In 1923, the League of Nations gave Australia a trustee mandate over Nauru, with the United Kingdom and New Zealand as co-trustees. On 6 and 7 December 1940, the German auxiliary cruisers ''Komet'' and ''Orion'' sank five supply ships in the vicinity of Nauru. ''Komet'' then shelled Nauru's phosphate mining areas, oil storage depots, and the shiploading cantilever.