The German navy used several “hilfskreuzers” (auxillary cruisers) as raiders. These ships were quite heavily armed merchant ships used to destroy allied shipping. One of the more successful ones was Atlantis. Atlantis destroyed 22 allied ships before she was sunk by the British cruiser Dorsetshire. Most of the time Atlantis was disguised as Abbekerk and used that disguise to approach her targets without suspicion.
Have a look at these two picture and its obvious to see why skipper Rogge of the Atlantis choose Abbekerk as disguise.
Peter
