German raiders were called “strange ships.” Appearing out of “nowhere,” they destroyed enemy ships and disappeared without a trace...

The war plan of the German command provided for the conversion of twenty-six merchant ships into cruisers. The first of them went to sea back in 1939, the rest - in the first half of 1940. Hitler had agreed in advance with Japan to use its anchorages. There were always special supply vessels 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 about raiders was a “headache” for many intelligence agencies around the world. Firstly, because the raiders observed strict radio silence, interrupting it only during a “rendezvous” with supply ships or when returning to their bases. Secondly, because they carefully planned their movements in the sea, avoiding places where they might be interested. The successful work of the raiders was greatly facilitated by excellent camouflage. Even if the raider was identified or aroused reasonable suspicion, it would be of little use. The crews quickly repainted the ship, installed false superstructures, chimneys, masts, and after two or three days the information was not true.

The raiders used tough tactics, in no case allowing the overtaken victim to broadcast a distress signal or message about the attack. They either opened fire without warning, or warned the overtaken ship that any broadcast would risk its destruction. Pirates often attacked at night. On board most of the sea robbers there was a small seaplane of the Arado type, which made it possible to avoid encounters with warships and to discover further victims at sea...

However, there were also weaknesses in the German raiding system. First of all - supply. Search operations carried out in 1942 using direction-finding stations successfully ended with the “calculation” and then destruction of supply ships. This 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 from individual episodes. In March 1940, the Atlantis raider sank 22 Allied merchant ships. April of the same year - the cruiser Orion sank 10 British ships and laid minefields near the ports of New Zealand. The Thor raider destroyed 12 ships. The most productive raider is “Penguin”. He captured and sunk ships with a total tonnage of 180,000 tons, including 2 mother ships and 12 whaling ships. The raider "Mikhel" destroyed ships with a total tonnage of 60,000 tons.

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

Germany waged 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 mercilessly sank warships and merchant ships of the Allies, sailing to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. They sent to the bottom the British cruiser Hampshire with Lord Kitchener, the British Minister of War, who tried to pay an official visit to Russia in 1916.

German interest in the North did not wane in subsequent years. In 1931, the German airship Graf Zeppelin, chartered by the Soviet government, flew over a large area of ​​the Arctic. The photo maps he made during this flight were successfully used by German intelligence in military operations against the USSR in 1941. With Hitler coming to power, interest in the North regarding the use of the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route for their own purposes reached its apogee in Germany, especially since the Soviet leadership did not interfere with its ally in this, but, on the contrary, hospitably opened all doors to him.

In 1940, the German naval attaché in Moscow, Captain 2nd Rank Norbert von Baumbach, on behalf of the Kriegsmarine command, requested and received the go-ahead from the Kremlin to pilot a single military vessel through the Northern Sea Route. This operation was codenamed "Fall Grün". In Europe at this time, the Second World War was already in full swing. 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 voyage across the Arctic Ocean was the former cargo and passenger ship Enns, converted into the auxiliary cruiser Komet. An experienced officer, Captain 1st Rank Robert Eissen, who knew the Arctic well, was appointed its commander. The ship could accommodate up to 300 personnel, could sail autonomously for a year, and was superior in armament to the leader of destroyers of that time.

In June 1940, 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 steamer Dezhnev. While awaiting icebreaker support in the Barents Sea, Komet went north, away from the Arctic shipping route. Eyssen was engaged in combat training of the ship and crew.

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

In the same August, "Komet" was caught in a severe storm in the Nordenskiöld archipelago and anchored near Tyrtov Island. Having no navigation charts for this area, Robert Eyssen relied entirely on the pilotage of Soviet pilots. However, near Tyrtov the raider was again detained - at that time the icebreaker "Stalin" escorted 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 escort, "Stalin" returned for the German raider and, leading the "Komet", continued to move east. At 78° north latitude, in conditions of continuous fog, both vessels got into heavy ice, but after getting out, they changed the pilotage situation. "Stalin" returns to the next caravan, and "Komet" rushes at full speed into 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 escort of the Kaganovich, fell into heavy ice and received damage to the steering gear. After emergency repairs, the ships travel another 60 intense ice miles at minimum speed.

On September 1, having entered clear water, the icebreaker "Kaganovich" in the area of ​​​​Aion Island transmits to the "Komet" an order from Moscow to return back to the west - where it came from. R. Eissen, in complete bewilderment, refuses such a proposal and, having made an official statement about his personal decision to continue his independent movement to the east, lands Soviet pilots in Chaunskaya Bay and proceeds further without pilotage or support.

What happened?

Permission to escort a German ship along the Northern Sea Route was given personally by Stalin. British intelligence found out about this. There was confusion in the Kremlin: in order to maintain the status of a neutral state, the Soviet government tried to avoid the conflict with England and maintain allied relations with Germany, ultimately pretending that the “Komet” had passed through the Northern Sea Route at its own peril and risk.

"Komet" overcame the last line of multi-year ice at Cape Shelaginsky, passing the Bering Strait at night, on September 6, 1940, disguised as a Japanese ship, it 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 Northern Sea Route issued an invoice to Germany for a range of ice wiring services in the amount of 950,000 Reichsmarks, which was immediately paid.

The auxiliary cruiser Komet, kindly allowed by Stalin into the Pacific Ocean, carried out attacks on ships of the anti-Hitler coalition for two years. In November 1942, "Komet" tried to go on a second raid along shipping communications, but already while passing the English Channel it was attacked and sunk by an English Catalina aircraft.

For many decades after the end of the Second World War in the Soviet Union, information about the escort of the German raider Komet by Soviet icebreakers along the Northern Sea Route to the East for operations in the Pacific Ocean in the summer of 1940 was reduced to a few lines in special, sometimes closed, publications. At the same time, this operation, to which the German command gave the code name “Fall Grün” (“Green Case”), was covered in the works of naval historians of the USA, England, Denmark and Germany back in the 50s. In 1953, a book of memoirs by the former commander of the raider, retired Rear Admiral Robert Eyssen, “On the Comet along the Northeast Passage” was published in Switzerland, and later, in the 60s, the War Diary of the Comet, which spoke quite frankly about this top secret operation.

The crew was staffed by the best specialists with extensive experience in long voyages and who had undergone special training. The ship had enough passenger cabins to accommodate a crew of 270 people. Supplies of food and equipment were taken on the basis of an autonomous voyage lasting at least a year. A variety of supplies allowed the ship to operate in tropical, Arctic and Antarctic waters. Sleighs, fur clothes, skis were not forgotten,
tropical shapes, mosquito nets, even trinkets for the savages - the inhabitants of islands lost in the ocean. The ship received strong weapons, no worse than those of a light cruiser. It was equipped with six guns, nine rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns, five torpedo tubes and 400 mines. On board there was a high-speed boat equipped for secret mine-laying. The armament was complemented by equipment for laying smoke screens and a powerful radio station. With a loaded fuel supply, the ship could travel 50 thousand miles. On board there was an Ar-196 seaplane manufactured by Arado Flugzeugwerke, GmbH. Many German battleships were armed with such aircraft as carrier-based aircraft. It was specially designed to meet the needs of the Kriegsmarine naval aviation.

Rear Admiral Robert Eyssen.

The commander of the ship was appointed an experienced naval officer, who had a reputation as the best hydrograph specialist with extensive experience in sailing in the Arctic, Captain zur See (analogous to our rank of captain of the first rank) Robert Eissen. He was a gifted naval specialist, a prominent hydrographic scientist, a persistent, inventive and strong-willed ship commander, an intelligent and strong man who knew how to fight in specific conditions and circumstances.
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. At first, an agreement was reached to escort 26 ships, including four auxiliary cruisers. However, later, due to various difficulties, it was decided to limit ourselves to one ship. This ship became the Comet.
Disguised (back in Kristiansand) as the Soviet icebreaker 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, he waited for some time for the approach of Soviet ships, which were supposed to accompany him on the next section of the route (the neutral Soviet Union at that time agreed to secretly help the Comet pass along the northern coast of Russia along the Northern Sea Route).

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

On August 19, permission was received to proceed further, but only on the 25th there was a meeting with the icebreaker Lenin, which took them to the Laptev Sea, where it handed over the Komet to the icebreaker Joseph Stalin. Having barely made it through the ice-covered area, the Komet continued its journey through free water to the Sannikov Strait on its own. Here he was met by the icebreaker "Malygin", however, due to the low speed of the latter, Eyssen, at his own peril and risk, refused its services. Having passed between the Bear Islands, he was met by the icebreaker Lazar Kaganovich and continued his journey through the East Siberian Sea, accompanied by it. Further advancement to the east was carried out in difficult ice conditions. On the night of September 1, a steering failure occurred on the Comet, but it was managed to be repaired with the help of our mechanics.

When the ships were already out in the open and were in the area of ​​Ayon Island, a radiogram was received from the head of the Main Northern Sea Route, I.D. Papanin, demanding that the German ship be returned back under the pretext that ships hostile to Germany had appeared in the Bering Strait area. Eyssen refused to comply and, in the end, permission to proceed further east was received. "Komet" continued the remaining journey alone and passed the Bering Strait in early September. During a short stop in the deserted Anadyr Bay, the Komet, which had previously sailed under the Japanese flag, again disguised itself as a Soviet Dezhnev and on September 10, 1940, entered the Pacific Ocean.

This was the only time a Kriegsmarine ship passed through the Northern Sea Route. The data obtained by the raider was later used by German cruisers and submarines during combat operations in the Arctic.

On September 10, having come out into the open, "Komet", masquerading as the Japanese ship "Tokio Maru", attached itself to four Japanese tankers and in such "company" quietly passed the line of American patrols. There are different versions of this episode - either the Japanese did not notice anything, or they silently helped the ship of their strategic ally. In any case, when these circumstances became public, a traditional diplomatic protest followed from the Land of the Rising Sun.

"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, and on January 16, 1937 the ship was launched. The construction was completed that same year. In total, the series included six units: “Drau”, “Aider”, “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 being loaded in Murmansk, so the decision was made to replace it with Ems. In November 1939, the fleet mobilized a cargo ship. She was assigned the number of auxiliary vessel 45 ("Schiff 45") and sent for conversion to the Hovaldtswerke shipyard 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 on April 2, 1892 in Frankfurt am Main into a wealthy family: his father owned a coffee plantation in Guatemala. In 1911 Eissen entered service at Kaiserlich Marina. Before the outbreak of the First World War, he was on board the light cruiser Karlsruhe, which was located 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. The twenty-two-year-old officer could not have imagined then that 26 years later 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. In this case, 263 people died, but Aissen managed to survive and, together with other survivors, returned to Germany on the Rio Negro steamer. In 1915–1916 he is the commander's adjutant and communications officer on the armored cruiser Amazon. Subsequently, his service took place on destroyers, and by the end of the war, Aissen had risen to the rank of lieutenant zur see. During 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 special mention should be made of the positions of the first officer (1929–1930), and then the commander of the hydrographic vessel “Meteor” (1935–1937), during his service on which he earned a reputation as the best hydrographic specialist in the German Navy with extensive experience sailing in the Arctic. Before the war, Ayssen was on shore, having been the head of a department at OKM since October 1937.

Having been appointed to the post of commander of an auxiliary cruiser, Captain Zur See himself chose his ship. He had clear ideas about the raider he wanted to command. This was the former Ems, which of the ships being prepared for the voyage had the smallest size 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 sending a “auxiliary ship with a military crew” to the Pacific Ocean through the Northern Sea Route in 1940, it turned out to be the Schiff-45 under the command of Aissen. It is interesting to note that it received 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 purpose of the former "Ems" even before it went to sea!

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

On July 3 at 18:30 "Komet" left Gotenhafen on what later turned out to be a very long voyage. Its fully packed holds contained 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 liquor, 25,000 chocolate bars, 6,000 packets of biscuits, 99 movies, 540 music records, sports equipment, 569 books, tents , skis and sleighs 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 LS-2 light torpedo boat was on board the cruiser. However, due to the fact that 450-mm torpedo tubes had not yet been created for it, the boat was supposed to be used as a minelayer, for which there were 30 mines of TMV.

First, accompanied by an escort of 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 after this, disguised as the Soviet icebreaking steamer 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 “Shpats” (“Sparrow”) and the boat “Meteorite” also received their own names. The cruiser sailed along the Norwegian coast, heading to the Novaya Zemlya area, where Soviet icebreakers were expected to await it. But then the political games of the Soviet leadership began, which, having initially agreed to escort the German ship along 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, having entered the Barents Sea, headed to the area north of Kolguev Island, where he spent about half a month. During this period of time, crew combat training tasks and hydrographic research were constantly carried out on the Comet. In order to save fuel, the ship drifted for a long time with the vehicles stopped, 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 icebreaker Lenin would be waiting for him.

This time disguised 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. Karelskikh. Continuing the voyage, the ship entered the Kara Sea. However, it soon became clear that there was no icebreaker and there was no sign of it yet. Sergievsky suggested that Aissen return to Matochkin Shar and wait there for the icebreaker in a quiet place. 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 obtain permission from them to land the crew for a vacation on the shores of Novaya Zemlya. In general, the pedantic Germans had to endure a lot from constantly changing orders and instructions from the Soviet side. Aissen on KTV sarcastically called it all a “Soviet farce.” Only on August 19, "Komet" received permission to continue its journey. By August 22, after a fair storm, the ship approached Tyrtov Island in the Nordenskiöld archipelago and anchored. Incomprehensible delays began again, which finally delayed Aissen.

Finally, on August 25, following the wake of the icebreaker Lenin, the raider continued its journey, passing the Vilkitsky Strait and entering the Laptev Sea. There he was met by the icebreaker Joseph Stalin. The commander of the "Kometa" was invited aboard the Soviet icebreaker, where, to his surprise, at six o'clock in the morning he found a set table with snacks and drinks in the form of vodka and zubrovka. The stunned captain zur-see initially 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 Comet still adhered to Central European time, and the Russians used local time. 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 alone along the Sannikov Strait. At the estimated time of August 30, the Komet was met by the icebreaker Lazar Kaganovich, which continued to guide it through the East Siberian Sea. The night from August 31 to September 1, due to ice movements and powerful snow charges with hurricane winds, became the most difficult during the entire journey; even decades later, Aissen always remembered it. That night, due to strong ice compression on the Comet, a piece of ice pinched the steering stock and disabled the steering gear. An uncontrollable drift began, but fortunately the breakdown was corrected in four hours.

After the Komets were released into the open, political misfortunes awaited them. On September 1, when the Bering Strait was 400 miles away, Eissen was called to a Soviet icebreaker and asked to return due to the presence of unknown warships in the Bering Strait area. Captain zur-see responded with a sharp refusal. After a lengthy 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 Aissen handed over a memorandum to the head of naval operations in the eastern region of the Arctic, A.P. Melekhov, in which he stated that he had no complaints against the Soviet side, but was not going to fulfill its demand to return to the west, but would independently continue his journey to the Bering Strait .

On September 3, after receiving permission from Komet, he parted ways with Lazar Kaganovich and independently moved east. On September 5, already under the Japanese flag, the Germans passed the Bering Strait. Aissen recorded on 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 entered Anadyr Bay for a short inspection and repair. There, divers repaired damage to the rudder caused by ice. Five hours later, “Komet” left the Land of the Soviets forever. On September 10, HSK-7 entered the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean, immediately encountering a strong storm, and a few days later, a typhoon. "Komet" made a unique transition for that time, traveling 3,300 miles along the Northern Sea Route from west to east in just 22 days. The Soviet Union valued 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 she reached on September 30, meeting only a few Japanese ships along the way. During this transition, Eissen sent the Spatz flying several times. However, on October 2, the seaplane crashed and sank. Initially, on October 15–20, a meeting with Orion was planned at Ailinglapalap Atoll. However, due to the capture of the German supply ship Weser by the Canadian auxiliary cruiser Prince Robert, which was sailing there from the Mexican port of Manzanillo, the rendezvous point was moved to Lamotrek Atoll. The supply ship Kulmerland, which left Kobe on October 4, was also supposed to arrive there. Eissen still had some time left, 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, it turned back to the north.

On October 14, a long-awaited meeting with Kulmerland took place near Lamotrek Atoll. Komet carried out its first refueling since leaving Bergen. On the same day, the Meteorite was launched and tested. However, the captain-zur-see clearly had something wrong with his auxiliary combat units. During the first test, the left motor immediately failed. In general, Aissen’s diary reveals an open dislike and distrust of the new technology - the seaplane and the boat. Subsequently, he would write with relief that he had finally gotten rid of both, transferred the spare parts from Shpatz 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 liner left, a ship with officials on board showed up. Eissen had to use all his diplomatic skills in communicating with officials, take a Japanese officer on an inspection trip to the unarmed Kulmerland, and also present official papers from Tokyo in order to ward off annoying guests.

Having met, the raider commanders discussed plans for joint action. It was decided to operate on trade routes connecting Panama and New Zealand. The Comet commander also proposed organizing an attack on the island of Nauru, where the largest phosphate deposit in the Pacific Ocean was located, but this time Wyer could not be convinced. Eissen, as the 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 and equipment available on the ships provisions.

On October 20, German ships left the atoll. The devastated Regensburg left for Japan to refuel and load a new batch of equipment and provisions. On the same day, the camouflage on the Comet was changed, turning it into the Japanese ship Manyo-Maru. The remaining ships were also disguised as Japanese: “Orion” - “Maebashi-Maru”, and “Kulmerland” - “Tokyo-Maru”. Initially, the detachment headed to the island of Nauru. To increase the coverage area, the raiders marched in front formation with the Kulmerland in the middle, covering an area of ​​up to 100 miles, approaching at night until they made visual contact. There was despondency 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 due to the constantly breaking down of the Orion machine, he had to travel at an uneconomical 12-knot speed.

On November 3, Orion finally stopped the unknown transport. However, to disappointment, it turned out to be the American City of Elwood - he had to be released with polite apologies. Four days later, the Far Eastern Squadron reached an area of ​​operations that crossed the trade routes from Cook Strait and Auckland to Panama, and was 400 miles from the nearest air base. Until November 11, the raiders cruised unsuccessfully in these waters in poor visibility, after which Captain Zur See took the detachment three hundred miles south in the hope of intercepting ships sailing in the direction from Wellington. However, even there, approximately 530 miles east of Cape Palliser, the ocean surface was deserted. Beginning on November 21, the raiders spent several days approximately two hundred miles southeast of the Chatham Islands with similar success. Finally, patience ran out, and at the next meeting, Eissen managed to convince Weyer to attack Nauru.

On November 24, the detachment turned north. At night we passed west of Chatham Island. Eissen in the 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 GRT, 1911) owned by the "Holm Shipping Company" from Wellington. He sailed from Uyetangi (Chatham Island) to Littleton (New Zealand), having on board 17 crew members and 12 passengers, 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 Ranjitain...

At 6.10, the raider's observers noticed two masts in the eastern part of the horizon. Eissen ordered the same course, calculating that the unknown ship, moving west, would cross the course of the Comet 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 at this and only stopped after the second shot, without giving any signals 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 9.15 Captain J. Miller and others from the Holmwood were transferred aboard the raider. A valuable part of the loot was the official papers and mail from Chatham over the past two weeks. All canned food, fruits and vegetables were taken from the merchant. In addition, 100 live sheep were loaded onto the Komet, 192 onto the Orion, and 19 slaughtered ones went to the Kulmerland. The Germans also took a lifebuoy from the transport to each ship as a souvenir.

At first, Eissen planned to convert the Holmwood into an auxiliary minelayer, but then abandoned this idea due to its low speed of 8–9 knots. For this, a year later, the RVM censured him. In the end, Captain Zur See decided to use the captured ship as a target for training his gunners, who had had no real target since leaving Germany. The raider moved a mile away 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 lower the steamer, which had become 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, Rangitain and ships off the island of Nauru. At the same time, they did not really get an answer from the captain of the Holmwood, who was also a radio operator, as to why he did not sound the alarm, as prescribed by the instructions of the British Admiralty, although it was possible to observe the 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 it had already approached a distance of a couple of miles. It turned out that the second officer on watch 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 at the stern of the ship. He returned to watch when the raider was already close. The Board of Inquiry concluded that if Holmwood had strictly followed Admiralty instructions and sent the alarm signal, and her service had complied with wartime requirements, the subsequent disaster with Rangitain could have been avoided by canceling her sailing. . 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, not sparing prisoners, because the blacksmith did not have a nail.” By the way, the sentimental captain zur-see ordered the unfortunate horse to be shot so that it would not suffer during the sinking of the steamer.

Another issue on which a special investigation was carried out was the information disseminated by Ayssen among the prisoners from the Holmwood that the Germans knew in advance about his going to sea. It was not possible to prove or disprove this, but as the New Zealanders considered, this was misinformation. Indeed, during 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 Rangitain. It is known that on the Holmwood the boarding team found 23 navigation charts, lighthouse identifications, code books and radio stations. Captain Zur See was especially pleased by the discovery of the Bentley Complete Phrase Code, an American code book 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 observers noticed a large ship sailing without navigation lights. Aissen later recalled that upon hearing about the contact, he jumped out onto the bridge in pajamas, a robe, slippers and a white cap. The stranger, as it soon became clear, turned out to be the New Zealand refrigerated passenger ship "Rangitane" (16,712 GRT, 1929), which belonged to the New Zealand Shipping Company in the pre-war period, and is now mobilized by the government. It was heading from Auckland to Liverpool via the Panama Canal. On board the liner there were a crew of 201 people and 111 passengers, of which 36 were women. The cargo consisted of 124,881 boxes of butter, 33,255 frozen pork and lamb carcasses, 23,646 cheeses, large quantities of cocoa beans and other food products. In addition to food, on board the ship were forty-five bars of silver worth 2 million pounds in 1940 prices. The composition of the Rangitain's armament is not clear today: while Eissen mentions one 127 mm, one 76 mm gun and light anti-aircraft artillery on the wings of the bridge, then its captain L. Upton speaks of one gun and one gun platform. According to the latter, there were only 20 shells for the cannon.

Once discovered, the raiders maneuvered to trap the Rangitain. In turn, unknown vessels were discovered on the liner almost simultaneously from both sides, when they were no more than half a mile away. Upton made no attempt to avoid approaching them until his ship was illuminated by searchlights from the Orion and he was ordered to stop and not make radio transmissions. Only then did the skipper order to increase speed and start transmitting signals for help by radio." QQQ» with your coordinates. But it was already too late. The brightly lit large twin-funnel 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 a stop. In total, the German ships fired a total of 14 salvoes from their main caliber guns. During this time, ten people died on the Ranjitain - 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 ship were received in New Zealand, and its naval control in clear text transmitted notification of the presence of enemy raiders in the surrounding waters. Realizing that ships and aircraft would be sent to search, Aissen, following the instructions of the RVM, immediately after all the prisoners were transferred to German ships, ordered the victim to be sunk 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 Rangitain was the largest ship sunk by German auxiliary cruisers during the Second World War.

After receiving the alarms, local authorities immediately prohibited sailing ships from leaving the country's ports in an eastern direction, and also ordered all arrivals to avoid the attack area at a distance of at least 200 miles. The New Zealand light cruiser Aquilez immediately headed to the indicated location, and coastal aviation began searching for the raiders. However, these measures are already too late. When Eissen's detachment was 150 miles from the site of the death of the Rangitain, at 18.20 the Comet noticed an unknown aircraft flying away from the German ships, probably without noticing them. This alerted the captain-zur-see, who assumed that he was outside the range of coastal aviation.

On November 28, the raiders reached the Kermadec Islands. Since Berlin had forbidden the prisoners to be sent to Japan, Eissen became more and more convinced of an attack on the island of Nauru, intending to land them ashore. The cruiser commanders met at the supply station to discuss the plan of attack. It was decided that first the seaplane would fly around the island, and if this failed, the Komet, as the fastest, would take on the role of reconnaissance aircraft. The prisoners were then distributed more evenly among the raiders, and all the women and children were transferred to the Kulmerland. On December 5, the last meeting took place on the flagship before the attack on the island, planned for the 8th. The final plan of action was adopted and the commander of the landing force of 185 people (86 from the Comet and 99 from the Orion) was appointed, who became the first officer of the Comet, Joseph Huschenbeth. During the discussion, tensions arose between Eissen and Weyer 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, citing the fact that professional sailors know too much about the raiders and can not only provide valuable information to the British authorities, but also participate in the war against Germany.

At 9 o'clock in the morning on December 6, the Comet radio operators intercepted a radiogram transmitted by some ship that was very close. The raider and the supply officer went to intercept, but the unknown turned out to be the American transport Clevedon. At about the same time, observers from Orion noticed smoke on the left shell at a distance of twenty miles. Weyer suggested that this ship was heading towards Nauru and could see German ships. He gave chase, which lasted more than eight hours. Visibility was poor due to weather conditions, so the frigate captain did not know where his colleagues were. By 17.00 the sky cleared briefly, and it turned out that the raiders had caught the unknown in a trap, since the Komet was ahead of him on course. Twenty minutes later, HSK-7 fired a warning shot and ordered the transport to stop, but it began to change course and signal for help, which was immediately silenced by the Orion radio operators. Then both raiders opened fire to kill. After surviving 14 salvos, Captain Hughes ordered a stop and the boats were lowered. As it turned out, it was an old acquaintance of the Orion - the British steamer Tryona, who escaped from it on August 10. The transport was traveling 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, and many were injured. Until the evening, boarding teams 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 to the bottom with a torpedo.

While Weyer dealt with the British ship, Eissen took the Comet and Culmerland to Nauru for reconnaissance, agreeing to meet on the morning of December 8 near the island. By the evening of the 7th, the German ships approached Nauru, near which several ships were waiting to be loaded. The first victim was the Norwegian motor ship "Vinnie" (5181 GRT, 1937), owner Sverre Ditlev-Simonsen from Oslo, chartered by British Phosphate Companies. He arrived in ballast from Dunedin (New Zealand) to load phosphates on November 30, 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 until morning, when the watch noticed a transport flying the Japanese flag 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 shooting. "Komet" quickly caught up with the fugitive, and at 19.15 disembarked the boarding team. 32 people were transferred from her to the Comet, and the ship itself was sunk by demolition charges at 19.44, approximately six miles from the island. Captain "Vinnie" Helmer Henriksen subsequently left very interesting, not devoid of humor, memories of the time spent on board the "Comet" and on Emirau Island.

At night, the German ships met 20 miles west of the island. Due to bad weather, they decided to postpone the landing for now and focus on the ships stationed near the island. At 2.50 the raiders split up: Eissen headed to the northern part of the island, and Weyer to the southern part. The start of the attack was scheduled for six o'clock, but the Orion, even before the specified date, fired and set fire to the British motor ship Triadic, whose crew left it in lifeboats. "Komet" picked up people from one lifeboat, sending others to "Kulmerland". Subsequently, Triedic was sent to the bottom by a subversive team from Orion.

Ayssen's next victim was the British steamer "Komata" (3900 GRT, 1938), which belonged to the United Shipping Company of New Zealand (Wellington) and was awaiting loading near the island. The cargo ship's attempt to escape from the raider was unsuccessful. Having started shelling at 9.56, the Germans immediately destroyed the radio room and damaged the bridge with accurate shots. In this case, the first mate was killed, and the second mate was mortally wounded. During the attack, the Germans had to endure several not very pleasant minutes, as the Komat 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 ship’s radio signal generator was being tuned from one of the transports before going to sea. Having accepted 31 people led by Captain W. W. Fish on board, the steamer was sunk by demolition charges at 15.58. At the same time, the Germans got all the secret papers that the deceased senior assistant did not have time to destroy. "Orion" at this time captured without resistance and sank the New Zealand motor ship "Triester" with demolition charges.

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

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

On December 22, Aissen disbanded the Far Eastern Squadron. “Orion” slowly went to Lamotrek, “Kulmerland” - to its home base, the Japanese port of Kobe, and “Komet” headed to Rabaul, located nearby on the island of New Britain. Captain zur-see planned the attack, in which the main role was given to the Meteorite. At the beginning, the raider was supposed to shell Rabaul, and then, under the cover of artillery, a boat would burst into the harbor under the command of Oberleutnant Zur See Wilfried Karsten, a mine officer and part-time adjutant of Aissen. “Meteorite” placed one TMV mine on the fairway, and the boarding crew on board landed on the shore and “made noise” with explosives. For this action, they planned to install two additional 20-mm air cannons 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 also out of order, and it would not be possible to repair it on our own. As a result, the shelling had to be abandoned. On the 25th, the RVM sent a message in which it was announced that Aissen was 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 local authorities, and already on January 1, 1941, the bulk 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 German ships, their appearance, weapons, and tactics. Eissen learned about this from intercepted radio messages and made a note on the CTV that he would act differently in the future. The RVM reacted to this news very coolly and sent a directive to all raiders, according to which prisoners should be sent only to Germany.

After the failure of the attack on Rabaul, Captain Zur See 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, the island authorities received a message from Ayssen about the upcoming shelling with a proposal to remove people from the danger zone. In addition, the use of radio stations was prohibited. The ultimatum on shore was accepted and after some time the Germans opened fire on oil tanks, cantilever cranes, phosphate storage facilities, boats and mooring barrels. In an hour and eighteen minutes, the raider expended 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 storm of indignation and numerous protests. Mine operations resumed only ten weeks later. March 6, 1941, and shipment volumes had not reached the achieved level by 1942, when the Land of the Rising Sun captured the island. A very sharp reaction came from allied Japan, which had lost its source of phosphates, an extremely valuable military and agricultural raw material. In addition, it turned out that during the shelling of the island, a large batch of this mineral that she had already purchased was lost. The German naval attaché 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 the service of German ships in Japanese ports. At the same time, we should not forget the fact that the Japanese have always been very jealous of such actions in areas that they considered their zone of vital interests. In Germany itself they could not appreciate the need to shell the mine, and the RVM sent Aissen a cautiously cool congratulation, pointing out that he had exceeded his authority. All other raiders received instructions about the inadmissibility of such independent actions, due to their great danger.

All this fuss irritated Captain Zur See. The Komet, now disguised as the Japanese ship Ryoku-Maru, was meanwhile heading southeast towards the Gilbert Islands. On December 31, he unsuccessfully chased a Norwegian tanker for four hours. On New Year's Day 1941, the command sweetened the pill by sending Eissen an order conferring on him the rank of rear admiral and congratulations from Raeder and the RVM. Two days later, Komet crossed the equator for the seventh time.

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

Due to the proposed Allied operations against auxiliary cruisers, the newly appointed rear admiral sent a message to the RVM about the need to change the theater of operations, indicating the Galapagos Islands area as the new one. Berlin did not agree to this and sent the Komets to the Antarctic Ross Sea to hunt for the Allied whaling fleets, which the Penguin was currently doing on the other side of the globe. From the Tuamotu Islands, 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, along the way the Germans came across only Japanese ships.

So on February 22, the raider met the Nisshin-Maru base with a tanker and a whaling flotilla, from which the Germans learned that the Norwegians and British had not appeared 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 burners. On February 27, "Komet" reached the southernmost point of its odyssey - 71° S. and 76°44? e.d. Eissen reported the situation and the next day received orders to go to Kerguelen Island to meet with the Penguin and the supply ship Alstertor. Bypassing the Australian-owned Heard Island, the raider reached Kerguelen on March 7. Two days later, he changed his anchorage, dropping anchor near 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 items. Divers examined the ship's hull, and it turned out that an unsuccessful voyage 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. Aissen, like Rogge, allowed the team to stretch their legs on the shore.

On March 11, “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 Apstertor took place. The supply company received 625 150 mm and 800 37 mm shells. After parting with his colleagues two days later, Aissen headed to the secret point “Theodor” in the Siberia region (26° S/80° E). The tanker Ole Jakob was supposed to be waiting for him there. The meeting took place as planned on March 24. After this, the Comet 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 about returning to the more successful waters of the Pacific Ocean, from intercepted radiograms he learned about the sinking of the Penguin by the English heavy cruiser Cornwall. Then Eissen had the idea to use Kruder’s surviving reconnaissance ship “Adjutant” to mine the ports of New Zealand, which he notified RVM. Berlin agreed and, through the Kormoran, conveyed the order to the commander of the Adjutant, Lieutenant Hemmer, to link up with the Comet.

May 21 at point 25°53? S and 90°11? e.d. a rendezvous took place. Hemmer was one day late, and the meeting with Eissen, according to his recollections, turned out to be very cool. The raider then headed southeast, with 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 gun, and two 20-mm aircraft cannons that previously belonged to Shpatz were installed. We reloaded the ammunition - 260 60-mm and 2000 20-mm shells and replaced 12 north-polarized magnetic mines TMV, left over from the time of joint operations with the Penguin, with 20 south-polarized ones. The rangefinder, taken from the British Ranjitain, sunk in 1940 together with the Orion, was also useful. The 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 Karsten. Hemmer received only the position of navigator. The Comet moved northeast to the Balbo area (29° S/152° W) to meet the supply ship 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 heading of 235°. July 3 is the deadline possible under unfavorable conditions.

Karsten and Hemmer brilliantly coped with the dangerous task entrusted to them. On the night of June 25, the Adjutant laid ten mines at Littleton, and a day later ten more 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 after the war, when they came into their hands with official Kriegsmarine documents. The zero success of this daring and dangerous operation is today explained by defects in magnetic mines. On the way back, the Adjutant's car broke down, and Karsten, deciding to take advantage of the fact that a strong east wind had been blowing all this time, ordered sails to be made from tarpaulin. We had to sail the rest of the way, or turn on only the medium and low pressure cylinders 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, observers on the Comet Mars discovered an unknown vessel on the port side astern. The raider increased its speed and went in that direction. “Adjutant” was soon identified. At 8.10 Karsten announced the completion of the task. For the ceremonial meeting, the free watch lined up on the starboard side of the auxiliary cruiser and greeted the minelayer as it passed along the side with three “Sieg Heil”. Soon the commander of the Adjutant boarded the raider and reported to the rear admiral about 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. Aissen immediately decided to remove weapons, instruments, supplies, and valuables from the minelayer and scuttle it, noting on the cable TV that the minelayer completed the task “excellently.”

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

July 9th marked one year since the Komet was on the voyage. In this regard, the entire team was awarded the Iron Crosses of the 2nd class, and five, at his discretion, Eissen could award the Iron Crosses of the 1st class. Four received them - first officer Huschenbeth, chief mechanic Alme and Karsten and Hemmer. The rear admiral left one award in reserve.

On July 14, at the agreed point “Balbo”, a rendezvous took place with the blockade runner “Anneliese Essberger”, which left Dairen on June 20. They accepted 692 tons of diesel fuel and some supplies from it. Refueling took place with great difficulty and took five whole days. This was explained by the fact that the blockade runner did not have fuel hoses, and Komet transferred its ones to Orion back in 1940. It was necessary to adapt hoses from fire hoses for this purpose. Eissen handed over the mail and a copy to the KTV on the Anneliese. They sailed together in an easterly direction until July 25, after which the blockade runner continued sailing alone, arriving safely in Bordeaux on September 10.

"Komet" after parting with "Anneliese Essberger" headed for the Galapagos Islands. On July 29, the rear admiral received orders from the RVM to return to Europe by the end of October so that the raider could be equipped for the next trip to sea 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 detect a single vessel.

The fruitless voyage had already lasted 227 days when, at 14.35 on August 14, observers noticed the British transport Australind (5019 gross tons, 1929) of the Australian Shipping Company. It sailed from Adelaide to Britain via the Panama Canal with a cargo of zinc, fruit, honey and other goods. "Komet", disguised as a Japanese ship, fired a warning shot at 15.37 demanding to stop. In response, Captain W. J. Stephen sent gunners to the stern 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 radiogram, and seven targeted salvos from a distance of 30 hectometers put everything in its place. In total, the gunners fired 30 150 mm, destroying the radio room with the second salvo, and the captain was also killed. Ten minutes later the cargo ship was on fire. In addition to Stephen, the third and fourth mechanics were killed and three were injured. 42 people were transferred aboard the raider, and Karsten, who moved onto the burning ship, took mail, radio, provisions and some equipment. At 18.32, the Australind was sunk by planted demolition charges and aerial bombs. "Comet" headed for the Galapagos Islands.

On August 14, observers spotted a vessel ahead, identified as a Dutch one. Since the maximum speed of the Comet at that time was only 12 knots, it was not possible to catch up with it. That same night, the raider's radio operators detected negotiations between the British refrigerator Lochmonar and the Panama Canal administration about the time of passage through it. From the data obtained it followed that the transport would proceed in close proximity to the Comet. Aissen ordered to drift, and on August 17 at 9.35, observers saw a ship on the horizon. At 10.45 HSK-7 dropped its cloaking and fired a warning shot. The transport responded with two very inaccurate salvos from the stern cannon and then surrendered (5° S/90° W). It turned out to be the Dutch cargo ship "Kota Nopan" (7322 GRT, 1931) with a crew of 51 people led by Captain V. Hatenboer, owned by Rotterdam Lloyd. It 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 cargo ship carried a variety of food products. American insurers valued this cargo at one million dollars at the exchange rate of that time. Having discovered that he was on board a Dutch ship, Eissen immediately radioed to Berlin and began to reload the most valuable trophies onto 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 the overload, another ship appeared on the horizon. The raider quickly gathered his boats and rushed after him. After a short pursuit, the Germans opened fire from 8,000 yards on the transport. He immediately began to send 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 steamer Devon (9036 GRT, 1915), owned by the British Indian Shipping Company, stopped. He was traveling from Newcastle upon Tyne to New Zealand. On board were 4,570 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 crew recognized the cargo as being of little value and the ship was old and sent it to the bottom at 19.30 with demolition charges. Subsequently, in order to avoid a crush, all the “colored” were transferred to the Kota Nopan, and the entire crew of the Australind, 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 interceptions 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 RVM allowed him to leave the dangerous area and, going to the Balbo area, meet with the supply ship Münsterland, which left the Japanese port of Yokohama on August 25. On August 30, when the Comet team was still engaged in reloading, a ship appeared on the horizon again. The rear admiral decided not to pay attention for now, considering him too fast, and rushed in pursuit as soon as dusk fell, but was never able to catch up. After this, when about 600 tons of the most valuable cargo had been reloaded onto the raider, 25 German sailors transferred to the Kota Nopan, and Aissen led his small detachment to the southwest.

On September 20, “Komet” and “Kota Nopan” met with “Atlantis” at the point “Romulus” (28°44? S/152°16? W). The initially friendly atmosphere cooled somewhat with the arrival of Munsterland. This happened due to the fact that Eissen began to lay claim to some of the fresh produce and beer from Atlantis's share. Rogge managed to convince the rear admiral regarding the food, but he never gave in to the beer. In return, the rear admiral provided 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 Atlantis transferred to the Comet and Kota Nopan. On September 24, the raiders separated.

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

On November 17, near the Azores, the long-awaited rendezvous with the submarine U-652 (Oberleutnant zur see Fraatz) took place, and the next day with U-561 (Ober lieutenant zur see Bartels). Soon the raider reached Spanish territorial waters. On November 23, “Komet” passed abeam of Cape Ortegal, disguised as “Sperrbrecher-52” and already having aviation cover. In the morning he was met by minesweepers, and on the 26th HSK-7 arrived in Cherbourg. The next day he moved to Le Havre, from where, without stopping, the 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 to break through the English Channel. At 4:10 a.m., a skirmish took place behind Cape Gris-Nez with British torpedo boats sent to intercept from Dover, but they were unable to prevent the convoy from reaching Dunkirk. During the battle, only one person on the Comet was slightly wounded. Fortune continued to smile on Aissen 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, "Komet" moored to the pier in Hamburg, where he was given a ceremonial welcome. Thus ended the round-the-world epic of the smallest German raider. Robert Eissen was awarded the Knight's Cross on the 29th, which was presented to him on December 1 by the commander of the Nord group, Admiral General R. Karls. After returning, the sailors found themselves in the center of attention of Nazi Germany. A propaganda film was made from the footage filmed by cameramen on board the raider, and the Comet team became heroes of the Reich.

Robert Eissen's further service took place on the shore. 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 - Navy communications officer at 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, retiring on April 30, 1945.

With the formation of the Bundesmarine, he returned to service, becoming head of the hydrographic service. Robert Eissen died on March 31, 1960 in Baden-Baden, just two days short of his 68th birthday. He was a real raider commander - smart, strong-willed, inventive, able to successfully fight in the most difficult conditions and circumstances. Even his opponents considered him, although a little pompous, 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 highly respected commander who is “remembered with gratitude.”

He headed north and, rounding the Scandinavian Peninsula, entered the territorial waters of the USSR. The ship refueled at one of the ports of the Kola Peninsula and crossed the ice-free Barents Sea without any problems. In a village on the shores of 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 accepted the ship under escort and confidently led it into 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 x 533 mm torpedo tubes. In addition, "Komet" was armed with two seaplanes and sea mines. The crew consisted of 270 people. Supplies of food and equipment, the presence of seawater desalination plants allowed the ship to sail autonomously for at least a year. A variety of equipment allowed the ship to operate in all natural conditions: sleighs, fur clothing, 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, "Komet" entered the Kara Sea. On August 25, the icebreaker Lenin approached the Comet and the German ship entered its wake. The ships passed through the Vilkitsky Strait, and in the Laptev Sea they were met by the powerful linear icebreaker "Stalin". At 10 o'clock in the morning on August 26, "Stalin" led "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 Komet, 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 maritime operations for 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 in front of the sailors. "Kaganovich" had to repeatedly approach the "Komet" in order to break off the converging ice fields. Captain Eyssen recalled decades later: “I will never forget this night. Ice 9 points, wind, snow charges. Constant fear of the steering wheel and propeller... Failure of the steering gear. Helpless drift. I've been on the bridge for 22 hours. 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 was helplessly drifting in the ice.

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

and hunted with the Japanese raider "Orion" (Maebashi Maru) and the auxiliary vessel "Culmerland" (Tokyo Maru). On the twenty-fifth of November, in New Zealand waters near the Chattam Islands, they sank their first victim, the small cargo steamer Holmwood. On the twenty-seventh of November, German raiders sank the large liner Rangetain with a displacement of 16,000 tons, heading to Great Britain with several thousand tons of meat and food. The captain of the liner, however, managed to radio an alarm. The next day, the cruiser Achilles and the minesweeper Puriri arrived at the site of the Ranjitine's disappearance, but found only floating debris, an empty boat and oil slicks on the water. The crews of the seaplanes launched from the Achilles also failed to find anything.

On December 6, Komet and Orion sank the cargo and passenger ship Triona between the Solomon Islands and Nauru. The next day, Komet sank the Norwegian ship Vinny. On December 8, the Orion sank the phosphorite carrier Triadic in full view of the residents 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, four days' journey away. The naval headquarters knew that on December 5, off the coast of New South Wales, the cargo ship Nimbin was blown up by mines laid by another German raider, the Penguin, and two days later, the British motor ship Hartford. So the war came to the shores of Australia. By the way, the Australian communists, meanwhile, continued agitation against the “imperialist” war and enrollment in the army.

The headquarters of the Australian Navy appealed to the British Admiralty with a request to return a certain number of Australian warships from the Mediterranean Sea to Australia.

On December 21, 1940, "Komet", "Orion" and "Kulmerland" (literally a "wolf pack") anchored near Emirau Island, 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 shore. They were left with a small boat so that they could get to a larger island and seek help. The liberated prisoners later spoke highly of Captain Eyssen, who behaved in an exemplary manner towards them. German raiders, as a rule, opened warning fire on cargo and passenger ships only if the latter did not obey orders to stop. The ships were sunk after the crew and passengers were removed from them.

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

The crew members and passengers of the sunken ships left on the shore of Emirau Island somehow learned about plans to bomb 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 broke the cup of patience. The cruiser Sydney and the auxiliary cruiser Westralia were urgently recalled home from the Mediterranean. At the beginning of January 1941, "Sydney", which showed itself brilliantly in battles with ships of the Italian Navy, set off for Australia. On February 9, the cruiser arrived in Sydney, where she was enthusiastically received by the city's residents.

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

However, let's return to Komet. After the bombing of Nauru, Captain Eyssen 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 shores of Antarctica. At the end of February 1941, Captain Eyssen received orders to move to the southeastern sector of the Indian Ocean. He knew that the cruiser Sydney was based in Fremantle (a seaport near Perth), and tried to stay away from the coast of Western Australia, realizing that his chances would be slim if he met a first-class cruiser. For several months, the raider unsuccessfully searched for new victims far from the usual routes of cargo and passenger ships. Luck seemed to have left the Comets. On May twenty-first, in accordance with the new order, Komet again set out for the Pacific Ocean.

Seaplane "Comet"

In early August, Captain Eyssen heard a radio report that Australian Air Force patrol planes had driven German raiders out of their territorial waters, and made a corresponding entry in the logbook. The experienced sailor understood well that such a task was beyond the capabilities of the Australians - the continent was too large. However, it is likely that the radio report played a role in his decision to move closer to the shores of New Zealand and then move east to the shores of South America. On the fourteenth of August, near the Galapagos Islands, the Comet encountered the British ship Australind. Its radio operator tried to transmit a distress signal and the ship was fired upon, killing several sailors. The surviving crew members were removed from the British ship, 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 load its prisoners onto it).

The last leg of the journey across the Atlantic turned out to be the most difficult - the Komets were constantly attacked by British planes. But here, too, luck was with Captain Eyssen - one of the bombs hit the Komet, but did not explode. On November 16, 1941, the captured Cota Nopan successfully arrived in France, and on November 26, greeted by its own submarines, it arrived in Cherbourg and the Comet. On November 28, he crossed the English Channel with powerful guards and on November 30, 1941 was already in Cuxhaven, then moved to Hamburg. A ceremonial meeting was organized for the crew: the sailors were honored in Berlin in the presence of the Nazi leadership. Having circumnavigated the world, the Comet spent 516 days sailing and covered a total of about 87,000 miles across four oceans. The total tonnage of the 10 ships sunk and captured by Komet was approximately 42,000 GRT.

The second voyage with a new crew under the command of Captain Zur See Ulrich Brokzin began in the fall of 1942. Just a week after leaving Hamburg, the Comet, despite strong security, was attacked by British torpedo boats in the English Channel off Cape Hoag abeam Cherbourg. Two torpedoes fired by the boat MTB236 hit the ship, after which the ammunition detonated; the ship split into two parts and sank to the bottom. 251 people died, no one was saved.

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 escorting him through the ice of the Laptev Sea. From August 13 to September 3, 1940, the Soviet icebreakers Lenin, I. Stalin" and "L. Kaganovich" escorted the German raider along the Northern Sea Route. Until November 1941, the Komet raider pirated in the Pacific and Indian oceans, and then in the Atlantic.

“Komet” (“Komet”, German Komet) was a German auxiliary cruiser of the Second World War. HSK-7, the former merchant ship "Ems" (German: Ems), was designated "Ship No. 45" in the German Navy, and "Raider B" in the British Navy.
In the summer of 1940, with the help of the USSR, he traveled the Northern Sea Route from the North Sea to the Bering Strait and further to the Pacific Ocean. In 1940-1941 he conducted combat operations on the Allied sea communications in the Pacific Ocean in the region of Australia and Oceania. The tonnage of ships of the Anti-Hitler Coalition sunk and captured by him amounted to 42,000 GRT.

HISTORY OF CREATION

The merchant ship Ems was built in Bremen by Deschiemag for North German Lloyd. Launched on January 16, 1937. One of the ships in a series of bulk carriers (four sisterships - "Drau", "Aider", "Iller" and "Mur", 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 in this capacity joined the ranks of the Kriegsmarine on June 2, 1940.
The smallest of these ships, Komet, in addition to powerful artillery and mine-torpedo weapons, had on board a high-speed boat designed for torpedo attacks and laying mines, and seaplanes.

During the conversion process, 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 setting sail, four hundred anchor mines were taken on board (significantly more than was standard even for larger raiders), a high-speed boat specially designed for covert mine-laying, and a large supply of artillery shells and torpedoes.

An Arado-type seaplane was also housed in a special ship hangar. Having an aircraft on board allowed the raider to conduct long-range reconnaissance at sea, including ice. Radio communications and radio reconnaissance on the ship were provided by six highly qualified radio operators fluent in Russian and English.

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

The head of this responsible expedition was appointed Captain Robert Eissen, who during the First World War, on board 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. Eyssen was appointed commander of the new Meteor, specially built for research in the Arctic. He studied well the features of navigation in Arctic waters when he was engaged in hydrological work near the ice boundary of Greenland and Iceland,

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 about the need to use the Northern Sea Route, which was absolutely closed to navigation at that time, in order to save 35 German ships stuck in the ports of Southeast Asian countries. foreign ships.
Then it turned out that the main part of the implementation of the “Green Case” plan was recognized as the need for some German raider to pass during the 1940 summer navigation along the Northern Sea Route from Murmansk to the Bering Strait.

COMBAT ACTIONS

FIRST CAMPAIGN

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

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

In accordance with the approved plan, the Kometa's passage through the Arctic seas was to be supported 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 Soviet ice pilots on board. But the start date for the transition 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, while still in the North Cape region, Eyssen received a radiogram from the leadership of the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route about the delay in entering the Arctic, “Komet” was asked to go to Murmansk, where to wait for the start of the escort. But Eyssen categorically refused this proposal, citing the impossibility of visiting the Soviet polar port as a violation of the secrecy of the Komet’s passage along the Northern Sea Route. And, as a result, “Komet” “lingered” for about two weeks off the northern coast of Norway, where during this time it 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 Komet transition. It stipulated that the German raider would pass through the Norwegian and Barents Seas disguised as the new Soviet icebreaking steamship Semyon Dezhnev.
To do this, some differences in the silhouette of the German auxiliary cruiser from the silhouette of the Soviet icebreaker steamer were eliminated with the help of canvas body kits and other special devices manufactured at the Hovalvdtsverke 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 booms.
All this allowed the ocean werewolf to completely change its silhouette. Moreover, in order to reliably cover the False Dezhnev in Soviet waters, the management of the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route completely 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 this region. Thus, an ideal cover story was created for the German raider, since, on the one hand, the new Soviet icebreaker steamer was leaving the Barents Sea altogether (from prying eyes), and on the other hand, it was sailing in the same areas of the Kara Sea where it was heading and his German counterpart.

Disguised as the Soviet icebreaker steamer 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, he waited for some time for the approach of Soviet ships, which were supposed to accompany him on the next section of the route.
Due to difficult ice conditions, the meeting with Soviet icebreakers was postponed several times. Finally, on August 13, a radiogram from Berlin reported that the icebreaker Lenin would be waiting for them in the Matochkin Shar Strait.

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

On August 19, permission was received to proceed further, but only on the 25th there was a meeting with the icebreaker Lenin, which took them to the Laptev Sea, where it handed over the Komet to the icebreaker Joseph Stalin. Having barely made it through the ice-covered area, the Komet continued its journey through free water to the Sannikov Strait on its own. Here he was met by the icebreaker "Malygin", however, due to the low speed of the latter, Eyssen, at his own peril and risk, refused its services.

Having passed between the Bear Islands, he was met by the icebreaker "Kaganovich" and continued his journey through the East Siberian Sea, accompanied by it. Further advancement to the east was carried out in difficult ice conditions. On the night of September 1, a steering failure occurred on the Comet, but it was managed to be repaired with the help of our mechanics.

When the ships were already out in the open and were in the area of ​​Ayon Island, a radiogram was received from the head of the Main Northern Sea Route, I.D. Papanin, demanding that the German ship be returned back under the pretext that ships hostile to Germany had appeared in the Bering Strait area. Eyssen refused to comply and, in the end, permission to proceed further east was received. "Komet" continued the remaining journey alone and passed the Bering Strait in early September. During a short stop in the deserted Anadyr Bay, the Komet, which had previously sailed under the Japanese flag, again disguised itself as a Soviet Dezhnev and on September 10, 1940, entered the Pacific Ocean.
The data obtained by the raider was later used by German cruisers and submarines during combat operations in the Arctic.

The Komet completed the passage along the Northern Sea Route in record time - in just 23 days, of which only fifteen were underway. Typically, caravans of Soviet ships and vessels spent at least 26 sailing days on such a transition.
Meanwhile, the real “Semyon Dezhnev”, having actually visited 15 remote Arctic locations, returned to Murmansk in November and in early December 1940 went to Spitsbergen to work in Icefjord according to the plans of the Arktikugol trust.
Although, in general, the secrecy and secrecy of the Comet's transition to the Pacific Ocean was maintained, some information still 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 along the Northern Sea Route from west to east, which were undoubtedly considered as one detachment of Kriegsmarine ships. We will learn below about the consequences that resulted from the release of this information.

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

German raider "Komet" disguised as a Japanese ship

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

Three more ships were discovered at the Nauru site: the Norwegian transport "Vinnie", the New Zealand "Tristar", the Australian "Komata" and "Truaidek", 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. The ships sailed to the island of Emirau and landed prisoners there. From that moment on, the ships diverged: the Comet 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 patrols of sea communications began.

After some time, Eyssen returned to the idea of ​​destroying industrial and port facilities on Nauru, actions quite in the spirit of the German raiders of the First World War. Approaching the island, on December 27, 1940, he sent his representatives there to warn the island’s authorities in order to avoid possible casualties, and at the same time, with the threat of physical destruction, to stop a possible attempt by local radio operators to go on the air. The Nauru administration accepted these terms.
For an hour, "Komet" fired at the island with all guns: warehouses, fuel storage facilities, industrial facilities. The shelling led to great destruction and fires. The supply of phosphates stopped for several months.

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

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

On January 1, 1941, Komet moved west. The passage was carried out along the Ross Sea, at the very edge of Antarctica, in the hope of meeting enemy whaling ships, but only Japanese fishers were encountered.

Large supplies of food abandoned due to the war were discovered on Kerguelen Island; they replenished the Comet's holds. During the stay, the ship's hull was also inspected. On March 11, the ship set out to rendezvous with the Penguin, which was in the Indian Ocean along with the supply ship Alsterior and its auxiliary ship Adjutant. Then he spent six weeks in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, but never met a single enemy ship. On May 8, he moved even further east - to communications between Australia and Colombo.

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

In mid-July, Comet replenished fuel and food supplies from the supply ship Anneliese Essberger, and then 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 motor ship Kota Nopan with a valuable cargo - rubber, tin and manganese ore. A prize crew was sent to it and both ships continued their journey to Europe. Two days later, the British steamer Devon was sunk.

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

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

Having circumnavigated the world, the Comet spent 516 days sailing and covered a total of about 87,000 miles across four oceans.

SECOND CAMPAIGN AND DEATH

The second voyage with a new crew under the command of captain zur see Ulrich Brokzin began in the fall of 1942.
Just a week after leaving Hamburg, the Comet, despite strong security, was attacked by British torpedo boats in the English Channel at Cape Hoga abeam Cherbourg. Two torpedoes fired by the boat MTB 236 hit the ship, after which the ammunition detonated; the ship split into two parts and sank to the bottom. 251 people died, no one was saved.

MODERN RESEARCH

On July 4, 2006, the remains of the Comet raider were discovered by researcher Innes McCartney. Innes McCartney) in the English Channel at a depth of 70 meters. It was determined that as a result of the explosion, the ship broke in half and capsized.