In WW2 the German Navy sent out merchant raiders to sink or capture Allied merchant ships. Not only warships like the Graf Spee but converted merchant ships like the Atlantis. These armed merchant cruisers were a significant threat to Allied shipping particularly in the first two years of the war as the Royal Navy and Allied Navies were overextended. This was made more difficult as the German merchant raiders would disguise themselves as Allied or Neutral flagged ships as they hunted for Allied merchant ships travelling alone on the more distant sea lanes of the South Atlantic, Indian and South Pacific oceans.
Here are links to two articles describing the activities of these ships. I'd recommend the Hilfskreuzer site as it's more informative and detailed.
en.wikipedia.org
The RN struggled to find and sink these ships. Though they eventually did it took the Allies over 2 years to eliminate their threat. During those 2 years the Germans sank or captured over 100 ships using about 7 effective armed merchant raiders. The deployment of these ships didn't come as a surprise to the British. It was a repeat of operations the German navy had carried out in WW1. And the British Admiralty knew of the conversions of a number of fast merchant ships to armed merchant cruisers that the Germans were doing in the late 1930s. The RN knew what was coming. Still, it took the RN and their Allies more then 2 years to remove that threat.
What more could the RN had done considering all their other world wide commitments? Were there any other method of combating the German raiders that would not too greatly tax the already over extended RN? I think there might possibly have been when considering the tactics employed by the Hilfskreuzers.
The captains of the raiders wanted to subdue the Allied merchants. They were seeking to capture ships that could be sent home crewed by German prize crews and/or inspect captured ships for valuable cargoes, fuel oil and food for their own use and intelligence for example code books and logs. They didn't seek to simply attack and sink their prey. The tactics employed required the Hilfskreuzer to close with their victim so as to send a boarding party after the Allied ship had stopped trying to fight back or flee. This would often mean the Allied ship would be shot up and damaged to varying degrees. But if a ship stopped without resisting they would likely not be shelled.
The Hilfskreuzer would need to approach the stopped ship close enough to lower boats to send a boading party. As close as a few hundred yards. This would've put the stopped Hilfskreuzer within can't miss torpedo range.
What if the British had fitted a small number of ordinary mundane tramp steamers with a set of torpedo tubes? Fitted in the bottom of the forward cargo hold then the tube doors would be below the water line and not visible. Maybe have 3 tubes located on each side of the ship. Because who could know which side the raider would approach from? A new kind of Q-Ship sent out to deal with the only enemy ships that would still be following something like the old "cruiser rules".
This torpedo Q-Ship would not be armed with any other weapons. The WW2 German Hilfskreuzers were so heavily armed it it would be futile to get into a gunfight with them. They must look like a helpless old steamer just like all the others the Germans have encountered previously in the South Atlantic and Indian oceans. And when fired on and signaled at they must promptly stop without offering any resistance. This would hopefully prevent any further firing from the Hilfskreuzer guns. And so just like before the German ship approaches the "helpless" stopped Allied ship and halts a few hundred yards off the beam so as to send over the boarding party. At which point the British fire a salvo of torpedoes at the stopped Hilfskreuzer.
The raiders weren't armoured. They were just converted merchant ships. Two or three torpedo hits would finish it. It might finish it off so quickly that they might not be able to commence firing at the British Q-Ship. Either way it's not likely the information of how the German raider was sunk would make it back the the German Navy command which means the German captains may not learn they need to change their tactics. The British would need only have to do this two or three times along with the OTL methods used in hunting down the raiders and the Hilfskreuzer threat would be eliminated in about half the time it took in OTL. Especially if the Q-Ships sank the more effective German raiders like Atlantis or Pinguin.
Could this have worked?
Here are links to two articles describing the activities of these ships. I'd recommend the Hilfskreuzer site as it's more informative and detailed.
Hilfskreuzer (Auxiliary Cruiser / Raider) - Menu
Website about the battleships Bismarck & Tirpitz. Stories, photographs, technical details, drawings, models, discussion forum and much more.
www.bismarck-class.dk
Merchant raider - Wikipedia
The RN struggled to find and sink these ships. Though they eventually did it took the Allies over 2 years to eliminate their threat. During those 2 years the Germans sank or captured over 100 ships using about 7 effective armed merchant raiders. The deployment of these ships didn't come as a surprise to the British. It was a repeat of operations the German navy had carried out in WW1. And the British Admiralty knew of the conversions of a number of fast merchant ships to armed merchant cruisers that the Germans were doing in the late 1930s. The RN knew what was coming. Still, it took the RN and their Allies more then 2 years to remove that threat.
What more could the RN had done considering all their other world wide commitments? Were there any other method of combating the German raiders that would not too greatly tax the already over extended RN? I think there might possibly have been when considering the tactics employed by the Hilfskreuzers.
The captains of the raiders wanted to subdue the Allied merchants. They were seeking to capture ships that could be sent home crewed by German prize crews and/or inspect captured ships for valuable cargoes, fuel oil and food for their own use and intelligence for example code books and logs. They didn't seek to simply attack and sink their prey. The tactics employed required the Hilfskreuzer to close with their victim so as to send a boarding party after the Allied ship had stopped trying to fight back or flee. This would often mean the Allied ship would be shot up and damaged to varying degrees. But if a ship stopped without resisting they would likely not be shelled.
The Hilfskreuzer would need to approach the stopped ship close enough to lower boats to send a boading party. As close as a few hundred yards. This would've put the stopped Hilfskreuzer within can't miss torpedo range.
What if the British had fitted a small number of ordinary mundane tramp steamers with a set of torpedo tubes? Fitted in the bottom of the forward cargo hold then the tube doors would be below the water line and not visible. Maybe have 3 tubes located on each side of the ship. Because who could know which side the raider would approach from? A new kind of Q-Ship sent out to deal with the only enemy ships that would still be following something like the old "cruiser rules".
This torpedo Q-Ship would not be armed with any other weapons. The WW2 German Hilfskreuzers were so heavily armed it it would be futile to get into a gunfight with them. They must look like a helpless old steamer just like all the others the Germans have encountered previously in the South Atlantic and Indian oceans. And when fired on and signaled at they must promptly stop without offering any resistance. This would hopefully prevent any further firing from the Hilfskreuzer guns. And so just like before the German ship approaches the "helpless" stopped Allied ship and halts a few hundred yards off the beam so as to send over the boarding party. At which point the British fire a salvo of torpedoes at the stopped Hilfskreuzer.
The raiders weren't armoured. They were just converted merchant ships. Two or three torpedo hits would finish it. It might finish it off so quickly that they might not be able to commence firing at the British Q-Ship. Either way it's not likely the information of how the German raider was sunk would make it back the the German Navy command which means the German captains may not learn they need to change their tactics. The British would need only have to do this two or three times along with the OTL methods used in hunting down the raiders and the Hilfskreuzer threat would be eliminated in about half the time it took in OTL. Especially if the Q-Ships sank the more effective German raiders like Atlantis or Pinguin.
Could this have worked?
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