German Auxiliary Cruiser Kormoran - Awards, Memorials, and Legacy

Awards, Memorials, and Legacy

For sinking Sydney, Detmers' Iron Cross First Class was upgraded to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Kormoran's executive officer, gunnery officer, and the sailor who manned the starboard 37-millimetre (1.5 in) gun were awarded the Iron Cross First Class (although for the executive officer, this was a bar to a previous Iron Cross), while the other members of the crew were all awarded the Iron Cross Second Class.

The names of those killed aboard Kormoran are inscribed in the Laboe Naval Memorial. The Kormoran name was carried on by the German fast attack craft Kormoran, a Seeadler class fast attack craft of the West German Navy commissioned in 1959. This Kormoran operated until 1976, when she was sold to Greece. East Germany also operated a Kormoran; a small corvette borrowed from the Soviet Navy from 1970 to 1974.