August 8, 1940 Arabian Sea 6°56’N, 60°47’E 363rd day at sea
Kapitan.z.S Hartmann takes Ship 77 into the Arabian Sea, a hotspot for merchant and naval shipping she begins to hunt enemy merchant shipping on June 28th she captured the Norwegian tanker ARUBA 9,800 grt she transferred 392 of the 504 prisoners to the tanker and under the command of L.z.S.d.R Panzer the tanker departed for Germany. The following day the disguise was changed for the last time, she was disguised as an anonymous Greek freighter,
1. Outer hull black
2. Superstructure white with black band on the upper bridge
3. White band painted on the hull, Greek neutrality markings painted on the hull port and starboard “GREECE” painted 4 times with 6 Greek flags
4. Aft 15cm cannon disguised as a deckhouse
5. Fore 15cm disguised as deck cargo
After this change the raider pressed July passed with no success moving towards Addu Atoll she was cruising on the shipping lanes when in the early hours of August 8th a large silhouette was sighted, Ship 77 came about and began to run at 19 knots. by 11:00 hrs. the unknown vessel was identified as the heavy cruiser HMS LONDON, the range closed, and Hartmann swung Ship 77 hard to port, put on his Kriegsmarine uniform and gave his final order, decamouflage and open fire! The one and only salvo was fired from the auxiliary cruiser when a salvo from the cruiser found its mark the first rounds hit the bridge destroying it and all inside were killed instantly including the Kommandant, Kapitan.z.S Hartmann. A second salvo again hit the bridge and it was obliterated other hits were on the fore deck, amidships, and in the engine room.
There was still hope for the survivors as the most senior officer, as reported by OStrm Witterhold, was the IV. Artillery Officer L.z.S(W) Wrangel gave the order to abandon ship when the final salvo came in and hit Hold Nr.7 which house the remaining 109 EMC mines the ship was blown apart of the 623 man crew only 3 Petty Officers, and 21 ratings survived. As for the prisoners only 2 made it out alive. (Ship 77 never sent a radio message to the S.K.L. The S.K.L. found out over a Reuters broadcast "British heavy cruiser sinks German raider in the eastern Arabian sea")
The raider sank at 13:02 hrs. local time. HMS LONDON stopped to pick up the survivors, and all were taken to Colombo, Ceylon where they spent the remainder of the war. In 363 days at sea Ship 77 sank 279,037 grt of shipping in the Caribbean Sea, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. The entire crew were awarded the Iron Cross II Class many received the Iron Cross I class and 3 Knights Cross of the Iron Cross were awarded. The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, and Swords was awarded to Kapitan.z.S Hans Felix Hartmann on November 1, 1940.
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And so, the first voyage was concluded. it will be evaluated, and I will improve on the storyline and the writing of the Kriegstagebuch. The Ship’s number and possibly the commander name will change as well.
