SMS Möwe (1914) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids History
German Empire
Namesake	Möwe, German for "seagull"
Ordered	Laeisz
Builder	Joh. C. Tecklenborg Ship Yard, Geestemünde
Launched	1914 as Pungo
In service	1 November 1915
Fate	Awarded as war reparations to the United Kingdom, sunk as German freighter Oldenburg 7 April 1945
General characteristics
Displacement	9,800 tons (4,788 gross register tons (GRT))
Length	123.7 m
Beam	14.4 m
Draught	7.2 m
Propulsion	1 × 3-cylinder triple expansion; 5 × boiler; 3,200 hp
Speed	13 knots
Range	8,700 nm at 12 kn
Complement	235
Armament	4 × 15 cm SK L/45 naval gun 1 × 10.5 cm SK L/40 naval gun 2 × torpedo tubes

SMS Möwe (which means "Seagull" in German) was a special kind of warship called a merchant raider. She belonged to the Imperial German Navy during World War I. Her job was to attack and sink ships belonging to the Allied countries.

The Möwe was very clever. She looked like a normal cargo ship to get close to her targets. This trick worked well, and she sank 40 ships during the war.

The Möwe's Early Days

Model of the SMS Möwe

The ship was built in 1914 by the Joh. C. Tecklenborg shipyard. She was first named Pungo and worked as a freighter, carrying bananas. She sailed from the German colony of Kamerun (now Cameroon) to Germany.

Later, the Imperial German Navy took over the Pungo. They changed her into a minelayer, a ship that lays underwater mines. This change happened in late 1915. On November 1, 1915, she officially joined the navy as SMS Möwe. Her commander was Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien.

First Secret Mission

The Möwe left Wilhelmshaven on December 29, 1915. Her first mission was to lay mines in the Pentland Firth. This area was near Scapa Flow, a big base for the British navy. She completed this task even in bad weather.

A few days later, a British battleship, HMS King Edward VII, hit one of her mines and sank. The Möwe then moved south, laying another minefield off the coast of France. Two more ships sank there.

After this, Möwe sailed into the Atlantic Ocean. She operated near Spain, the Canary islands, and later off the coast of Brazil.

Battle of January 16, 1916

This was a fight between the German Möwe and a British cargo ship. It happened near the Portuguese islands of Madeira in the Atlantic.

The Möwe was sailing with another ship, Appam. The Appam was a British ship that Möwe had captured. It had a German crew and many prisoners of war. As the sun set, lookouts on Möwe saw smoke, meaning another ship was nearby.

Kapitän Dohna-Schlodien told Appam to stay back. He went to check out the ship. It was dark when Möwe got closer. The ship was a large merchant vessel, later identified as Clan Mactavish.

Dohna-Schlodien used a signal lamp to ask the cargo ship's name. Clan Mactavish asked Möwe to identify herself first. Dohna-Schlodien lied, saying his ship was Author, a British ship. Möwe looked very similar to the Author, which had been sunk earlier. Clan Mactavish then gave her real name. She said she was returning to Britain from Australia.

Now that he knew it was a British ship, Dohna-Schlodien ordered Clan Mactavish to stop. But Clan Mactavish turned and sped up, trying to escape. Möwe fired warning shots and chased her. Clan Mactavish fired back with her single gun, but missed. The German ship was not hit.

Möwe then fired her four big 150 mm guns. Clan Mactavish sent out emergency radio signals. A British armored cruiser, HMS Essex, received them. But the radio operator on Essex did not tell his officers, so no help was sent.

After being hit many times, Clan Mactavish caught fire. Her captain surrendered to Möwe. A group of German sailors went onto Clan Mactavish. They took the surviving crew as prisoners. Eighteen crew members were killed, and five were wounded. The captain of Clan Mactavish was a navy reservist, and two navy gunners operated her gun. The rest of the crew were civilians.

The German sailors then sank Clan Mactavish using explosives. After the battle, Möwe met up with Appam again. They sailed west to avoid any British warships. Two British cruisers were not far away. If the Essex had reported the distress call, Möwe might have been caught.

Möwe continued to sink more Allied ships before returning home. When she arrived, Kapitän Dohna-Schlodien received the Iron Cross medal. Felix von Luckner, another famous German raider, served on SMS Möwe before his own adventures.

A New Name: Vineta

To keep her secret, Möwe was renamed Vineta. This was the name of another German ship that was no longer in service. As Vineta, she made short trips in the summer of 1916. She attacked Allied ships off the coast of Norway. She only had one success before being sent for repairs.

Second Raiding Mission

Advertisement for the four-part Hearst newsreel The Sea Raider 'Moeve' (April 1920)

Möwe left on November 23, 1916, for her second trip into the Atlantic. This mission was even more successful.

On December 6, 1916, she captured and sank the Canadian ship SS Mount Temple. This ship was carrying 700 horses for the Canadian army in France. It also had many crates of dinosaur fossils! These fossils were from Alberta, Canada, and were going to the British Museum. On December 12, she sank SS Georgic, which was carrying 1,200 horses for the war.

In four months, Möwe sank or captured 25 more ships. One of these, SS Yarrowdale, was sent back to Germany. It was then turned into another commerce raider, just as Dohna-Schlodien had suggested. Möwe also kept SS Saint Theodore to use as a coal ship. Later, she armed Saint Theodore and renamed her Geier. Geier sank two ships before Möwe disarmed and sank her.

On March 10, Möwe was damaged in a fight with a New Zealand merchant ship, Otaki. The Otaki had one gun and fought bravely. Möwe was hit several times and had a serious fire. But the Otaki was hit about thirty times and sank. The captain of the Otaki, Archibald Bisset Smith, was given a special medal for his bravery. This damage forced Möwe to return to Germany.

In March 1917, Möwe successfully got through the British blockade again. She arrived home safely on March 22, 1917.

Later Years

After her return, Möwe was no longer used as a raider. She was too important as a symbol of German success to risk again. She served in the Baltic as a ship that supported submarines. In 1918, she became a minelayer called Ostsee.

After World War I ended, Möwe was given to Britain. She worked as a freighter named Greenbrier. In 1933, a German company bought her. As the freighter Oldenburg, she sailed between Germany and occupied Norway during World War II.

On April 7, 1945, she was attacked by British aircraft near Vadheim, Norway. The planes fired rockets and cannons at her. She caught fire, sank, and was lost forever.

Möwe's Amazing Success

In her three raiding trips, Möwe captured and sank 40 ships. She also laid mines that sank two more ships and a large warship. This made her the most successful German raider in both World Wars.

Ships sunk or captured by Möwe on her first raiding voyage

Date	Ship	Type	Nationality	Tonnage GRT	Fate
11 Jan 16	Corbridge	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,687	Retained as prize; scuttled 30 Jan 16
11 Jan 16	Farringford	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,146	sunk
13 Jan 16	Dromonby	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,627	sunk
13 Jan 16	Author	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,496	sunk
13 Jan 16	Trader	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,608	sunk
15 Jan 16	Ariadne	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,035	sunk
15 Jan 16	Appam	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	7,781	Retained as prize; detached 17 Jan 16; returned 28 Mar 17
16 Jan 16	Clan McTavish	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	5,816	sunk in action
20 Jan 16	Edinburgh	Sailing ship	United Kingdom	1,473	sunk
4 Feb 16	Luxembourg	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,322	sunk
6 Feb 16	Flamenco	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,540	sunk
8 Feb 16	Westburn	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,300	Retained as prize; detached 9 Feb 16 to Santa Cruz de Tenerife
9 Feb 16	Horace	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,109	sunk
24 Feb 16	Maroni	Cargo ship	France	3,109	sunk
25 Feb 16	Saxon Prince	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,471	sunk

Sunk by mines from Möwe on her first raiding voyage

Date	Ship	Type	Nationality	Tonnage GRT	Location
6 Jan 16	King Edward VII	Pre-dreadnought battleship	Royal Navy	16,350 t disp	Scotland
13 Jan 16	Bayo	Cargo ship	Spain	2,776	Gironde
13 Jan 16	Belgica	Cargo ship	Spain	2,068	Gironde
22 Feb 16	Duckbridge	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	1,491	Scotland

Ships sunk or captured by Möwe, sailing as Vineta

Date	Ship	Type	Nationality	Tonnage GRT	Fate
27 Jul 16	Eskimo	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,326	Taken as a prize

Ships sunk or captured by Möwe on her second raiding voyage

Date	Ship	Type	Nationality	Tonnage GRT	Fate
2 Dec 16	Voltaire	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	8,618	sunk
4 Dec 16	Hallbjørg	Cargo ship	Norway	2,586	sunk
6 Dec 16	Mount Temple	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	9,792	sunk
8 Dec 16	Duchess of Cornwall	Sailing ship	United Kingdom	152	sunk
8 Dec 16	King George	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,852	sunk
9 Dec 16	Cambrian Range	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,235	sunk
10 Dec 16	Georgic	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	10,077	sunk
11 Dec 16	Yarrowdale	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,652	retained as prize; detached to Swinemunde, 31 Dec 16. Converted to auxiliary cruiser Leopard
12 Dec 16	Saint Theodore	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,992	Commissioned as auxiliary cruiser Geier; scuttled 14 Feb 17
18 Dec 16	Dramatist	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	5,415	sunk
26 Dec 16	Nantes	Sailing ship	France	2,679	sunk
2 Jan 17	Asnieres	Sailing ship	France	3,103	sunk
5 Jan 17	Hudson Maru	Cargo ship	Japan	3,798	sunk/released
7 Jan 17	Radnorshire	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,310	sunk
9 Jan 17	Minteh	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	2,890	sunk
10 Jan 17	Netherby Hall	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,461	sunk
15 Feb 17	Brecknockshire	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	8,423	sunk
16 Feb 17	French Prince	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,766	sunk
16 Feb 17	Eddie	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	2,652	sunk
24 Feb 17	Katherine	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	2,926	sunk
4 Mar 17	Rhodanthe	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	3,061	sunk
10 Mar 17	Esmeraldas	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	4,678	sunk
10 Mar 17	Otaki	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	9,575	sunk in action
13 Mar 17	Demeterton	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	6,048	sunk
14 Mar 17	Governor	Cargo ship	United Kingdom	5,524	sunk

Film

In 1917, a German film company made a propaganda film about Möwe. It was called Graf Dohna und seine Möwe (Count Dohna and his Möwe). It was one of the most famous war films of World War I.

See also

• Naval warfare of World War I