Pinguin was a German auxiliary cruiser Hilfskreuzer which served as a commerce raider in the Second World War. The name Pinguin means penguin in German. At first the Kriegsmarine had no plans to use commerce raiders, despite their use in the First World War and interwar thought about their use. Armed merchant cruisers of the type used by the British were too big, too hard to disguise and keep supplied with fuel. Ordinary merchant ships were a better prospect, especially those with a long range and were easier to alter to look like neutral and Allied ships to deceive their targets and Allied warships.
Planning began soon after the declarations of war and by the end of September a first wave of six ships had been identified. Each ship would need a crew of men, six mm guns, four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, four torpedo tubes, provision for mines and two seaplanes aircraft. The ships needed to be at sea for a year, cruising for 40, nmi 74, km; 46, mi.
The first raider was to sail in November but it took until 31 March before the first raider sailed and July before all of the first wave had departed. By March the seven raiders in action had sunk or taken 80 ships of , gross register tons GRT. Her main armament of six 5. In the holds were mines and two Heinkel He floatplanes. At the Kattegat Sperrbrecher IV departed and with two minesweepers, the ships entered the North Sea with an escort of a Dornier 18 flying boat and two fighter aircraft.
The crew disguised Pinguin as the Soviet Petschura and then sailed for the North Cape in a severe storm. The plan was assisted by the British diversion of ships from the Northern Patrol to take part in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk evacuation which left the Denmark Strait unguarded. The ship reached Jan Mayen on 24 June but the expected fog had not formed.
When the ship reached Greenland the fog returned and then the ship waited for three days for bad weather.
