The action of 13 May 1942 was a naval engagement during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

between the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and the German Kriegsmarine. It was an attempt by

Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) to stop the from reaching Gironde, France. ''Stier ''made it through the English Channel and reached Gironde, but MTBs sunk the German fleet

torpedo boats A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of s ...

''Iltis'' and ''Seeadler''. ''MTB 220'' was sunk by the German ships.

Background

''Stier'' was an

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in ...

, a former merchant ship armed with hidden weapons and designed to be used as a

merchant raider Merchant raiders are armed commerce raiding ships that disguise themselves as non-combatant merchant vessels. History Germany used several merchant raiders early in World War I (1914–1918), and again early in World War II (1939–1945). The cap ...

. The German plan was for ''Stier'', disguised as the minesweeper ''Sperrbrecher 171'', to be escorted through the English Channel to Gironde, France. From there, ''Stier'' was to break out into the Atlantic to attack Allied merchant ships. The escort for ''Stier'' was the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, consisting of the torpedo boats ''Seeadler'', ''Kondor'', ''Falke'', and ''Iltis'' as well as 16

R-boat The R boats (''Räumboote'' in German, meaning ''minesweeper'') were a group of small naval vessels built as minesweepers for the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) before and during the Second World War. They were used for several purposes during t ...

minesweepers. The torpedo boats were all of the '' Raubvogel'' or ''Raubtier'' class. ''Stier'' left Rotterdam with the escort on 12 May, heading into the channel.

The battle

The German ships began picking up British MTBs on radar around two hours after midnight on 13 May. Crew on some of the German ships reported hearing motor noises, but the MTBs could not be seen. The German ships were shelled by British coastal batteries in the Strait of Dover, but the batteries scored no hits. At around 3:30 am, the MTBs began their attack. German gunners hit and sunk ''MTB 220'', and damaged several other MTBs. Around 4:00 am, one of the MTBs fired a torpedo at ''Stier'' that missed and hit ''Iltis'' instead, breaking ''Iltis'' in two. Less than fifteen minutes later, ''Seeadler'' was also hit by a torpedo, rolled over, split, and sank. As ''Stier'' and its remaining escorts neared German shore batteries at Boulogne, the MTBs withdrew. Around 118 German sailors lost their lives in the battle.

Aftermath

''Stier'' and its escort did not encounter any other Royal Navy forces after 13 May. However, on 15 May

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

aircraft attacked the German ships. The minesweeper ''M 26'' was sunk off Cap de la Hague and ''M 256'' was badly damaged. On 19 May ''Stier'' reached Gironde, and broke out into the Atlantic on 20–21 May.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:19420513 A Naval battles of World War II involving Germany May 1942 events Germany–United Kingdom military relations Military history of the English Channel