The smoke cannisters "Nebelkannen" were normally fairly large cylinders placed in the smoke generating room at the stern. Each smoke cannister contained chlorosuphonic acid and was worked by compressed air which sprayed the acid into the air as minute particles. These vaporized quickly and condensed again as the particles absorbed moisture from the air, creating a dense white smoke, or more properly an artificial fog. The cansister could produce continous smoke for approximately 20 minutes.

The smoke cannisters had a valve arrangement at the top which connected both to the exhaust piping leading out through the hull plating around the stern and to compressed air cylinders. Openning the valve on the compressed air cylinder caused air pressure to begin to expell the Chlorosulfonic acid through an antomizing jet. This produced a fine particulate spary which spread out behind the ship and absorbed watervapor in the air. This caused the particulates to condense into an artificial fog. A smaller version was installed on torpedo boats, destroyers, and S-boats and was mounted on the deck. Care had to be taken during operation, as the fog produced was toxic and could cause eye, nasal and skin irritation.