SS ''Scharnhorst'' 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 ...

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 ...

, launched in 1934, completed in 1935 and made her maiden voyage on 8 May 1935. She was the first big passenger liner built by the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. 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 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 ...

and

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

; her

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 were SS ''Potsdam'' and SS ''Gneisenau''. These three ships were planned to shorten the journey time between Bremen and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

from the usual 50 days to 34. She was trapped in Japan in September 1939 and later converted into an

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

named ''Shinyo'' in 1942 and sunk by US submarine USS ''Spadefish'' in 1944.

Construction

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 1 ...

built ''Scharnhorst'' and her

for NDL, completing them in 1935.

Blohm + Voss Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

built another sister ship, . ''Scharnhorst'' was used as a test-bed for new high-pressure, high-temperature boilers, as the ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

'' wanted to evaluate the performance of the machinery before it installed the boilers in new

capital ship The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet. Strategic im ...

s. ' had conventional reduction gearing from her turbines to her

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

shafts, but ''Scharnhorst'' and had

turbo-electric transmission A turbo-electric transmission uses electric generators to convert the mechanical energy of a turbine (steam or gas) into electric energy, which then powers electric motors and converts back into mechanical energy that power the driveshafts. Tur ...

. ''Scharnhorst'' had twin

AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

turbo generator A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a steam turbine or gas turbine for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also used b ...

s that supplied current to electric motors on her propeller shafts. SS ''Scharnhorst'' was launched in

on 14 December 1934. The occasion was attended by

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

. A report appeared in ''The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser'' on 15 December 1938.

Regular Passenger Service, May 1935 to September 1939

The three sister ships SS ''Scharnhorst'', SS ''Potsdam'' and SS ''Gneisenau'' worked the

express service between

and the Far East, and at were some of the fastest ships on the route. SS ''Scharnhorsts maiden voyage on 8 May 1935 was reported in the newspapers. One report in the ''Daily Commercial News and Shipping List'' (Sydney, NSW), dated 24 April 1935, read as follows: The UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, show, for example, that, in 1938, SS ''Scharnhorst'' arrived at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, England, at the end of the voyage from

, Japan, on four occasions, 21 Jan 1938, 23 Apr 1938, 24 Jul 1938 and 19 Oct 1938. Other years show a similar timetable; that is, four round trips between Europe and the Far East each year. For example, SS ''Scharnhorst'' sailed from

, Japan, early in December 1937, and arrived at

, England, on 21 Jan 1938, before continuing to

. The details recorded in

in the UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 are as follows: Port of Departure:

, Japan Arrival date: 21 Jan 1938 Port of Arrival:

, England Ports of Voyage:

;

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

;

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

;

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

;

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

;

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

and

Port Said Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...

Ship Name: ''Scharnhorst'' Shipping line:

Official Number: 2737 UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 show ''Scharnhorst'' docking in

on the return journey to

on the following sixteen occasions: SS ''Scharnhorst'' was mentioned in newspapers in 1937. The ''

Western Daily Press The ''Western Daily Press'' is a regional newspaper covering parts of South West England, mainly Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset as well as the metropolitan areas of Bath and North East Somerset and the Bristol area. It is published Mon ...

'', Bristol, England, on Monday 27 September 1937, published an account of SS ''Scharnhorsts arrival in

carrying survivors of an attack on Chinese fishing boats by Japanese aircraft: The route to

developed from 1938 to become one of the main escape routes of German and Austrian Jews, since in

emigration visas were not required. The timetable of round trips from

and back continued until 1939. In the UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, the last occasion when SS ''Scharnhorst'' docked in

on the return journey to

was on 28 June 1939. SS ''Scharnhorst'' does not appear in the UK records again. SS ''Scharnhorst'' set sail for Japan in July 1939 and did not return to Europe.

End of Passenger Service, Outbreak of War

In September 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, SS ''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 German Navy arrived to escort her back to Europe. A report appeared in ''The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser'' on 2 September 1939. The article was written in

. ''Scharnhorst'' had set off from

on 18 Aug 1939 on her return journey to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

but had returned to

, apparently in view of the current war threat in Europe. A newspaper report in the ''Nottingham Evening Post'', in England, Tuesday 19 September 1939, reported the following: A similar report appeared in ''The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser'' on 9 September 1939. Another report appeared in ''The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser'' on 20 September 1939. In July 1942 SS ''Scharnhorst'' was sold to the Japanese government. Subsequently, the

acquired her and had her converted into the

escort carrier The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...

. Her conversion began in September 1942, using steel from the cancelled fourth

Yamato-class battleship The were two battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), and , laid down leading up to World War II and completed as designed. A third hull laid down in 1940 was converted to an aircraft carrier, , during construction. Displacing n ...

, and she was commissioned in December 1943 after a month of trials. She was sunk in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour terms ...

on 17 November 1944 by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

submarine . Aircraft carrier Shinyo

The story of SS ''Scharnhorst'' continues on the Wikipedia page for the ''Shin'yō''.

References

Sources

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External links