About this episode

This episode examines Germany's auxiliary cruisers and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper during the commerce war in 1940 and early 1941.

This episode examines Germany's auxiliary cruisers and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper as they carried the commerce war into distant shipping lanes during 1940 and early 1941. It follows the disguised merchant raiders that forced the Royal Navy to disperse its strength around the globe, then traces the Hipper's design limitations, encounters with convoys WS-5A and SLS-64, and repeated mechanical setbacks. Together, their operations reveal both the reach and the limitations of Germany's surface-raiding strategy before the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau entered the Atlantic. Credit Episode Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Wesley Livesay

Topics covered

• Germany's auxiliary cruisers
• commerce raiding
• naval warfare
• World War II
• Admiral Hipper
• Royal Navy operations
• surface-raiding strategy

Keywords

• Germany
• auxiliary cruisers
• Admiral Hipper
• Royal Navy
• commerce war
• naval strategy
• World War II

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Royal Navy

Products: Admiral Hipper

Books & works: Scharnhorst, Gneisenau

Places: Atlantic

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