During World War II, Operation Herbstreise (Autumn Journey in German) was a planned series of deception operations to support the German invasion of the United Kingdom (Operation Seelöwe). It would have involved an empty convoy of large transports threatening the east coast of England while the actual invasion force in small barges hit the southern coast. Shortly before the commencement of "Sea Lion", the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper (Kapitän zur See Wilhelm Meisel), on standby at Kiel from 13 September 1940, would carry out a diversionary sortie in the vicinity of Iceland and the Faroes.