1914年8月,第一次世界大战刚爆发,英德宣战后,双方均下令把部分民船改成军舰。英国一艘2万吨的豪华客轮卡门尼亚号在一个星期内改装成武装巡洋舰。与此同时,德国也将一艘客轮特拉法号改装成武装巡洋舰。德国船长为了迷惑对方,心生一计,决定把改装后的巡洋舰伪装成一艘英国客轮, In August 1914, when the First World War broke out, after the declaration of war between Britain and Germany, both parties ordered the conversion of some civilian vessels into warships. A British 20,000-ton luxury passenger ship, the Carmenia, was converted into an armed cruiser within a week. At the same time, Germany also converted a passenger ship Trafalgar into an armed cruiser. In order to confuse each other, the German captain decided to disguise the converted cruiser into a British passenger ship.