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Battle of Aegospotami

The Battle of Aegospotami (Μάχη στους Αιγός Ποταμούς) was a naval confrontation that took place in 405 BC and was the last major battle of the Peloponnesian War. In the battle, a Spartan fleet under Lysander destroyed the Athenian navy. This effectively ended the war, since Athens could not import grain or communicate with its empire without control of the sea.

Lysander's campaigns
In 405 BC, following the severe Spartan defeat at the Battle of Arginusae, Lysander, the commander who had been responsible for the first Spartan naval successes, was reinstated in command. Since the Spartan constitution prohibited any commander from holding the office of navarch more than once, he was appointed as a vice-admiral instead, with the clear understanding that this was a mere legal fiction.

One of Lysander's advantages as a commander was his close relationship with the Persian prince Cyrus. Using this connection, he quickly raised the money to begin rebuilding the Spartan fleet. When Cyrus was recalled to Susa by his father Darius, he gave Lysander the revenues from all of his cities of Asia Minor. With the resources of this entire wealthy Persian province at his disposal, Lysander was able to quickly reconstitute his fleet.

He then set off on a series of campaigns throughout the Aegean. He seized several Athenian-held cities, and attacked numerous islands. He was unable to move north to the Hellespont, however, because of the threat from the Athenian fleet at Samos. To divert the Athenians, Lysander struck westward. Approaching quite near to Athens itself, he attacked Aegina and Salamis, and even landed in Attica. The Athenian fleet set out in pursuit, but Lysander sailed around them, reached the Hellespont, and established a base at Abydos. From there, he seized the strategically important town of Lampsacus, opening the way to the Bosporus. Should he reach the strait, he could close down the trade routes from which Athens received the majority of her grain. If the Athenians were to avoid starvation, Lysander had to be contained immediately.

Athenian response
The Athenian fleet of 180 ships caught up with Lysander shortly after he had taken Lampsacus, and established a base at Sestos. However, perhaps because of the need to keep a close watch on Lysander, they set up camp on a beach much nearer to Lampsacus. The location was less than ideal because of the lack of a harbor and the difficulty of supplying the fleet, but proximity seems to have been the primary concern in the minds of the Athenian generals. Every day, the fleet sailed out to Lampsacus in battle formation, and waited outside the harbor; when Lysander refused to emerge, they returned home.

Alcibiades's involvement
At this time, the exiled Athenian leader Alcibiades was living in his ship's castle near the Athenian camp. Coming down to the beach where the ships were gathered, he made several suggestions to the generals. First, he proposed relocating the fleet to the more secure base at Sestos. Second, he claimed that several Thracian kings had offered to provide him with an army. If the generals would offer him a share of the command, he claimed, he would use this army to assist the Athenians. The generals, however, declined this offer and rejected his advice. Spurned, Alcibiades returned to his home.

Battle
Two accounts of the battle of Aegospotami exist. Diodorus Siculus relates that the Athenian general in command on the fifth day at Sestos, Philocles, sailed out with thirty ships, ordering the rest to follow him. Donald Kagan has argued that the Athenian strategy, if this account is accurate, must have been to draw the Peloponnesians into an attack on the small force so that the larger force following could surprise them. In the event, the small force was immediately defeated, and the remainder of the fleet was caught unprepared on the beach.

Xenophon, in contrast, relates that the entire Athenian fleet came out as usual on the day of the battle and Lysander remained in the harbor. When the Athenians returned to their camp, the sailors scattered to forage for food; Lysander's fleet then sailed across from Abydos and captured most of the ships on the beach, with no sea fighting at all.

Whichever account of the battle itself is accurate, the result is clear. The Athenian fleet was obliterated; only nine ships escaped, led by the general Conon. Lysander captured nearly all of the remainder, along with some three or four thousand Athenian sailors. One of the escaped ships, the messenger ship Paralus, was dispatched to inform Athens of the disaster. The rest, with Conon, sought refuge with Evagoras, a friendly ruler in Cyprus.

Some historians, ancient and modern, suspect that the battle was lost as the result of treachery, perhaps on the part of Adeimantus, who was the only Athenian commander the Spartans captured during the battle who was not put to death, and perhaps with the treasonous connivance of the oligarchical faction at Athens, who may have wanted their city defeated in order to overthrow the democracy. But this all remains speculative.

Aftermath
Lysander and his victorious fleet sailed back to Lampsacus. Citing a previous Athenian atrocity when the captured sailors of two ships were thrown overboard, Lysander and his allies slaughtered Philocles and 3,000 Athenian prisoners, sparing other Greek captives. Lysander's fleet then began moving slowly towards Athens, capturing cities along the way. The Athenians, with no fleet, were powerless to oppose him. Only at Samos did Lysander meet resistance; the democratic government there, fiercely loyal to Athens, refused to give in, and Lysander left a besieging force behind him.

Xenophon reports that when the news of the defeat reached Athens,

Fearing the retribution that the victorious Spartans might take on them, the Athenians resolved to hold out from the siege, but their cause was hopeless. Without a fleet to import grain from the Black Sea, and with the Spartan occupation of Deceleia cutting off land transportation, the Athenians were beginning to starve, and with people dying of hunger in the streets, the city surrendered in March 404 BC. The walls of the city were demolished, and a pro-Spartan oligarchic government was established (the so-called Thirty Tyrants' regime). The Spartan victory at Aegospotami marked the end of 27 years of war, placing Sparta in a position of complete dominance throughout the Greek world and establishing a political order that would last for more than thirty years.

Commemoration of the battle
The Spartans commemorated their victory with a dedication at Delphi of statues of the trierarchs who had fought in the battle. A verse inscription explained the circumstances:

 * These men, sailing with Lysander in the swift ships, humbled the might of the city of Cecrops
 * And made Lacedaemon of the beautiful choruses the high city of Hellas.

title: Battle of Aegospotami


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Porphyrin

Porphyrins are a group of heterocyclic macrocycle organic compounds, composed of four modified pyrrole subunits interconnected at their α carbon atoms via methine bridges (=CH−). In vertebrates, an essential member of the porphyrin group is heme, which is a component of hemoproteins, whose functions include carrying oxygen in the bloodstream. In plants, an essential porphyrin derivative is chlorophyll, which is involved in light harvesting and electron transfer in photosynthesis.

The parent of porphyrins is porphine, a rare chemical compound of exclusively theoretical interest. Substituted porphines are called porphyrins. With a total of 26 π-electrons, of which 18 π-electrons form a planar, continuous cycle, the porphyrin ring structure is often described as aromatic. One result of the large conjugated system is that porphyrins typically absorb strongly in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e. they are deeply colored. The name "porphyrin" derives from the Greek word πορφύρα (porphyra), meaning purple.

Structure
Porphyrin complexes consist of a square planar MN4 core. The periphery of the porphyrins, consisting of sp2-hybridized carbons, generally display small deviations from planarity. "Ruffled" or saddle-shaped porphyrins is attributed to interactions of the system with its environment. Additionally, the metal is often not centered in the N4 plane. For free porphyrins, the two pyrrole protons are mutually trans and project out of the N4 plane. These nonplanar distortions are associated with altered chemical and physical properties. Chlorophyll-rings are more distinctly nonplanar, but they are more saturated than porphyrins.

Complexes of porphyrins
Concomitant with the displacement of two N-H protons, porphyrins bind metal ions in the N4 "pocket". The metal ion usually has a charge of 2+ or 3+. A schematic equation for these syntheses is shown:
 * H2porphyrin + [MLn]2+ → M(porphyrinate)Ln−4 + 4 L + 2 H+, where M = metal ion and L = a ligand

Ancient porphyrins
A geoporphyrin, also known as a petroporphyrin, is a porphyrin of geologic origin. They can occur in crude oil, oil shale, coal, or sedimentary rocks. Abelsonite is possibly the only geoporphyrin mineral, as it is rare for porphyrins to occur in isolation and form crystals.

The field of organic geochemistry had its origins in the isolation of porphyrins from petroleum. This finding helped establish the biological origins of petroleum. Petroleum is sometimes "fingerprinted" by analysis of trace amounts of nickel and vanadyl porphyrins.

Biosynthesis
In non-photosynthetic eukaryotes such as animals, insects, fungi, and protozoa, as well as the α-proteobacteria group of bacteria, the committed step for porphyrin biosynthesis is the formation of δ-aminolevulinic acid (δ-ALA, 5-ALA or dALA) by the reaction of the amino acid glycine with succinyl-CoA from the citric acid cycle. In plants, algae, bacteria (except for the α-proteobacteria group) and archaea, it is produced from glutamic acid via glutamyl-tRNA and glutamate-1-semialdehyde. The enzymes involved in this pathway are glutamyl-tRNA synthetase, glutamyl-tRNA reductase, and glutamate-1-semialdehyde 2,1-aminomutase. This pathway is known as the C5 or Beale pathway.

Two molecules of dALA are then combined by porphobilinogen synthase to give porphobilinogen (PBG), which contains a pyrrole ring. Four PBGs are then combined through deamination into hydroxymethyl bilane (HMB), which is hydrolysed to form the circular tetrapyrrole uroporphyrinogen III. This molecule undergoes a number of further modifications. Intermediates are used in different species to form particular substances, but, in humans, the main end-product protoporphyrin IX is combined with iron to form heme. Bile pigments are the breakdown products of heme.

The following scheme summarizes the biosynthesis of porphyrins, with references by EC number and the OMIM database. The porphyria associated with the deficiency of each enzyme is also shown:

Laboratory synthesis
A common synthesis for porphyrins is the Rothemund reaction, first reported in 1936, which is also the basis for more recent methods described by Adler and Longo. The general scheme is a condensation and oxidation process starting with pyrrole and an aldehyde.

 * [[Image:H2TPPsyn.png|400px]]

Photodynamic therapy
Porphyrins have been evaluated in the context of photodynamic therapy (PDT) since they strongly absorb light, which is then converted to heat in the illuminated areas. This technique has been applied in macular degeneration using verteporfin.

PDT is considered a noninvasive cancer treatment, involving the interaction between light of a determined frequency, a photo-sensitizer, and oxygen. This interaction produces the formation of a highly reactive oxygen species (ROS), usually singlet oxygen, as well as superoxide anion, free hydroxyl radical, or hydrogen peroxide. These high reactive oxygen species react with susceptible cellular organic biomolecules such as; lipids, aromatic amino acids, and nucleic acid heterocyclic bases, to produce oxidative radicals that damage the cell, possibly inducing apoptosis or even necrosis.

Molecular electronics and sensors
Porphyrin-based compounds are of interest as possible components of molecular electronics and photonics. Synthetic porphyrin dyes have been incorporated in prototype dye-sensitized solar cells.

Biological applications
Porphyrins have been investigated as possible anti-inflammatory agents and evaluated on their anti-cancer and anti-oxidant activity. Several porphyrin-peptide conjugates were found to have antiviral activity against HIV in vitro.

Toxicology
Heme biosynthesis is used as biomarker in environmental toxicology studies. While excess production of porphyrins indicate organochlorine exposure, lead inhibits ALA dehydratase enzyme.

In nature
Several heterocycles related to porphyrins are found in nature, almost always bound to metal ions. These include

Synthetic
A benzoporphyrin is a porphyrin with a benzene ring fused to one of the pyrrole units. e.g. verteporfin is a benzoporphyrin derivative.

Non-natural porphyrin isomers

The first synthetic porphyrin isomer was reported by Emanual Vogel and coworkers in 1986. This isomer [18]porphyrin-(2.0.2.0) is named as porphycene, and the central N4 Cavity forms a rectangle shape as shown in figure. Porphycenes showed interesting photophysical behavior and found versatile compound towards the photodynamic therapy. This inspired Vogel and Sessler to took up the challenge of preparing [18]porphyrin-(2.1.0.1) and named it as corrphycene or porphycerin. The third porphyrin that is [18]porphyrin-(2.1.1.0), was reported by Callot and Vogel-Sessler. Vogel and coworkers reported successful isolation of [18]porphyrin-(3.0.1.0) or isoporphycene. The Japanese scientist Furuta and Polish scientist Latos-Grażyński almost simultaneously reported the N-confused porphyrins. The inversion of one of the pyrrolic subunits in the macrocyclic ring resulted in one of the nitrogen atoms facing outwards from the core of the macrocycle.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Porphyrin


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Microdictyon

Microdictyon is an extinct armoured worm-like panarthropod coated with net-like scleritic plates, known from the Early Cambrian Maotianshan shale of Yunnan China and other parts of the world. Microdictyon is part of the ill-defined taxon – Lobopodia – that includes several other odd worm-like animals that resembling worm with legs, such as Hallucigenia, Onychodictyon, Cardiodictyon, Luolishania, and Paucipodia. The isolated sclerites of Microdictyon are known from other Lower Cambrian deposits. Microdictyon sclerites appear to have moulted; one sclerite seems to have been preserved during ecdysis.

Microdictyon sinicum (Chen, Hou and Lu, 1989) is typical. The wormlike animal has ten pairs of sclerites (suggestions that these may be eyes or eye-like structures have no weight ) on the sides, matched to a pair of tentacle-like feet below. The head and posterior are tubular and featureless.

Species composition
In addition to the type species, 13 species:
 * Type species. Microdictyon effusum Bengtson, Matthews et Missarzhevsky, 1981; Lower Cambrian, Atdabanian Stage, Kazakhstan; Atdabanian and Botomian Stages, Russia (Siberian Platform) and England; Lower Cambrian, Sweden.
 * M. anus Tong, 1989, Lower Cambrian, upper Meishucunian Stage (= Atdabanian Stage), China (Shaanxi).
 * M. chinense (Hao et Shu, 1987), Lower Cambrian, Qiongzhusi Stage (= upper Atdabanian-lowermost Botomian Stages), China (Shaanxi); Atdabanian through Botomian stages, Siberian Platform.
 * M. cuneum Wotte et Sundberg, 2017, Lower Cambrian, Montezuman Stage, the United States.
 * M. depressum Bengtson, 1990, Lower Cambrian, Atdabanian through Botomian Stages, South Australia.
 * M. fuchengense Li et Zhu, 2001, Lower Cambrian, upper Meishucunian Stage (Atdabanian Stage), China (Shaanxi).
 * M. jinshaense Zhang et Aldridge, 2007, Lower Cambrian, Qiongzhusi Stage (= upper Atdabanian Stage-lowermost Botomian), China(Shaanxi).
 * M. montezumaensis Wotte et Sundberg, 2017, Lower Cambrian, Montezuman Stage, the United States.
 * M. rhomboidale Bengtson, Matthews et Missarzhevsky, 1986, Lower Cambrian, upper parts of the Atdabanian Stage, Kazakhstan; Atdabanian Stage, Canada, the United States (M. cf. rhomboidale).
 * M. robisoni Bengtson, Matthews et Missarzhevsky, 1986, Middle Cambrian, Amgan Stage, the United States;
 * M. rozanovi Demidenko, 2006, Lower Cambrian, Toyonian Stage, Siberian Platform.
 * M. sinicum Chen, Hou et Lu, 1989, Lower Cambrian, upper Meishucunian Stage (= Atdabanian Stage) Stage, China (Yunnan.
 * M. sphaeroides Hinz, 1987, Lower Cambrian, Atdabanian Stage, Great Britain.
 * M. tenuiporatum Bengtson, Matthews et Missarzhevsky, 1986, Lower Cambrian, Atdabanian Stage, Siberian Platform.

A picture can be found at https://web.archive.org/web/20030730043530/http://paws.wcu.edu/dperlmutr/earlyfauna.html.

The name Microdictyon is also used for a genus of green algae.

title: Microdictyon


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Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer)

Roger Andrew Taylor (born 26 April 1960) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the new wave band Duran Duran from their inception until 1985, and again from 2001 onwards. Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records worldwide. Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022 as a member of Duran Duran.

Early life
Roger Andrew Taylor was born into a modest family and was brought up in the Shard End area of Birmingham until the age of 11, and then a small suburban house in Castle Bromwich (15 Hawthorne Road). His father worked in the car industry. He began drumming at around the age of 12, teaching himself by playing along with his favourite records. His first ambition was to be a goalkeeper for English football club Aston Villa, and as a child he was taken to every home match by his father. He would eventually "play" at Villa Park but as Duran Duran's drummer for their 1983 charity concert there. Taylor has cited Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones and Budgie of Siouxsie and the Banshees as two of his favourite drummers.

Before joining Duran Duran, Taylor performed with several school (Park Hall School in Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire) and local club bands. After being inspired by the punk bands playing at Barbarellas club in Birmingham, he formed the new wave/punk outfit Scent Organs, who became regional finalists in the Melody Maker young band of the year in 1978, and was briefly a member of post-punk band Cult Figures. After Scent Organs split in 1979, he joined Duran Duran. He became known as 'the quiet one' and has said that he has always preferred to speak through his drums.

1979–1986: Duran Duran
Taylor became an international star with the other members of Duran Duran as they rose to fame in the early 1980s. The video for the debut single Planet Earth opens with a shot of a reclining, bare-chested Taylor looking slowly up to the sky. He played drums on the band's first three studio albums (Duran Duran, Rio, and Seven and the Ragged Tiger) and the live album Arena. In 1985, the band recorded the theme to the James Bond film A View to a Kill, which became their second US No. 1 hit and the only Bond theme to date to reach No. 1 there. However, the intense schedule of recording and touring, coupled with the pressures of fame, left Taylor unhappy with being in the band. His final performance with the original line-up of Duran Duran was in July 1985 at the Live Aid benefit concert in Philadelphia, which reached a global audience of 2 billion people. Taylor and the band had each picked up two Grammy awards during this period.

Prior to leaving the band, he worked with Duran Duran bandmates Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes on the album So Red the Rose for their side project Arcadia in 1985. The album featured Sting, David Gilmour, Herbie Hancock and Grace Jones. Taylor also contributed percussion to the other Duran Duran splinter group the Power Station's song "Some Like It Hot" from their self-titled album. He then purchased a remote farm estate in the hills of Gloucestershire to live a quiet life away from the music world. The Sun newspaper tracked him down and devoted a whole page to his departure, dubbing him 'the hermit of pop'. Initially his hiatus was expected to be for a year, but in 1986 the remaining members of the band issued a statement saying that he was leaving Duran Duran.

1994 and 2001–present: Second tenure in Duran Duran
In 1994, while visiting a friend in Paris, he temporarily joined Duran Duran to play drums on three tracks for the covers album Thank You (although only two ended up on the album), later appearing in the video for "Perfect Day" and on the band's Top of the Pops performance of the song.

In 1997, Taylor regained his appetite for the music industry. He briefly formed the electro/dance band Freebass, which produced a single, "Love Is Like Oxygen", (a cover of a song by Sweet) on underground dance label Cleveland City Records. The record reached the top ten of the Music Week UK Dance Chart. Taylor also produced electro house tracks with Freebass member Jake Roberts under the name Funk Face. "Lost This Feeling" and "Shine" were released on Taylor's own label, Rt Music.

He rejoined Duran Duran in 2001, as all five of the Rio-era members reunited to record new material and perform as a quintet again. This culminated in five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena, playing Madison Square Garden again, and signing with Epic Records in New York. The band delivered a hit single '(Reach Up for The) Sunrise' and a hit album Astronaut.

The 'Astronaut' tour lasted for more than two years, with shows all around the world. The band picked up several prestigious 'achievement' awards from Q magazine and MTV, and a Brit award.

He began a long-running DJ residency at London's Met Bar in 2003, playing a mix of house and hip-hop, and has gone on to become a renowned DJ over recent years, performing sets at Cielo New York and Pacha Ibiza along with friend and former Freebass band mate Jake (Fonique) Roberts.

The All You Need Is Now album was released on 21 December 2010 to worldwide critical acclaim. It immediately reached the number 1 spot on the iTunes pop chart in 15 countries. Duran Duran commenced a supporting tour running well into 2012 reaching far and wide across the world. The band also played to an audience of 70,000 people in Hyde Park to coincide with the opening of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Taylor then began working with his bandmates on the 14th Duran Duran album with producers Mark Ronson, Ben Hudson and Nile Rodgers; Paper Gods was released in 2015.

In January 2016, Peace Tracks, a charitable organization that aims to bridge different cultures and countries through music, released a number of songs that featured Taylor in collaboration with members of ABBA, Philip Glass, Angélique Kidjo, and Anoushka Shankar.

Personal life
Taylor has three children with his first wife Giovanna Cantone, whom he later divorced. In 2004, he was named Britain's fifth most eligible bachelor in the UK high society magazine Tatler, alongside Prince William and Hugh Grant. Taylor married Peruvian national Gisella Bernales on the Caribbean island of St Lucia in 2007. She gave birth to their first child on 9 July 2011.

with Duran Duran

 * Duran Duran (1981)
 * Rio (1982)
 * Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983)
 * Thank You (1995) [drums on "Perfect Day" and "Watching the Detectives"]
 * Astronaut (2004)
 * Reportage (2006; unreleased)
 * Red Carpet Massacre (2007)
 * All You Need Is Now (2010)
 * Paper Gods (2015)
 * Future Past (2021)
 * Danse Macabre (2023)

with Arcadia

 * So Red the Rose (1985)

with Freebass

 * "Love Is Like Oxygen" (1997)

with Funk Face

 * "Shine" (2001)
 * "Lost This Feeling" (2001)

Guest appearances

 * Percussive effects on "Some Like It Hot" (from the Power Station album, The Power Station) (1985)

title: Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer)


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Armed merchantman

An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value trade. In more modern times, auxiliary cruisers were used offensively as merchant raiders to disrupt trade chiefly during both World War I and World War II, particularly by Germany.

While armed merchantmen are clearly inferior to purpose-built warships, sometimes they have scored successes in combat against them. Examples include East Indiamen mimicking ships of the line and chasing off regular French warships in the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804, and the GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Kormoran sinking the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (D48) in their battle in 1941, although Kormoran was also destroyed and had to be scuttled.

Pre-20th century
East Indiamen of various European countries were heavily armed for their long journeys to the Far East. In particularly dangerous times, such as when the home countries were at war, a convoy system would be used whereby the ships were escorted by a warship. However, many East Indiamen also travelled on their own, and therefore were heavily armed in order to defend themselves against pirates and privateers. They also defended themselves against warships, scoring signal victories at the Battle of Pulo Aura and the action of 4 August 1800. The British Royal Navy purchased several that it converted to ships of the line.

Development of auxiliary cruisers
In 1856, privateering (or seizure of a belligerent country's merchant ships as a private enterprise) lost international sanction under the Declaration of Paris. From 1861 to 1865 European countries built high-speed ships to run the Union Blockade during the American Civil War. Some of these were armed and served as Confederate States Navy raiders.

Russia purchased three ships in 1878 of 6000 LT armed with 6 in guns for use as auxiliary cruisers for a Russian Volunteer Fleet. Germany and the United Kingdom responded to the precedent by asking their shipping companies to design fast steamers with provision for mounting guns in time of war.

In 1890 German and British shipyards built new civilian ships designed for wartime conversion, and France, Italy, Japan, Austria-Hungary, and the United States made similar agreements with their shipyards. In 1892 Russia likewise built two more auxiliary cruisers.

In 1895 the Imperial German Navy mobilized the provisional auxiliary cruiser Normannia for a 15-day trial armed with eight 6-inch guns, two 3.5 in guns, six 37 mm guns, and two torpedo boats.

20th century
In both World Wars, both Germany and the United Kingdom used auxiliary cruisers. While the British used armed passenger liners defensively for protecting their shipping, the German approach was to use them offensively to attack enemy shipping.

Armed merchant cruisers

The armed merchant cruisers (AMC) of the British Royal Navy were employed for convoy protection against enemy warships. They ultimately proved to have limited value and many, particularly ocean liners, were later converted into troopships, a role for which they were more suited. Documentary evidence quoted by the BBC researched from the early stages of the First World War suggests that the express liners had greater speed than most warships (few warships of the period could exceed 21 knots), which made them suitable as AMCs. The downside proved to be their high fuel consumption; using them in a purely AMC role would have burned through the Admiralty reserve supplies of steam coal in less than three months. The ships were vulnerable to enemy fire because they lacked warship armour, and they used local control of guns rather than director fire-control systems, which reduced their effective fire power.

A famous AMC of World War I was the British RMS Carmania (1905) which, after a battle that caused heavy damage on both sides, sank the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Cap Trafalgar near the Brazilian island of Trindade in 1914. By coincidence, Cap Trafalgar was disguised as Carmania. In World War II, HMS Jervis Bay, the sole escort for convoy HX 84 in November 1940, stood off the pocket battleship GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Scheer, when the German ship attacked the convoy. Though she and five vessels of the convoy were sunk, this enabled the rest of the convoy to escape. Her master, Acting Captain Edward Fegen was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his actions. Another famous action involving an armed merchant cruiser was the November 1939 battle between HMS Rawalpindi and the German battlecruisers GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst and GERMAN BATTLESHIP Gneisenau. Outgunned, the Rawalpindi was quickly sunk.

Auxiliary cruisers
The Spanish and United States Navies used auxiliary cruisers during the Spanish–American War of 1898. In World War I, too, American auxiliary cruisers fought several engagements with German U-boats.

The German practice was to arm merchantmen with hidden weapons and use them as commerce raiders. An auxiliary cruiser, Hilfskreuzer or Handels-Stör-Kreuzer (HSK), usually approached her target under a false flag with guns concealed, and sometimes with her appearance altered with fake funnels and masts and often a fake paint scheme. The victim was thus engaged at point-blank range and had no chance to escape. In World War I, the Imperial German Navy initially used fast passenger ships, such as past holders of the Blue Riband for fastest North Atlantic crossings, but they made obvious and easy targets because of their very familiar silhouettes. The Germans, therefore, soon moved on to using captured and refitted Allied vessels, but principally modified transport ships. These were slower, but less recognizable. In both world wars, these ships were vulnerable to attack, and were withdrawn before the war ended. Many were sunk after being caught by regular warships – an unequal battle, since auxiliary cruisers had poor fire control and no armor. There were, however, a few success stories. SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was a former passenger liner that sank two freighters in 1914 before being caught by HMS Highflyer (1898). Her sister ship, SS Kronprinz Wilhelm, had a legendary journey, sinking or capturing a total of 15 ships in 1914 and 1915, before finally running out of supplies and having to put into port in Virginia, where the Americans interned her and eventually converted her into the United States Navy troop transport USS Von Steuben. The most famous German commerce raider of World War I probably was SMS Seeadler (auxiliary cruiser), a sailing ship under the command of the legendary Count Felix von Luckner. However, both SMS Wolf (auxiliary cruiser) and SMS Möwe (auxiliary cruiser) were each much more successful than Seeadler.

In World War II, Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine operated ten very successful auxiliary cruisers, ranging in tonnage from 3,860 to 9,400; typically these vessels were equipped with:
 * Observation seaplanes
 * 15 cm (6 in) guns
 * Smaller armaments (typically hidden away behind specially designed and hinged bulwarks, or beneath fake deckhouses and/or skylights)
 * Torpedoes
 * Mines

To preserve their cover, these ships flew the flags of neutral or occasionally Allied nations. They were refueled and provisioned from special supply ships, from Japanese island bases or from prizes they had taken. To counter the effectiveness of these disguises, the Allies introduced the check-mate system in 1942 to identify individual ships on a one-by-one basis with the Admiralty in London.

In one incident, the German GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Kormoran (ex-merchantman Steiermark) managed to surprise and sink the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (D48), which approached too close, though Kormoran was also sunk in the engagement. This was the only occasion in history when an armed merchantman managed to sink a modern warship; in most cases, auxiliary cruiser raiders tried to avoid confrontation with warships. Kormoran's attack upon Sydney was motivated by desperation. She was not the most successful German raider of World War II (both GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Atlantis and GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Pinguin scored higher kill tonnages). Another, GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Stier, was also sunk in a mutually destructive engagement with the American Liberty ship SS Stephen Hopkins.

The only encounters between Allied and Axis auxiliary cruisers in World War II were all with the raider GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Thor. This small vessel, which captured or sank 22 merchantmen, encountered three British AMCs in her career, defeating RMS Alcantara (1926) and HMS Carnarvon Castle and later sinking HMS Voltaire in the Action of 4 April 1941. During World War II, German auxiliary cruisers are believed to have either sunk or captured some 800000 LT of Allied shipping. Compare to the Q-ship, which was a disguised merchantman for anti-submarine operations.

Others
The CAM ship (from catapult armed merchantman) was a British merchantman fitted with a catapult that could launch, but not recover, a single fighter aircraft.

The merchant aircraft carrier or "MAC" was a British or Dutch cargo ship with a flight deck that could carry a small number of aircraft.

CAM and MAC ships remained as civilian ships operated by civilian crews, with Fleet Air Arm or Royal Netherlands Navy "air parties".

21st century
Despite a rise in modern piracy, it was up until the early 2010s very unusual for modern merchant ships to be armed, save for maybe a number of small arms and the use of the ship's fire hoses to repel boarders. One notable exception to this were the ships of Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited, which are used to transport spent nuclear fuel and reprocessed uranium on behalf of British Nuclear Fuels Limited. Transporting enough fissile material between them to produce 50–60 nuclear weapons, these ships, beginning with the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal, became armed in 1999 to avoid the cost of a Royal Navy escort. Travelling together in convoy during these ships' intermittent voyages, they have an onboard escort of armed police from the UKAEAC and its successors and are equipped with two or three 30 mm autocannons. Another exception were various ships of the Soviet Union's Merchant Marine (MORFLOT) during the Cold War (MORFLOT often operated as an adjunct to Soviet foreign and military policy, both overtly and otherwise).

In 2007, facing a chronic shortage of naval vessels the Cuban Navy placed into service the Rio Damuji class of frigates, which are large fishing trawlers converted into warships.

In April 2010, it was reported that a Russian company was offering a version of the 3M-54 Klub missile that could be disguised and launched from a shipping container, in theory enabling any cargo ship to be armed with an anti-ship missile. This type of missile was allegedly capable of disabling or even sinking an aircraft carrier, but "it's not known how many of them would have to hit a carrier to knock it out of action, much less sink it."

During the 2011 Libyan civil war, forces loyal to Gaddafi armed several merchant vessels and attempted to use them to blockade the port of Misrata.

In October 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that British merchant shipping passing through areas known for piracy were permitted to carry firearms.

Ship list
Since the late 19th century various navies have used armed merchant ships in the role of auxiliary cruisers, also called armed merchant cruisers. Significant use of this type of ship was made by Britain and Germany in both World Wars.

Some of the ships used in this role include:
 * SS Saint Paul (1895) – Saint Paul SP-1643 – Spanish–American War (United States)
 * Shinano Maru – Russo-Japanese War (Japan)
 * RUSSIAN MERCHANT CRUISER Ural – Russo-Japanese War (Russia)
 * HMAS Berrima – World War I (Australia)
 * SMS Cap Trafalgar – World War I (Germany)
 * RMS Olympic – World War I (Great Britain)
 * MV Mar Negro – Spanish Civil War (Nationalist Spain)
 * GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Kormoran – World War II (Germany)
 * GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Thor – World War II (Germany)
 * HMS Jervis Bay – World War II (Great Britain)
 * HMS Rawalpindi – World War II (Great Britain)
 * Ramb I – World War II (Italy)
 * Aikoku Maru – World War II (Japan)
 * HMCS Prince David (F89) – World War II (Canada)

title: Armed merchantman


text:
German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran

The German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran (HSK-8) was a Kriegsmarine (German navy) merchant raider of World War II. Originally the merchant vessel Steiermark ("Styria"), the ship was acquired by the navy following the outbreak of war for conversion into a raider. Administered under the designation Schiff 41, to the Allied navies she was known as "Raider G". The largest merchant raider operated by Germany during World War II, Kormoran ("cormorant") was responsible for the destruction of 10 merchant vessels and the capture of an 11th during her year-long career in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

She is also known for sinking the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (D48) during a mutually destructive battle off Western Australia on 19 November 1941. Damage sustained during the battle prompted the scuttling of Kormoran. While 318 of the 399 aboard the German ship were rescued and placed in prisoner of war camps for the remainder of World War II, there were no survivors from the 645 aboard the Australian cruiser. The wreck of Kormoran was rediscovered on 12 March 2008, four days before that of her adversary.

Kormoran's success against HMAS Sydney is commonly attributed to the proximity of the two ships during the engagement, and the raider's advantages of surprise and rapid, accurate fire. Prior to the discovery of the wrecks in 2008, the cruiser's loss with all hands compared to the survival of most of the German crew created controversy and spawned numerous conspiracy theories; some alleged that the German commander, Theodor Detmers, used illegal ruses to lure Sydney into range, others that a Japanese submarine was involved, or that details of the battle were concealed through a wide-ranging coverup. None of these claims were substantiated by any evidence.

Construction and conversion
The merchant vessel Steiermark was constructed by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel for the Hamburg-Amerika Line. Launched in 1938, the ship was to operate on the East Asia run, but had completed only sea trials when war was declared.

Following World War I, German naval power had limits placed upon it by the Treaty of Versailles, which were later eased by the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement. By the 1930s, the discrepancy between the conventional warship strength of Germany and that of other nations led the German military to recognize that auxiliary cruisers engaged in commerce raiding could play a significant role in future wars, as they had during World War I. Merchant ships that could be converted into raiders were identified, and were to be taken up by the Kriegsmarine for conversion following a declaration of war.

Steiermark was one of these ships. Receiving the designation Schiff41 (Ship 41) for administrative purposes, she was taken into dockyard hands following the outbreak of World War II. Conversion of the merchant ship commenced in early 1940, and was prioritized as second only to work on the U-boat fleet. The conversion work included installation of camouflaged weapons, fitting of bunks for the sailors, creation of internal passageways leading to their stations. Prisoner accommodation, consisting of an open area for hammocks and facilities to keep ship's masters and women separate from the general population, were constructed. The raider was also provided with equipment with which to modify her appearance and allow her to masquerade as other merchant vessels. While the ship was being refitted, her future crew underwent training aboard the blockade runner Monte Pascoal.

Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Theodor Detmers was selected to command Schiff41 in July 1940; the 37-year-old was the youngest man to command a German merchant raider. Detmers named the ship Kormoran, inspired by SMS Cormoran (1909) (a Russian merchant ship captured by the Germans during World War I and operated as a raider) and the cormorant (with Detmers comparing the seabird's use in fishing to his ship's attempts in catching Allied vessels). After a successful trials cruise in September 1940, Kormoran was commissioned on 9 October.

Design
Kormoran was one of nine civilian ships taken up by the German Navy for conversion into merchant raiders; they were referred to alternately as Hilfskreuzer (auxiliary cruisers) or Handelsstörkreuzer (trade disruption cruisers). She was the largest of the raiders, and the most recently constructed when she was taken up for modification. After modification, Kormoran was 164 m long and 20.20 m wide, with a gross register tonnage of 8,736. She was propelled by four 9-cylinder diesel engines driving electric motors, which could propel the ship at 18 kn.

The raider was fitted with six 15 cm SK L/45 guns as primary armament: two each within the forecastle ("1" and "2") and quarterdeck ("5" and "6"), and one each fore and aft ("3" and "4" respectively) on the centreline. These guns were World War I-vintage; gun "3" had been removed from the battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz in 1916. The forecastle and quarterdeck guns were hidden behind counter-weighted false hull plates, while each centreline gun was concealed by fake cargo hatch walls.

The secondary armament consisted of five 2 cm anti-aircraft guns: two on the forecastle, two on the after funnel deck, and the fifth in the quarterdeck. All five were hidden by the structure of the ship until they were raised clear on hydraulic platforms. There were plans to fit four 3.7 cm anti-aircraft guns, but only two ex-army anti-tank guns could be scrounged; these were installed on Kormoran's superstructure, hidden by sheet metal panels. Kormoran was also equipped with six torpedo tubes: two dual launchers on the upper deck, and a single underwater tube on each side. The underwater tubes were amidships, angled at 135° from the bow, and could only be fired if the raider was travelling at less than 3 kn. Kormoran carried a payload of mines, with an LS-3 fast boat carried inside No. 6 cargo hatch for minelaying. The raider carried two Arado Ar 196 floatplanes for reconnaissance. Although Detmers wanted a catapult, such equipment would have spoiled any merchant ship disguise used by Kormoran; instead, the planes were stored inside No. 5 cargo hatch, and were launched and recovered from the water with hoists. Mechanical problems, difficulties in moving the aircraft between the hatch and the water, plus a lack of opportunities meant that only seven flights were made during the ship's operational deployment.

Running the blockade
The day after commissioning, Kormoran sailed to Kiel, where she was provisioned for a 12-month voyage. The raider then travelled to Gotenhafen (Gdynia, Poland) and underwent further trials of the ship's weapons, aircraft, and minelaying boat. Despite a range of problems and defects, Detmers elected to repair problems at sea instead of taking the ship into dock and delaying their mission.

The raider departed on 3 December, and once she cleared German waters on 10 December, her disguise was changed from a minesweeper to the Soviet freighter Vyacheslav Molotov. The Royal Navy had blockaded German waters at the start of the war, and Kormoran had to break through to reach her first patrol area. It was suggested that the raider either sail through the English Channel with support from captured French coastal batteries and the Luftwaffe, or around the Faroe Islands. Detmers chose to travel north of Iceland and through the Denmark Strait before heading south. The longer route was justified by its greater distance from British naval and aviation bases, and was thus less likely to be patrolled. The raider reached the strait late in the evening of 12 December, passed through it under the cover of a heavy storm, and entered the Atlantic by the following midday without encountering any Allied ships.

Atlantic Ocean
Having cleared the British blockade, Kormoran's instructions were to search the Atlantic Ocean for targets of opportunity, then move to the Indian Ocean and seek out Allied merchant shipping, with additional orders to lay mines around one or more Allied ports in India or Australia. Kormoran was also expected to replenish U-boats when ordered to do so, and carried extra torpedoes and spare parts. The raider's first operational area was in the Atlantic, below latitude 40° north, which she crossed during the night of 19–20 December. The German ship initially patrolled the western mid-Atlantic, outside the Pan-American Security Zone. During the first two weeks, the only ships spotted were merchant vessels flying the United States flag, which merchant raiders were forbidden to attack as they were still neutral.

By 6 January 1941, Detmers was ready to relocate to a point west of the Mediterranean because of a lack of targets, but that afternoon, Kormoran encountered the 3,729-ton Greek freighter Antonis. The raider ordered the freighter to heave to and not send any wireless transmissions, and sent a boarding party over. Antonis was armed with three British machine guns and loaded with 4,800 tons of Welsh coal. Though Germany was not at war with Greece, the presence of Allied weapons and cargo allowed Detmers to sink her or take her as a prize. As coal was of little use to the Kriegsmarine, the weapons, ammunition, and 29 crew were transferred to Kormoran, and the boarding party scuttled her at 18.28333°N, -28.53333°W. Admiralty notifications for raider activity gave an incorrect date and location for the attack, and initially attributed it to the raider Thor. Kormoran then headed southeast, avoiding the convoy routes from the Mediterranean to America or down the African coast, in order to seek vessels sailing alone and without warship escort.

Before sunset on 18 January, smoke was spotted on the horizon, so Kormoran accelerated and altered course to pursue. The source of the smoke was a tanker flying no flags, showing no lights, and zigzagging to thwart submarine attack, leading Detmers to conclude she was an Allied vessel. With little time before the sun set and the likelihood the tanker would resist capture, Kormoran commenced fire at 7000 yd in an attempt to disable the ship. When the third salvo hit, the merchantman broadcast a distress call, identifying herself as British Union and saying she was under attack by an unknown vessel at 26.4°N, -30.96667°W. Firing continued until British Union directed a light towards Kormoran, which the Germans assumed was a surrender signal, but as the raider closed to 4000 yd, four shots were fired by the tanker. All four missed, and heavy retaliatory fire from the raider set the merchant ship alight and forced the crew to abandon ship. The decision was made to destroy the 6,987-ton tanker with a torpedo, although two torpedoes and shells from the raider's main guns were required to sink her, while a third torpedo exploded as soon as it cleared its safety distance and armed; Detmers later stated the quantity of ammunition used during the attempted capture was excessive for the result obtained. The tanker's master, 27 sailors, and a pet monkey were recovered from two lifeboats as the tanker sank at 26.48333°N, -31.11667°W, and the raider fled the area. The distress call and glow from the fires attracted the attention of the armed merchant cruiser HMS Arawa (F12), which passed through the engagement site around midnight in pursuit, but failed to locate Kormoran, and returned that morning to collect a third lifeboat carrying seven survivors. These sailors stated their attacker had fired on the other two lifeboats, a claim not made by those rescued by the Germans. The Allies initially assumed that the GERMAN POCKET BATTLESHIP Admiral Scheer was responsible, but after this was disproven, the Admiralty was unable to determine the identity of the attacker.

Just after 13:00 on 29 January, Kormoran encountered a large merchantman which altered course on sighting the raider, but returned to her original heading after Kormoran made no aggressive moves. Detmers instead waited until the distance between the ships had decreased before the raider altered course to intercept, dropped her camouflage, and ordered the merchantman to stop. The ship did not comply, and after a warning shot elicited no response, Kormoran fired for effect. A distress signal was transmitted but jammed by the raider, and after unsuccessfully trying to break away from the faster German ship, the merchant vessel came to a stop and ceased attempts to transmit. The crew was ordered by signals from Kormoran to abandon ship, but the merchant sailors did not comply until after the raider resumed fire, having observed an attempt to man the ship's stern gun. A boarding party identified the victim as the 11,900-ton refrigerator ship Afric Star, carrying meat and butter to England. The complicated configuration and damaged condition of Afric Star ruled against her capture as a prize ship; after confiscating code books and other vital documents, and recovering 76 people, including two women, attempts were made to scuttle her. The merchantman refused to sink, and Kormoran had to use shells and torpedoes to send her to the bottom at 8.73333°N, -24.63333°W.

Later that day, lookouts aboard the raider spotted a merchant ship sailing without lights. Sneaking up on the vessel, Kormoran opened fire; her first salvo missed, but within minutes, the target was heavily damaged and aflame. The ship transmitted a distress signal, which Kormoran was unable to jam completely, but this ceased as crew members started to abandon ship. The raider stopped firing, but resumed when the merchantman attempted another transmission, and shore stations responded. Communications intercepts and the code books taken from Afric Star earlier that day revealed the target's identity: the 5,273-ton British freighter Eurylochus, with a cargo of bombers for the Gold Coast. These intercepts also indicated that several parties, including the Air Ministry, were aware of the attack, prompting Detmers to order the torpedoing of Eurylochus. This was accomplished with a single torpedo, sinking the British ship and her cargo at 8.25°N, -24.06667°W, three and a half hours after Afric Star. 39 Chinese and four British crew were recovered by the German raider before she fled the area with British warships HMS Norfolk (78) and HMS Devonshire (39) in pursuit. Another 28 survivors were found by the Spanish merchant ship Monte Tiede later that night, with 10 men killed during the attack or lost at sea. Eurylochus' master was among those rescued by the Allies, and recounted that two ships had attacked, one of them armed with 11 in guns, which led British Naval Intelligence to conclude that the responsible ships were Thor and Admiral Scheer, or an unknown raider operating in concert with one of these. Among the rescued was ship's gunner Frank Laskier who, on returning to England, was interviewed by BBC radio and proved so popular he became a figurehead for Merchant Navy enlistment propaganda for the rest of the war.

After evading pursuit, Kormoran made for a point off the Cape Verde Islands, where she rendezvoused with the supply ship Nordmark on 7 February. During a three-day replenishment operation, Kormoran topped up Nordmark's supply of spare U-boat parts with components brought from Germany, and transferred 170 of the 174 prisoners acquired so far. The four Chinese sailors from Eurylochus were hired to stay aboard the raider as laundrymen, and the British Union crew left their pet monkey aboard as thanks for their treatment while in captivity. A piano was taken from Nordmark's companion Duquesa, a captured coal-burning ship that was to be scuttled when her fuel ran out, but Detmers warned that if the piano caused any problems among the crew, it would be pushed overboard.

Kormoran left the rendezvous on 10 February and headed south. During the transit, Detmers received a signal from Germany indicating that his ship had been awarded two First Class Iron Crosses, and 50 Second Class Iron Crosses, to be distributed as he saw fit. Detmers transmitted a request on 18 February for WM-80 white metal (Babbitt (metal)), as the softer WM-10 used in bearings for two of the four diesel engines were wearing out too quickly. Some metal was acquired from the raider Pinguin on 25 February, but this was not enough to replace all the bearings. On 15 March, Kormoran met GS U-124 (1940) to transfer torpedoes, provisions, and spare parts, but rough seas forced the two vessels to head south, where they met the German cruiser Admiral Scheer a day later. The raider's broken radar and a sailor with an eye injury were transferred to Scheer, but attempts to replenish the U-boat were again interrupted by bad weather, forcing the two vessels to relocate again. The equipment transfer and refueling took another three days, during which crewmen from U-124 enjoyed the relatively luxurious facilities aboard Kormoran, and a sick sailor from the submarine was traded for a healthy man from the raider.

Kormoran sailed north to the Freetown-South America shipping route, and began to patrol near where it intersected the border of the Pan-American Security Zone. On the morning of 22 March, the raider encountered a tanker, which identified herself as the British vessel Agnita. Kormoran instructed her to stop and maintain wireless silence or be fired upon. The tanker instead broke away and began to transmit a distress signal, which was jammed as Kormoran opened fire. Agnita signaled surrender after two salvoes; 12 British and 25 Chinese sailors were captured, along with maps of the minefields surrounding Freetown Harbour. Efforts to scuttle the tanker failed, and Kormoran had to waste another torpedo to sink the ship at -3.33333°N, -23.66667°W.

Against usual practice, Detmers decided to return to the site of the action three days later, where another tanker was spotted. Kormoran revealed her weapons and fired a warning shot at the tanker, which initially attempted to flee but then chose to surrender when the morning mist lifted and revealed the nature of her attacker. The 11,309-ton (German-built) Canadian tanker Canadolite was taken as a prize ship, with a German crew taking the ship and her 44 sailors to Bordeaux, France, while the four officers were imprisoned aboard Kormoran. After the captured tanker left, it was realised recognition signals to avoid Luftwaffe attack had not been supplied, and Kormoran raced to meet the tanker when she rendezvoused with the supply ship Nordmark. The raider met the supply ship on 27 March, but it appeared Canadolite had enough fuel to reach France and had chosen to sail straight there. Two U-boats were scheduled to reach the rendezvous point for resupply; Detmers suggested he meet GS U-105 (1940), which was carrying more white metal for Kormoran's engines, while Nordmark focused on GS U-106 (1940). The commanding officer of U-105 agreed to transmit a warning to Germany regarding Canadolite once the U-boat had left the rendezvous point, which did not occur until six days later because of equipment problems delaying the replenishment. The tanker arrived safely on 13 April, was renamed Sudetenland, and remained operational until her sinking by the Royal Air Force in 1944.

Kormoran was due to rendezvous with the tanker Rudolf Albrecht on 4 April, and had no opportunity to search for new targets. The 42 prisoners from Kormoran were transferred to the Albrecht, but as she was a civilian vessel, her master was sworn in by Detmers as a naval officer, and an armed guard had to be supplied. Detmers ordered the transfer of four men from Nordmark to Rudolf Albrecht as guards, along with a fifth to Kormoran in exchange for the sick sailor taken from U-124 two weeks before. The supply ship's commander attempted to obstruct the transfers, and then demanded replacements; one came from Kormoran, while three of the tanker's sailors were drafted. Food, mail, and newspapers were received from Rudolf Albrecht, along with news that another three First Class Iron Crosses and 50 Second Class Iron Crosses had been awarded to Kormoran.

Having returned to the waters off Freetown, Kormoran encountered a merchant ship at dawn on 9 April. As the ship was behind Kormoran and on a similar course, the raider slowed until the merchantman was abeam of the raider and 5000 yd to port. The German ship dropped her camouflage, increased speed, and ordered the freighter to stop or be fired upon. In response, the merchantman attempted to transmit a distress call (which was jammed by Kormoran) and tried to man her stern gun, prompting the Germans to open fire. The freighter took heavy damage, as every time Detmers ordered or was about to order a cease-fire, the target ship attempted to escape or transmit another distress signal. Eventually, the 46 survivors of the crew (five were killed in the attack) abandoned their burning vessel, and boarding parties were sent from the raider. She was identified as the 8,022-ton British freighter Craftsman, carrying an anti-submarine net for Singapore, which was to be delivered after a stop in Cape Town. After scuttling charges failed to sink Craftsman, she was torpedoed at 0.53333°N, -23.61667°W.

After fleeing the scene, Kormoran headed south, and early on 12 April encountered another ship. After slowly closing on the merchantman over three hours, Kormoran de-camouflaged and fired several warning shots. The freighter turned away and sent a distress signal; wireless operators aboard Kormoran were unable to jam it, but there was little concern as the transmission was an SOS instead of the more specific QQQ or RRR for a raider attack, while also giving the wrong coordinates. Kormoran fired for effect, but it was not until the merchant ship's bridge was destroyed that her 35 crew abandoned ship. A boarding party identified the ship as the 5,486-ton Greek freighter Nicholas D.L., carrying Canadian timber. Because of her buoyant cargo, the scuttling charges failed to have major effect, but after firing some shells into Nicholas D.L., Detmers chose to leave the ship to sink slowly at -1.9°N, -22.2°W. Until 1943, the Admiralty accepted the SOS location, 18° further north, as fact, while attributing the sinking to the raider Atlantis.

On 17 April, Kormoran sighted a passenger ship, but was unable to lure her into range before the vessel disappeared into a rain squall. Two days later, Kormoran met Atlantis and the blockade runner Dresden. An expected shipment of white metal for Kormoran had been supplied to a different blockade runner, which was delayed. Several supply ships arrived at the rendezvous point over the next few days and transferred provisions, ammunition, and fuel to the raider. Prisoners from Kormoran were handed over to the other ships, and the raider received new sailors to make up numbers. Kormoran departed on 22 April, and spent two days changing her disguise to the Japanese freighter Sakito Maru before sailing into the Indian Ocean.

Indian Ocean
On reaching the Indian Ocean, Kormoran was immediately diverted to refuel the whaling ship Adjutant and supply ship Alstertor; refuelling was carried out between 13 and 17 May. Although originally confined to waters northeast of latitude 20°S and longitude 80°E, the raider's area of operations expanded on 1 June to encompass the entire ocean. The ship's disguise was altered again on 5 June, with Kormoran taking the identity of the Japanese merchant ship Kinka Maru, as the owners of Sakito Maru rarely operated in the western Indian. After patrolling around the Maldives without success, Kormoran sailed towards the Bay of Bengal with plans to lay mines in the approaches to Madras and Calcutta. Although a target was spotted en route on 15 June, the raider's smoke generator malfunctioned and started to produce thick, black smoke, which scared off the merchantman. On 24 June, while approaching Madras, the raider was spotted and shadowed by what the Germans assumed was a British auxiliary cruiser. The suspicious ship later resumed her original course without incident, but Detmers decided to postpone the mine-laying operation and leave the area, as Allied forces would become suspicious when the 'Japanese' ship failed to reach port.

During the early morning of 26 June, a darkened merchant ship was spotted. Signals were sent to the ship without response, and after the merchantman appeared to ignore a warning shot, Kormoran opened fire and caused massive damage. Nine men, identifying themselves as crew from the 4,153-ton Yugoslavian cargo ship Velebit, were recovered from a lifeboat; the lack of response was attributed to the actions of inexperienced Indian sailors taken on in Bombay. The ship was left to sink, but another eight sailors remained on board, and kept Velebit afloat until she ran aground on the reefs surrounding the Andaman Islands. That afternoon, smoke from another ship was spotted by Kormoran. Maintaining a steady course away from the merchantman until a rain squall enveloped the raider, Kormoran then altered onto a converging course, and closed to within 600 yd before crossing the merchantman's bow to reach a favorable firing position and revealing her identity. Orders to stop were ignored, and the raider opened fire after a distress call was sent. Within 30 seconds, shells from the raider destroyed the merchantman's wireless room and forecastle, damaged the engine room, and started several fires. Some 48 sailors from the 3,472-ton Australian vessel Mareeba were recovered by Kormoran, and although a boarding party attempted to save the ship for use as a mine-layer, the severity of damage made this impossible. The Australian ship was scuttled, and sank quickly at 8.25°N, 88.1°W.

After retreating to open waters, a 15-day overhaul of the engines was carried out. While working on one of the seaplanes, a sailor was killed by electrocution. Kormoran's disguise was changed to the Dutch freighter Straat Malakka, and notice was received of a further 100 Second Class Iron Crosses and five First Class Iron Crosses awarded to the ship. On completion, Detmers set course for the Bay of Bengal intending to lay a second mine field, but aborted this on 30 July when he learned the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes (95) would be in the area. Kormoran then took to patrolling the shipping routes from Fremantle to Colombo or Lombok. A merchant ship was spotted near sunset on 13 August, but the ship's actions (which included heading directly for Kormoran on spotting her, broadcasting a raider distress call without coordinates, and repeatedly broadcasting homing signals) caused Detmers to think the target was either an Allied auxiliary cruiser or was attempting to lure Kormoran into range of an Allied warship. Kormoran broke off pursuit and retreated. The raider continued to search for ships without success. On 25 August, the lookout spotted a strange object on the horizon; this was worked out to be the peak of Boea Boea Mountain on Enggano Island, and the first sighting of land in 258 days.

Kormoran then moved to waters south of Ceylon, and around midday on 1 September, a large vessel, which Detmers determined to be an unaccompanied troopship, was spotted. Plans were made to attack that night, but the transport disappeared over the horizon during the afternoon and could not be relocated. Two days later, Detmers was informed that Kormoran would be replaced by Thor at the end of December, and that he would be resupplied by the supply ship Kulmerland, which had come from Japan and would wait for the raider at a predetermined rendezvous point from 12 October. Late on 23 September, the navigational lights for a ship were sighted. After signalling the merchant ship for her name and nationality, which identified her as the 3,941-ton Greek freighter Stamatios G. Embiricus, the raider shone searchlights on her and ordered her to stop and accept a boarding party. Those aboard the Greek ship assumed they were being pulled up by a British warship for not observing blackout regulations, and it was not until the armed Germans arrived on the ship that the nature of the 'warship' was revealed. Although captured intact, Stamantios G. Embiricus was a coal-fuelled ship, and did not have enough fuel to reach any destination other than her intended port, Colombo. The ship was scuttled at -0.01667°N, 64.5°W, but while a lifeboat carrying the ship's master and five crew rowed to Kormoran, a second lifeboat carrying the other 24 avoided capture in the dark. A search using one of the Arado seaplanes found them late the next morning.

A few days later, Kormoran's wireless operators intercepted transmissions between the Norwegian tanker Thelma and a shore station — initially in a new code, then repeated in a recently expired code. This allowed the Germans to identify where the merchant ship was heading to, and make some progress on breaking the new code. However, the tanker could have taken several routes to her Cape Town destination, and Kormoran did not encounter her during four days of searching. The raider then headed south, and met the supply ship Kulmerland on 16 October. Supplies and parts were transferred to Kormoran, while the raider's prisoners were moved to Kulmerland, along with documents captured from ships and five slightly ill German sailors to serve as guards. After leaving on 24 October, maintenance and repairs were carried out. Plans were made to sail up the coast of Western Australia; the original intention was to mine shipping routes near Cape Leeuwin and Fremantle, but after wireless signals were detected from a warship (Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra (D33)) escorting a convoy in the area, Detmers decided to sail further north and mine Shark Bay, then proceed to the East Indies before looping back west to the Bay of Bengal.

Final battle and loss

 * Note: All times in this section are UTC+7.

On 19 November 1941, shortly before 16:00, Kormoran was 150 nmi south-west of Carnarvon, Western Australia. The raider was sailing northwards (heading 025°) at 11 kn. At 15:55, what was initially thought to be a tall ship sail was sighted off the port bow, although the sighting was quickly determined to be the masts of a cruiser, HMAS Sydney (D48). Detmers ordered Kormoran to alter course into the sun (heading 260°) at maximum achievable speed (which quickly dropped from 15 to 14 kn because of problems in one of her diesels), while setting the ship to action stations. Sydney spotted the German ship around the same time, and altered from her southward heading to intercept at 25 kn.

As the cruiser closed from astern, she began to send searchlight signals. The first was not answered because the Germans did not understand the coded Morse. Sydney repeated for half an hour, but then began to send, "You should hoist your signal letters", both by plain-language Morse and signal flag. After another delay, Kormoran raised flags reading "PKQI"—the callsign for her disguise, the Dutch merchant ship Straat Malakka — on the triatic stay and hoisted a Dutch civil ensign. As the cruiser was on Kormoran's starboard quarter at 15000 m, the flags were obscured by the raider's funnel; German accounts vary as to if this was done deliberately to make the ship seem civilian, a ruse to lure Sydney closer, or the signaller's honest mistake. After receiving an instruction from the cruiser to make the flags visible, the signals officer aboard Kormoran did so by lengthening the halyard and swinging it around to the starboard side. By 16:35, with Sydney 8000 m away, the malfunctioning engine aboard Kormoran was repaired, but Detmers chose to keep it in reserve and maintain speed. Further flag signals were exchanged, with Sydney asking the raider's destination and cargo.

At around 17:00, Detmers instructed his wireless operators to send a distress signal indicating Straat Malakka was being approached by a suspicious ship. Transmitted at 17:03 and repeated at 17:05, it contained the distress call for a merchantman under attack from a raider, rather than a warship (QQQQ as opposed to RRRR), the latitude and longitude of the transmitting ship, the time per Greenwich Mean Time instead of local time (a deliberate error to let the Kriegsmarine know a raider was likely about to be lost), and her name. This message was partially received by the tugboat Uco ("QQQQ [unintelligible] 1000 GMT") and a shore station at Geraldton, Western Australia ("[unintelligible] 7C 11115E 1000 GMT"). The Geraldton station broadcast a message to all ships asking if there was anything to report, which was interpreted by the Germans as acknowledgement of their signal. During the exchanges and distress signal, Sydney positioned herself off the raider's starboard beam on a parallel course, approximately 1300 m from Kormoran. Her main guns and torpedoes trained on the raider, but secondary weapons did not appear to be manned, personnel were standing on the upper deck, and although the cruiser's seaplane had been readied for launch, it was soon stowed away. During her manoeuvre, Sydney signalled "IK", which made no sense from the Germans' perspective, as that combination was shorthand for "You should prepare for a cyclone, hurricane, or typhoon". However, those two letters were part of the real Straat Malakka's secret secondary callsign, and Sydney was expecting the ship to confirm her identity by responding with the callsign's other two letters.

Fifteen minutes later, the cruiser signalled, "Show your secret sign". Detmers knew there was no chance of fooling Sydney for much longer, so ordered Kormoran's disguise dropped, the German battle ensign raised, and for all weapons to commence firing. The raider's opening salvo bracketed the ship, while the next four salvoes destroyed Sydney's bridge, gun direction tower, forward turrets, and aircraft. Two torpedoes were launched simultaneously with the raider's attack, and the close proximity of the target allowed the use of lighter weapons to rake Sydney's flank and interfere with attempts to man the cruiser's secondary weapons. In contrast, Sydney was only able to fire a single full salvo before her forward turrets were knocked out, shells from which punched through Kormoran's exhaust funnel and wireless room, and caused shrapnel wounds to two sailors. Kormorans gunners shifted their aim to Sydneys waterline with their next three salvoes. Sydney responded from her aft turrets: one damaged the raider's machinery spaces and started a fire in an oil tank, while the other fired only a few ineffective shells. Around the time of the eighth or ninth German salvo, one of Kormoran's torpedoes struck Sydney forward of "A" turret, ripping a hole in her side and causing her to settle by the bow. After the torpedo hit, Sydney turned hard to port in what the Germans assumed was an attempt to ram, but the cruiser passed harmlessly aft.

By 17:35, the cruiser was heading south, heavily damaged, on fire, and losing speed, with her main guns destroyed or jammed facing away from their target and her secondary weapons out of range. Kormoran maintained her course and speed, but discontinued salvo firing; her stern guns continued to score hits as Sydney passed through their firing arcs. The cruiser fired torpedoes at Kormoran, but as the raider was turning to bring her port broadside to bear, these passed harmlessly astern. After completing the turn, battle damage caused Kormoran's engines to fail completely, leaving the raider dead in the water while Sydney continued to limp southwards. Despite being immobilised, Kormoran continued to fire at a high rate — some of the German sailors reported that up to 450 shells were used during the second phase of the battle — and scored hits on the cruiser, although misses would have increased as the range grew. The raider fired her guns for the last time around 17:50, with the range at 6600 yd, and a torpedo was fired at 18:00, but missed.

By the end of the half-hour engagement, the ships were about 10000 m apart, with both heavily damaged and on fire. Damage to Kormoran's engine room had knocked out the fire-fighting systems, and as it was only a matter of time until the oil fire reached the magazines or mine hold, Detmers ordered "abandon ship" at 18:25. All boats and rafts were launched by 21:00, during which a skeleton crew kept the weapons manned while their colleagues evacuated and the officers made preparations for scuttling. During all this, Sydney was seen to proceed south-southeast at low speed; she disappeared over the horizon shortly after the engagement, but the glow of the burning ship was seen on the horizon consistently until 22:00, and sporadically until midnight.

Kormoran was abandoned and scuttled at midnight; she sank slowly until the mine hold exploded half an hour later. The German survivors were in five boats and two rafts: one cutter carrying 46 men, two battle-damaged steel life rafts with 57 and 62 aboard (the latter carrying Detmers and towing several small floats), one workboat carrying 72, one boat with 31 aboard, and two rafts, each bearing 26. During the evacuation, a rubber liferaft carrying 60, mostly wounded, sank without warning; the three survivors were placed in other boats. Total German casualties were six officers, 75 German sailors, and one Chinese sailor.

Rescue

The first life raft of German survivors, carrying 26 men, was recovered by the troopship Aquitania early on 23 November, but as the ship's master believed a raider was still in the area, he maintained wireless silence and did not report his discovery until three days later. The lifeboat carrying Detmers saw the troopship but did not make their presence known, as the German officer hoped to be picked up by a neutral merchant ship.

Attempts to locate Sydney, which was several days overdue in returning to port, commenced on 23 November. However, it was not until the afternoon of the next day, after the British tanker Trocas reported finding the second Kormoran life raft with 25 men (one having perished) a full-scale search was begun. Several German lifeboats were spotted on 25 November during the air search off Western Australia: the 46-man cutter had come ashore at 17-Mile Well, the 57-man lifeboat was nearing Red Bluff, and a third lifeboat was further off the coast. That afternoon, the staff of Quobba Station rounded up the two groups that had made landfall, who did not resist capture.

The 31-man boat was recovered by the passenger ship Koolinda just before sunset on 26 November. The passenger-freighter Centaur, which had been instructed to make landfall at Carnarvon to collect the Germans captured so far and transport them to Fremantle, encountered Detmers' lifeboat that night at 22:00 and took it in tow, as they were unwilling to let 62 enemy naval personnel aboard, but did not want to leave them to their fate. During the voyage to Carnarvon, the damaged and overloaded German lifeboat was swamped, and the Kormoran survivors were transferred into two of Centaur's lifeboats. Arriving in Carnarvon on the afternoon of 27 November, the Germans were relocated from the boats to Centaur's number one cargo hold, where they were joined by the sailors from the two lifeboats that had reached shore and 40 Australian Army guards.

The last boat, carrying 70 Germans and two Chinese, was spotted from the air during the late morning of 27 November, and was recovered shortly afterward by HMAS Yandra. The next day, HMAS Wyrallah recovered a German lifebelt and two four-man liferafts, one of which was carrying a deceased German sailor, who was buried at sea. The search was terminated at sunset on 29 November. By this point, all of the German lifeboats were accounted for, and 318 of Kormoran's 399 personnel (including three of the four Chinese laundry workers) had survived.

During searches in late 1941, none of the 645-strong ship's company from Sydney was found; the only confirmed remains found were a damaged carley float and a lifebelt. In February 1942, a carley float carrying a then-unidentifiable body reached Christmas Island. In 2021, familial DNA research verified that the remains were those of Able Seaman Thomas Welsby Clark, an ASDIC (sonar) operator on Sydney.

Aftermath
In Germany, information about the battle was assembled from communications intercepts during the search for survivors, then combined with Allied news articles and published in early 1943 for internal consumption by German officials. A member of Kormoran's crew sent home in a prisoner exchange later that year confirmed the details of the battle, and accounts were published by the German media in December 1943.

Most of the German survivors were taken to Fremantle and interrogated. Attempts to learn what had happened were hampered by the German officers instructing their sailors to obfuscate the enemy with false answers, people describing events they did not witness but heard of later, and difficulty in keeping groups separated in order to check their stories against each other. Despite this, Australian authorities were able to piece together the broad details of the battle, which was verified by German sailors recovered by Aquitania who had been taken to Sydney instead. Their interviews showed similar commonalities and inconsistencies as those in Fremantle, and the interrogators concluded that the true story was being recounted.

Initially, the sailors were imprisoned at Harvey while the officers were imprisoned at Swanbourne Barracks, but after interrogations were concluded in December, they were all relocated to prisoner-of-war camps near Murchison, Victoria. Sailors were interned in No. 13 Prisoner of War Camp, which already hosted 1,200 soldiers of the Afrika Korps, and their shipmates rescued by Aquitania, while officers were sent to the Dhurringile homestead. One sailor died in captivity on 24 March 1942 from lung cancer, and was buried in the Tatura war cemetery. On 11 January 1945, Detmers and nineteen other Axis officers broke out from Dhurringile through a tunnel excavated during the previous seven months, although all were recaptured within days of escaping. Detmers was found with a German-English dictionary which included two accounts of the battle (a deck log or action report, and an engineering log) encrypted within using a Vigenère cipher, although these accounts provided little new information. Shortly after returning to the camp, Detmers suffered a stroke, and spent over three months at the military hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria.

The German officers and sailors were repatriated after the war, departing from Port Phillip with other Axis prisoners aboard the steamer Orontes on 21 February 1947. Ironically, tied up to the opposite pier was the real Straat Malakka. On arrival in Cuxhaven, the prisoners were searched before leaving the ship, and while several written reports were gathered, none provided new information.

Search and rediscovery
Despite the approximate last position of Kormoran being known (most German accounts giving the battle coordinates as -26°N, 111°W), efforts to find Kormoran and Sydney were hampered by the size of the search area indicated by such broad coordinates, and claims by Australians that the Germans had lied about the coordinates (among other aspects of the fight) and the ships would be found further south and closer inshore.

Several searches were made by the Australian military in the years following the war, but these were primarily concerned with finding the Australian cruiser, technologically restricted to shallow waters, and made to verify or prove false civilian claims that Sydney or Kormoran was at a particular location. In 1990, Robert Ballard and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution were approached to lead a search for the ships, which he agreed to on the condition that the search area be narrowed down considerably. A forum in 1991 unsuccessfully attempted to do this, and Ballard withdrew his offer. A 1999 Australian government report recommended that a seminar be organised to identify the most likely search area for the warships, but again, participants were still split between the battle location given by the Germans (referred to as the "northern position") or a point off the Abrolhos Islands (the area for the battle advocated by supporters of the "southern position").

American shipwreck hunter David Mearns first learned of the battle and mutual destruction of Sydney and Kormoran during a conference in 1996, and began studying the battle in 2001. With the assistance of historians and the Western Australian Museum, Mearns focused on primary source documents, during which he discovered or rediscovered several archive files and diaries of Kormoran personnel believed lost; these documents led him to believe that the German accounts were truthful. After identifying a potential search area, the Australian government announced several million dollars of funding for the search, but German government assistance was limited to formal approval for Mearns to film Kormoran if she was found.

Mearns' plan was to determine a 'search box' for Kormoran by plotting the possible starting points of the two rafts from the raider through a reverse drift analysis. This search box (which was calculated to be 52 by in size) would then be inspected over the course of several days with a deep-water, towed side-scan sonar mounted aboard the survey vessel SV Geosounder. Mearns chose to focus on finding Kormoran first, as locating the German ship would significantly narrow down the search area for Sydney. After locating one or both vessels, Geosounder would return to port and replace the sonar with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to photograph and video the wrecks, although funding limitations meant the search and inspection of both ships had to be concluded within 45 days. After problems with equipment and weather, Geosounder commenced the search, and located Kormoran during the afternoon of 12 March 2008. The wreck site was 2560 m below sea level, and consisted of two large pieces 1300 m apart, with an oval-shaped debris field between them, centred at -26.09611°N, 111.07583°W. The raider's discovery was publicly announced by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on the morning of 17 March.

Mearns was then able to plot a search area for Sydney based on Kormoran's location, as although there was no specific information on the cruiser's location, much more information was available concerning her last known position relative to the raider. Sydney was located on 17 March at -26.24194°N, 111.21333°W, 11.4 nmi southeast of Kormoran. Discovery of the vessel was made only hours after the locating of Kormoran was publicly announced. On discovery, both wrecks were placed under the protection of the Australian Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976, which penalises anyone disturbing a protected shipwreck with a fine of up to A$10,000 or a maximum five years imprisonment. Both wrecks were placed on the Australian National Heritage List on 14 March 2011.

After the side-scan sonar aboard Geosounder was switched out for the ROV (again delayed by technical issues and more bad weather), she returned to sea for detailed inspections of the wrecks. Sydney was filmed and documented during 3–6 April, and a sonar contact thought to be debris from the battle was visually inspected on 6 April and found to be outcrops of pillow lava. Observation of the Kormoran wreck confirmed that the mine deck explosion had torn the stern half of the ship apart, with few recognisable items in the large debris field. The search was declared complete just before midnight on 7 April, with Geosounder returning to Geraldton.

Awards, memorials, and legacy

For sinking Sydney, Detmers' Iron Cross First Class was upgraded to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Kormoran's executive officer, gunnery officer, and the sailor who manned the starboard 37 mm gun were awarded the Iron Cross First Class (although for the executive officer, this was a bar to a previous Iron Cross), while the other members of the crew were all awarded the Iron Cross Second Class.

The names of those killed aboard Kormoran are inscribed in the Laboe Naval Memorial where in 2011 a memorial stone commemorating both the Kormoran and the Sydney was inaugurated by Peter Tesch the former Australian ambassador to Germany. The Kormoran name was carried on by the GERMAN FAST ATTACK CRAFT Kormoran, a Seeadler class fast attack craft of the West German Navy commissioned in 1959. This Kormoran operated until 1976, when she was sold to Greece. East Germany also operated a Kormoran; a small corvette borrowed from the Soviet Navy from 1970 to 1974.

title: German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran


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Baha Men

Baha Men are a Bahamian junkanoo band formed in New Providence, Bahamas in 1977. They are best known for their Grammy Award-winning hit song "Who Let the Dogs Out".

Early years
Baha Men formed in 1977 as High Voltage, initially playing disco and funk. They performed regularly in nightclubs and hotels in the Bahamas and self-released several albums.

In 1991, one of their tapes found its way to Atlantic Records A&R man Steve Greenberg, who signed the band to the Big Beat subsidiary, at the same time getting the band to change their name to the Baha Men.

Early success
The following year, Baha Men released their first album, Junkanoo, which included the local hit "Back to the Island". Kalik followed in 1994, including the international hit "Dancing in the Moonlight". The band moved with Greenberg to Polygram for the 1997 album I Like What I Like and Doong Spank, released the following year. The latter sold only 700 copies in the US and the band was dropped by the label.

Greenberg then started his own label, S-Curve, and signed the band. Original vocalist Nehemiah Hield left in 1999, and was replaced by his nephew Omerit. The band was most popular in the 1990s in Japan, and their 1999 album 2 Zero 0-0 was initially only released in that country.

"Who Let the Dogs Out"
They achieved great, but short-lived, popularity with a 2000s remake of "Who Let the Dogs Out" (originally composed by Anslem Douglas), produced by Greenberg and Michael Mangini. The song was a chart success in many countries and also became a popular song at US sporting events. "Who Let the Dogs Out" also earned the band several awards: a Grammy Award in 2001 for Best Dance Recording; Billboard Music Awards for World Music Artist of the Year and World Music Album of the Year; and a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award for Favorite Song. In 2002, they won another Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Band.

In June 2008, "Who Let the Dogs Out" was discussed on I Love the New Millennium. The Baha Men's most recent album was Ride With Me, released in 2015.

Recent years
After releasing Night & Day in the summer of 2014 for the FIFA World Cup that year in Brazil and was featured in the soundtrack: One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album in the Carnival Mix, the Baha Men released a Christmas Medley mixing "The Little Drummer Boy" with "Silver Bells". Their single "Off the Leash" was released digitally on 1 July 2015. On 25 October 2015, the band performed the halftime show for the New York Giants/Dallas Cowboys football game at MetLife Stadium.

In 2018, the group joined Our Last Night for a metal cover of their hit song "Who Let the Dogs Out" and, in April 2019, released a new single, "Let's Go", dedicated to the teams playing in the Final Four.

TV and film appearances
Baha Men appeared in a special scene from Between the Lions where Leona and Theo meet them while reading some books inside the library. They performed the theme song of the Playhouse Disney series Stanley, titled "My Man Stanley".

They performed onstage for a Season 14 episode of The Bachelorette, which took place in the Bahamas.

Their track "Holla!" appeared in the opening and closing credits of Garfield: The Movie, and during one scene in the 2005 film Kicking & Screaming.

Their track "Best Years of Our Lives" appeared in the rolling credits of Shrek.

The band made an appearance on the big screen, when they starred as themselves in the 1994 romantic comedy My Father the Hero, starring Gérard Depardieu and Katherine Heigl.

Members

 * Pat Carey - guitar
 * Rik Carey - drums
 * Jeffrey Chea - keyboards
 * Anthony Flowers - percussion
 * Colyn Grant - drums
 * Nehemiah Hield
 * Omerit Hield
 * Dyson Knight - vocals
 * Marvin Prosper - vocals
 * Herschel Small - guitar
 * Isaiah Taylor - percussion

title: Baha Men