SMS Wolf was also provided with an innovative new weapon, the Friedrichshafen FF.33e two seater biplane, an aircraft that was used with deadly success to scout out new targets for attack or to elude enemy threats. She was prepared for her role as an armed merchant ship with an armament that included six 150mm guns, one 105mm gun, three 52mm guns, four torpedo tubes and carried 458 mines, to be placed in Allied territory throughout her journey.
Previously a freighter of the Hansa Line, with a gross tonnage of 5809 tons, she was launched as ‘Watchfels’ and was renamed SMS Wolf when she was fitted out as an auxiliary cruiser. This image is from a collection relating to the voyage of the German raider, SMS Wolf (II), and was taken by an unidentified crew member. The tracks at their feet enabled the mines to be wheeled out of the hold and over the side of the raider during mine laying operations. The young men from Mauritius, some as young as 14 years old, were detained in the hold, previously used to store some of the mines. The boys were probably crew taken prisoner from the 1169 ton British three-mast schooner, Dee, captured and sunk using explosive charges by SMS Wolf, on 30 March 1917, 410 miles from Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia. A group of unidentified teenage boys watched over by a German sailor, half naked with towels ready for a wash on the deck of the German armed merchant raider, SMS Wolf.