Surface raiders on the North Atlantic 1916-8

Holding Norway allowed German ships to hug the coast under air cover to get past the Scotland-Norway gap and have a clear run to the open ocean.
 
This is effectively a non starter as the High Seas Fleet would have to be out into the Atlantic and be supplied. Unless they put to sea before war started they would almost certainly be stopped and challenged. A few isolated ships might have slipped past the Northern Patrol which consisted of obsolete cruisers and armed merchant cruisers but once out they would have been hunted down with very few bases left. Also the bigger ships were not designed for operating outside the North Sea. The only battlecruiser outside German waters headed for Turkey rather than risking facing British battlecruisers although admitedly helped bring Turkey into the war
 
Germany didn't send out its navy ships, but it did send out raiders around this time: there was a freighter from South America I think that was seized by the Navy (I think it was Brazilian or something - hauling bananas:p) and converted to a raider. Lasted 'til 1918 and successfully made it back to port. I can't remember but I think she was called the Sea Wolf or something like that. Yeah, I know, there's computer games with that name, but this was for REAL. Can't remember the name of the book about her.

The book that I have on the subject of German commerce raiders in WW1 is The Kaiser's Pirates: German Surface Raiders in World War One by John Walter. Excellent book with some fascinating and amazing stories.

The book/ship that you are probably thinking about is The Cruise of the Sea Eagle: The Amazing True Story of Imperial Germany's Gentleman Pirate by Blaine Pardoe.
 
Top