Editing Armed merchantman

{{Short description|Merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes}}
[[File:Alcantara 1916.jpg|300px|thumb|[[RMS Alcantara (1913)|HMS ''Alcantara'']] and [[SMS Greif (1914)|SMS ''Greif'']] dueling at close range during the [[action of 29 February 1916]]]]

An '''armed merchantman''' is a [[merchant vessel|merchant ship]] equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, [[Maritime Piracy|piracy]] and [[privateer]]s, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value trade. In more modern times, '''auxiliary cruisers''' were used offensively as [[merchant raider]]s to disrupt trade chiefly during both World War I and World War II, particularly by Germany.

While armed merchantmen are clearly inferior to purpose-built warships, sometimes they have scored successes in combat against them. Examples include [[East Indiaman|East Indiamen]] mimicking [[ship of the line|ships of the line]] and chasing off regular French warships in the [[Battle of Pulo Aura]] in 1804, and the {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Kormoran}} sinking the Australian light cruiser {{HMAS|Sydney|D48|6}} in [[Sinking of HMAS Sydney|their battle]] in 1941, although ''Kormoran'' was also destroyed and had to be scuttled.

== Pre-20th century ==
{{Main|East Indiaman}}
East Indiamen of various European countries were heavily armed for their long journeys to the [[Far East]]. In particularly dangerous times, such as when the home countries were at war, a [[convoy]] system would be used whereby the ships were escorted by a [[warship]]. However, many East Indiamen also travelled on their own, and therefore were heavily armed in order to defend themselves against [[maritime piracy|pirates]] and [[privateer]]s. They also defended themselves against warships, scoring signal victories at the [[Battle of Pulo Aura]] and the [[action of 4 August 1800]]. The British [[Royal Navy]] purchased several that it converted to [[ship of the line|ships of the line]].

=== Development of auxiliary cruisers ===
In 1856, privateering (or seizure of a belligerent country's merchant ships as a private enterprise) lost international sanction under the [[Declaration of Paris]]. From 1861 to 1865 European countries built high-speed ships to run the [[Union Blockade]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Some of these were armed and served as [[Confederate States Navy]] raiders.

[[Russian Empire|Russia]] purchased three ships in 1878 of {{convert|6000|LT|t|lk=on|abbr=on}} armed with {{convert|6|in|mm|adj=on}} guns for use as auxiliary cruisers for a [[Dobroflot|Russian Volunteer Fleet]]. [[German Empire|Germany]] and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] responded to the precedent by asking their shipping companies to design fast steamers with provision for mounting guns in time of war.

In 1890 German and British shipyards built new civilian ships designed for wartime conversion, and [[French Third Republic|France]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], [[Austria-Hungary]], and the [[United States]] made similar agreements with their shipyards. In 1892 Russia likewise built two more auxiliary cruisers.

In 1895 the [[Imperial German Navy]] mobilized the provisional auxiliary cruiser ''Normannia'' for a 15-day trial armed with eight 6-inch guns, two {{convert|3.5|in|mm|adj=on}} guns, six {{convert|37|mm|in|2|adj=on}} guns, and two torpedo boats.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schmalenbach |first=Paul |title=German Raiders: The Story of the German Navy's Auxiliary Cruisers, 1895–1945 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=1977 |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=0-85059-351-4}}</ref>

== 20th century ==
In both World Wars, both [[German Reich|Germany]] and the [[United Kingdom]] used auxiliary cruisers. While the British used armed passenger liners defensively for protecting their shipping, the German approach was to use them offensively to attack enemy shipping.

=== Armed merchant cruisers ===<!-- Other articles link here. -->
{{see also|List of cruisers of the United States Navy#Armed merchant cruisers|List of cruisers of the Second World War}}
[[File:Sinking Cap Trafalgar.jpg|thumb|{{RMS|Carmania|1905|6}} sinking {{SMS|Cap Trafalgar||6}} near the Brazilian islands of [[Trindade and Martim Vaz|Trindade]], 14 September 1914]]

The armed merchant cruisers (AMC) of the British [[Royal Navy]] were employed for convoy protection against enemy warships. They ultimately proved to have limited value and many, particularly [[ocean liner]]s, were later converted into troopships, a role for which they were more suited. Documentary evidence quoted by the [[BBC]] researched from the early stages of the First World War suggests that the express liners had greater speed than most warships (few warships of the period could exceed 21 knots), which made them suitable as AMCs.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} The downside proved to be their high fuel consumption; using them in a purely AMC role would have burned through the Admiralty reserve supplies of [[Coal#Ranks|steam coal]] in less than three months.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} The ships were vulnerable to enemy fire because they lacked warship armour, and they used local control of guns rather than director [[fire-control system]]s, which reduced their effective fire power.

A famous AMC of World War I was the British {{RMS|Carmania|1905|6}} which, after a battle that caused heavy damage on both sides, sank the German auxiliary cruiser {{SMS|Cap Trafalgar||6}} near the Brazilian island of [[Trindade and Martim Vaz|Trindade]] in 1914.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cunard.com/AboutCunard/default.asp?Active=Heritage&Sub=GetShip&ShipID=53 |title=Carmania I |access-date=2006-07-21 |archive-date=2006-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020042440/http://www.cunard.com/AboutCunard/default.asp?Active=Heritage&Sub=GetShip&ShipID=53 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By coincidence, ''Cap Trafalgar'' was disguised as ''Carmania''. In World War II, {{HMS|Jervis Bay||6}}, the sole escort for [[convoy HX 84]] in November 1940, stood off the [[Deutschland-class cruiser|pocket battleship]] {{Ship|German cruiser|Admiral Scheer||2}}, when the German ship attacked the convoy. Though she and five vessels of the convoy were sunk, this enabled the rest of the convoy to escape. Her master, Acting Captain [[Edward Fegen]] was awarded the [[Victoria Cross]] posthumously for his actions. Another famous action involving an armed merchant cruiser was the November 1939 battle between {{HMS|Rawalpindi||6}} and the German [[battlecruiser]]s {{Ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{Ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}}. Outgunned, the ''Rawalpindi'' was quickly sunk.

=== Auxiliary cruisers ===<!-- Other articles link here. -->
{{Main|Merchant raider}}

The [[Restoration (Spain)|Spanish]] and [[United States Navy|United States Navies]] used auxiliary cruisers during the [[Spanish–American War]] of 1898. In [[World War I]], too, American auxiliary cruisers fought several engagements with German U-boats.

The German practice was to arm merchantmen with hidden weapons and use them as [[commerce raiding|commerce raiders]]. An auxiliary cruiser, ''Hilfskreuzer'' or ''Handels-Stör-Kreuzer'' (HSK), usually approached her target under a false flag with guns concealed, and sometimes with her appearance altered with fake funnels and masts and often a fake paint scheme. The victim was thus engaged at point-blank range and had no chance to escape. In World War I, the [[Imperial German Navy]] initially used fast passenger ships, such as past holders of the [[Blue Riband]] for fastest North Atlantic crossings, but they made obvious and easy targets because of their very familiar silhouettes. The Germans, therefore, soon moved on to using captured and refitted [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] vessels, but principally modified transport ships. These were slower, but less recognizable. In both world wars, these ships were vulnerable to attack, and were withdrawn before the war ended. Many were sunk after being caught by regular warships&nbsp;– an unequal battle, since auxiliary cruisers had poor fire control and no armor. There were, however, a few success stories. {{SS|Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse||2}} was a former passenger liner that sank two freighters in 1914 before being caught by {{HMS|Highflyer|1898|6}}. Her sister ship, {{SS|Kronprinz Wilhelm||2}}, had a legendary journey, sinking or capturing a total of 15 ships in 1914 and 1915, before finally running out of supplies and having to put into port in [[Virginia]], where the Americans interned her and eventually converted her into the United States Navy troop transport USS ''Von Steuben''. The most famous German commerce raider of World War I probably was {{SMS|Seeadler|1915|2}}, a sailing ship under the command of the legendary Count [[Felix von Luckner]]. However, both {{SMS|Wolf|1916|2}} and {{SMS|Möwe|1914|2}} were each much more successful than ''Seeadler''.

In World War II, Nazi Germany's ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' operated ten very successful auxiliary cruisers, ranging in tonnage from 3,860 to 9,400; typically these vessels were equipped with:
* [[Observation seaplane]]s
* 15&nbsp;cm (6&nbsp;in) guns
* Smaller armaments (typically hidden away behind specially designed and hinged bulwarks, or beneath fake deckhouses and/or skylights)
* [[Torpedo]]es
* [[Naval mine|Mines]]

To preserve their cover, these ships flew the flags of neutral or occasionally Allied nations. They were refueled and provisioned from special supply ships, from Japanese island bases or from [[Prize (law)|prizes]] they had taken.{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}} To counter the effectiveness of these disguises, the Allies introduced the [[check-mate system]] in 1942 to identify individual ships on a one-by-one basis with the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] in London.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1985-117-02A, Hilfskreuzer Kormoran.jpg|thumb|''Kormoran'' in 1940. During a [[single ship action]] on [[Sinking of HMAS Sydney|19 November 1941, off the coast of Western Australia]] the German auxiliary cruiser ''Kormoran'' sank {{HMAS|Sydney|D48|6}} before being scuttled.]]
In one incident, the German {{Ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Kormoran||2}} (ex-merchantman ''Steiermark'') managed to surprise and sink the Australian [[light cruiser]] {{HMAS|Sydney|D48|6}}, which approached too close, though ''Kormoran'' was also sunk in the engagement. This was the only occasion in history when an armed merchantman managed to sink a modern [[warship]]; in most cases, auxiliary cruiser raiders tried to avoid confrontation with warships. ''Kormoran''{{'}}s attack upon ''Sydney'' was motivated by desperation.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} She was not the most successful German raider of World War II (both {{Ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Atlantis||2}} and {{Ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Pinguin||2}} scored higher kill tonnages). Another, {{Ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Stier||2}}, was also sunk in a mutually destructive engagement with the American [[Liberty ship]] {{SS|Stephen Hopkins||6}}.

The only encounters between Allied and Axis auxiliary cruisers in World War II were all with the raider {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Thor||2}}. This small vessel, which captured or sank 22 merchantmen, encountered three British AMCs in her career, defeating {{RMS|Alcantara|1926|6}} and {{HMS|Carnarvon Castle}} and later sinking HMS ''Voltaire'' in the [[Action of 4 April 1941]]. During World War II, German auxiliary cruisers are believed to have either sunk or captured some {{convert|800000|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} of Allied shipping. Compare to the [[Q-ship]], which was a disguised merchantman for anti-submarine operations.

=== Others ===
The [[CAM ship]] (from catapult armed merchantman) was a British merchantman fitted with a catapult that could launch, but not recover, a single fighter aircraft.

The [[merchant aircraft carrier]] or "MAC" was a British or Dutch cargo ship with a flight deck that could carry a small number of aircraft.

CAM and MAC ships remained as civilian ships operated by civilian crews, with [[Fleet Air Arm]] or [[Netherlands Naval Aviation Service|Royal Netherlands Navy]] "air parties".

== 21st century ==
Despite a rise in [[Piracy#Modern piracy|modern piracy]], up until the early 2010s it was very unusual for modern merchant ships to be armed, save for maybe a number of [[small arms]] and the use of the ship's [[fire hose]]s to repel boarders. One notable exception to this were the ships of [[Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited]],<ref>[http://www.pntl.co.uk/pntl-fleet/ PNTL Fleet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614053446/http://www.pntl.co.uk/pntl-fleet/ |date=2011-06-14 }}</ref> which are used to transport [[spent nuclear fuel]] and [[reprocessed uranium]] on behalf of [[British Nuclear Fuels Ltd|British Nuclear Fuels Limited]]. Transporting enough [[fissile]] material between them to produce 50–60 nuclear weapons, these ships, beginning with the ''Pacific Pintail'' and ''Pacific Teal'', became armed in 1999 to avoid the cost of a Royal Navy escort.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nuclear fuel ship docks in Japan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/458551.stm |work= [[BBC]]| date= 27 September 1999 |access-date=2008-08-27 }}</ref> Travelling together in convoy during these ships' intermittent voyages, they have an onboard escort of armed police from the [[UK Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary|UKAEAC]] and its successors<ref>{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Brown|title=Nuclear fuel ships to be armed with heavy guns |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/20/paulbrown |work=[[The Guardian]]|date= 20 January 1999 |access-date=2008-08-27 }}</ref> and are equipped with two or three {{convert|30|mm|in|2|abbr=on}} [[autocannon]]s.<ref>{{cite news|title=UK British nuclear fuel ships armed|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/389545.stm |work= [[BBC]]|date= 8 July 1999|access-date=2008-08-27}}</ref> Another exception were various ships of the Soviet Union's Merchant Marine (MORFLOT) during the Cold War (MORFLOT often operated as an adjunct to Soviet foreign and military policy, both overtly and otherwise).

In 2007, facing a chronic shortage of naval vessels the Cuban Navy placed into service the [[Rio Damuji-class frigate|''Rio Damuji'' class of frigates]], which are large fishing trawlers converted into warships.

In April 2010, it was reported that a Russian company was offering a version of the [[3M-54 Klub]] missile that could be disguised and launched from a shipping container, in theory enabling any cargo ship to be armed with an anti-ship missile. This type of missile was allegedly capable of disabling or even sinking an aircraft carrier, but "it's not known how many of them would have to hit a carrier to knock it out of action, much less sink it."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsurf/articles/20100414.aspx | title=Arming Container Ships With Anti-Ship Missiles | date=April 14, 2010 | publisher=StrategyPage}}</ref>

During the [[2011 Libyan civil war]], forces loyal to Gaddafi armed several merchant vessels and attempted to use them to blockade the port of [[Misrata]].

In October 2011, British Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] announced that British merchant shipping passing through areas known for [[piracy]] were permitted to carry firearms.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15510467 | title=Somali piracy: Armed guards to protect UK ships | date=30 October 2011 | publisher=[[BBC News Online]]}}</ref>

== Ship list ==
{{Main|List of auxiliary and merchant cruisers}}

Since the late 19th century various navies have used armed merchant ships in the role of '''auxiliary cruisers''', also called '''armed merchant cruisers'''. Significant use of this type of ship was made by Britain and Germany in both World Wars.

Some of the ships used in this role include:
* {{SS|Saint Paul|1895}} – Saint Paul SP-1643 – Spanish–American War (United States)
* {{ship||Shinano Maru|1900|2}} – Russo-Japanese War (Japan)
* {{ship|Russian merchant cruiser|Ural|1904|2}} – Russo-Japanese War (Russia)
* {{HMAS|Berrima||2}} – World War I (Australia)
* {{SMS|Cap Trafalgar||2}} – World War I (Germany)
* {{RMS|Olympic||2}} – World War I (Great Britain)
* {{MV|Mar Negro||2}} – Spanish Civil War (Nationalist Spain)
* {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Kormoran||2}} – World War II (Germany)
* {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Thor||2}} – World War II (Germany)
* {{HMS|Jervis Bay||2}} – World War II (Great Britain)
* {{HMS|Rawalpindi||2}} – World War II (Great Britain)
* ''[[Ramb I]]'' – World War II (Italy)
* {{ship||Aikoku Maru|1940|2}} – World War II (Japan)
* {{HMCS|Prince David|F89|2}} – World War II (Canada)

== See also ==
* [[Armed merchant ship]]
* [[Defensively equipped merchant ship]]
* [[False flag]]
* [[Hired armed vessels]]
* [[List of auxiliary and merchant cruisers]]
* [[Merchant raider]]
* [[Q-ship]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Duffy, James P., ''Hitler's Secret Pirate Fleet'', 2001, Praeger, Westport (Connecticut) and London, {{ISBN|0-275-96685-2}}
* ''The Oxford Companion to World War II'' (2005).
* [[Alfred von Niezychowski]], ''The Cruise of the Kronprinz Wilhelm'', 1928, published by Doubleday.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck_class/hilfskreuzer/hilfskreuzer_menu.html Hilfskreuzer page]
* [http://www.maritimequest.com/liners/kronprinz_wilhelm_1901/kronprinz_wilhelm_data.htm Maritimequest ''Kronprinz Wilhelm'' fact sheet and photo gallery for the German liner]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6227214.stm Personal account of Lt. Surgeon J. Robart who served on the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS ''Ranpura'' in World War II]
* [http://www.naval-history.net/xDKEscorts20AMCs.htm Convoy escort movements for Royal Navy AMCs, World War 2]

{{Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries}}

[[Category:Ship types]]
[[Category:Auxiliary cruisers]]