KMS Hansa

"And a good thing it was, because the operation would have been senseless anyway." Ludolf Petersen

The raider KMS Hansa, also known as Schiff (Ship) 5, was the last vessel to be converted into a raider. Hansa was originally the freighter Glengarry, still being built by Burmeister and Wain in Copenhagen when the Germans arrived.
She was renamed Meersburg and served as a U-boat target ship for the 27th Flotilla. Later she was ordered to Rotterdam and then Hamburg to be converted to a raider. A captain Henigst was chosen to command the ship. Hansa would have been the most heavily armed raider, with numerous anti-aircraft guns. Work was repeatedly delayed by labor and material shortages and finally by bombings that set the schedule back two years. The authority finally gave up and the ship served as a target ship again. She participated in the final retreat and evacuation at Hela until the end of the war.
After the war the Holt company was able to reclaim Glengarry, despite the Royal Navy's intention to seize it as a warship.

Click on one of the thumbnails below to view the full picture.
Technical data and/or diagram of KMS Hansa.
An overview of the tactics used by the raiders that led to their enormous success.
Hansa was not used as an auxiliary cruiser but served as a training ship for a variety of purposed.
The auxiliary cruiser Hansa, photographed after the war at Methill in Scotland. The gaps in the side of the hull mark the positions of the main armament.

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