Orion (auxiliary cruiser)

The Kurmark was built in 1930 at the Blom und Foss shipyard in Hamburg for the GAPAG Hamburg-America line. For reasons of economy, the power plant removed from the New York liner was reused, which subsequently led to numerous technical problems.

Together with the Neumark (later Widder ), the Kurmark was one of the first vessels converted into auxiliary cruisers of the Kriegsmarine under the program that began on September 5, 1939 .

Raider Hike

As one of Germany's first auxiliary cruisers in World War II, the Orion left its base on April 6, 1940 , under the command of 2nd-Class Captain Kurt Weicher . Disguising himself as a ship of a neutral state, he marched to the south of the Atlantic Ocean , where he sank his first ship, the Hacksby.

In May 1940, he circled Cape Horn and entered the Pacific Ocean , in June in the territorial waters of New Zealand, he set mines near Auckland . On the night of June 13-14, the Niagara liner blew up on them and sank. Later, two more ships hit these mines, as well as two trawlers and a minesweeper. Further, Orion raided the Pacific and Indian Oceans and attacked 4 more ships, one of them was sent as a prize to France, the rest was sunk.

October 20, 1940 he met with the auxiliary cruiser "Comets" and the auxiliary vessel "Kulmerland". Together, they added another 7 vessels to their account, the largest of which was the Rangitain liner. The following year, they parted ways.

The next 6 months of cruising in the Indian Ocean brought only one victory - the ship Chaucer was sunk (July 1941).

The Orion returned to Bordeaux on August 23, 1941 , 510 days after the start of the campaign, having completed 127 337 miles and sunk 10 ships.

Fate

In 1944 it was renamed the "Hector" and was used as a training artillery ship. In January 1945, the name "Orion" was returned to him and used as a transport for the evacuation of refugees from eastern Germany across the Baltic Sea . On May 4, 1945 , on the way to Copenhagen , near Swinemuende , he was sunk by bombs during a raid on the 51st USSR mine and torpedo regiment . Of the more than 4,000 people on board, 150 escaped.

In 1952, the hull was disassembled for metal.

Results

Sunken and captured vessels:

Sunk in mines installed by Orion ^[2] :

Together with Comet:

The tonnage of vessels sunk and captured by Komet is about 80,000 gross tonnage (the tonnage of vessels sunk together with Komet is divided between them).

1. ↑ ^{1 2 3} The tonnage of vessels listed in the table in other sources may vary slightly. [1]
2. ↑ Data shown in the table in other sources may vary. [2]
3. ↑ The ownership of vessels listed in the table in other sources may vary. [3] [4]

• F. Ruge. War at Sea, 1939-1945 . - SPb. : Polygon, 2002 .-- 392 p. - (Military Historical Library). - ISBN 5-89173-027-8 .
• E. Porten. German fleet in the second world war . - Yekaterinburg: Mirror, 1997 .-- 240 p. - (Sea battles close-up).
• A.V. Platonov, Yu.V. Apalkov. German warships 1939-1945.
• SD Waters. German raiders in the Pacific . - 1949. - 31 p. - (Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939-1945).
• WD Dawson. 18 Battalion and Armored Regiment, Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force . - 1961. - 677 p. - (Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939-1945).
• SD Waters. The Royal New Zealand Navy . - 1956. - (Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939-1945).
• WG McClymont. To Greece . - 1959. - 538 p. - (Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939-1945).

• Bismarck & Tirpitz. Hilfskreuzer (Auxiliary Cruiser - Raider) - Orion (English)
• German Naval History. Orion (HSK1 )
• Die grossen Schiffseinheiten der deutsche Kriegsmarine 1933-1945. Schiff 36 - HSK 1 "ORION" (German)
• Lexikon der Wehrmacht. Schiff 36 "Orion" (German)
• NZETC.Orion (Ship )