The very fine Second World War Armed Merchant Cruiser South Atlantic operations Action of 4 April 1941 engagement of the Thor with Voltaire Prisoner of War and long service group awarded to Petty Officer R.G. Fitzjohn, Royal Navy. From Portsmouth, Hampshire, Fitzjohn who was awarded his long service medal in September 1936, was aboard the destroyer Nubian on the outbreak of the war, and in December 1939 joined the Admiralty requisitioned passenger liner and armed merchant cruiser Voltaire, and served with her through to his loss in action on 4 April 1941. During the 1930s, the German Kriegsmarine had paid banana plantations in Central America to have banana boats built by German yards, suitable for quick conversion for navy use. These vessels were faster than average freighters and sat lower in the water. One of these vessels, the Santa Cruz, was then armed and became the auxiliary cruiser Thor, also known as HSK-4 or Schiff 10 to the Kriegsmarine, and Raider E to the British Admiralty. In June 1940 when commanded by Kapitan zur See Otto Kahlar, Thor set sail on a raiding voyage to the central and south Atlantic. By mid July she had sunk four and captured two more merchant vessels. She then fought and badly damaged the AMC HMS Alcantara on 28 July, and by the end of the year, had sunk another merchant vessel, and fought off and also badly damaged the AMC Carnarvon Castle. On 25 March she sank both the passenger liner Britannia and another merchant vessel. Prior to all of these sinkings and captures, Thor has used various disguises, including that of the Soviet merchant ship Orsk and a Jugoslav freighter. In early April 1941, the Voltaire sailed from Trinidad in the Caribbean for Freetown, Sierra Leone and to search west of the Cape Verde islands for commerce raiders en route. On 4 April Thor was back in the area to the north-east of Brazil, posing as a Greek freighter and at 06:15, her lookouts reported smoke on the horizon to port. The ship was the Voltaire under Captain James Blackburn; Kähler turned toward the vessel, not realising that it was an armed merchant cruiser, and the British assumed that they had met a small freighter and closed on her to check. Voltaire sailed nearly straight at Thor from about 15,000 yards at 06:45 and about 9,000 yards, Kähler had the forward 150 mm gun fire a warning shot across the ship's bow. Kähler was surprised when the ship returned fire and replied with two guns. The German gun crews managed to hit Voltaire with their opening salvo of four shells destroying the radio room before an RRR report could be sent and destroyed the fire-control system. Voltaire was set on fire in four minutes. Lacking her fire control system, Voltaire could not synchronise her 6-inch guns, so their fire became slow and inaccurate. At 07:15, it was hit in the steering gear and turned circles at 13 knots. Blackburn abandoned the bridge when it was ablaze and went to the stern to command one of the two remaining 6-in guns. Kähler fired two torpedoes from 7,000 yards but they missed. At about 08:00 Blackburn gave the order "abandon ship" and at 08:35 Voltaire rolled over and sank. Thor took aboard 189 survivors; 76 of the crew had been killed or died of wounds. In 55 minutes Thor had fired 724 rounds, inflicted many hits, for only minor damage. Fitzjohn had manned one of Voltaire’s guns during this action, and was amongst those 189 prisoners who were rescued from the water and taken aboard Thor. Thor then sailed north, changed disguise, rendezvoused with the tanker Ill, then set course for Europe. German wireless broadcasts made much of the sinking of Voltaire but did not disclose the identity of the raider. When the Germans announced the sinking of Voltaire, the Admiralty sent the Canadian AMC Prince David to search, which found wreckage half-way between Trinidad and the Cape Verde Islands. The British were ignorant of the details of the engagement until survivors were repatriated from Germany. Thor sank one more vessel, a Swedish freighter on 16 April, her eleventh success, making a total of 84,638 tons of shipping and one armed merchant cruiser sunk. She successfully passed through the Bay of Biscay and slipped up the English Channel to reach Hamburg on 30 April 1941. As of 10 April, Fitzjohn had been confirmed as a prisoner of war, and he was then held captive until repatriated in February 1945.
Group of 4: 1939-1945 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal; Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVR Coinage bust; (J.99180 T.G. FITZJOHN. L.S. H.M.S. IRON DUKE.)
Condition: last toned, Good Very Fine or better.
Thomas George Fitzjohn was born on 21 August 1903 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and having worked as a labourer, then joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 1st Class (Portsmouth No.J.99180) with Vivid II from 2 September 1920, and first saw service afloat when aboard the battlecruiser Courageous between February and May 1921, when this vessel was the flagship of the Rear-Admiral Commanding the Reserve at Portsmouth. Fitzjohn was serving aboard the light cruiser Calcutta when he was rated as an Ordinary Seaman on 21 August 1921, and then as an Able Seaman on 10 May 1923, and he went on to qualify as a Seaman Gunner in April 1925. Rated as an Acting Leading Seaman whilst aboard the heavy cruiser Effingham on 1 May 1933, he was then confirmed in the rating of Leading Seaman when aboard the battleship Royal Sovereign on 1 May 1934. At this time Royal Sovereign was operating from Malta with the Mediterranean Fleet. Fitzjohn was awarded the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 2 September 1936 whilst aboard the old battleship and then gunnery training ship iron Duke.
Fitzjohn was one again out at Malta when he joined the destroyer Nubian on 23 January 1939 and serving as a Quarter Rating 3rd Class until he was appointed to Acting Petty Officer on 21 May 1939, being still aboard her on the outbreak of the Second World War, when employed in home waters. He was posted to Victory i from 26 November 1939 and then joined Admiralty requisitioned passenger liner and armed merchant cruiser Voltaire from 23 December 1939. Voltaire carried eight 6.0in (152mm) and two 3.0in (76mm) naval guns, including at least one anti-aircraft mount, and it was one of these guns that Fitzjohn manned.
During the 1930s, the German Kriegsmarine had paid banana plantations in Central America to have banana boats built by German yards, suitable for quick conversion for navy use. Such ships were faster than average freighters and sat lower in the water, making smaller targets. The Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft (OPDR, Oldenburg-Portuguese Steamship Company) banana boat Santa Cruz (3,862 GRT) was taken over by the Kriegsmarine and converted into the auxiliary cruiser Thor (HSK-4 or Schiff 10 to the Kriegsmarine, Raider E to the Admiralty) by Deutsche Werft AG. The ship was armed with six 150mm (5.9in) guns, one 60mm (2.4in) gun, two 37mm (1.46in) Flak, four 20mm (0.79in) Flak and four 533mm (21.0in) torpedo tubes. The raider also carried an Arado Ar 196 A-1 floatplane for reconnaissance and had a crew of 349.
On 6 June 1940, Thor, commanded by Kapitan zur See Otto Kahlar, sailed on a raiding voyage to the central and south Atlantic, disguised as the Soviet merchant ship Orsk, before departing Norway and passing through the Denmark Strait on 16 June. On 1 July, when dressed up as a Jugoslav freighter, the Dutch Kertosono was intercepted and sent back to France as a prize. On 7 June, the British Delambre was overhauled and sunk; two days later the Belgian ship Bruges was sunk. On 14 July, Gracefield was sunk; none of the ships got off a distress report. On 16 July, the British ship Wendover fought back and managed to transmit a report before being sunk by gunfire and torpedoes, after the crew was taken prisoner, bringing the total on board to over 200 men. The Dutch Tela, carrying food, was captured the next day, alleviating the difficulty of feeding the captives.
On 28 July, Thor encountered the AMC HMS Alcantara, not far from Trindade, about 690 miles off the Brazilian coast. Wireless reports and overdue ships had indicated to the British that a raider was operating in the Atlantic and had sent Alcantara to investigate. Thor was armed with guns that considerably outranged the armament carried by Alcantara, but Thor was slower and had to engage the AMC. In an engagement that lasted for about four hours, Thor inflicted serious damage and received two hits in return; Alcantara making slowly for Brazil. Thor sailed away to the south behind a smoke screen, for repairs and rendezvous with a supply ship. On 26 September, in the south Atlantic, the Norwegian ship Kosmos III was sunk, then the British Natia on 8 October; 'Thor now carrying more than 360 prisoners. On 9 November Thor rendezvoused with the blockade-runner Rio Grande, which delivered supplies and took off most of the prisoners.’
On 5 December Thor met the AMC Carnarvon Castle east of South America. Thor out-gunned and out-ranged Carnarvon Castle but was too slow to out-run the AMC. Thor inflicted so much damage with her stern armament that the AMC had to make for port for repairs. Thor rendezvoused with Admiral Scheer and a captured freighter on 25 December, from which supplies were generously replenished. Several British cruisers were concentrated off the River Plate and Rio de Janeiro but Thor met few ships, apart from German supply vessels, for three months. Thor communicated information of its superiority against the British AMCs which gave the crews of other raiders greater confidence against them. On 25 March 1941, the passenger liner Britannia was sunk and the occupants left behind in lifeboats, because Thor had intercepted an RRR (raider report) call from Britannia and a reply from what the captain took to be a British warship nearby. Later that day Thor sank the Swedish ship Trolleholm. In early April 1941, the AMC HMS Voltaire sailed from Trinidad in the Caribbean for Freetown, Sierra Leone and to search west of the Cape Verde islands for commerce raiders en route.
On 4 April Thor was back in the area to the north-east of Brazil, posing as a Greek freighter and at 06:15, her lookouts reported smoke on the horizon to port. The ship was HMS Voltaire under Captain James Blackburn; Kähler turned toward the vessel, not realising that it was an AMC, and the British assumed that they had met a small freighter and closed on her to check. Voltaire sailed nearly straight at Thor from about 15,000yd (14,000m); at 06:45 and about 9,000yd (8,200m), Kähler had the forward 150 mm gun fire a warning shot across the ship's bow. Kähler was surprised when the ship returned fire and replied with two guns; this time, an AMC was well within range and converging when the engagement began. The German gun crews managed to hit Voltaire with their opening salvo of four shells destroying the radio room before an RRR report could be sent and destroyed the fire-control system. Voltaire was set on fire in four minutes.
Lacking her fire control system, Voltaire could not synchronise her 6-inch guns, so their fire became slow and inaccurate. At 07:15, it was hit in the steering gear and turned circles at 13knots. Blackburn abandoned the bridge when it was ablaze and went to the stern to command one of the two remaining 6-in guns but only managed to hit the top of Thor's mast. Kähler fired two torpedoes from 7,000yd (6,400m) but they missed. At about 08:00 Blackburn gave the order "abandon ship" and at 08:35 Voltaire rolled over and sank. Thor took aboard 189 survivors; 76 of the crew had been killed or died of wounds. In 55 minutes Thor had fired 724 rounds, inflicted many hits, for only minor damage.
Rather than leave the crew to be rescued, Kähler had the area searched for five hours, regardless of any ships appearing. Amongst those 189 prisoners who were rescued from the water and taken aboard Thor, was Fitzjohn, who had been promoted to Petty Officer back on 21 May 1940. Thor then sailed north, changed disguise, rendezvoused with the tanker Ill, then set course for Europe. German wireless broadcasts made much of the sinking of Voltaire but did not disclose the identity of the raider. When the Germans announced the sinking of Voltaire, the Admiralty sent the Canadian AMC Prince David to search, which found wreckage half-way between Trinidad and the Cape Verde Islands. The British were ignorant of the details of the engagement until survivors were repatriated from Germany.
Thor sank a Swedish freighter on 16 April, her eleventh success, a total of 83,301 long tons (84,638t) of shipping and one AMC sunk. Thor reached the Bay of Biscay on 23 April, slipped up the Channel and arrived at Hamburg on 30 April. The Admiralty understood how inadvisable it was to fit obsolete guns on slow and old liners as trade protection vessels but lacked the modern guns and ships to take on German commerce-raiders until later in the war. Thor made another cruise in 1942 and eventually reached Japan. It was burnt out in Yokohama when a nearby supply ship, Uckermarck, exploded and caught fire while her fuel tanks were being cleaned.
Fitzjohn is shown in his service records as on the books of Victory III and a prisoner of war as of 10 April 1941, and he was eventually released from captivity and repatriated on 18 February 1945, bing released from service on 15 October 1945.
