German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin explained

The Pinguin was a German auxiliary cruiser (Hilfskreuzer) which served as a commerce raider in World War II. The Pinguin was known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 33, and designated HSK 5. The most successful commerce raider of the war, she was known to the British Royal Navy as Raider F. The name Pinguin means penguin in German.

Early history

Formerly a freighter named Kandelfels, she was built by AG Weser in 1936, and was owned and operated by the Hansa Line, Bremen. In the winter of 1939/40, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine (KM) and converted to a warship by DeSchiMAG, Bremen. Her main armament was taken from the obsolete battleship .

Raider voyage

Pinguin was one of the first wave of raiders sent out by the Kriegsmarine, sailing on 15 June 1940 under the command of Fregattenkapitän (later Kapitän zur See) Ernst-Felix Krüder.

Slipping through the Denmark Straits, Pinguin made for her patrol area in the Southern Ocean.

In 10½ months at sea she accounted for 28 ships, totalling 136,000 tons (GRT).

Her most successful coup was the capture, on 14 January 1941, of most of the Norwegian whaling fleet in Antarctica, totalling three factory ships and 11 whalers.These were sent back as prizes to Europe, arriving in Bordeaux, occupied France in March 1941. One of the whalers was retained as an auxiliary raider and re-named Adjutant.

Adjutant went on to lay mines around New Zealand waters.^[1]

Fate

On 8 May 1941, Pinguin was sunk in a battle with the British heavy cruiser . She was the first auxiliary cruiser of the Kriegsmarine to be sunk in the war. 532 lives, among them 200 prisoners, were lost when Pinguin blew apart when the mines stored on board took a hit and exploded. Cornwall rescued 60 crew members and 22 prisoners who were originally crew of the 28 merchant ships the raider had either sunk or captured.

+ Ships sunk or captured by Pinguin
Date	Name	Displacement	Fate	Type	Nationality	Notes
31 July 1940	Domingo de Larrinaga		Sunk	Freighter	United Kingdom	Sunk by torpedo
27 August 1940	Filefjell		Sunk	Tanker	Norway	Sunk by explosive charges
27 August 1940	British Commander		Sunk	Tanker	United Kingdom	Sunk by torpedo
27 August 1940	Morviken		Sunk	Freighter	Norway	Sunk by explosive charges
12 September 1940	Benavon		Sunk	Freighter	United Kingdom	Sunk by gunfire, 21 dead
16 September 1940	Nordvard		Captured	Freighter	Norway	Valuable cargo of wheat, dispatched to Bordeaux with 200 prisoners, safely arrived, later used as a blockade runner
7 October 1940	Storstad		Captured	Tanker	Norway	Converted to minelayer, renamed Passat, sent with 100 mines to Bass Strait then dispatched to Bordeaux
19 November 1940	Nowshera		Sunk	Freighter	United Kingdom	Sunk by explosive charges, 113 prisoners
20 November 1940	Maimoa		Sunk	Freighter	United Kingdom	Hundreds of tons of frozen meat, butter and eggs transferred to Pinguin, sunk by explosive charges
21 November 1940	Port Brisbane		Sunk	Freighter	United Kingdom	Sunk by torpedo
30 November 1940	Port Wellington		Sunk	Freighter	United Kingdom	Sunk by gunfire, 82 prisoners including 7 women.
14 January 1941	Ole Wegger		Captured	Whaling Factory Ship	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Solglimt		Captured	Whaling Supply-ship	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Torlyn		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Pol VIII		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Pol IX		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Converted into auxiliary, renamed Adjutant
14 January 1941	Pol X		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Pelagos		Captured	Whaling Factory Ship	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Star XIV		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Star XIX		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Sunk by
14 January 1941	Star XX		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Star XXI		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Star XXII		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Star XXIII		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Dispatched to Bordeaux
14 January 1941	Star XXIV		Captured	Whaler	Norway	Sunk by
25 April 1941	Empire Light		Sunk	Freighter	United Kingdom	Sunk by explosive charges
28 April 1941	Clan Buchanan		Sunk	Freighter	United Kingdom	Sunk by explosive charges
7 May 1941	British Emperor		Sunk	Tanker	United Kingdom	Sunk by torpedo, prisoners taken aboard

+Sunk by mines from Pinguin and Passat
Date	Name	Displacement	Type	Nationality
7 November 1940			Passenger Freighter	United Kingdom
9 November 1940		[2]	Freighter	United States
5 December 1940	MV Nimbin		Freighter	Australia
26 March 1941	Millimumul		Fishing Trawler	Australia

Notes

1. http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/4009453/Search-for-minefield-in-Lyttelton Search for WW2 german mines
2. First US merchantman sunk by enemy action in World War II.

Bibliography

• Book: Brennecke, H J . 1954 . Ghost Cruiser HK33 .
• Book: Duffy, James P . 2005 . Hitler's Secret Pirate Fleet: The Deadliest Ships of World War II . University of Nebraska Press . 0-8032-6652-9.
• Book: Muggenthaler, August Karl . 1977 . German Raiders of World War II . 0-7091-6683-4.
• Book: Roskill, Stephen . Stephen Roskill . 1954 . The War at Sea 1939–1945 . I.
• Book: Schmalenbach, Paul . 1977 . German Raiders 1895–1945 . 0-85059-351-4.
• Book: Talbot-Booth, E.C. . 1936 . 1940 . Merchant Ships . London . Sampson Low, Marston & Co. .
• Ivanov, Lyubomir and Ivanova, Nusha. Whaling period. In: The World of Antarctica. Generis Publishing, 2022. pp. 91–94.

External links

• The Royal New Zealand Navy Official History describes the operations of Pinguin
• www.bismarck-class.dk
• DreadnoughtProject.org original plan images of the vessel.
• German Commerce Raider HK33 (Battle LIne series) Part 1 of 3
• German Commerce Raider HK33 (Battle LIne series) Part 2 of 3
• Norwegian Victims of Pinguin
• Marauders of the Sea, German Armed Merchant Ships During W.W. 2
• Cruise Of The Raider HK 33
• Operations of the Pinguin
• Cruises Of The Secret Raiders.

3.5°N 57.8°W