MV DALHOUSIE. Photo kindly sent by Ian Archibald, Convenor Burntisland Heritage Trust
Raider Stier seen on left while SS Dalhousie plummets beneath the waves. Photo taken from Raider Michel.
Built 1940
Tonnage 7,072 GRT / 9,260 DWT
Cargo: Ballast
Route: Capetown to Trinidad
Sunk 09 AUG 42 by Raider STIER on pos. 20º 22”S 24º 40”W
0 Dead
37 taken as POW
Having refuelled twice from the tanker Charlotte Schliemann, and having briefly, but unsuccessfully, operated jointly with fellow raider HK Michel, Gerlach set a date for a further rendezvous with her captain, Ruckteschell, and resumed his solo cruise.
On the day of the new rendezvous, August 9, she approached and opened fire on this 7,072-ton British freighter, in ballast from Capetown to Trinidad, and signalled for her to stop.
Despite the fact that she returned fire with a 5-inch radioed for help, and tried to escape when ordered to stop by a 150mm salvo, within thirty minutes the Dalhousie was on fire and abandoned, with her entire thirty-seven man crew on board the Stier. The raider Michel arrived in time to witness the torpedoed and capsized freighter sinking, stern down.
https://www.bismarck-class.dk/hilfskreuzer/stier.html