Qualla: SMS Leopard (1917) https://qualla.com/sms-leopard-1917 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:35 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/u/5/8/3/sms-leopard-1917-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: SMS Leopard (1917) https://qualla.com/sms-leopard-1917 SMS Leopard (1917): Introduction https://qualla.com/sms-leopard-1917/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. She was built in 1912 at Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, launched on 3 May as yard number 178. Her name was Yarrowdale, a cargo steamer operated by Robert Mackill & Co of Glasgow, one of thousands of unremarkable freighters hauling goods across the Atlantic. Four years later she was captured by an enemy warship, converted into a weapon, renamed, disguised, and sent back to sea under a different flag. Weeks into her new career, she burned to the waterline in the Norwegian Sea and carried every man aboard to the bottom. SMS Leopard holds a singular distinction in naval history: she was the last commerce raider Germany ever sent out during the First World War.

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/5/8/3/sms-leopard-1917-wp/u583-sms-leopard-1917-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full SMS Leopard (1917): Cargo and Capture https://qualla.com/sms-leopard-1917/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Yarrowdale was a single-screw steamer of 4,652 gross register tons, driven by a triple-expansion steam engine rated at 429 nominal horsepower, good for about 13 knots. On 11 December 1916, the German commerce raider Mowe intercepted her in the Atlantic. Mowe's captain, Nikolaus z...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/5/8/3/sms-leopard-1917-wp/u583-sms-leopard-1917-cargo-and-capture.mp3 0:06 2 full SMS Leopard (1917): A Christmas Eve Bluff https://qualla.com/sms-leopard-1917/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Badewitz had an improbable stroke of luck. A strike by Liverpool boilermakers had shrunk the Northern Patrol from 23 vessels to six, and Yarrowdale slipped through the cordon on Christmas Eve 1916. When a Swedish officer boarded her during a gale in Swedish waters, Badewitz claim...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/5/8/3/sms-leopard-1917-wp/u583-sms-leopard-1917-a-christmas-eve-bluff.mp3 0:06 3 full SMS Leopard (1917): Rena Norge Sails North https://qualla.com/sms-leopard-1917/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Leopard was disguised as Rena, a Norwegian freighter of similar size built in England in 1911. It was the second time Germany had used this identity for a raider; the first had been sunk before attacking any Allied shipping. Under Korvettenkapitan Hans von Laffert, with a complem...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/5/8/3/sms-leopard-1917-wp/u583-sms-leopard-1917-rena-norge-sails-north.mp3 0:06 4 full SMS Leopard (1917): Ninety Minutes of Fire https://qualla.com/sms-leopard-1917/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. On 16 March, in the Norwegian Sea north of the Shetlands, the armoured cruiser HMS Achilles and armed boarding steamer HMS Dundee spotted Leopard. Achilles overtook her and ordered Dundee to send a boarding party. Six men rowed across and were never seen alive again. As Dundee's ...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/5/8/3/sms-leopard-1917-wp/u583-sms-leopard-1917-ninety-minutes-of-fire.mp3 0:06 5 full SMS Leopard (1917): A Bottle on the Waves https://qualla.com/sms-leopard-1917/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Soon after the sinking, a bottle was found containing a message reportedly thrown overboard during the engagement. It read: "In action with British cruiser. Fighting for the glory and honour of Germany. A last greeting to our relatives." That message is the only direct voice to s...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/5/8/3/sms-leopard-1917-wp/u583-sms-leopard-1917-a-bottle-on-the-waves.mp3 0:06 6 full