Surface raiders must outrun reports as well as ships

A surface raider had to avoid damage and keep scattered sightings from becoming a continuous account of its identity and route. An aircraft, trawler, merchant ship, or liner might observe it without being seen in return, so the raider could not suppress every report. Repeated changes of appearance made those reports harder to connect and forced an opponent to decide whether separate witnesses had seen the same vessel. A disguise therefore had to manage the information left behind after each encounter as well as the immediate approach to a target.