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SS Scharnhorst (1934)

Summary

SS Scharnhorst was a Norddeutscher Lloyd ocean liner, launched in 1934, completed in 1935 and made her maiden voyage on 8 May 1935.[6] She was the first big passenger liner built by the Third Reich. Under the German merchant flag, she was the second liner named after General Gerhard J. D. von Scharnhorst. She was one of three ships on the Far Eastern route between Bremen and Yokohama; her sister ships were Potsdam and Gneisenau. These three ships were planned to shorten the journey time between Bremen and Shanghai from the usual 50 days to 34. She was trapped in Japan in September 1939 and later converted into an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier named Shin'yō in 1942 and sunk by the US submarine USS Spadefish in 1944.

History
Germany
NameScharnhorst
OwnerNorddeutscher Lloyd[1]
OperatorNorddeutscher Lloyd
Port of registryBremen
RouteBremen – Far East
BuilderDeSchiMAG, Bremen[1]
Yard number891[3]
Launched14 December 1934[2]
Completed1935[1]
In service3 May 1935[3]
HomeportBremen
Identification
FateSold
Japan
NameShin'yō
OperatorImperial Japanese Navy
Acquired1942
Commissioned15 December 1943[3]
FateTorpedoed and sunk on 17 November 1944[4]
General characteristics as built
Tonnage
Length
Beam74.1 ft (22.6 m)[1]
Depth41 ft (12 m)[1]
Installed power26,000 shp (19,000 kW)[citation needed]
Propulsiontwin steam turbines, turbo-electric transmission, twin screw[1]
Speed21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)[5]
Sensors and
processing systems		direction finding equipment, echo sounding device, gyrocompass[1]

Construction and career edit

DeSchiMAG in Bremen built Scharnhorst and her sister ship Gneisenau for Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), completing them in 1935.[1] Blohm + Voss in Hamburg built another sister ship, Potsdam.[1]

Scharnhorst was used as a test-bed for new high-pressure, high-temperature boilers, as the Kriegsmarine wanted to evaluate the performance of the machinery before it installed the boilers in new capital ships.[7] Gneisenau had conventional reduction gearing from her turbines to her propeller shafts, but Scharnhorst and Potsdam had turbo-electric transmission.[1][5] Scharnhorst had twin AEG turbo generators that supplied current to electric motors on her propeller shafts. Scharnhorst was launched at Bremen on 14 December 1934. The occasion was attended by Hitler. A report appeared in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 15 December 1938.[2][8]

The three sister ships worked the NDL express service between Bremen and the Far East, and at 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)[5] were some of the fastest ships on the route.[citation needed] Scharnhorst's maiden voyage on 8 May 1935 was reported in the newspapers. One report in the Daily Commercial News and Shipping List[6] dated 24 April 1935 stated that the new route provided by the ship added new port calls at Palma de Majorca and Naples.[9]

The UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878–1960,[10] show, for example, that, in 1938, Scharnhorst arrived at Southampton, England, at the end of the voyage from Yokohama, Japan, on four occasions, 21 January 1938, 23 April 1938, 24 July 1938 and 19 October 1938. Other years show a similar timetable; that is, four round trips between Europe and the Far East each year. Scharnhorst was mentioned in newspapers in 1937. The Western Daily Press of Bristol, England, on 27 September 1937, published an account of Scharnhorst's arrival in Hong Kong carrying survivors of an attack on Chinese fishing boats by Japanese aircraft.[11]

The route to Shanghai developed from 1938 to become one of the main escape routes of German and Austrian Jews, since in Shanghai emigration visas were not required.[12] The timetable of round trips from Bremen to Yokohama and back continued until 1939. In the UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960,[10] the last occasion when Scharnhorst docked in Southampton on the return journey to Bremen was on 28 June 1939. Scharnhorst does not appear in the UK records again. Scharnhorst set sail for Japan in July 1939 and did not return to Europe.

Acquisition by Japan edit

 
Scharnhorst after her conversion to Shin'yō

In September 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, Scharnhorst was trapped in Japan. Being a belligerent nation's ship in a neutral nation, the Scharnhorst was seized by the Imperial Japanese Government and held until ships of the Kriegsmarine arrived to escort her back to Europe. A report appeared in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 2 September 1939.[13] Scharnhorst had set off from Kobe on 18 August 1939 on her return journey to Hamburg but had returned to Kobe, apparently in view of the current war threat in Europe.[14] A newspaper report in the Nottingham Evening Post, in England on 19 September 1939 stated that the ship was being converted to an armed raider.[15] Similar reports appeared in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 9 September and 20 September 1939 stating the ship was to acquired by Japan and converted into a raider.[13][16][17][18]

In July 1942 Scharnhorst was sold to the Japanese government.[19] Subsequently, the Imperial Japanese Navy acquired her and had her converted into the escort carrier Shin'yō.[20] Her conversion began in September 1942, using steel from the cancelled fourth Yamato-class battleship, and she was commissioned in December 1943 after a month of trials. She was sunk in the Yellow Sea on 17 November 1944 by the United States Navy submarine Spadefish.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lloyd's Register, Steamships and Motor Ships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1937. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b "The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), 15 December 1934, Page 1". eresources.nlb.gov.sg.
  3. ^ a b c d "NDL Page 3: 1915-1939". Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL). Simplon – The Passenger Ship Website. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  4. ^ a b Stille 2006, p. 43
  5. ^ a b c Harnack 1938, p. 549
  6. ^ a b "Daily Commercial News and Shipping List (Sydney, NSW)". Daily Commercial News and Shipping List. 24 April 1935. Retrieved 2 Oct 2018.
  7. ^ Polmar & Genda 2006, p. 262.
  8. ^ "For the Far East. Hitler Attends Launch of the Scharnhorst". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. 15 December 1938. Bremen, Dec. 14. President Hitler attended the launch of the Scharnhorst, the new liner for Germany's Far East service. The Minister of Communications, who christened the ship, announced that work will begin shortly on two sister ships. Reuter.
  9. ^ "New German Service. Schedule Drawn Up". Daily Commercial News and Shipping List. 24 April 1935. The first N.D.L. vessel for the new German Far East service to start on her maiden voyage will be the S.S. Scharnhorst on May 8, and will be followed at the beginning of July by the S.S. Potsdam. The third ship, the S.S. Gneisenau, the launching of which will take place shortly at a Bremen ship yard, will start out at the beginning of December, 1935. The schedule for the new German Far East service, which has been definitely drawn up in all its details, has been notably augmented by the regular calling at Palma de Majorca and Naples, both on the outward and homeward voyages.
  10. ^ a b "UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960". ancestry.com.[better source needed]
  11. ^ "Japanese Condemned at Geneva". Western Daily Press. 28 September 1937. p. 12. ... aeroplanes on this occasion appear to have been aiming at the railway stations outside the two cities. The German liner Scharnhorst, arriving at Hong Kong yesterday, brought a few survivors from a fleet of Chinese fishing junks. While They Were Fishing ...
  12. ^ Freyeisen, Astrid (2000). Shanghai und die Politik des Dritten Reiches (in German). Königshausen & Neumann. p. 398. ISBN 978-3-8260-1690-5.
  13. ^ a b "The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 2 September 1939, Page 2". eresources.nlb.gov.sg.
  14. ^ "German Liner Staying at Kobe "Indefinitely"". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. Singapore. 2 September 1939. Kobe, Sept. 1. The Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Scharnhorst will stand by here indefinitely in view of the current war threat in Europe. The German ship left Kobe for Shanghai and Hong Kong on her return voyage to Hamburg on Aug. 18 but returned here again. - Eastern News
  15. ^ "Report in the Hochi Shimbun". Nottingham Evening Post. Nottingham, England. 19 September 1939. A report in the Hochi Shimbun to-day states that the German Norddeutscher-Lloyd liner Scharnhorst, which is now at Kobe, is being converted into an armed raider
  16. ^ "Japanese Want to Buy Scharnhorst". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. Singapore. 9 September 1939. Kobe, Sept. 8. JAPANESE steamship companies, it is understood, have offered to purchase the 18.000-ton Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Scharnhorst. The Kobe agents of the Norddeutscher Lloyd say that the vessel is under the control of the German Embassy in Tokyo.
  17. ^ "The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 20 September 1939, Page 1". eresources.nlb.gov.sg.
  18. ^ "Scharnhorst as Raider". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. Singapore. 20 September 1939. Tokio, Sept. 19. A REPORT that the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Scharnhorst, now at Kobe, is being converted into an armed raider appears in the Hochi Shimbun. The paper adds the liner is surrounded by launches and there is much fuss and bustle aboard. This is taken by some observers as meaning she is being refitted as an armed vessel - Reuter.
  19. ^ Rothe, Claus (1986). Deutsche Ozean-Passagierschiffe 1919–1985 (in German). p. 129. ISBN 978-3921564806.
  20. ^ Stille 2006, p. 42.

Sources edit

  • Harnack, Edwin P (1938) [1903]. All About Ships & Shipping (7th ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 549.
  • Polmar, Norman; Genda, Minoru; et al. (2006). Aircraft Carriers : A History of Carrier Aviation and its Influence on World Events. Washington, DC: Potomac Books. ISBN 1-57488-663-0.
  • Stille, Ben (2006). Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers: 1921–1945. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-84603-009-3.
  • Talbot-Booth, E.C. (1942) [1936]. Ships and the Sea (Seventh ed.). London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. pp. 405, 518.

External links edit

  • www.simplonpc.co.uk Simplon Postcards (Picture of SS Scharnhorst)
  • www.shipspotting.com (Picture of SS Scharnhorst)

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