SMS Cap Trafalgar
Encyclopedia
SMS Cap Trafalgar (sometimes also called Cape Trafalgar) was a German
auxiliary cruiser during World War I
. The ship holds the dubious distinction of being the first armed merchant cruiser to have been sunk by a ship of the same class, having been destroyed in a furious action in the South Atlantic in September 1914 soon after the start of the war.
built for passenger use at the AG Vulcan Shipyard on the Elbe River in Hamburg
, Germany, for the Hamburg-South America Line
. She was completed in October 1913, with 18,710 GRT
and named after the Spanish Cape Trafalgar
, scene of the famous Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805.
She spent the next year steaming between the German port of Hamburg
and the ports of Brazil
and Chile
, where large numbers of German immigrants had settled. She was there when war was declared in Europe in August 1914.
, which transferred naval officers, ammunition and armaments to the liner, whose job now was to sink British merchant shipping rounding Cape Horn
.
She was armed with two 4.1" guns and six pom-poms
, all manned by experienced naval personnel, and she was supplied by some of the multitude of German colliers
which found themselves trapped on the South American coast by the outbreak of war. She was given the codename Hilfskreuzer B (Auxiliary Cruiser B) and was commanded by Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Wirth, who took her to the Brazilian islands of Trindade
, 500 miles east of the Brazilian mainland, where the German Navy had established a small, secret supply base.
It was at this base on 14 September 1914 that the Cap Trafalgar was discovered by the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Carmania
, a liner belonging to the Cunard Line
which had been converted to a convoy escort and raider designed to flush out German colliers and small warships that might be using the inhospitable island as a base against British merchant shipping. Carmania spotted Cap Trafalgar's smoke early in the morning and some hours later was able to surprise the German ship with two colliers in the island's only harbour.
By ironic coincidence the "Cap Trafalgar" was disguised as the "Carmania"; while the "Carmania" was disguised as the "Cap Trafalgar".
Both captains realised that to fight a successful action they required plenty of room, and so separately steamed several miles from the outcrop in order to gain the space required. The Cap Trafalgar also sent out encoded German messages, announcing the engagement with the Carmania, and the position as 35 degrees west
, 26 degrees south
, with a NNW heading. Then the two ships turned towards each other and began to fight, the Carmania firing too early and thus allowing the Cap Trafalgar the first blow. Carmania suffered much the worse of the engagement in the ensuing two hours, being hit 79 times, was holed below the waterline, and had her bridge totally destroyed by shellfire. However, as the range closed her own guns began to tell, and fires broke out on both ships, sailors lining the rails and firing machine guns at their opposite numbers as the ships came within a few hundred yards of each other, in a style of fighting more akin with the Napoleonic Wars
than the First World War.
Just as it seemed that the fires on Carmania would burn out of control, Cap Trafalgar veered away, lowering lifeboats as she heeled over to port. A shell below the waterline had ruptured several compartments, and the ship was rapidly sinking, although the colliers were able to pull 279 sailors from the wreck before she sank. 51 were killed in the fighting or the sinking (other reports say 16 or 17 lives were lost), including Captain Wirth. Carmania was equally shattered, listing severely, heavily flooded and burning, with nine men dead and many more wounded. It was at this point that Cap Trafalgar's contemporary, the armed merchant cruiser SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm arrived, seemingly to provide the coup de grace for the shattered ship. However, the Kronprinz Wilhelm's captain feared a trap, since many ships both German and Allied in the area had doubtless been listening to the SOS calls of the Cap Trafalgar, which, though in German code, had been supplemented by messages from the Carmania with the British code. Since multiple warships were on their way to the location, and the Cap Trafalgar had presumably already sunk, the captain of the Kronprinz Wilhelm turned his ship about and sailed away without firing a shot. (Von Niezychowski, 1928)
The following day the Carmania was rescued and brought into Pernambuco
by other units of the Royal Navy
, whilst the survivors of the Cap Trafalgar were deposited at Montevideo by the colliers, from where they would attempt to make their way home.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
auxiliary cruiser during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The ship holds the dubious distinction of being the first armed merchant cruiser to have been sunk by a ship of the same class, having been destroyed in a furious action in the South Atlantic in September 1914 soon after the start of the war.
Early career
She was originally a large ocean linerOcean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
built for passenger use at the AG Vulcan Shipyard on the Elbe River in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany, for the Hamburg-South America Line
Hamburg Süd
Hamburg Süd is one of the key carriers on the North-South trade routes by ocean transportation. It is part of the Oetker Group, a family-owned German conglomerate.-History:...
. She was completed in October 1913, with 18,710 GRT
Gross Register Tonnage
Gross register tonnage a ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated from the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel. The ship's net register tonnage is obtained by reducing the volume of non-revenue-earning spaces i.e...
and named after the Spanish Cape Trafalgar
Cape Trafalgar
Cape Trafalgar is a headland in the Province of Cádiz in the south-west of Spain. It lies on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, northwest of the Strait of Gibraltar...
, scene of the famous Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805.
She spent the next year steaming between the German port of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and the ports of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, where large numbers of German immigrants had settled. She was there when war was declared in Europe in August 1914.
World War I; the Battle of Trindade
Conforming to pre-war plans, she was summoned to duty in the German Imperial Navy. All passengers and non-essential personnel were disembarked at Montevideo, Uruguay and then the ship set off to rendezvous with the gunboat SMS EberSMS Eber
SMS Eber was the last of the six gunboats of the Iltis-class of the German Imperial Navy prior to and during World War I. The others were Iltis, Jaguar, Tiger, Luchs and Panther. They were built between 1898 and 1903. All of them served primarily overseas, in the German colonies.Eber was posted in...
, which transferred naval officers, ammunition and armaments to the liner, whose job now was to sink British merchant shipping rounding Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
.
She was armed with two 4.1" guns and six pom-poms
QF 2 pounder naval gun
The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...
, all manned by experienced naval personnel, and she was supplied by some of the multitude of German colliers
Collier (ship type)
Collier is a historical term used to describe a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially for naval use by coal-fired warships. In the late 18th century a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for...
which found themselves trapped on the South American coast by the outbreak of war. She was given the codename Hilfskreuzer B (Auxiliary Cruiser B) and was commanded by Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Wirth, who took her to the Brazilian islands of Trindade
Trindade and Martim Vaz
Trindade and Martim Vaz is an archipelago located about 1,200 kilometers east of Vitória in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, belonging to the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The archipelago has a total area of 10.4 km² and a population of 32...
, 500 miles east of the Brazilian mainland, where the German Navy had established a small, secret supply base.
RMS Carmania (1905)
The RMS Carmania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company for the Cunard Line. In World War I the Carmania was converted to an armed merchant cruiser.-History:...
, a liner belonging to the Cunard Line
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
which had been converted to a convoy escort and raider designed to flush out German colliers and small warships that might be using the inhospitable island as a base against British merchant shipping. Carmania spotted Cap Trafalgar's smoke early in the morning and some hours later was able to surprise the German ship with two colliers in the island's only harbour.
By ironic coincidence the "Cap Trafalgar" was disguised as the "Carmania"; while the "Carmania" was disguised as the "Cap Trafalgar".
Both captains realised that to fight a successful action they required plenty of room, and so separately steamed several miles from the outcrop in order to gain the space required. The Cap Trafalgar also sent out encoded German messages, announcing the engagement with the Carmania, and the position as 35 degrees west
35th meridian west
The meridian 35° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, the Atlantic Ocean, South America, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....
, 26 degrees south
26th parallel south
The 26th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 26 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America....
, with a NNW heading. Then the two ships turned towards each other and began to fight, the Carmania firing too early and thus allowing the Cap Trafalgar the first blow. Carmania suffered much the worse of the engagement in the ensuing two hours, being hit 79 times, was holed below the waterline, and had her bridge totally destroyed by shellfire. However, as the range closed her own guns began to tell, and fires broke out on both ships, sailors lining the rails and firing machine guns at their opposite numbers as the ships came within a few hundred yards of each other, in a style of fighting more akin with the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
than the First World War.
Just as it seemed that the fires on Carmania would burn out of control, Cap Trafalgar veered away, lowering lifeboats as she heeled over to port. A shell below the waterline had ruptured several compartments, and the ship was rapidly sinking, although the colliers were able to pull 279 sailors from the wreck before she sank. 51 were killed in the fighting or the sinking (other reports say 16 or 17 lives were lost), including Captain Wirth. Carmania was equally shattered, listing severely, heavily flooded and burning, with nine men dead and many more wounded. It was at this point that Cap Trafalgar's contemporary, the armed merchant cruiser SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm arrived, seemingly to provide the coup de grace for the shattered ship. However, the Kronprinz Wilhelm's captain feared a trap, since many ships both German and Allied in the area had doubtless been listening to the SOS calls of the Cap Trafalgar, which, though in German code, had been supplemented by messages from the Carmania with the British code. Since multiple warships were on their way to the location, and the Cap Trafalgar had presumably already sunk, the captain of the Kronprinz Wilhelm turned his ship about and sailed away without firing a shot. (Von Niezychowski, 1928)
The following day the Carmania was rescued and brought into Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
by other units of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, whilst the survivors of the Cap Trafalgar were deposited at Montevideo by the colliers, from where they would attempt to make their way home.