Reinhard Scheer
The convoy had sailed from Norway on 16 October; at dawn on the following day, the captain of the "Mary Rose", Lieutenant-Commander Fox, observed two warships approaching. Their profiles and dark-grey colour led him to assume they were British light cruisers, and recognition signals were duly transmitted. The approaching ships were in fact the German cruisers and , despatched as part of a plan by Admiral Reinhard Scheer to supplement U-boats with high speed surface raiders.