DeAgostini DAKS57 German Kriegsmarine Auxiliary Cruiser - Orion (1:1250 Scale)
"Sink the Bismarck!"
- Prime Minister Winston Churchill, after learning of the demise of the battlecruiser HMS Hood, May 1941
Orion (HSK-1) was an auxiliary cruiser of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine which operated as a merchant raider during World War II. Built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg in 1930/31 as the freighter Kurmark, she was requisitioned by the navy at the outbreak of World War II and converted into the auxiliary cruiser Orion, commissioned on December 9th, 1939. Known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 36, her Royal Navy designation was Raider A. She was named after the constellation Orion.
The Orion was built in 1930 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as a freighter for HAPAG, the Hamburg-America Line. To save money, the engines of the liner New York were reused. That proved a poor decision, since the Orion was plagued for her entire life by engine problems.
After the war broke out the German Seekriegsleitung (Naval Operations Command) was ill-prepared for raider warfare. The operations of the German auxiliary cruisers of World War I were evaluated and considered a great success, having disrupted British merchant shipping around the world. However the overall effect on the war was evaluated as having been rather minor and so only a small program of converting merchant vessels into auxiliary cruisers was initiated on September 5th, 1939.
The first two ships being requisitioned were the Kurmark (Orion) and the Neumark (German auxiliary cruiser Widder), and conversion started immediately.
Shown here is a 1:1250 scale replica of the famed German Kriegsmarine auxiliary cruiser, Orion.
Now in stock!
Dimensions:
Length: 9-inches
Release Date: September 2020