In 1939, Atlantis was part of
the Hansa Line and known as Goldenfels. In 1939,
she became the command of Kapitän Bernhard
Rogge. Commissioned in mid-December, she was the
first of nine or ten merchant ships armed by the
Third Reich for the purposes of seeking out and
engaging enemy cargo vessels. Atlantis was delayed
by ice until 31 March 1940, when the former battleship
Hessen, now a radio controlled target vessel,
was set to act as an icebreaker. This ship cleared
the way for Atlantis, Orion, and Widder.
Schiff 16 headed past the North Sea minefields,
between Norway and Britain, across the Arctic
Circle, and after passing between Iceland and
Greenland, headed south. By this time, Atlantis
was pretending to be a Soviet vessel named Krim
by flying the Soviet Naval Ensign, displaying
a hammer and sickle on the bridge, and having
Cyrillic and English warnings on the stern,
"Keep clear of propellors." The Soviet
Union was neutral at the time.
After crossing the equator, on April 24-25,
she "became" the Japanese vessel Kasii
Maru. The ship now displayed a large K upon
a red-topped funnel, identification of the Kokusai
Line. She also had rising sun symbols on the
gun flaps and Japanese characters, copied from
a magazine, on the aft hull.
