KMS Admiral Scheer

The Admiral Scheer was a German pocket battleship booted in 1933. It is considered the most successful commerce raider of World War II, having seen action from the Russian Arctic to the Indian Ocean, and remaining operative till April 1945 - barely a month before Germany's unconditional surrender.

== Admiral Scheer in The War That Came Early ==

The Admiral Scheer had already gained fame as a commerce raider in the North Atlantic when it met with Fritz-Julius Lemp's U-30 in Spring 1939, north of the Faroes. The surface vessel's captain, Patzig, informed Lemp that from then on his submarine would escort the Admiral Scheer. Lemp immediately figured that this was yet another plan hatched by Karl Dönitz to punish him for the sinking of the SS Athenia the previous year.

Some time later the Admiral Scheer engaged three British battleships not far from North American waters. After exchanging shots the Admiral Scheer faked a retreat and got the other ships to follow her, moment that was used by the undiscovered U-30 to sink all pursuers. The victory was a great morale boost for the Germans, angered the British and peoccupied the Americans.

Every Protestant and Catholic church in Germany played its bells when the Admiral Scheer returned to Kiel safely.

