planned to convert the Holmwood into an auxiliary mine layer, but then abandoned this idea because of its low speed of 8–9 knots. For this, a year later, the RWM issued a reprimand to him. In the end, the captain-zur-see decided to use the captured ship as a target for training his gunners, who had no real target from the very exit from Germany. The raider withdrew a mile and opened fire on the starboard side. The results were, to put it mildly, not brilliant. The distance had to be reduced to half a mile before a hit below the waterline was achieved. It took about 30 minutes to launch the steamboat, which turned into a funeral pyre for a thousand sheep, to the bottom.

In January 1941, the New Zealand authorities conducted an official investigation into the circumstances of the death of the Holmwood, Rangitein and ships off the island of Nauru. At the same time, from the captain of the "Holmwood" Miller, who was also a radio operator, they did not really get an answer why he did not give an alarm, as prescribed by the instructions of the British Admiralty, although it was possible to observe a suspicious ship from the bridge for at least 45 minutes. During the investigation, it was established that Miller was notified of the approach of the Comet when he had already approached a distance of a couple of miles. It turned out that the second officer, who was on duty, was absent from the bridge for quite a long time due to the fact that he ... fed the already mentioned horse, which was on the deck in the stern of the ship. He returned to watch when the raider was already close. The Commission of Inquiry concluded that if the Holmwood had followed the Admiralty's instructions exactly and sent an alarm, and the service on it had met wartime requirements, then the subsequent catastrophe with the Ranjitein could have been avoided by canceling its release to the sea . So the four-legged animal was unwittingly made one of the reasons for the death of seven ships and the capture of several hundred people. Indeed, "the enemy enters the city, sparing no prisoners, because there was no nail in the blacksmith." By the way, the sentimental captain-zur-see ordered to shoot the unfortunate horse so that it would not suffer during the death of the ship.

Another issue on which a special investigation was carried out was the information disseminated by Eissen among the prisoners from the Holmwood that the Germans knew in advance that he was going to sea. It was not possible to prove or disprove this, but as the New Zealanders considered, this was misinformation. After all, in the three weeks that the raiders were in local waters, 18 large ships arrived and 12 left Wellington and Auckland, and the Germans managed to intercept only the Ranjitein. It is known that on Holmwood the boarding team found 23 navigation charts, beacon identifications, cipher and radio station directories. The captain zursee was particularly pleased with the discovery of the Bentley Complete Phrase Code, an American cipher guide used since World War I that allowed commercial organizations, shipping companies and their agents to communicate in coded messages. True, it was used for messages with a low level of secrecy, since it was known to anyone who had access to the Bentley cipher directory.

Two days later, at 2:52, 300 miles northeast of Cape Vostochny, Orion's observers noticed a large vessel moving without navigation lights. Eissen later recalled that when he heard about the contact, he jumped out onto the bridge in pajamas, a dressing gown, slippers and a white cap. The stranger, as it soon turned out, was the New Zealand refrigerated passenger ship Ranjitein (16,712 GRT, 1929), owned before the war by the New Zealand Shipping Company, and now mobilized by the government. He was heading from Auckland to Liverpool via the Panama Canal. On board the ship were a crew of 201 people and 111 passengers, including 36 women. The cargo consisted of 124,881 boxes of butter, 33,255 frozen pork and mutton carcasses, 23,646 heads of cheese, large quantities of cocoa beans and other foodstuffs. In addition to food, forty-five bars of silver worth 2 million pounds in 1940 prices were on board the ship. light anti-aircraft artillery on the wings of the bridge, then his captain L. Upton speaks of one cannon and one gun platform. According to the testimony of the latter, there were only 20 shells for the cannon.

Upon discovery, the raiders maneuvered to trap the Ranjitein. In turn, unknown ships were found on the liner almost simultaneously from both sides, when no more than half a mile remained before them. Upton made no attempt to evade them until his ship was illuminated by searchlights from the Orion and ordered to stop and stop radio transmissions. Only then the skipper ordered to increase the speed and start transmitting signals for help by radio. QQQ» with their coordinates. But it was already too late. The brightly lit large twin-tube vessel provided an excellent target for the German gunners who opened fire at 3.12. After a fire broke out on the liner, and the radio transmitter antenna was destroyed by a shell, Upton ordered to stop. In total, the German ships fired a total of 14 volleys from the main battery guns. During this time, ten people died on the Ranjitein - five crew members and five passengers. Boarding parties from all three German ships rushed forward to be the first to seize the prize. The sailors from the Comet succeeded in this. The signals of the attacked vessel were received in New Zealand, and its naval department transmitted a clear message about the presence of enemy raiders in the surrounding waters. Realizing that ships and aircraft would be thrown into the search, Eissen, following the instructions of the RVM, immediately after all the prisoners were transferred to German ships, ordered to sink the victim with a torpedo. At 5.52 the liner disappeared under the waves, and the "Far Eastern Squadron" went at full speed to the northeast. The Ranjitein was the largest ship sunk by German auxiliary cruisers during World War II.

After receiving the alarms, local authorities immediately prohibited departing ships from leaving the country's ports in an easterly direction, and also ordered all arriving ships to bypass the attack area at a distance of at least 200 miles. The New Zealand light cruiser Akilez immediately headed for the indicated place, and coastal aviation began searching for the raiders. However, these measures are already too late. When Eissen's detachment was 150 miles from the place of death of the Ranjitein, at 18.20 from the Comet they noticed an unknown aircraft flying away from the German ships, probably not noticing them. This alerted the captain-zur-see, who assumed that he was outside the zone of coastal aviation.

On November 28, the raiders reached the Kermadec Islands. Since Berlin forbade the sending of prisoners to Japan, Eissen became more and more entrenched in the idea of ​​​​attacking the island of Nauru, intending to land them on the coast. The cruiser commanders met at the resupply station to discuss the attack plan. It was decided that at first the seaplane would fly around the island, and if this failed, the Komet would take over the role of the scout, as the fastest one. Then the prisoners were distributed more evenly among the raiders, and all women and children were transferred to the Kulmerland. On December 5, already on the flagship, the last meeting was held before the attack on the island, scheduled for the 8th. The final plan of action was adopted and the commander of the landing detachment of 185 people (86 from the Comet and 99 from the Orion) was appointed, who became the first officer of the Comet, Josef Hushenbet. During the discussion between Eissen and Weyer, friction arose over the prisoners. If the first was going to land everyone except the military, then the second - only women and "colored", refusing to let everyone else go, arguing that professional sailors know too much about the raiders and can not only give valuable information to the British authorities, but also then participate in the war against Germany.

At 9 a.m. on December 6, the radio operators of the Comet intercepted a radiogram transmitted by some ship that was very close. The raider, together with the supplier, went to intercept, but the unknown turned out to be the American Clivedon transport. About the same time, observers from the Orion noticed smoke on the left sink at a distance of twenty miles. Weyer suggested that this ship was heading towards Nauru and could see the German ships. He gave chase that lasted over eight hours. Visibility was poor due to the weather, so the frigate captain did not know where his colleagues were. By 17.00 the sky cleared up for a while, and it turned out that the raiders had trapped the unknown, as the Komet was ahead of him on the course. Twenty minutes later, HSK-7 fired a warning shot and ordered the transport to stop, but it began to change course and give a signal for help, which was immediately drowned out by the Orion's radio operators. Then both raiders opened fire to kill. After sustaining 14 volleys, Captain Hughes ordered to stop and lower the boats. As it turned out, it was an old friend of the Orion - the British steamer Tryona, which escaped from him on August 10th. The transport followed from Newcastle (New Zealand) to Nauru with passengers and 1112 tons of food and various equipment. During the shelling, three people out of 74 on board were killed, many were injured. Until the evening, boarding parties searched the ship, as a result of which the attackers' pantries were replenished with fruits, vegetables, drinks and tobacco. At 22.54 Orion sent Tryon a torpedo to the bottom.

While Weyer dealt with the British ship, Eissen took the Comet and Kulmerland to Nauru for reconnaissance, arranging a meeting on the morning of December 8 near the island. By the evening of the 7th, German ships approached Nauru, near which several ships were waiting to be loaded. The first victim was the Norwegian ship "Vinni" (5181 brt, 1937), the owner of Sverre Ditlev-Simonsen from Oslo, chartered by "British Phosphate Commissioners". She arrived in ballast from Dunedin, New Zealand to load phosphates as early as 30 November, but was forced to wait for good weather, drifting 15 miles from the island. On the evening of the 7th, the cargo ship headed for Nauru and stopped three miles northeast of the island to wait for the morning, when the watchmen noticed a Japanese-flagged transport heading towards it. After it became clear that the intentions of the unknown vessel were clearly hostile, the "Norwegian" tried to leave. However, it was already too late and even without firing. "Komet" quickly caught up with the fugitive, and at 19.15 landed a boarding team. 32 people were transferred from it to the Comet, and the ship itself was sunk by demolition charges at 19.44, about six miles from the island. The captain of the "Vinnie" Helmer Henriksen subsequently left very interesting, not without humor, memories of the time spent on board the "Komet" and on the island of Emirau.

At night, the German ships met 20 miles west of the island. Due to bad weather, it was decided to postpone the landing for the time being and to deal with the ships docked near the island. At 2.50 the raiders split up: Eissen headed to the northern part of the island, and Weyer to the south. The start of the attack was scheduled for six o'clock, but Orion, even before the specified time, fired on and set fire to the British ship Triadic, whose crew left it in lifeboats. The Komet picked up people from one lifeboat, directing others to the Kulmerland. Subsequently, the Triedic was sunk by a subversive crew from the Orion.

Eissen's next victim was the British steamer Komata (3900 brt, 1938), owned by the United Steamship Company of New Zealand (Wellington) and waiting for loading near the island. An attempt by a cargo ship to escape from the raider was not successful. Starting shelling at 9.56, the Germans immediately destroyed the radio room and damaged the bridge with accurate shots. At the same time, the senior assistant died, and the second assistant was mortally wounded. During the attack, the Germans had to endure several not very pleasant minutes, as the Komata radio operator began to transmit distress signals heard on Nauru. Fortunately, radio specialists from the Comet, posing as New Zealanders, managed to convince the island's alarmed radio operators that the signal generator of the ship's radio station was being tuned from one of the transports before going to sea. Having taken 31 people, led by Captain W. W. Fish, on board, at 15.58 the steamer was sunk with demolition charges. At the same time, the Germans got all the secret papers that the deceased senior assistant did not have time to destroy. Orion at that time captured without resistance and sank the New Zealand motor ship Triester with explosive charges.

In the afternoon the group gathered together again. The result of hostilities around. Nauru was the sinking of five ships with a total displacement of about 26,000 brt. By this time, the number of prisoners on board the German ships had reached 675 people, of which 52 were women and 6 were children.

The weather did not improve, and Eissen again canceled the landing. Since the Comet was running out of fuel and food, it was decided to split up and meet again at Nauru on December 13. The Orion headed for Ponapa (Caroline Islands), and the Comet, together with the Kulmerland, went to Ailinglapalapa, where they arrived only on December 12th. During mooring, the supplier fell on the raider and crushed his board. Once again, the prisoners were shuffled around the courts. All these events took longer than planned, and the new rendezvous with the Orion did not take place until the 16th, 250 miles north of Nauru. Tom, who returned to the island in time after an aimless trip to Ponape, had to endure a storm of 11 points, after which Vayer took his ship away from the proposed meeting point. Landing on the island due to bad weather failed again. As a result, Eissen finally abandoned the landing of prisoners on Nauru. Then a detachment of German ships headed for the small island of Emirau (Bismarck Archipelago), located near Kavieng, and arrived there on December 20. The next day, the prisoners were landed ashore - a total of 343 Europeans and 171 "colored", and Weyer refused to release all the whites held on the Orion, in the amount of 150 people, because of "security considerations", and landed only women, "colored "and unfit for military service. The landing was organized with German precision and order and was covered from the air by a seaplane from the Orion. From the men released from the Comet, the Germans took a subscription not to participate in hostilities against Germany until the end of the war.

On December 22, Eissen disbanded the Far Eastern Squadron. "Orion" slowly went to Lamotrek, "Kulmerland" - to its base, in the Japanese port of Kobe, and "Komet" went to Rabaul, located nearby on the island of New Britain. The captain-zur-see planned the attack, in which the Meteorite played the main role. At the beginning, the raider was supposed to fire at Rabaul, and then, under the cover of artillery, a boat would burst into the harbor under the command of Ober-Lieutenant-zur-see Wilfried Carsten, an officer-miner and part-time adjutant Eissen. "Meteorite" exposed one TMV mine in the fairway, and the boarding team on board landed on the shore and "noisy" with the help of explosives. For this action, it was planned to install an additional two 20-mm air guns and a 7.62-mm machine gun left over from the seaplane on the boat. But on December 23, it turned out that the right engine on the LS-2 was out of order, and it would not be possible to fix it on our own. As a result, the shelling had to be abandoned. On the 25th, the RWM sent a message announcing that Eissen had been awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class, and another 50 people were awarded the Iron Crosses 2nd Class.

Meanwhile, the captured sailors and passengers landed on Emirau quickly found a way to contact the local authorities, and already on January 1, 1941, most of them arrived on the Australian ship Nellore in Townsville (Australia). From a survey of sailors and passengers, local authorities and the military received accurate information about the German ships, their appearance, weapons, and tactics. Eissen learned of this from intercepted radio messages and recorded on the KTV that he would act differently in the future. The RVM reacted to this news very coolly and radioed a directive to all raiders, according to which prisoners should be sent only to Germany.

After the failure of the Rabaul attack, the captain zursee decided to return to his plan of attacking Nauru. "Komet" approached the island at three o'clock in the morning on December 27. At 5:45 a.m., Eissen's message about the upcoming shelling was transmitted to the island authorities with a proposal to withdraw people from the danger zone. In addition, it was forbidden to use radio stations. The ultimatum was accepted on the shore and after a while the Germans opened fire on oil tanks, cantilever cranes, phosphate stores, boats and mooring barrels. In an hour and eighteen minutes, the raider used up 126 150-mm, 360 37-mm and 719 20-mm shells, causing extensive damage to the enterprise, after which it disappeared into the ocean.

The shelling of Nauru became a world sensation for several days and caused a whole storm of indignation and numerous protests. The work of the mine resumed only ten weeks later. March 6, 1941, and the volume of shipments did not reach the achieved level by 1942, when the Land of the Rising Sun captured the island. A very sharp reaction followed from allied Japan, which lost its source of phosphates, extremely valuable military and agricultural raw materials. In addition, it turned out that during the shelling of the island, a large batch of this mineral, which she had already purchased, perished. The German naval attache in Tokyo received a statement saying that such actions could have an extremely negative impact on relations between the two countries and cause various restrictions on servicing German ships in Japanese ports. At the same time, one should not forget the fact that the Japanese have always been very jealous of such actions in areas that they considered the zone of their vital interests. In Germany itself, they could not assess the need to shell the mine, and the RWM sent a cautiously cool congratulations to Eissen, indicating that he had exceeded his authority. All other raiders were instructed that such independent actions were inadmissible, due to their great danger.

All this fuss irritated the captain-zur-see. The Komet, now disguised as the Japanese Ryoku Maru, meanwhile was heading southeast towards the Gilbert Islands. On December 31, for four hours, he unsuccessfully chased a Norwegian tanker. On the first day of the new year 1941, the command sweetened the pill by sending Eissen an order to confer on him the rank of rear admiral and congratulations from Raeder and the RWM. Two days later, the Komet crossed the equator for the seventh time.

The actions of the German raiders caused a fierce debate in the Australian Parliament about the security of trade communications. As a result, the light cruiser Sydney and the auxiliary cruiser Vestralia were recalled back from the Mediterranean. Thus, the actions of Orion, Comet and Penguin in the local waters in 1940 became the first link in the fatal chain of events that ended on November 19, 1941 with the collision of Cormoran and Sydney ...

Due to alleged Allied operations against auxiliary cruisers, the newly minted Rear Admiral sent a message to the RWM about the need to change the theater of operations, indicating the Galapagos Islands as the new area. Berlin did not agree to this and sent the Komet to the Antarctic Ross Sea to hunt for the Allied whaling fleets, which at the moment the Penguin was doing on the other side of the globe. From the Tuamotu Islands, the Comet headed southeast, passing the Chatham Islands after February 1. On February 10, the raider crossed the 180th meridian, and six days later approached the ice barrier. However, fortunately for the English and Norwegian captains of the Ahabs, only Japanese ships came across the Germans along the way.

So on February 22, the raider met the Nissin-Maru base with a tanker and a whaling flotilla, from which the Germans learned that the Norwegians and the British had not been shown here for more than a year. In addition to the information received, the rear admiral made a profitable barter, exchanging liquor for whale meat, some supplies and gas for acetylene torches. On February 27, the Komet reached the southernmost point of its odyssey - 71 ° S. and 76°44? o.d. Eissen reported the situation and the next day received an order to go to Kerguelen Island to meet with the Penguin and the supply ship Alstertor. Bypassing the Australian-owned island of Heard, the raider reached Kerguelen on March 7th. After two days, he changed his anchorage, dropping anchor at the abandoned village of French whalers Jeanne d'Arc. Although the settlement had been empty for eight years, the Germans got hold of some equipment and small things. Divers examined the ship's hull, and it turned out that the unsuccessful navigation in Antarctic waters However, it also gave a positive result - the underwater part was completely cleared of shells that had grown in the southern seas.Eissen, like Rogge, allowed the team to stretch their legs on the shore.

On March 11, the Komet weighed anchor and, leaving the hospitable island for itself, went to sea. At 10.50 the next day, 120 miles east of Kerguelen, a rendezvous with the Penguin and the Apstertor took place. From the supplier received 625 150-mm and 800 37-mm shells. After parting with his colleagues two days later, Eissen headed to the secret point "Theodore" of the "Siberia" region (26 ° S / 80 ° E). The tanker "Ole Jacob" was supposed to be waiting for him there. The meeting took place as planned on March 24. After that, the Komet cruised unsuccessfully for six weeks in its assigned zone south of 20 degrees south latitude, and east of 80 degrees east longitude.

On May 9, when the rear admiral was already thinking of returning to the more successful waters of the Pacific Ocean, he learned from intercepted radio messages about the sinking of the Penguin by the English heavy cruiser Cornwall. Then Aissen had the idea to use the surviving reconnaissance ship Kruder "Adjutant" for mining the ports of New Zealand, about which he notified the RWM. Berlin agreed and, through the Kormoran, transmitted the order to the commander of the Adjutant, Lieutenant Hemmer, to go to connect with the Comet.

May 21 at 25°53? S and 90°11? o.d. rendezvous took place. Hemmer was a day late, and the meeting with Eissen, according to his recollections, turned out to be very cool. Then the raider headed southeast, leading a scout in tow to save fuel. During the transition to the Adjutant, an ancient 60-mm gun was installed, which was used on the Comet as a signal and two 20-mm aircraft guns that previously belonged to Spatz. They reloaded the ammunition - 260 60-mm and 2000 20-mm shells and replaced 12 north-polarized TMV magnetic mines left over from the time of joint operations with the Penguin with 20 south-polarized ones. The rangefinder, taken from the British Ranjitein sunk in 1940 together with the Orion, also came in handy. Work went on day and night. On June 11 at 11.25, when the ships were south of Tasmania, Robert Eissen sent the Adjutant on an independent voyage under the command of Lieutenant Carsten. Hemmer received only the post of navigator. The Komet moved northeast to the Balbo area (29°S/152°W) to meet with the supply vessel Anneliese Essberger. They were to meet again on June 28, July 1 or 3 at a point located 200 miles from Chatham Island at a course of 235 °. July 3 is the deadline, possible under adverse conditions.

Karsten and Hemmer did an excellent job with the dangerous task they were given. On the night of June 25, the Adjutant laid ten mines at Littleton, and a day later another ten at Port Nicholson near Wellington. Unfortunately for the Germans, it later turned out that the New Zealanders did not even suspect the existence of mine cans until the end of the war, until the official documents of the Kriegsmarine fell into their hands. The zero effectiveness of this daring and dangerous operation is today explained by defects in magnetic mines. On the way back, the "Adjutant" had a breakdown of the car, and Karsten, deciding to use the fact that a strong east wind was blowing all this time, ordered to make sails out of canvas. The rest of the journey had to be covered under sail, or only medium and low pressure cylinders were turned on in the car. At the same time, the speed did not exceed 8–9 knots.

The long-awaited meeting with the raider took place on July 1 at the appointed point. At 7:25 a.m., observers on Mars "Comet" spotted an unknown ship from the port side aft. The raider increased his speed and went in that direction. The "Adjutant" was soon identified. At 8.10 Karsten semaphored about the completion of the task. For a solemn meeting, a free watch lined up on the starboard side of the auxiliary cruiser and greeted the minelayer who passed along the side with a three-time "Sieg Heil". Soon the commander of the "Adjutant" boarded the raider and reported to the Rear Admiral on the results of the campaign. It turned out that the power plant of the former whaler had fallen into complete disrepair and could not be repaired. This circumstance put an end to the fate of the "adjutant" of the two raiders. Eissen immediately decided to remove weapons, instruments, supplies, valuables from the minelayer and flood it, while noting in the KTV that the minelayer had completed the task perfectly.

Despite the serious excitement, unloading with the help of two motor launches was carried out quickly, and by 13.45 the small ship was prepared for flooding. Then kingstones were opened on the former whaler. As a practice, the rear admiral decided to sink it with artillery, having worked out the battle on a collision course on the starboard side. "Komet" retreated to a distance of 52 hectometers and opened fire from 150-mm guns. Then he approached at a distance of 40 hectometers to give practice to the calculations of anti-aircraft guns. Shooting was satisfactory - despite the long distance and small size of the target, the raider's gunners scored three hits with 150-mm shells and many 37-mm ones. However, the minelayer sank slowly and reluctantly, under the influence of water through open kingstones, since the shells hit above the waterline. At 16.00, having passed three oceans under the flag of the Kriegsmarine, but never seeing Germany, the Adjutant disappeared forever under the waves at a point with coordinates 41 ° 36? S and 173°03? z.d., and "Komet" continued its journey.

July 9 marks a year since the "Komet" was at sea. In this regard, the entire team was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, and Eissen could award five Iron Crosses 1st Class at his discretion. Four received them - first officer Hushenbet, senior mechanic Alme and Karsten with Hemmer. Rear Admiral left one award in reserve.

On July 14, at the agreed point "Balbo", a rendezvous with the blockade breaker "Annelise Essberger", which left Dairen on June 20, took place. 692 tons of solarium and some supplies were taken from him. Refueling took place with great difficulty and took five whole days. This was explained by the fact that the blockade breaker did not have fuel hoses, and "Komet" back in 1940 transferred its own to "Orion". I had to adapt the sleeves from fire hoses for this purpose. Eissen handed over the mail and a copy of the KTV to the Anneliese. Together they sailed eastward until July 25, after which the blockade breaker continued to sail alone, safely arriving in Bordeaux on September 10.

The Komet, after parting with the Anneliese Essberger, headed for the Galapagos Islands. On July 29, Rear Admiral received an order from the RVM to return to Europe by the end of October, so that the raider could be equipped for the next outing in the winter of 1941-1942. On August 3, he solemnly announced to the team that they would celebrate Christmas at home. During all this time, "Komet" did not find a single ship.

The unsuccessful voyage had already lasted 227 days, when at 14.35 on August 14, observers noticed the British transport "Australind" (5019 brt., 1929) of the Australian Steamship Company. It was sailing from Adelaide to Britain via the Panama Canal with a cargo of zinc, fruit, honey and other goods. "Komet", disguised as a Japanese ship, at 15.37 fired a warning shot demanding to stop. In response, Captain W. J. Stephen sent gunners to the aft 102 mm gun and ordered a signal for help to be sent. The British ship, increasing its speed, tried to escape. However, the German radio operators successfully jammed the radio message, and seven aimed volleys from a distance of 30 hectometers put everything in its place. In total, the gunners fired 30 150-mm guns, destroying the radio room with the second salvo, and the captain was also killed. Ten minutes later, the freighter was on fire. In addition to Stephen, the third and fourth mechanics were killed, three were injured. 42 people were transferred on board the raider, and Karsten, who moved to the burning ship, took mail, radio, provisions and some equipment. At 18.32, Australind was sunk by demolition charges and aerial bombs. "Komet" headed for the Galapagos Islands.

On 14 August, lookouts spotted a vessel ahead, identified as a Dutch vessel. Since the maximum speed of the Comet at that time was only 12 knots, it was not possible to catch up with it. On the same night, the raider's radio operators spotted the negotiations of the British refrigerator Lohmonar with the administration of the Panama Canal about the time of passage through it. From the data received, it followed that the transport would proceed in the immediate vicinity of the Comet. Eissen ordered to drift, and on August 17 at 9.35 the observers saw a ship on the horizon. At 1045 HSK-7 dropped its camouflage and fired a warning shot. The transport responded with two very inaccurate salvos from the stern gun and then surrendered (5°S/90°W). It turned out to be the Dutch cargo ship "Kota Nopan" (7322 brt, 1931) with a crew of 51 people, headed by captain W. Hatenboer, owned by Rotterdam Lloyd. He went from Makassar to New York with invaluable strategic raw materials - 1514 tons of raw rubber, 1228 tons of zinc ore, 1116 tons of manganese ore. In addition, the dry cargo ship had a lot of foodstuffs. American insurers valued this cargo at one million dollars at the exchange rate of that time. Finding out that he was on board a Dutch ship, Eissen immediately sent a radiogram to Berlin and began to reload the most valuable trophies on the Komet. Empty barrels and all sorts of consumables flew overboard. The faulty Meteorite suffered the same fate. The only serious problem was the almost empty fuel tanks of the Dutch ship.

Two days later, in the midst of an overload, another ship appeared on the horizon. The raider quickly gathered his boats and rushed after him. After a short chase, the Germans opened fire at 8,000 yards on the transport. He immediately began to give distress signals and tried to break away from the enemy, but several shells that exploded nearby cooled his ardor and at 16.55 the British ship Devon (9036 brt, 1915), owned by the British-Indian Shipping Company, stopped. He went from Newcastle upon Tyne to New Zealand. On board were 4570 tons of spare parts for cars, aircraft, used car tires and a crew of 144 people, under the command of Captain R. Redwood. The boarding team recognized the cargo as of little value, the ship was old and put it to the bottom at 19.30 with explosive charges. Subsequently, in order to avoid a crush, all the "colored" were transferred to the Kota Nopan, and the entire Australinda team, the British officers from the Devon and part of the Dutch officers from the Kota Nopan remained on the Comet itself.

By this time, it became clear from radio intercepts that clouds were gathering over the Comet. On August 24, the British issued a warning that a German raider was operating in the eastern Pacific. In response to Eissen's request, the RWM allowed him to leave the dangerous area and, having gone to the Balbo area, meet with the supply ship Munsterland, which left the Japanese port of Yokohama on August 25. On August 30, when the Comet team was still reloading, a ship appeared on the horizon again. The rear admiral decided not to pay attention for the time being, considering him too fast, and rushed in pursuit with only the onset of twilight, but could not catch up. After that, when about 600 tons of the most valuable cargo were reloaded onto the raider, 25 German sailors switched to Kota Nopan, and Aissen led his small detachment to the southwest.

September 20 "Komet" and "Kota Nopan" at the point "Romulus" (28 ° 44? S / 152 ° 16? W) met with Atlantis. Initially, the friendly atmosphere cooled somewhat with the arrival of the Münsterland. This was due to the fact that Eissen began to claim some of the fresh food and beer from the share of Atlantis. Rogge managed to convince the rear admiral about the products, but he never gave in to the beer. In return, the rear admiral supplied his colleague with ammunition, seaplane fuel, an X-ray machine, clothing and some equipment, taking some rice for his prisoners of war. In addition, some prisoners from the Atlantis switched to the Komet and Kota Nopan. On September 24, the raiders broke up.

Now the path of "Comet" and "Kota Nopan" lay to Cape Horn. The very next day, another distribution of awards took place on the raider - 11 more people received Iron Crosses of the 1st class. On September 27, both ships rounded Cape Horn, after which they got into a severe storm that lasted four days. On October 17, Eissen released the prize, which, on the orders of the RWM, took a different route, safely reaching Bordeaux exactly one month later. The next day, the Komet once again changed its appearance, turning into the Portuguese ship S. Tom. Following the Atlantic waters, the raider spotted merchant ships several times, but the diesels, which were worn out, did not allow them to give sufficient speed for the chase. As a result, the RVM forbade the Comet to hunt, and ordered to meet with the blockade breaker Odenwald. However, the raider failed. On November 6, when the rendezvous point with the Odenwald (1°N/28°W) was 187 miles away, Eissen received word that the blockade-breaking crew had scuttled the vessel when it was stopped by the light cruiser Omaha and destroyer "Somers" from the American TG 3.6. On the same day, the Komet crossed the equator for the eighth and last time.

On November 17, near the Azores, a long-awaited rendezvous with the submarine U-652 (Oberleutnant zursee Fraatz) took place, and the next day with U-561 (Oberleutnant zursee Bartels). Soon the raider reached the territorial waters of Spain. November 23 "Komet" passed the traverse of Cape Ortegal, being disguised as "Sperrbrecher-52" and already having air cover. Minesweepers met him in the morning, and on the 26th HSK-7 arrived at Cherbourg. The next day, he moved to Le Havre, from where, without stopping, a raider with an escort consisting of three destroyers T-4, T-7 and T-12, five minesweepers M-9, M-10, M-12, M-21 and M- 153, and 6 "raumbots" (R-65, R-66, R-67, R-72, R-73 and R-76), went on a breakthrough across the English Channel. At 4:10 a.m., a skirmish with British torpedo boats thrown to intercept from Dover took place behind Cape Gris-Neut, but they could not prevent the convoy from reaching Dunkirk. During the battle, only one person on the Comet was slightly wounded. Fortune continued to smile at Eissen further: at 15.20, the British Bristol Blenheim attacked the raider with four bombs, one of which hit the bridge directly, but did not explode. At 18.00 on November 30, the Komet moored at the pier in Hamburg, where he was given a solemn welcome. Thus ended the round-the-world epic of the smallest German raider. On the 29th, Robert Eissen was awarded the Knight's Cross, which was presented to him on December 1 by the commander of the Nord group, Admiral General R. Karls. After returning, the sailors became the focus of Nazi Germany. A propaganda film was made from the footage filmed by cameramen on board the raider, and the Comet team became the heroes of the Reich.

The further service of Robert Eissen proceeded on the coast. According to the German historian K. A. Müggenthaler, he was not particularly popular in Berlin. Perhaps that is why his career did not take off further. The rear admiral held the following positions: from March 1942 - communications officer of the Navy with the 4th air fleet on the Eastern Front; from August 1942 - head of the naval department in Oslo; from August 1944 - commander of the III military district (Vienna); from February 1945 until the end of the war he was at the disposal of the Reserves Inspectorate in Vienna, resigning on April 30, 1945.

With the formation of the Bundesmarine, he returned to the service, becoming head of the hydrographic service. Robert Eissen died on March 31, 1960 in Baden-Baden, just two days before his 68th birthday. He was a real raider commander - smart, strong-willed, inventive, who managed to successfully fight in the most difficult conditions and circumstances. Even opponents considered him, albeit a little pompous, but a real Prussian gentleman officer. According to the rear admiral's will, his former adjutant Wilfried Karsten published Eissen's book about the raider's campaign, writing in the preface that he was a very respected commander, who was "remembered with gratitude."

| | Manufacturer "Deshimag" Launched into the waterJanuary 16, 1937 StatusSunk 14 October 1942 Main characteristics Displacement7500 t
3297 brt Length115.4 m Width15.3 m Draft6.5 m Engines2 × 6-cylinder diesels travel speed16 knots cruising range61,000 nautical miles Autonomy of navigation236 days Crew267 people Armament Artillery6 × 150 mm
1 × 75 mm Flak2 × 37 mm
4 × 20 mm Mine and torpedo armament6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes
30 EMC naval mines
fabric LS2 Aviation Group2 Arado Ar 196 A-1 aircraft Media files at Wikimedia Commons

History of creation

The merchant ship "Ems" was built in Bremen by the firm "Deschimag" for the "North German Lloyd". Launched on January 16, 1937.

One of the ships of a series of dry cargo ships (four ships of the same type - "Drau", "Aider", "Iller" and "Mur", and two semi-sisterships, "Saar" and "Memel").

Technical specifications

• Dimensions: length 115.4 m, width 15.3 m, draft 6.5 m
• Displacement: 7500 t (3297 brt)
• One deck, 4 cargo hatches
• Power plant: 2 × 6-cylinder two-stroke MAN diesel engines (3900 hp)
• Max speed: 16 knots
• Fuel capacity: 2485 tons
• Cruising range: 61,000 miles at 9 knots,
• Endurance: 236 days

At the beginning of World War II, she was requisitioned, refitted at the Howaldtswerke AG shipyard as an auxiliary cruiser, and in this capacity joined the Kriegsmarine on 2 June 1940.

The smallest of these ships, the Komet, in addition to powerful artillery and mine-torpedo weapons, had on board a high-speed boat designed for torpedo attacks and mine laying, and seaplanes.

Armament

Crew - 267 people (including 17 officers).

fighting

First hike

Exit to the sea

Under the command of Captain zur see Robert Eissen, the ship left Gotenhafen on the evening of July 3, 1940 and, accompanied by security forces, headed north through the Danish Straits along the coast of Norway. On July 6, he arrived in Kristiansand, where he refueled, fresh water and waited out the alarm caused by the appearance of British warships west of the Skagerrak.

Crossing the Northern Sea Route

The Soviet leadership agreed to escort the cruiser only after lengthy negotiations with the German side. Despite the previously signed Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939) and the confidential agreement on trade cooperation (1940), the Soviet leadership wanted to maintain the appearance of neutrality and therefore paid great attention to the secrecy of the operation. Initially, an agreement was reached to escort 26 ships, including four auxiliary cruisers, but later, due to various difficulties, it was decided to limit to one ship. This ship became "Komet".

Disguised (still in Kristiansand) under the Soviet icebreaking steamer Semyon Dezhnev, the ship rounded the North Cape and reached the area north of Kolguev Island. There, while engaged in combat training of the crew and hydrographic research, for some time he waited for the approach of Soviet ships, which were supposed to accompany him on the next section of the route (the Soviet Union, which was neutral at that time, agreed to secretly help the Comet pass along the northern coast of the USSR along the Northern Sea Route).

Due to the difficult ice conditions, the meeting with the Soviet icebreakers was postponed several times. Finally, on August 13, a radio message from Berlin announced that the Lenin icebreaker would be waiting for them in the Matochkin Shar Strait. The next day, not finding the promised escort vessel at the rendezvous point, Eissen entered the strait without a pilot, and here it turned out that the Lenin with the caravan of ships had already left a week ago. Having taken on board two Soviet pilots, "Komet" (this time as a merchant ship "Donau") continued along the Kara Sea, but was soon forced to return again, since the icebreaker was already far away and it was not safe to be here.

This was the only case of the passage of the Kriegsmarine ship by the Northern Sea Route. The data obtained by the raider was later used by German cruisers and submarines during the fighting in the Arctic.

Pacific Ocean

Heading to the cruising area assigned to him, the Komet withstood a strong storm and on September 30 approached the Caroline Islands. Two days later, during landing, the hydroplane he had on board crashed, which significantly reduced his reconnaissance capabilities.

"Komet" for an hour from all the guns fired at the island: warehouses, fuel storage, industrial facilities. The shelling led to great destruction and fires. Phosphate supplies stopped for several months.

The attack on Nauru caused a great international outcry, including in Japan, since she, too, was heavily dependent on this valuable raw material, which she lost for a long time because of this action. In addition, the fire that arose as a result of the shelling destroyed a large pile of phosphorites already purchased by the Japanese. The Japanese government said that these actions of the German raider called into question the maintenance of German ships in Japanese bases. As a consequence of this, Eissen received a reprimand from the leadership of the Kriegsmarine, which, however, was of a formal nature. Shortly before that, on January 1, 1941, he was awarded the rank of Rear Admiral.

Given the increased activity of the Allied fleets in the area, it was decided to redeploy to the Indian Ocean.

Indian Ocean

After the death of the Penguin, the auxiliary vessel of the latter, the Adjutant, joined the Comet, was equipped for laying mines and sent to New Zealand. After laying mines near Wellington, she rejoined the Comet on July 1, but due to engine problems, she was soon flooded.

In mid-July, the Komet replenished its fuel and food supplies from the supply vessel Annelise Essberger, after which it turned east.

Return

On November 16, Cat Nopan successfully arrived in France, and on November 26, met by its submarines, arrived in Cherbourg and Comet. On November 28, he passed the English Channel with a powerful guard and on November 30 was already in Cuxhaven, then moved to Hamburg. A solemn meeting was organized for the crew; in Berlin, in the presence of the Nazi leadership, the sailors were honored.

Having made a round-the-world trip, the Komet spent 516 days sailing and left behind a total of about 87,000 miles in four oceans.

Second campaign and death

The second campaign with a new crew under the command of Captain zur see Ulrich Brokzin began in the autumn of 1942.

Only a week after leaving Hamburg, the Komet, despite being heavily guarded, was attacked by British torpedo boats in the English Channel off Cape Hoag abeam Cherbourg. Two torpedoes fired by the MTB 236 hit the ship, after which they detonated the ammunition; The ship broke into two pieces and sank to the bottom. 251 people died, there were no rescues.

results

Sunk and captured ships, together with Orion:

date	Vessel name	Type	Affiliation	Tonnage, brt	Cargo	Fate
1940-11-25 November 25	Holmwood	cargo ship	New Zealand	00546 546		sunk by artillery
1940-11-27 November 27	Rangitane	passenger liner	Great Britain	16712 16 712		sunk by artillery
1940-12-06 Dec 6	Triona	cargo ship	Australia	04413 4 413	phosphates	sunk by artillery and torpedoes
1940-12-07 Dec 7	Vinnie	cargo ship	Norway	05181 5 181
1940-12-07 Dec 7	Komata	cargo ship	Australia	03900 3 900		sunk by demolition charges
1940-12-08 December 8	Triadic	cargo ship	Australia	06378 6 378		sunk by demolition charges
1940-12-08 December 8	Triaster	cargo ship

The German raiders were called "strange ships". Appearing from "nowhere", they destroyed enemy ships and disappeared without a trace ...

The military plan of the German command provided for the conversion of twenty-six merchant ships into cruisers. The first of them went to sea in 1939, the rest - in the first half of 1940. Hitler had agreed in advance with Japan on the use of her anchorages. Special supply vessels were constantly in neutral waters, from which the raiders were refueled with fuel, food, fresh water and ammunition, and plans for further military operations were transmitted.

Collecting data on raiders was a "headache" for many intelligence agencies in the world. Firstly, because the raiders observed strict radio silence, interrupting it only for the time of "rendezvous" with supply ships or when returning to their bases. Secondly, because they carefully planned their movements in the maritime space, bypassing places where they could be interested. The successful work of the raiders was greatly facilitated by excellent disguise. Even if the raider was identified or aroused reasonable suspicion, there was little benefit from this. The crews quickly repainted the ship, installed false superstructures, chimneys, masts, and after two or three days the information did not correspond to reality.

The raiders used harsh tactics, in no case allowing the overtaken victim to broadcast a distress signal or an attack message. They either opened fire without warning, or warned the overtaken vessel that any transmission to the air threatened him with death. Pirates often attacked at night. On board most of the sea robbers was a small Arado-type seaplane, which made it possible to avoid encounters with warships and to detect next victims in the sea ...

However, there were weaknesses in the German raiding system. First of all - supply. Search operations carried out in 1942 with the help of radio direction finding stations successfully ended with the "calculation" and then the destruction of supply ships. It was a strong blow to raiding.

The active use of raiders caused very significant economic damage to the countries of the anti-Hitler bloc. Its scale can be judged even by individual episodes. In March 1940, the Atlantis raider sank 22 Allied merchant ships. April of the same year - the cruiser "Orion" sank 10 English ships, laid minefields at the ports of New Zealand. The Thor raider destroyed 12 ships. The most productive raider is Penguin. He captured and sank ships with a total tonnage of 180,000 tons, including 2 mother ships and 12 whalers. Raider "Mikhel" destroyed ships with a total tonnage of 60,000 tons.

It is necessary to tell about the raider "Komet" in more detail.

Germany conducted successful military operations in the North back in Kaiser times: minefields in the throat of the White Sea in 1915-1916, "unlimited" submarine warfare in the Norwegian, North and Barents Seas ... German submarines to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. They sent the British cruiser Hampshire to the bottom with Lord Kitchener, the British Minister of War, who tried to pay an official visit to Russia in 1916.

The interest of the Germans in the North did not weaken in subsequent years. In 1931, the German airship Graf Zeppelin, chartered by the Soviet government, circled a vast region of the Arctic. The photographs he made during this flight were successfully used by German intelligence in military operations against the USSR in 1941. With the coming to power of Hitler, interest in the North with a view to using the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route for its own purposes reached its apogee in Germany, especially since the Soviet leadership did not prevent its ally from doing this, but, on the contrary, hospitably opened all the doors to him.

In 1940, the German naval attache in Moscow, Captain 2nd Rank Norbert von Baumbach, on behalf of the Kriegsmarine command, requests and receives the “go-ahead” from the Kremlin for escorting a single military vessel through the Northern Sea Route. This operation was codenamed Fall Grün. At that time, World War II was already in full swing in Europe. By allowing the passage of a German warship through the Northern Sea Route, the Soviet Union thereby violated its neutrality and actually entered the war on the side of Nazi Germany.

The warship that set off on a campaign across the Arctic Ocean was the former cargo-and-passenger ship Ens, converted into an auxiliary cruiser Komet. An experienced officer was appointed its commander - Captain 1st Rank Robert Eissen, who knew the Arctic well. The ship could accommodate up to 300 personnel, could be in autonomous navigation for a year, and was superior in armament to the leader of the destroyers of that time.

In June 1940, the Komet arrived in Norway, where its secret mission had to be suspended - British destroyers appeared near the Skagerrak Strait. After refueling with fuel and fresh water in Bergen, he moved on, disguised as the Soviet icebreaker Dezhnev. In anticipation of icebreaking assistance in the Barents Sea, the Komet moved north, away from the Arctic shipping route. Eissen was engaged in working out the combat training of the ship and crew.

Under the guise of the German cargo ship "Donau" "Komet" in mid-August, without waiting for the icebreaker, with a large share of navigational risk, began to move along the Matochkin Shar Strait. In one of the remote bays, he picked up two Soviet pilots, specially left by the Lenin icebreaker to escort the German ship, and moved further east. But navigation without an icebreaker was very dangerous, and the ship had to return to Matochkin Shar and anchor in anticipation of a message from the Lenin icebreaker, which was already moving towards Dikson Island.

In the same August, the Komet got into a severe storm in the area of ​​the Nordenskiöld archipelago and anchored near Tyrtov Island. Having no navigation charts for this area, Robert Eissen completely relied on the guidance of Soviet pilots. However, the raider was again detained at Tyrtov - at that time the icebreaker "Stalin" was escorting the Soviet submarine Shch-423, which was making the transition from Polyarny to Vladivostok. Having sent the icebreaker "Lenin" back to the west to the area of ​​​​its wiring, "Stalin" returned for the German raider and, leading the "Komet", continued to move east. At 78° north latitude, in conditions of continuous fog, both ships got into heavy ice, but when they got out, they changed the wiring situation. "Stalin" returns to the next caravan, and "Comet" at full speed rushes to the East Siberian Sea, where it meets with the icebreaker "Kaganovich". And again a stop - now an emergency: east of the Bear Islands, the raider, already under the Kaganovich wiring, fell into the hardest ice and received damage to the steering machine. After an emergency repair, the vessels travel another 60 tense ice miles at minimum speed.

On the first of September, having entered clear water, the Kaganovich icebreaker in the area of ​​Ayon Island transmits to the Komet an order from Moscow to return back to the west - from where it came. R. Eissen, in complete bewilderment, refuses such an offer and, having made an official statement about his personal decision to continue independent movement to the east, disembarks Soviet pilots in the Chaun Bay and proceeds further without escort and support.

What happened?

Permission to pilot a German ship along the Northern Sea Route was given personally by Stalin. British intelligence found out about this. The Kremlin rushed about: in order to maintain the status of a neutral state, the Soviet government tried to get away from the conflict with England and maintain allied relations with Germany, eventually pretending that the Komet passed through the Northern Sea Route at its own risk.

"Komet" overcame the last frontier of multi-year ice at Cape Shelaginsky, passing the Bering Strait at night, on September 6, 1940, disguised as a Japanese ship, broke into operational space. The distance from the Matochkin Shar Strait to the Bering Strait of 3,300 nautical miles (including 720 in ice) was covered in 23 days. The Sevmorput issued an invoice to Germany for a range of ice escort services in the amount of 950,000 Reichsmarks, which was promptly paid.

The auxiliary cruiser Komet, kindly let by Stalin into the Pacific Ocean, carried out strikes against the ships of the anti-Hitler coalition for two years. In November 1942, the Komet tried to enter the second raid along shipping communications, but already while passing the English Channel, it was attacked and sunk by the British Catalina aircraft.