Seeadler operated in a First World War ocean still populated by fully rigged commercial sailing ships, helping the German raider blend into normal traffic. That surviving sail traffic makes her disguise less anachronistic than it appears from a modern viewpoint. Sail freed the ship from the coaling stops that constrained conventional surface raiders and helped her evade the logistics network an enemy could watch. A small diesel provided supplementary speed and maneuvering when wind alone was insufficient. Her endurance therefore depended mainly on food and water for the crew rather than a large fuel supply, turning an old propulsion method into a modern commerce-raiding advantage.
Chapter · 58:50-1:01:15
SMS Seeadler used sail to escape the coal network
The German sailing raider Seeadler combined disguise with freedom from coal supplies, allowing an old propulsion method to solve a modern wartime logistics problem.