By July of 1941 the Hilfskreuser Orion (Schiff 36) was in rough shape, her engines were in need of an overhaul, the propeller shaft was knocking, the electrical system was malfunctioning and the crew were tired. The ship had been at sea since March of 1940 and had not sunk an enemy ship since December of that year. On the 1st of July, 1941 she rendezvoused with the Atlantis and took on enough fuel to return to occupied France.

On July 29, 1941 while returning home Orion came across the cargo ship Chaucer about 860 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. At first Kapitän zur See Kurt Weyher was unable to identify the ship, but when the sun went down the ship remained blacked out, a sure indication that it was an Allied vessel.

Warnings sent from Orion to stop were ignored and the master of the British ship, Charles Bradley, attempted to escape from the raider. The R-R-R distress signal was sent out and the gunners on the Chaucer opened fire on the raider. This resulted in only slight damage to Orion, but brought a fierce shelling from Orion's gunners.

During the battle Chaucer was hit in the engine room and her guns were put out of order. Despite the gallant efforts of the engineers below her speed was reduced, unable to out run or out fight the German, Bradley decided to abandon his ship. All forty-eight men got off the ship in lifeboats and tried to disappear into the darkness, however the crew of Orion was able to round all of them up and take them prisoner. The ship was then sunk using torpedoes and gunfire.

Orion, now in worse shape than before, sailed to France arriving in mid August, the crew of Chaucer were taken to Milag Nord PoW camp where all but a few remained until the war was over. Following his cruise, in which Orion sailed over 125,000 miles, was at sea over 500 days and sank or captured about 73,000 tons of shipping, Weyher was awarded the Ritterkreuz on Aug. 21. In 1945 he was promoted to Konteradmiral, held by the Allies after the war and released in 1947, Weyher died in 1991.