German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin
| History | |
|---|---|
 Nazi Germany
|
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| Name: | Kandelfels |
| Owner: | DDG Hansa |
| Builder: | Deschimag A.G. Weser |
| Launched: | 1936 |
| Fate: | Requisition by Kriegsmarine, 1939 |
 Nazi Germany
|
|
| Name: | Pinguin |
| Namesake: | Penguin |
| Builder: | Deschimag A.G. Weser, Bremen |
| Yard number: | 5 |
| Acquired: | 1939 |
| Recommissioned: | 6 February 1940 |
| Reclassified: | Auxiliary cruiser, 1940 |
| Nickname(s): |
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| Fate: | Sunk in the Indian Ocean, 8 May 1941 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 17,600 long tons (17,900 t) |
| Length: | 155 m (509 ft) |
| Beam: | 18.7 m (61 ft) |
| Draft: | 8.7 m (29 ft) |
| Installed power: | 7,600 hp (5,700 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × 6-cylinder diesel engines |
| Speed: | 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Range: | 60,000 nmi (110,000 km; 69,000 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Endurance: | 207 days |
| Complement: | 401 |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: |
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Pinguin was a German auxiliary cruiser (Hilfskreuzer) which served as a commerce raider in World War II. Pinguin was known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 33, and designated HSK 5. The most successful commerce raider of the war, she was known to the British Royal Navy as Raider F.
Formerly a freighter named Kandelfels, she was built by Deschimag A.G. Weser in 1936, and was owned and operated by the Hansa Line, Bremen. She was the sister-ship of Kybfels, and a half-sister of Goldenfels (built by Bremer Vulkan), which was converted into the raider Atlantis.
In the winter of 1939–40, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine (KM) and converted to a warship by Deschimag A.G. Weser, Bremen. Her main armament, six 150 mm L/45 C/13 guns was taken from the obsolete battleship Schlesien and she was also fitted with one 75 mm cannon, one twin 37 mm anti-aircraft mounting, four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, and two single 53.3 cm torpedo tubes for 16 torpedoes. She was supplied with two Heinkel He 114A-2 seaplanes and 300 seamines. She also carried 25 G7a torpedoes and 80 U-Boat mines for replenishing U-boats.
Pinguin was one of the first wave of raiders sent out by the Kriegsmarine, sailing on 15 June 1940 under the command of Fregattenkapitän (later Kapitän zur See) Ernst-Felix Krüder and disguised as an anonymous naval transport ship with an escort from the minesweeper Nautilus. The escort duties were taken over by Sperrbrecher IV on 18 June and later by the Type 23 torpedo boat Falke and the Type 24 torpedo boat Jaguar. The convoy then sailed through the Great Belt into the Kattegat.
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