Post by Administrator on Dec 3, 2022 15:09:33 GMT
December 2, 1939:
ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE took the first Australian naval prisoners of war of WWII, after sinking DORIC STAR and SS TAIROA, in the South Atlantic. The Australians were Royal Australian Navy Reserve DEMS ratings.
SS DORIC STAR was a British cargo liner operated by the Blue Star Line from 1922 to 1939.
SS DORIC STAR was intercepted and sunk by ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE off the coast of South West Africa, becoming the seventh victim of the commerce raiding sortie of ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE.
On December 2, 1939 having departed Table Bay, DORIC STAR was sighted by ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE's Arado Ar 196 floatplane. At the time, the standard operating procedure of Kapitän Langsdorff was to approach his quarry head on, at maximum speed and to fly the French Ensign. On this particular occasion, Langsdorff was aided by the additional disguise of an extra funnel and main turret, which had been added during the previous rendezvous with ALTMARK.
The crew of DORIC STAR learned of the proximity of ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE when a small piece of shell landed on her forward deck. The shell had exploded about 100 yards off her port quarter, the shot having been fired from a range of 15 miles. Captain Stubbs, having arrived on the bridge, sighted what he thought was the masthead of a warship in the distance and ordered the signal R-R-R (I am being attacked by a raider) to be sent by the ship's Wireless Officer, William Comber. As ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE closed to within 8 miles another shell landed approximately 200 yards off the starboard of DORIC STAR. That resulted in DORIC STAR amplifying her distress call and identifying the raider as ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE or possibly DEUTSCHLAND, which had been disguised to look roughly like HMS REPULSE (1916) or HMS RENOWN (1916).
ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE sent a signal by morse lamp to DORIC STAR informing her to discontinue transmitting, but that was ignored and Comber continued to transmit his signals, which were received and repeated by other ships in the area, notably the sister of DORIC STAR, SS BRISBANE STAR (also en-passage from New Zealand to the United Kingdom), and SS PORT CHALMERS. The transmission was also acknowledged by an unidentified shore station at 1417, but it was not until 0007 the following morning that shore stations started to transmit the sighting report as given by SS PORT CHALMERS.
As ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE closed to within a mile, Stubbs realised that his situation was hopeless and decided to stop his ship, and a boarding party was despatched from ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE, evacuated the crew of DORIC STAR and in the process retrieved 19 silver bars. However, a technical fault with the Arado Ar 196 forced Langsdorff to curtail the actions of the boarding party, which meant that it failed to discover the cargo of refrigerated meat.
With the crew of the Doric Star transferred to ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE, the boarding party proceeded to sink DORIC STAR, but that proved to be more difficult than initially envisaged. Scuttling charges were placed within DORIC STAR but failed to have the desired effect. ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE opened fire by using some of her secondary armament of 15 cm (5.9 in) SK C/28 guns and discharged seven rounds. With the aid of a torpedo, they finally sank DORIC STAR.
Photo: DORIC STAR photographed from ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE
John Anzevino
A Seaman from Kinsale was also captured by the Graf Spee and later transferred to the MV Altmark
ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE took the first Australian naval prisoners of war of WWII, after sinking DORIC STAR and SS TAIROA, in the South Atlantic. The Australians were Royal Australian Navy Reserve DEMS ratings.
SS DORIC STAR was a British cargo liner operated by the Blue Star Line from 1922 to 1939.
SS DORIC STAR was intercepted and sunk by ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE off the coast of South West Africa, becoming the seventh victim of the commerce raiding sortie of ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE.
On December 2, 1939 having departed Table Bay, DORIC STAR was sighted by ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE's Arado Ar 196 floatplane. At the time, the standard operating procedure of Kapitän Langsdorff was to approach his quarry head on, at maximum speed and to fly the French Ensign. On this particular occasion, Langsdorff was aided by the additional disguise of an extra funnel and main turret, which had been added during the previous rendezvous with ALTMARK.
The crew of DORIC STAR learned of the proximity of ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE when a small piece of shell landed on her forward deck. The shell had exploded about 100 yards off her port quarter, the shot having been fired from a range of 15 miles. Captain Stubbs, having arrived on the bridge, sighted what he thought was the masthead of a warship in the distance and ordered the signal R-R-R (I am being attacked by a raider) to be sent by the ship's Wireless Officer, William Comber. As ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE closed to within 8 miles another shell landed approximately 200 yards off the starboard of DORIC STAR. That resulted in DORIC STAR amplifying her distress call and identifying the raider as ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE or possibly DEUTSCHLAND, which had been disguised to look roughly like HMS REPULSE (1916) or HMS RENOWN (1916).
ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE sent a signal by morse lamp to DORIC STAR informing her to discontinue transmitting, but that was ignored and Comber continued to transmit his signals, which were received and repeated by other ships in the area, notably the sister of DORIC STAR, SS BRISBANE STAR (also en-passage from New Zealand to the United Kingdom), and SS PORT CHALMERS. The transmission was also acknowledged by an unidentified shore station at 1417, but it was not until 0007 the following morning that shore stations started to transmit the sighting report as given by SS PORT CHALMERS.
As ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE closed to within a mile, Stubbs realised that his situation was hopeless and decided to stop his ship, and a boarding party was despatched from ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE, evacuated the crew of DORIC STAR and in the process retrieved 19 silver bars. However, a technical fault with the Arado Ar 196 forced Langsdorff to curtail the actions of the boarding party, which meant that it failed to discover the cargo of refrigerated meat.
With the crew of the Doric Star transferred to ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE, the boarding party proceeded to sink DORIC STAR, but that proved to be more difficult than initially envisaged. Scuttling charges were placed within DORIC STAR but failed to have the desired effect. ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE opened fire by using some of her secondary armament of 15 cm (5.9 in) SK C/28 guns and discharged seven rounds. With the aid of a torpedo, they finally sank DORIC STAR.
Photo: DORIC STAR photographed from ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE
John Anzevino
A Seaman from Kinsale was also captured by the Graf Spee and later transferred to the MV Altmark
