Unternehmen Elster (Operation Magpie in English) was a Nazi German mission to gather intelligence on military and technology facilities during World War II. The mission was commenced in 1944 with Nazi agents sailing from Kiel, Germany on the U-1230, coming ashore in Maine on November 29, 1944. Within a month the operation ended, resulting in espionage convictions for the agents. Widespread claims that this mission was intended to sabotage the Manhattan Project are without foundation in the documentary record.