Екінші дүниежүзілік соғыстағы «Тор» крейсерінің тарихы

Thor (HSK 4) was an auxiliary cruiser of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in World War II, intended for service as a commerce raider. Also known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 10; to the Royal Navy she was Raider E. She was named after the Germanic deity Thor.

Formerly the cargo ship Santa Cruz, she was built by Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, (DWH) in 1938, and was owned and operated by the Oldenburg Portuguese Line (OPDR), Hamburg. In the winter of 1939–40 the navy requisitioned her and had her converted into an auxiliary warship by DWH. She was commissioned as the commerce raider Thor in March 1940.

Thor began its first combat cruise on 6 June 1940, under the command of Captain Otto Kähler. Thor spent 329 days at sea, and sank or captured 12 ships with a combined tonnage of
Thor stopped her first victim on 1 July, the 9290 ton Dutch cargo ship Kertosono, which was carrying a cargo of petrol, timber, asphalt, and agricultural machinery. Kähler decided to send her under a prize crew to Lorient, France, where she arrived safely 12 days later. At the time, Thor was disguised as a Yugoslavian freighter. Voltaire was turned into an inferno. Two of Voltaire's six inch guns continued to fire, but they scored only one hit on Thor, disabling her radio aerial. Voltaires obsolete guns overheated and had to cease firing, at which point the Voltaire raised a white flag. Thor began rescuing Voltaires crew from a safe distance of to avoid damage from any secondary explosions. Voltaires captain and 196 men were rescued out of a crew of 296. Thor finally set out on her second cruise on 30 November 1941 under the command of Captain Günther Gumprich. Thor sank or captured 10 ships on her second cruise, a total of 58,644 tons, during 328 days of operation. Thor found her first victim on 23 March, the 3,490 ton Greek freighter Pagasitikos. Her crew of 33 was taken aboard Thor, and she was sunk by a torpedo. The next day, 24 March, Thor replenished her stocks from the supply ship Regensburg. On 30 March Thor chased the 4,470 ton British freighter Wellpark for seven hours. Gumprich sent his seaplane to strafe the freighter, but this was abandoned when Thor opened fire on Wellpark. Within 15 minutes, the Wellpark's crew abandoned ship, and she was sunk. On 1 April Thor intercepted another British freighter, the 4,565 ton Willesden. Gumprich again ordered his floatplane to destroy the vessel's radio aerial before opening fire from Thor. After the plane's strafing run, Thor opened fire with her guns, and set oil drums on the Willesden's deck on fire, forcing most of the crew to abandon the ship. The only remaining crew were the gunners, but they managed to fire only six shots before they were also forced to abandon ship. Thor fired 128 shells into Willesden and finished her off with a torpedo. Two days later on the 3rd, the Norwegian freighter Aust fell victim to the same tactics. She was unable to send a distress or raider signal before she was disabled and sunk by demolition charges. On 10 April Thor detected the 4,840 ton British freighter Kirkpool on her radar, the first installed on an armed merchant cruiser. Poor visibility and fog forced Gumprich to abandon his usual tactics and instead shadow Kirkpool until nightfall. At close range, Thor attacked first with a torpedo and a salvo of her guns, both of which missed. The second salvo scored three hits and set Kirkpool's bridge and wheelhouse alight. With the helm unattended, Kirkpool veered towards Thor in what appeared to be an attempt to ram her attacker, which was avoided. Kirkpool's crew began abandoning ship, and after a three hour search, 32 men were rescued from the water, including Kirkpools captain, chief engineer and first officer. The ship was sunk with a torpedo. All of Thors victims thus far were near the Cape of Good Hope, in the shipping lanes. The Kriegsmarine High Command (SKL) ordered Thor to move into the Indian Ocean, but warned her to be aware of Japanese submarines operating in the area. On 10 May Thor's seaplane sighted the 7,130 ton Australian liner Nankin, en route to Bombay. From a range of 13,000 yards Thor opened fire with her guns, scoring several hits. Nankins captain gave the order to abandon ship and lowered his flags. The crew attempted to scuttle her, but the German boarding party managed to repair the damage done to the ship's engines. Nankin was renamed Leuthen and taken as a prize ship to rendezvous with Regensburg. Following resupply and prisoner transfer, Leuthen and Regensburg both sailed to Japanese held ports. She was carrying secret papers from the New Zealand "Combined Intelligence Centre" in Wellington to the C in C, Eastern Fleet in Colombo. On 14 June Thor's radar picked up a contact at 10,000 yards, and by using a converging course, was able to approach to within 1,800 yards, Thor attacked what turned out to be the 6,310 ton Dutch Shell tanker Olivia. The first salvo set Olivia ablaze, killing most of the crew. The third officer, three other Dutchmen and eight Chinese were able to lower one boat, but Thor was able to find only one man in the water. These 12 men were adrift for a month before their boat capsized in the breakers off Madagascar; one Dutch and seven Chinese mariners had died during the month at sea. Five days later on the 19th, Thor intercepted the Norwegian oil tanker Herborg. Her seaplane disabled Herborgs radio aerial, and a warning salvo from Thor brought Herborg to a stop. The entire crew was taken aboard Thor, and a prize crew took the renamed Hohenfriedburg to Japan. On 4 July Thor stopped another Norwegian oil tanker, the 5,895 ton Madrono, in the same manner as Herborg. A prize crew took her to Japan as well, renamed as Rossbach. Rossbach was eventually torpedoed by the American submarine Burrfish, in the Kii Channel, Japan, in May 1944. Thor's tenth and final victim was on 20 July, the British refrigerated freighter Indus. She put up a fight, turning away at full speed and firing her stern gun, but she fired only two shots before a shell from Thor hit the gun directly, killing the chief gunner and destroying the gun. The freighter's radio operator kept up a steady stream of distress signals, until another shell from Thor hit the bridge, killing him and knocking out the radio, and setting the bridge on fire. Indus was now a raging inferno, and most of her crew went overboard. Thor ceased firing and rescued 49 survivors before finishing Indus off. Thor transferred her prisoners to the blockade runner Tannenfels, and made for Yokohama, Japan, via Batavia in the Japanese occupied Dutch East Indies.

Thor reached Yokohama on 9 October 1942, where she began refitting for a third voyage. On 30 November explosions on the supply ship German tanker Uckermark destroyed her superstructure, sending a large amount of burning debris onto Thor, which was moored alongside. Both ships were rapidly set ablaze, along with Nankin/Leuthen and the Japanese freighter Unkai Maru. All four ships were destroyed in the fire and 12 of Thor's crew were killed. Thor was wrecked beyond repair and was abandoned. Her captain, Kapitän zur See Gumprich, later commanded the German auxiliary cruiser Michel on her second raiding voyage, from which he did not return. Some survivors of the ship were sent to France on the blockade runner Doggerbank and killed when the ship was mistakenly sunk by U 43 was launched in 1939. on 3 March 1943 with all but one of her 365 crew lost.