German auxiliary cruiser Komet Komet ( German for comet ) ( HSK - 7 ) was an auxiliary cruiser of the German Kriegsmarine in the Second World War , intended for service as a commerce raider . Known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 45 , to the Royal Navy she was Raider B . She was sunk by British motor torpedo boat s in October 1942 . Construction and conversion . Launched on 16 January 1937 as the merchant ship " Ems " at Deschimag A . G . Weser shipyard in Bremen for Norddeutscher Lloyd ( NDL ) , she was requisitioned at the start of the Second World War in 1939 , converted into an auxiliary cruiser at Howaldt swerke in Hamburg , and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 2 June 1940 . The ship was 115 . 5 m long and 15 . 3 m wide , had a draught of 6 . 5 m , and registered . She was powered by two diesel engines that gave her a speed of up to 16 knots ( 30 km / h ) . As a commerce raider , " Komet " was armed with six 15 cm guns , one 7 . 5 cm gun , one 3 . 7 cm and four 2 cm AA guns , as well as six torpedo tubes . She also carried a small 15 - ton fast boat ( " Meteorit " , of the " LS2 " class ) intended to lay mines and an Arado 196 A1 seaplane . Her crew numbered 274 . Initial raiding voyage . Breakout into the Pacific . After a long period of negotiations between Germany and the Soviet Union , the Soviets agreed to provide Germany with access to the Northern Sea Route through which Germany could access both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans . Although the two countries had signed the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact ( with secret protocols dividing eastern Europe ) and an undisclosed German – Soviet Commercial Agreement ( 1940 ) ( extensive military and civilian aid pact ) , the Soviet Union still wished to maintain the veneer of being neutral , and thus , secrecy was required . Initially , the two countries had agreed to send 26 ships , including four armed merchant cruisers , but because of a variety of difficulties , this was soon reduced to one vessel , the " Komet " . Prior to being sent on the Northern Sea Route , the " Komet " was equipped with a specially strengthened bow and a propeller suitable for navigating through ice . Under the command of " Kapitän zur See " ( later " Konteradmiral " ) Robert Eyssen , HSK7 departed for her first raiding voyage from Gotenhafen ( now Gdynia in Poland ) , on 3 July 1940 with a crew of 270 . With the consent of the then neutral Soviet Union , " Komet " initially made her way along the Norwegian coast disguised as the Soviet icebreaker " Semyon Dezhnev " . While waiting in Teriberka Bay in July and August because of Soviet security concerns , she took the fake name the " Donau " . With assistance from the Soviet icebreaker " Lenin " , she passed through the several Arctic Ocean passages in August . She also later received help from the " Joseph Stalin " . In early September , the " Komet " crossed the Bering Strait into the Pacific Ocean . The passage navigation was an amazing achievement in itself but would have ended in disaster had it not been for the Soviet assistance , whose help had been at a price – 950 , 000 Reichsmarks was the reported payment . Once in the Pacific , Eyssen sailed down to the Japanese island of Lamutrik and met the " Orion " and " Kulmerland " in mid - October . After a conference on strategy , the three captains decided to work together , concentrating on the New Zealand to Panama passage taken by most of the Allied merchant ships . They decided on Japanese disguises – " Komet " and " Kulmerland " had the names " Manyo Maru " and " Tokio Maru " painted on their hulls . By the time they sank the " Holmwood " and " Rangitane " , " Komet " had already been at sea for 140 days and Eyssen admitted in his war diary that he had become depressed and frustrated at not having encountered the enemy . Raiding in South Pacific waters . In early November , " Komet " resupplied and refueled in Japan , was disguised as the Japanese merchantman " Manio Maru " . She operated with the " Orion " , disguised as " Mayebashi Maru " and the supply ship " Kulmerland " , posing as the " Tokio Maru " . During December , " Komet " and " Orion " sank five Allied merchant ships , with a combined tonnage of about 41 , 000 tons , that had been waiting off the island of Nauru to load phosphate ( of which " Komet " sank three ) . On 27 December 1940 she shelled the phosphate processing and loading facilities on Nauru . Cooperating with the " Orion " , she sank two more British ships in August 1941 and captured the Dutch 7 , 300 ton freighter " Kota Nopan " which was sent as a prize to Bordeaux . Return voyage . " Komet " then sailed through the West and East Pacific , around Cape Horn and north through the Atlantic , returning to Cherbourg ( France ) , thus circumnavigating the globe . She reached Hamburg on 30 November 1941 after a voyage of 516 days and about . Second raid . Her second raid , under the command of " Kapitän zur See " Ulrich Brocksien began in early October 1942 . However , only a week out of Hamburg , on 14 October , she was attacked by British motor torpedo boat s near the Cap de la Hague . She was hit by a torpedo from MTB 236 and sank . There were no survivors . " Komet " discovered . The wreck of HK " Komet " was discovered by nautical archaeologist Innes McCartney off Cap de la Hague in July 2006 and was surveyed by a team led by him in 2007 . She is in two halves and upside down , with a large part of the center section blown away by the explosion that sank her . She lies in of water . Raiding career . Sunk together with " Orion "