[ Page 19 ] The new Captain made much better use of his Aircraft than did all other Raider Captains, and on the 1st. of April he sank by torpedo, the "Willesden," of 4,563 tons, which had also been sighted by his seaplane.
In another 2 days, the Norwegian "Aust," of 5,630 tons, also spotted by the seaplane, was shelled, then abandoned, and demolition charges saved the use of shells or torpedoes.
On this cruise, "Thor" was the first Raider to be fitted with Radar. This new weapon flushed out a ship, out of sight to the naked eye, she was followed all day, and on nightfall, at the close range of 1,700 yards was fired upon, this immediately stopped this ship which proved to be the "Kirkpool." A torpedo completed this action and the 32 crew were rescued from the ocean
British ship "Kirkpool"All this recent activity had taken place in the South Atlantic, close to the Cape of Good Hope, and very much in the shipping lane, with Capetown the focus for many ships either inward bound for Britain or outbound to the Gulf area to avoid the Mediterranean, or to India, Ceylon, or to Australia and New Zealand.
"Thor" was now ordered by SKL to shift his search to the Indian Ocean, and was warned to watch out for Japanese Submarines and their areas of operation.
By the 10th. of May they were about 1,500 miles off the Western Australian coastline when their seaplane sighted the 'Nankin," a liner of 7,131 tons. The aircraft in a daring pass over the ship managed to snatch away the radio aerial, preventing any distress signal being sent off. A prize crew was placed on board, and they departed to meet up with "Regensburg," both these ships then made for a Japanese port.
The Radar installation continued to provide much frustration, with a good deal of down time, but on the 16th. of June, it did come good, producing an excellent contact, at 10,000 yards. By using a converging course "Thor" arrived within 1,800 yards of this ship, which was seen to be a Tanker. Her steering gear was put out of action with the first German salvo, and the Dutch "Olivia" blazed away totally on fire, many of her crew dying on board or in the burning water covered with oil.
"Thor" appears to have had gun crews that on many occasions used their weapons with accuracy, achieving a large number of hits on enemy ships, and often striking their foe with their first salvo, no doubt a lot of training went into preparing gun crews for action, but I have yet to uncover any reports on this aspect of the Raiders' operations.
However, it was essential for any Raider to quickly subdue an enemy ship, before the alarm could be raised bringin~ the opposing forces quickly to the scene, thus good gunnery paid its dividend hy ensuring survival for the Raider.
A survivor gave useful information to his captors that allowed "Thor" to capture 2 Norwegian Tankers - the 'Herborg," 7,892 tons on the 19th. of June, and on the 4th. of July, the 'Madrona," - of 5,894 tons. Both these ships were sailed off to Japan with prize crews.
Four survivors from the "Olivia" made the long and arduous journey to Madagascar in an open boat.
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