German auxiliary cruiser Michel

''Michel'' (HSK-9) was an auxiliary cruiser of Nazi Germany's '' Kriegsmarine'' that operated as a merchant raider during World War II. Built by Danziger Werft in Danzig 1938/39 as the freighter ''Bielsko'' for the Polish Gdynia-America-Line (GAL), she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine at the outbreak of World War II and converted into the hospital ship ''Bonn''. In the summer of 1941, she was converted into the auxiliary cruiser ''Michel'', and was commissioned on 7 September 1941. Known as ''Schiff'' 28, her Royal Navy designation was Raider H. She was the last operative German raider of World War II.

Construction and conversion

When the auxiliary cruiser ''Widder'' returned from her cruise to Germany, her engines were almost worn out. The hospital ship ''Bonn'' was converted into an auxiliary cruiser and mounted the weapons used by the ''Widder''.

First raiding voyage

Although ''Michel'' was scheduled to leave at the end of November 1941, she was unable to sail until March 1942 because of reconstruction delays. She then moved under heavy escort through the English Channel to a port in occupied France. She set off on her cruise sailed on 20 March 1942,commanded by ''Fregattenkapitan'' (later ''Kapitan zur See'') Helmuth von Ruckteschell, the former commander of ''Hilfskreuzer'' 3, the raider ''Widder'').

''Michel'' grounded on her first attempt to run through the Channel and had to return to port. She managed to reach the Atlantic on 20 March on her second try. On 14 and 15 March, British forces attacked the cruiser and her escorts, but without success. ''Michel'' began her operations in the South Atlantic and sank the British tanker ''Patelle'' () on 19 April. On 22 April her small torpedo boat, LS 4 ''Esau'' sank the American tanker ''Connecticut'' (), but an attack on the faster British freighter ''Menelaus'' failed on 1 May. The Royal Navy now sent the heavy cruiser HMS ''Shropshire'' and two AMCs to track her down. Nevertheless, ''Michel'' sank the Norse freighter ''Kattegat'' () on 20 May.

LS 4 ''Esau'' discovered the struggling US Liberty ship SS ''George Clymer'' () and scored two torpedo hits, though the freighter did not sink. The nearby British AMC '' Alcantara'' rescued her crew, but the ship had to be abandoned. The German ship retreated when the British AMCs came in sight and escaped detection. The British mistakenly presumed the ''George Clymer'' had been torpedoed by a submarine.

Other successes followed as ''Michel'' crossed the South Atlantic and entered the Indian Ocean. After a successful cruise of eleven and a half months, she arrived in Japan in March 1943, having offloaded the rescued allied sailors at Singapore.

During her 346 days at sea, ''Michel'' had intercepted and sunk 15 allied merchant ships, for a total of 98,586 tons (GRT).

Second raiding voyage

After a refit, ''Michel'' sailed from Yokohama on her second cruise on 21 May 1943, now under the command of KzS Günther Gumprich, who had previously commanded the ''Thor''.

She sailed along the west coast of Australia and crossed the Pacific Ocean to the coast of South America. ''Michel'' encountered and sank three allied ships over a five-month period, for a total of , before making her return to Japan.

The first prey of ''Michel'' was the 7715 GRT Norwegian freighter ''Høegh Silverdawn,'' sunk south-east of Cocos Islands (25.40S- 92.00E) on the early hours of 15 June, whilst on a voyage from Fremantle, Australia, to Abadan, Iran, with ammunition and general cargo. A total of 30 crew and 6
passengers were killed. Three survivors were saved after 11 days on a raft. Another 14 survivors arrived at India after 32 days and 3.100 nm in a damaged lifeboat.

The second merchant ship to be sunk by ''Michel'' in her second voyage was also Norwegian, the 9940 GRT tanker ''Ferncastle'', which went down the same day that ''Høegh Silverdawn''. The tanker was first torpedoed by ''Michel'''s midget motor torpedo boat LS4 ''Esau'', and then shelled by the auxiliary cruiser. A total of 24 seamen died, 18 in the raider's attack and six others aboard one of the tanker's lifeboats before being rescued.

The fate of her last victim, the 9977 GRT Norwegian tanker ''India'', sunk in the southern Pacific on 11 September 1943 with a loss of all hands, would not be known until after the war's end.Norwegian victims of Michel – MT ''India''
/ref> On 29 August, ''Michels lookouts had sighted what they identified as a ''Pensacola''-class cruiser. Gumprich ordered a northern course to avoid the powerful enemy warship. The log of the American light cruiser USS ''Trenton'' shows that she had a radar contact which lasted for 15 minutes on the previous day. ''Trenton'' was patrolling between and . Had the American cruiser investigated, the crew of the ''India'' might have been saved.

Fate

Almost within sight of Japan and only out from port, ''Michel'' was spotted by the US submarine ''Tarpon'' on 20 October 1943., p. 484 In one of the few instances of American submarines attacking a German ship during World War II, ''Tarpon'' fired a total of eight torpedoes in four successive strikes, of which four torpedoes struck home and detonated - the Mark 14 torpedo having reliability problems. ''Michel'' sank, taking down 290 of her crew, including the captain. The 116 survivors reached safety in Japan after a three-day journey in open boats. Scores of others had been left on rafts and floating wreckage, but the Japanese Imperial Navy search aircraft reported they had seen nothing. This caused some friction with the German Navy officers in Japan, who felt the Japanese seemed unconcerned about rescuing possible German survivors. The loss of the ''Michel'' marked the end of the cruises of German auxiliary commerce raiders.

Raiding career

First cruise:

* 1942-04-19
* 1942-04-22
* 1942-05-20
* 1942-06-07
* 1942-06-11
* 1942-07-15 ''Gloucester Castle''
* 1942-07-16
* 1942-07-17
* 1942-08-14
* 1942-09-10 MS American Leader
* 1942-09-11
* 1942-11-02 Other sources, such a
Wrecksite
credit with sinking ''Reynolds''
* 1942-11-29
* 1942-12-08
* 1943-01-02

Second cruise:

* 1943-06-15 .
* 1943-06-17
* 1943-09-11

References

Bibliography

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External links

on Bismarck & Tirpitz, with list of all captured ships.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michel
World War II commerce raiders
World War II cruisers of Germany
Ships built in Danzig
World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean
1939 ships
Ships sunk by American submarines
Auxiliary cruisers of the Kriegsmarine
Germany–Japan relations
Maritime incidents in October 1943