 "Externsteine" had the identification number WBS 11.Her complement was nineteen crew plus eleven meteorologists.She was employed as a weather observation ship off Shannon Island on the northeast coast of Greenland to aid forecasting of storm events tactically significant to North Atlantic and European combat operations, but was captured on the night of 15 October–16 October 1944 by the American icebreaker USCGC "Eastwind".