German Auxiliary Cruiser Michel - First Raiding Voyage

First Raiding Voyage

Although Michel was scheduled to leave at the end of November 1941 she was unable to depart before March 1942 due to reconstruction delays. After moving under heavy escort through the Channel to a port in occupied France, Michel sailed on 20 March 1942 under the command of FK (later KzS) Helmuth von Ruckteschell (who had previously commanded HSK 3, the raider Widder).

Michel grounded at on her first attempt to run through the Channel and had to return but managed to reach the Atlantic on 20 March after a second try. Thereby on 14/15 March the cruiser and the escorts were repeatedly attacked by British forces, without success. Michel was to operate in the South Atlantic and first sank the British tanker Patelle (7,469 gross register tons (GRT)) on 19 April. On 22 April her small torpedo boat sank the US tanker Connecticut (8,684 GRT) but on 1 May an attack on the faster British freighter Menelaus failed. After its warning the Royal Navy sent out the cruiser HMS Shropshire and two AMCs.

Michel sank the Norse freighter Kattegat (4,245 GRT) on 20 May.

LS 4 Esau discovered the struggling US Liberty ship SS George Clymer (6,800 GRT) and scored two torpedo hits but the freighter refused to go down. The nearby British AMC Alcantara dashed forward and rescued the crew but the ship had to be abandoned. The Germans retreated when the British ship came in sight but nevertheless both the British and US ships did not see the Michel and thought the George Clymer was attacked by a submarine.

Various other successes followed, as Michel operated in the South Atlantic and Indian oceans. After a successful cruise of eleven and a half months, Michel arrived in Japan in March 1943, via Singapore where rescued sailors were off loaded.

In 346 days she encountered and sank 15 allied ships, totalling 99,000 tons (GRT).