What Would be the Effect of More German Auxiliary Cruisers?

The reminds me of one of the strategies outlined in Russell's Wasp using faked mini-submarines to scare sailors and restrict waterborne trade.

Yep; in some ways it's as much a deception operation as anything else.

the small attack boats were used for misdirection but also could lead to belief U-boat had fired torpedo. it might have confused the issue with RN for a while, if they were searching for raider or U-boat.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
the small attack boats were used for misdirection but also could lead to belief U-boat had fired torpedo. it might have confused the issue with RN for a while, if they were searching for raider or U-boat.

Yep; considering the fate of Sydney, a corvette or sloop that ran across a large AMR thinking they were looking for a submarine would be at serious risk; likewise, a cruiser thinking it was looking for an AMR that ran into a submarine could be as well.

Best,
 
Three raiders had small torpedo boats (Komet and Kormoran) but never used theirs. Only one did: Michel. They used their torpedo boat on several occasions to open an attack, and in one case, got sole credit for a sinking-a Liberty Ship that had an engine breakdown, and got two torpedoes from the MTB. Michel recovered the MTB and closed in to finish the job, only to see the disappearing masts of a British AMC-HMS Alacantra-Thor's sparring partner from Summer '40. She had found the damaged Liberty Ship, took aboard the crew, and scuttled her.
 
Three raiders had small torpedo boats (Komet and Kormoran) but never used theirs. Only one did: Michel. They used their torpedo boat on several occasions to open an attack, and in one case, got sole credit for a sinking-a Liberty Ship that had an engine breakdown, and got two torpedoes from the MTB.

the launching and retrieval was probably awkward? IIRC they didn't like to use floatplanes for that reason? the small boats were found lacking also?

still think the strategy was sound, they went through several series of S-boats before they matured into successful design, they only launched the small attack boats in 1940, maybe an earlier start along with focus on raiders?
 
Some raider skippers used their aircraft as much as possible: Orion used their planes (German He-114 and Ar-196, and a Japanese E8N "Dave" ) on 85 flights. Kormoran's Arado only flew seven times. Rogge on Atlantis used his aircraft whenever possible, but when both of his He-114s were lost in accidents, he had to wait until a supply ship brought out a couple of Arados. In fact, the need for maintenance on an Ar-196 (the other was still crated) led to Atlantis' loss: the floatplane was being worked on when the raider had a rendezvous with a U-Boat. Which was crashed by HMS Devonshire.....On Thor's second deployment and Michel's cruise, they used the planes whenever possible.

Some have said that if Kormoran's Skipper, Detmers, had been more aggressive in using his Arado, the scout plane might have spotted HMAS Sydney in time for the raider to change course and likely avoid detection (the Aussie cruiser did not have surface-search radar).
 
the floatplane kind of gave away the disguise? or at very least revealed a ship nearby?

even the little gyro that U-boats towed might have been basis for observation vehicle (able to see about 5xs further)
 
Sometimes the floatplane would be painted up in Allied markings (usually British). Orion's E8N (Dave) was so painted.
 
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