Manufacturer: Heller
Scale: 1/750
Additional parts: parts from spare part box, 3D prints
Model build: May - Sep 2021
Kriegsmarine Hilfskreuzer Seeteufel
Heller
1/750
1/750
The Ghost Ship of the South Atlantic: September 1940
The crisp September air whipped Captain Gunther Schmidt's hair as he stood on the bridge of the Seeteufel II, the legendary Pamir reborn a predator. Gone were the days of hauling harmless cargo; beneath the deceptively merchant-like exterior, a wolf in sheep's clothing lurked. Two 15 cm guns, hidden beneath cleverly disguised hatches, and torpedo tubes nestled within the hull, waited to unleash their fury.
Their first prey appeared on the horizon – the British freighter SS Stanhope. Disguised as a Finnish freighter themselves, the Seeteufel II shadowed the unsuspecting vessel for hours. As darkness fell, Captain Schmidt gave the order. With a hiss, a torpedo shot out, leaving a trail of white foam. The Stanhope shuddered as the explosion ripped a gash in its side. Moments later, the freighter slipped beneath the waves, taking its unsuspecting crew with it.
The hunt continued. Over the next three months, the Seeteufel II became a phantom in the South Atlantic. Three more Allied ships fell victim to her hidden bite. The steamer "Highland" was deemed too valuable to sink. It was captured, loaded with German personnel, and sent towards France. The rest met their fiery demise.
News of the mysterious raider spread like wildfire among Allied shipping. Descriptions were inconsistent – a sailing ship, a freighter, a ghost. Panic reigned. Ships changed routes, schedules were disrupted. The Seeteufel II had sown chaos in the commercial arteries of the enemy.
But fate, like the ever-changing ocean, had other plans. The sinking of the mighty Bismarck by the British shifted the balance of power. Supply lines for the Seeteufel II in the North Atlantic became too risky. A new destination was set – Japan.
The journey was long and arduous, but the Seeteufel II arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun in August 1941. Repairs and refitting took months, further delayed by the unthinkable – Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The world was now at full-blown war, and the Seeteufel II found itself trapped.
It wasn't until August of 1942 that another chance arose. Loaded with strategic materials for Germany, the ship embarked on its most daring voyage yet – a return trip through the vast Pacific and the treacherous waters around Cape Horn.
The journey was fraught with danger. Unseen eyes could be anywhere. Then, one fateful morning near the Falkland Islands, a shadow appeared on the horizon – a small British gunboat. It approached, requesting identification. Tension crackled on the deck of the Seeteufel II. To reveal their true nature was to invite a fight they might not win.
Captain Schmidt made a split-second decision. As the gunboat drew closer, exceeding the safe distance, the order was given. A torpedo launched from the Seeteufel II streaked towards the unsuspecting ship. The detonation was a blinding flash. The gunboat, its ammunition stores ignited, disintegrated in a matter of minutes. Only a handful of survivors remained.
Though a necessary act, the sinking of the gunboat cast a dark shadow over the voyage. The world still believed German U-boats to be the dominant threat in the South Atlantic. The masquerade continued, a carefully crafted web of lies to protect the Seeteufel II's true identity.
Finally, in December 1942, after a perilous journey, the Seeteufel II reached France. Her days as a raider were over. Decommissioned and stripped of its weapons, the ship became a floating barracks, a silent testament to the daring spirit of its crew and the phantom that once ruled the South Atlantic.
Introduction:
The auxiliary cruisers of the Kriegsmarine were converted merchant, equipped with guns and torpedoes to attack Allied merchant shipping. The military equipment on board was camouflaged in a way that those ships still appeared to be "normal" merchant ships.
They carried enough material and paint to change their outer appearance often, like adding a second funnel, modifying the superstructure and repaint the whole ship. They often gave themselves the look of an existing allied merchant to deceive other allied ships.
During World War I, the German Navy also used auxiliary cruisers, and one of them was unique, the Seeadler, a sailing ship, operating in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific where it sunk 16 allied ships.
The ship:
Because on this success, the Kriegsmaine decided to use a sailing ship as a merchant raider again. In early 1940, search for a suitable ship started and soon a possible candidate was found: The Pamir. Originally build in Hamburg in 1905, the ship was now owned by a Finnish shipping line, but because of the German support to Finnland, the ship was transferred to Germany again and modified as a merchant raider.
Armament consisted of two 15 cm guns, both mounted under a camouflage structures, plus two 53,3cm torpedo tubes. The ship was equipped with various boats, and a small float plane for reconnaissance. A 1200 hp diesel engine was added and the former cargo space was converted to ammo storage and additional crew quarters.
All this made the Pamir – or as it was unofficially called "Seeteufel II" – to the lightest armed merchant raider n the Kriegsmarine.
The ship left Germany in September 1940 and headed for the South Atlantic first. In the following three months four allied merchant ships, three steamers and one sailing ship were captured. One of them, the British steamer "Highland" was sent to France with German personal on board, the other three ships were sunk.
In 1941, the Seeteufel sailed into the Indian Ocean where it was able to sink another three ships until late May. As an effect of the sinking of the Bismarck in the same month, British forces were able to take out most of the supply network in the North Atlantic, therefore it was seen too dangerous to send the ship back to Germany. Instead, it was ordered to sail to Japan, where it arrived in mid-august of 1941.
Refitted and repaired, the ship was ready to leave Japan again in December 1941, but Japans attack on Pearl Harbour prevented this. It took until August of 1942 until a final attempt was made to send the ship back to Germany. Loaded with strategic cargo, it left Japan heading for the Pacific and Cape Horn. The ship was able to arrive in the South Atlantic undetected but while closing to the Falkland Islands, the Seeteufel was approached by an older British gunboat for inspection. When the gunboat closed by the Seeteufel fired a torpedo at very short range, the detonation blew up the gunboats ammo storage and it sunk within a few minutes. 12 crew members could be rescued by the Seeteufel, and British sources indicated that the gunboat was sunk by a German U-boat.
In mid-December, the Seeteufel finally arrived in France where the ship was decommissioned. It did not see any further operations during the war and was used as a floating barrack.
After the war, the ship was renamed to its original name Pamir and as used as a combined transport/cadet training ship until it sunk during a storm on 21.09.1957.
The model shows the Seeteufel in September 1940.
This is a 1/750 scale Heller model of the Pamir. The guns are 3D printed, aircraft and torpedoes are from the spare part box. Some parts of the superstructure were removed and replaced with custom build ones, the crew is made from PE parts.
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