Auxiliary Cruisers AUTOMEDON, CAPTURE OF See nanshin AUXILIARY CARRIERS See Catapult Aircraft Merchant; escort carriers; Merchant Aircraft Carrier AUXILIARY CRUISERS Small to mid-sized German warships disguised as neutral or Western Allied merchantmen, and in one case as a British Armed Merchant Cruiser They were intended for independent commerce raiding The Kriegsmarine built or converted 11, all under 10,000 tons displacement The Italian Navy built three while the Japanese commissioned two One German auxiliary cruiser (“Handelsstörkreuzer” or “commerce disruption cruiser”) had a catapult float plane to scout for prey, racks of torpedoes, and 6-inch ship’s guns Its presence in a given area, or even just rumors of its presence, forced commitments of British and Commonwealth warships that could be ill-afforded in the first years of the war at sea One German auxiliary cruiser received assistance in the Pacific from the Soviet Union and aid and resupply from the Japanese It sank 64,000 tons of Allied shipping The fleet was sent out in two waves of six ships, followed by three more They sought prey in the Antarctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans Nine Handelsstörkreuzer sank 3/4 of a million tons of shipping from 1939 to 1942, mainly merchants and whalers but also some warships, including the RAN Sydney Of nine more Handelsstörkreuzer sent out by the end of 1942, seven were sunk, one was destroyed when it caught fire, and one was cannibalized after its cruise A 10th raider was sent to sea alone in February 1943, but was quickly bombed back into port by the RAF An 11th ship was undergoing conversion when it was bombed in drydock See also cruiser warfare AUXILIARY FIRE SERVICE (AFS) See National Fire Service AUXILIARY PERSONNEL ATTACK SHIP (APA) See landing ships AUXILIARY WARSHIPS See Armed Merchant Cruiser; auxiliary cruisers; Catapult Aircraft Merchant; escort carriers; landing ships; Merchant Aircraft Carrier; merchant marine AVALANCHE Western Allied code name for the landings at Salerno (September 9, 1943) See Italian campaign (1943–1945) AVG See American Volunteer Group 106