SMS Wolf (1913)
S.M.S. Wolf was an armed merchant raider (former Wachtfels). Her commander was Fregattenkapitaen (naval commander) Karl August Nerger who was in charge till her return to Germany in 1918.
With 347 men of crew and her commander she left her port in Kiel in December 1916 escorted by the submarine U 66 from Skagerrak to the North Atlantic. She then passed Island turned south and surrounded Capetown, dropped mines right before the harbours of Bombay and Colombo and entered the waters of South Asia, Australia and New Zealand. By means of a plane aboard, called Woelfchen, she located ships, seized and sank them (35 trading vessels, 2 war ships althogether approx. 110.000 tons).
After 444 days she returned to her native port in February 1918 with approx. 700 prisoners of war aboard. Thus, Wolf had made the longest voyage of a war ship during WWI without any external support. Upon her return commander Nerger was awarded the Pour le Merite, the highest German decoration. For the rest of the war Wolf was employed in the Baltic Sea, after the war sold to Cie. Messageries Maritimes, Paris, she was refitted and named Antinous and 1931 finally ended in an Italian ship breaker’s yard.