SMS Möwe SMS " Möwe " ( German : " Seagull " ) was an merchant raider of the Imperial German Navy which operated against Allied shipping during World War I . Disguised as a neutral cargo ship to enable it to get close to targets , the " Möwe " was effective at commerce raiding , sinking several ships in the course of the war . Early history . Built by the Tecklenborg yard at Geestemünde , she was launched as the freighter " Pungo " in 1914 and operated by the " Afrikanische Fruchtkompanie " for F . Laeisz of Hamburg . After an uneventful career carrying cargoes of bananas from the German colony of Kamerun to Germany she was requisitioned by the Imperial German Navy for use as a minelayer . Her conversion took place at Imperial shipyard at Wilhelmshaven in the autumn of 1915 , and under the command of Nikolaus zu Dohna - Schlodien , she entered service on 1 November that year . First raiding voyage . " Möwe " slipped out of Wilhelmshaven on 29 December 1915 for her first task , to set a minefield in the Pentland Firth , near the main base of the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow . This was completed in severe weather conditions . A few days later the pre - dreadnought battleship struck one of the mines ; despite attempts to tow her to safety she sank . " Möwe " then moved down the west coast of Ireland to France . There she laid another mine field off the Gironde estuary , which sank a further two ships . This part of her mission complete , " Möwe " then moved into the Atlantic , operating first between Spain and the Canary islands , and later off the coast of Brazil . On January 16 , 1916 , the " Möwe " encountered a lightly armed British merchant ship and after a small battle , the British ship was scuttled . In three months she caught 15 ships , two of which were sent , with cargo and prisoners , to port as prizes ; the rest were sunk . She returned to Germany , and a heroes welcome , on 4 April 1916 . Felix von Luckner served aboard " Seagull " before his journey with SMS " Seeadler " in late 1916 to late 1917 . Interlude as " Vineta " . In an effort to maintain security , " Möwe " was re - named " Vineta " , after another auxiliary cruiser which had been withdrawn from service . In this guise she set out on a series of short cruises during the summer of 1916 to attack Allied shipping off the coast of Norway . This only brought one success , however , before she was ordered in for a re - fit prior to another sortie into the Atlantic . Second raiding voyage . Departing on 23 November 1916 , " Möwe " had even more success on her second cruise into the Atlantic . On 6 December 1916 , she captured and sunk the Canadian Pacific Steamship freighter outbound from Halifax to Liverpool . The Mount Temple ' s cargo included war matériel of 700 horses bound for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in France , and many crates of dinosaur fossils collected from Alberta ' s Red Deer River badlands by Charles H . Sternberg destined for the British Museum of Natural History . On 12 December , it was the turn of the SS " Georgic " with 1 , 200 horses that would have been used on the Western Front . In four months she had accounted for another 25 ships totalling . One of these , , was sent as prize to Germany ; as Dohna Schlodien hoped , was outfitted as a commerce raider herself . " Möwe " also retained as a collier , before arming and commissioning her as the auxiliary " Geier " . " Geier " operated in this role for six weeks , accounting for two ships sunk , before being disarmed and scuttled by " Möwe " prior to returning home . On 10 March , she was badly damaged in action against an armed New Zealand merchant ship . Five of her crewmen were killed and another ten men were wounded . The damage forced the raider to return course for Germany . In March 1917 " Möwe " again successfully ran the British blockade , ironically at the same time as her prize , now the auxiliary cruiser , was cornered and sunk by the same blockading force . " Möwe " arrived home safely on 22 March 1917 . Later history . On her return " Möwe " was taken out of service as a raider , being reckoned too valuable as a propaganda tool to be risked again . She served in the Baltic as a submarine tender , before becoming the auxiliary minelayer " Ostsee " in 1918 . After the Treaty of Versailles , she went to Britain , to be operated by Elders and Fyffes as the freighter " Greenbrier " . In 1933 she was sold to a German shipping company . As the freighter " Oldenburg " , served between Germany and occupied Norway in World War II . On 7 April 1945 she was attacked by Bristol Beaufighter s of Coastal Command on anti - shipping missions while sheltering off the coast of Norway — near the village of Vadheim in Sogn og Fjordane county . Holed by their rockets and strafed by cannon fire she burned and sank . Raiding career . In three raiding voyages Moewe captured and sank 40 ships , grossing in excess of 180 , 000 GRT . She also laid mines which accounted for two more ships and a capital warship . This made her the most successful German raider in either the First or the Second World War . Film . In 1917 the imperial " Bild - und Filmamt " in Berlin produced " Graf Dohna und seine Möwe " , one of the most known propaganda films in World War I . The distributor was Paul Davidson ; part of the production the " Projektions - AG » Union « " ( PAGU ) , Berlin . The film was first released on 2 May 1917 in the " Deutsches Opernhaus " ( Deutsche Oper Berlin ) in Berlin .