On 18 December, "Admiral Scheer" encountered the refrigerator ship "Duquesa", of some displacement. The ship sent off a distress signal, which the German raider deliberately allowed, to draw British naval forces to the area. Krancke wanted to lure British warships to the area to draw attention away from "Admiral Hipper", which had just exited the Denmark Strait. The aircraft carriers and , the cruisers , , and , and the armed merchant cruiser converged to hunt down the German raider, but she eluded the British.