German auxiliary cruiser Widder

Widder
History
Germany
Owner	HAPAG
Builder	Howaldtswerke, Kiel
Launched	1930
Christened	Neumark
Homeport	Kiel
Fate	1939 requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine
Nazi Germany
Namesake	Aries
Operator	Kriegsmarine
Builder	Blohm & Voss
Yard number	3
Acquired	1939
Recommissioned	9 December 1939
Decommissioned	1941
Renamed	Widder, 1939 Neumark, 1940
Reclassified	Auxiliary cruiser, 1939
Homeport	Kiel
Nickname(s)	HSK-3 Schiff-21 Raider D
Fate	War reparation to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Namesake	Ulysses
Acquired	circa 1945
Renamed	Ulysses
Fate	Sold, 1950
Germany
Acquired	1950
Renamed	Fechenheim
Fate	Wrecked near Bergen, 1955
General characteristics
Class and type	Merchant vessel
Tonnage	7,851 GRT
Displacement	16,800 tons
Length	152 m (499 ft)
Beam	18.2 m (60 ft)
Draught	8.3 m (27 ft)
Propulsion	Geared turbine four boilers 6,200 hp (4,600 kW)
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Range	34,000 nmi (63,000 km; 39,000 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Endurance	141 days
Complement	364
Armament	6 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 1 × 75 mm (3 in) gun 1 × twin 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 2 × twin 2 cm (0.79 in) FlaK 30 4 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes 92 x mines
Aircraft carried	2 × Heinkel He 114B

Widder (HSK 3) was an auxiliary cruiser (Hilfskreuzer) of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that was used as a merchant raider in the Second World War. Her Kriegsmarine designation was Schiff 21, to the Royal Navy she was Raider D. The name Widder (Ram) represents the constellation Aries in German.

Early history[]

Built for HAPAG, the Hamburg America Line, at Howaldtswerke, Kiel, she was launched in 1930 as the freighter Neumark. After an uneventful career she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine for use as a commerce raider. She was converted for this purpose by Blohm & Voss in late 1939, and commissioned as the raider Widder on 9 December of that year. She sailed on her first and only raiding voyage in May 1940.

Raider voyage[]

Widder sailed as part of the Kriegsmarine's first wave of commerce raiders, sailing on 6 May 1940 under the command of Korvettenkapitän (later Fregattenkapitän) Helmuth von Ruckteschell.

Leaving Germany on 6 May 1940, she made for Bergen, in Norway. On 13 May the Widder confronted the British submarine HMS Clyde on the surface, enjoining an exchange of gunfire which lasted for over an hour, with no hits for either side. After the engagement, the cruiser sought shelter in Sandsfjord. On 14 May she sailed to the open sea, crossing the Arctic Circle the next day. On 21 August 1940, 800 miles west of the Canary Islands, she sank the SS Anglo Saxon, which had been carrying a cargo of coal from Newport, Wales, to Bahía Blanca, Argentina. After refuelling from the auxiliary ship Nordmark, she slipped through the Denmark Strait. Over a 5½ month period she captured and sank ten ships, totalling 58,644 GRT.

The Widder was reported to have machine-gunned the crew of the SS Anglo Saxon in their life-boats; one jolly boat with seven crewmen got away. Over two months later, on 27 October, the last two survivors in the boat landed in the Bahamas after a 2,275 mile voyage. One of the two died when his new ship was torpedoed in 1941, the other survived the war and testified against von Ruckteschell, who was sentenced to seven years for his war crime.

Having completed her mission, she returned to occupied France on 31 October 1940.

Later history[]

Deemed unsuitable as a merchant raider due to persistent drive problems, Widder was re-christened Neumark, and used as a repair ship in Norway, playing a major role in repairing the battleship Tirpitz in 1943/1944. After the war she was taken into British service as Ulysses, then sold back to Germany as Fechenheim in 1950 before being wrecked off Bergen in 1955. Her hull was scrapped shortly after.

She was one of only two German auxiliary cruisers to survive the war, after one 1940 cruise. Her captain, Helmuth von Ruckteschell, was one of only two German naval commanders convicted of war crimes at the end of the war.

Raiding career[]

Date	Ship name	Country	Tonnage	Fate
13 June 1940	British Petrol	United Kingdom	6,891 GRT	Sunk
26 June 1940	Krossfonn	Norway	9,323 GRT	Captured
10 July 1940	Davisian	United Kingdom	6,433 GRT	Sunk
13 July 1940	King John	United Kingdom	5,228 GRT	Sunk
4 August 1940	Beaulieu	Norway	6,114 GRT	Sunk
8 August 1940	Oostplein	Netherlands	5,059 GRT	Sunk
10 August 1940	Killoran	Finland	1,817 GRT	Sunk
21 August 1940	Anglo-Saxon	United Kingdom	5,596 GRT	Sunk
1 September 1940	Cymbeline	United Kingdom	6,317 GRT	Sunk
8 September 1940	Antonios Chandris	Greece	5,866 GRT	Sunk

References[]

• Paul Schmalenbach (1977). German Raiders 1895–1945. ISBN 0-85059-351-4.
• August Karl Muggenthaler (1977). German Raiders of World War II. ISBN 0-7091-6683-4.
• Stephen Roskill (1954). The War at Sea 1939–1945 Volume I.

External links[]

• Hilfskreuzer Widder