German auxiliary cruiser Widder
| History | |
|---|---|
 Nazi Germany
|
|
| Owner: | HAPAG |
| Builder: | Howaldtswerke, Kiel |
| Launched: | 1930 |
| Christened: | Neumark |
| Homeport: | Kiel |
| Fate: | 1939 requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine |
 Nazi Germany
|
|
| Namesake: | Aries |
| Operator: | Kriegsmarine |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss |
| Yard number: | 3 |
| Acquired: | 1939 |
| Recommissioned: | 9 December 1939 |
| Renamed: |
|
| Reclassified: | Auxiliary cruiser, 1939 |
| Homeport: | Kiel |
| Nickname(s): |
|
| Fate: | 1941 decommissioned |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Namesake: | Ulysses |
| Acquired: | circa 1945 |
| Renamed: | Ulysses |
| Fate: | Sold, 1950 |
 West Germany
|
|
| Acquired: | 1950 |
| Renamed: | Fechenheim |
| Fate: | Wrecked near Bergen, 1955 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Merchant vessel |
| Tonnage: | 7,851 GRT |
| Displacement: | 16,800 tons |
| Length: | 152 m (499 ft) |
| Beam: | 18.2 m (60 ft) |
| Draught: | 8.3 m (27 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Range: | 34,000 nmi (63,000 km; 39,000 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Endurance: | 141 days |
| Complement: | 364 |
| Armament: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | 2 × Heinkel He 114B |
Widder (HSK 3) was an auxiliary cruiser (Hilfskreuzer) of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that was used as a merchant raider in the Second World War. Her Kriegsmarine designation was Schiff 21, to the Royal Navy she was Raider D. The name Widder (Ram) represents the constellation Aries in German. The name was given after the horoscope sign of the ship's master, Kapitän zur See Helmuth von Ruckteschell.
Built for HAPAG, the Hamburg America Line, at Howaldtswerke, Kiel, she was launched in 1930 as the freighter Neumark. After an uneventful career she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine for use as a commerce raider. She was converted for this purpose by Blohm & Voss in late 1939, and commissioned as the raider Widder on 9 December of that year. She sailed on her first and only raiding voyage in May 1940.
Widder sailed as part of the Kriegsmarine's first wave of commerce raiders, sailing on 6 May 1940 under the command of Korvettenkapitän (later Fregattenkapitän) Helmuth von Ruckteschell.
Leaving Germany on 6 May 1940, she made for Bergen, in Norway. On 13 May the Widder confronted the British submarine HMS Clyde on the surface, enjoining an exchange of gunfire which lasted for over an hour, with no hits for either side. After the engagement, the cruiser sought shelter in Sandsfjord. On 14 May she sailed to the open sea, crossing the Arctic Circle the next day. On 21 August 1940, 800 miles west of the Canary Islands, she sank the SS Anglo Saxon, which had been carrying a cargo of coal from Newport, Wales, to Bahía Blanca, Argentina. After refuelling from the auxiliary ship Nordmark, she slipped through the Denmark Strait. Over a 5½ month period she captured and sank ten ships, totalling 58,644 GRT.
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