German auxiliary cruiser Stier
The Stier under way.
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| History | |
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 Nazi Germany
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| Class and type: | Merchant vessel |
| Owner: | Atlas Levant Line |
| Builder: | Germaniawerft |
| Launched: | 1936 |
| Christened: | Cairo |
| Fate: | Requisitioned by Kriegsmarine, 1939 |
 Nazi Germany
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| Name: | Stier |
| Namesake: | Taurus |
| Operator: | Kriegsmarine |
| Yard number: | 6 |
| Recommissioned: | 10 May 1942 |
| Renamed: | Stier, 1939 |
| Reclassified: | Auxiliary cruiser, 1939 |
| Nickname(s): |
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| Fate: | sunk South Atlantic, 27 September 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 4,778 GRT |
| Displacement: | 11,000 tons |
| Length: | 134 m (440 ft) |
| Beam: | 17.3 m (57 ft) |
| Draught: | 7.2 m (24 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 1 × 7-cylinder diesel engine, 3,750 hp (2,796 kW) |
| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Range: | 50,000 nmi (93,000 km; 58,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Endurance: | 173 days |
| Complement: | 324 |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 2 × Arado Ar 231 floatplanes |
Stier (HSK 6) was an auxiliary cruiser of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Her Kriegsmarine designation was Schiff 23, to the Royal Navy she was Raider J.
The name Stier means "bull", and represents the Taurus constellation in the German language. She was the last German raider to break out into the Atlantic in World War II.
Built by Germaniawerft in 1936 as the freighter Cairo, she was operated by the Atlas Levant Line (ALL) until being requisitioned for Kriegsmarine services in November 1939. After merchant warfare operations in the Baltic Sea, she was converted into a mine layer and was planned to be used during Operation Sea Lion. After this operation was canceled, the now renamed Stier was modified into an auxiliary cruiser in April 1941, first at the Wilton shipyard Rotterdam and later at Oderwerke, Stettin, and Kriegsmarinewerft, in Gotenhafen (Gdynia).
On 10 May 1942 she left Germany for operations in the Atlantic. Moving by stages down the English Channel, and after an engagement with British coastal forces on the 13th which saw the loss of two torpedo boats (German) and one MTB (British), Stier reached Royan in occupied France on the 19th. From there she departed under the command of Fregattenkapitän (later Kapitän zur See) Horst Gerlach for operations in the South Atlantic. After a cruise of 4½ months, in which she engaged and sank three ships, on 27 September 1942 the ship was sunk during a battle with an American cargo ship, the SS Stephen Hopkins, which was also lost.
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