In Seas of Thunder, the Auxiliary Cruisers and Armed Merchantmen serve as long range commerce disruptors. They were designed to be invisible through disguise or hidden armament and to be ignored by enemy warships. Auxiliary Cruisers and Armed Merchantmen can be incredibly effective in any sea zone on the map in Seas of Thunder. They can be placed to either take the points for the zone if you feel brave or the opponent has bigger fish to fry and does not patrol it, or to harass and sink enemy shipping in the area and slip away without being scratched.

The German auxiliary cruiser SMS Pinguin (aka SMS Penguin) was one of the many valuable and effective raiders that the Axis Powers employed in World War Two. She was originally the German freighter Kandelfels. Built in 1936, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in 1938 and refitted as an auxiliary cruiser. Her armament was 6 x 15 cm main guns, 1 x 75 mm gun, 1 x 3.7 CM AA gun, 2 twin 20mm AA guns, 2 torpedo tubes, and the capability of carrying 300 mines.

She started raiding in June 1940 heading towards the Eastern Indian Continent and the West Coast of Australia to lay mines to disrupt traffic for the Allies. The SMS Pinguin was able to resupply U-Boats at sea and occasionally towed them to stretch their fuel.

She plied the Indian Ocean traveling from the East Coast of Africa to the West Coast of Australia and capturing or sinking numerous freighters or tankers, even a group of Norwegian Whaling Ships. She did this by disguising herself as other nation’s ships until the last minute when she would drop the disguise and strike.

The Pinguin had sailed over 59,000 miles (more than twice the circumference of the Earth) in 357 days at sea. She sank or captured 28 ships, a total of 136,642 gross register tons. 52,000 tons was sent back to Germany under prize crews. A further four ships were sunk by mines, a total of 18,068 tons. Pinguin‘s grand total amounts to 154,710 gross register tons. Unfortunately. Pinguin was the first of the Kriegsmarine’s Auxiliary Cruisers to be sunk.

Her end came on May 8 1941, when she was found by the British Cruiser HMS Cornwall and after a short battle that almost ended with the cruiser being sunk due to issues with the electronics. Fortunately for the British, Cornwall was able to resume action slowly taking the Pinguin apart from bow to stern. Of the 401 Germans onboard and the 238 prisoners that they had taken on from ships sunk only 60 German and 24 prisoners were saved.

Perhaps the most remarkable in-game ability for Pinguin is the incredible 23 Sea Zone Range. This is not speed but her incredible endurance and range. In Game terms it allows Pinguin to escape from every ship in the game if she so desires.

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