 On 18 December, Admiral Scheer encountered and sank the refrigerator ship Duquesa, of some 8,651 long tons (8,790 t) displacement. The ship sent off a distress signal, which the German raider deliberately allowed, to draw British naval forces to the area. Krancke wanted to lure British warships to the area to draw attention away from Admiral Hipper, which had just exited the Denmark Strait. The aircraft carriers HMS Formidable and Hermes, the cruisers Dorsetshire, Neptune, and Dragon, and the armed merchant cruiser Pretoria Castle converged to hunt down the German raider, but she eluded the British.
