SS ''Gneisenau'' was a

Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of th ...

(NDL)

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

that was launched and completed in 1935. Like several other German ships of the same name, she was named after the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n '' Generalfeldmarschall'' and military reformer August Neidhardt von Gneisenau (1760–1831).

Construction and career

''Gneisenau'' was the second of three

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s built for NDL, with the other ships being the ''

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

'' (later ''Empire Fowey'') and the .

DeSchiMAG Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft (abbreviated Deschimag) was a cooperation of eight German shipyards in the period 1926 to 1945. The leading company was the shipyard AG Weser in Bremen. History The Deschimag was founded in 19 ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Germany, built ''Gneisenau''. ''Gneisenau'' was launched at Bremen on 17 May 1935. ''Gneisenau''s maiden voyage began on 3 January 1936. Until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she worked NDL's express service between Bremen and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. At she was among the fastest ships on the route. On 2 May 1943, ''Gneisenau'' was mined in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

, capsized, and sank. The wreck was raised on 12 July 1950 and scrapped in Denmark.

References

Sources and further reading

* * * 1935 ships Ocean liners Passenger ships of Germany Ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd World War II merchant ships of Germany Maritime incidents in May 1943 Ships sunk by mines World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea {{ship-stub