The Battle of Trindade: Germany’s Failed Deception

The warm South American sun is beating down on the ship’s deck as it swiftly cuts through the warm Atlantic waters. A German raiding ship has been spotted near here and your mission is to sink it before it can damage Britain’s merchant fleet. In the distance you can see puffs of smoke slowly rising behind one of the remote islands, nearing the other ship you are startled at its resemblance to your own.

Trafalgar and Carmania

Named after the 1805 Napoleonic naval battle of Trafalgar where the British fleet defeated the combined French and Spanish fleet, Cap Trafalgar was a luxury merchant ship produced by Germany for the Hamburg-South American trade line. Before World War One Germany was fond of the British and attempted to impress them by building their own powerful navy and naming ships after points in British history. With its luxurious gold leaf and marble interior, Trafalgar would transport high class passengers and goods between Germany and the River Plate in Uruguay and Argentina. Her maiden voyage was on April 10, 1914 where she sailed across the Atlantic to South American ports. At the time she was the largest ship in the region, able to hold 1,600 passengers and having a total tonnage of 18,710 GRT (Gross Register Tonnage).

When World War One started the German Navy requisitioned the ship and on August 18, 1914 she travelled to the remote Brazilian island of Trindade. There the German Gunboat SMS Eber was met and Trafalgar was equipped with two 4.7 inch naval guns and six pom-pom auto cannons. The 4.7 inch guns fired a 120mm projectile that was good at piercing a ships hull at longer ranges. Receiving their name from the noise they made when fired, the pom-poms were scaled up 37mm Maxim machine guns that fired a one pound projectile and were devastating at close range. Mostly used in naval combat to deter swift attack vessels, they could penetrate up to one inch thick cast iron metal. There were two different rounds made for this gun, a solid projectile that was good for penetrating and a hollowed out projectile filled with gunpowder that would explode on impact. It is unknown exactly which rounds were used on the Trafalgar but it is likely that both were present.

Pom-pom gun. Courtesy of Richard Crokett (Flickr)

Also at Trindade her regular crew was replaced with an experienced naval crew who were led by Lieutenant Commander Wirth. It is also likely that this is where she underwent the paint job to make her look more like a British merchant ship. The disguise was done so that Trafalgar would be able to blend in and sneak up close to British ships and give her a better chance at sinking them. There are misconceptions that the Trafalgar was painted to look like the RMS Carmania but there is no real evidence to show this. An excerpt from an account written by Yeoman A. Robertson who was on board the Carmania during the battle said that, “The large liner was apparently about our own size, with two funnels painted to represent a Castle Iiner”. It is likely that the misconception comes from the fact that the two ships were of similar size and that Cap Trafalgar was painted to look like a British ship. Though not specifically the Carmania as Robertson says she looked like a Castle liner while Carmania was built for the Cunard line.

Being a few feet longer and able to go a knot faster, the RMS Carmania was also a large beautiful merchant ship. Built by the British in 1905 for the Cunard line, much like her German counterpart, she was requisitioned by the British Navy when war broke out. Armed with eight 4.7 inch guns and commanded by Captain N. Grant, her mission was to find and destroy merchant raiders like Cap Trafalgar.

RMS Carmania. Courtesy of Naval-History.net

Battle of Trindade

Cap Trafalgar returned to Trindade on September 13, to refuel from two German colliers after an unsuccessful raiding trip. Around 11 AM the next day RMS Carmania was patrolling the area and noticed smoke rising from Trindade’s only harbor. She decided to investigate, knowing that there were no other British ships in the area. As Carmania drew closer she could see Trafalgar, who Carmania originally believed to be a British ship due to her markings, and the two colliers departing. Trafalgar steamed West away from Carmania while the two colliers withdrew from the impending battle. Many accounts claim that Carmania’s captain gave chase because he was confused as to why a British ship would run from a fellow British ship, but it is just as likely that he was confused by a British ship refueling from German colliers and that is what spurned the chase.

Artists rendition of the battle. Courtesy of searlecanada.org

Soon the Trafalgar turned about and sailed toward the Carmania, realizing what was happening Carmania fired the first shot and scored a hit across Trafalgar’s bow. The Trafalgar quickly returned fire but did not make a hit. The first major naval battle of World War One had begun. For over two hours the ships rained down accurate fire on one another as they each tried to gain a leg up in the fight. Both had fires raging all over, with Carmania unable to do much about hers as Trafalgar had disabled her water pumps. Much of Carmania’s crew were forced onto the deck as their bridge was utterly destroyed by Trafalgar’s focused fire on the superstructure. As the crew ran about the deck Trafalgar’s pom-poms raked their fire across it, attempting to disable Carmania’s guns. The two ships closed in and crew members began firing at one another with rifles and machine guns. Carmania broke away as her guns were not suited for such close range, once she did she let off a devastating barrage from several of her naval guns. Trafalgar began listing to starboard and tried to turn away from Carmania, but Carmania hit a shell on Trafalgars hull below the waterline. Trafalgar put out an SOS signal as she began to capsize and sink. The armed German merchant cruiser SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm arrived to rescue survivors, but did not engage the Carmania as other British ships were closing in. Some survivors were also rescued by the German collier Eleonore Woermann, who were then taken to Buenos Aires, Argentina where they would be interned for the remainder of the war.

As fearsome as the battle was there were remarkably few casualties on either side, especially for this still being a time when it was common to lose an entire crew in a battle. 279 sailors were rescued from Cap Trafalgar with anywhere between 16-51 being killed. In total Carmania suffered 36 casualties, 10 dead and 26 wounded. A day after the battle the terribly damaged Carmania was rescued by other British ships and taken to the Brazilian port of Pernambuco for repairs. If she had remained without help for another day it is likely that she would have sank. During the repairs holes were counted and it was found that there were 79 hits from large caliber shells with another 304 made by smaller projectiles, some on her waterline.

The Battle of Trindade would set the pace for naval warfare during the Great War. For the most part there would no longer be large naval engagements, but rather quick battles fought by smaller groups of ships. It would also foreshadow Germany’s luck in the naval arena, especially after their defeat later at Scapa Flow.

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Personal Thoughts

I remember seeing one of those “101 facts” posts on social media that said that during WW1 the Germans had disguised a ship to look like one of the Britishs ships and it was later sunk by the same ship it was disguised as. Naturally I was interested to know the story about the battle and looked it up. I became pretty interested in it and of course having the pom-poms involved made me happy, those are one of my favorite guns. I did have some trouble with the larger guns on the Trafalgar as some sources listed them as 4.1 inch and others 4.7 inch. Ultimately I settled on the 4.7 inch as it was more common however both were produced in Britain and there is no record, that I could find, of them being exported to Germany. However documents do get lost and if it was one of the two I would maybe wager it was 4.1 as it does appear they were used by the Germans during both world wars, but I went with what the most sources said. Though 4.7 was a much more popular gun at the time.