 On 18 December , Admiral Scheer encountered and sank the refrigerator ship Duquesa , of some 8 @,@ 651 long tons ( 8 @,@ 790 t ) 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 HMS Formidable and Hermes , the cruisers Dorsetshire , Neptune , and Dragon , and the armed merchant cruiser Pretoria Castle converged to hunt down the German raider , but she eluded the British . 
