- SS Deutschland (1923)
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For other ships of the same name, see SS Deutschland.
The SS DeutschlandCareer (Germany) 
Name: SS Deutschland Owner: Hamburg-Amerika Line Port of registry: Germany Route: Hamburg to New York Ordered: 1921 Builder: Blohm & Voss, Kommandit Ges auf Aktien, Hamburg, Germany Launched: 28 April 1923 Maiden voyage: 27 March 1924 Homeport: Hamburg, Germany Fate: Transferred to the Kriegsmarine in 1940. Notes: Paintwork :
black hull
red boot-topping
upper works white
funnels buff with red, white and black topsCareer (Nazi Germany) 
Name: SS Deutschland Acquired: 1940 Fate: Capsized and sank on 3 May 1945 as a result of a British air attack. General characteristics Class and type: Ocean liner Type: Steamship Tonnage: 21,046 gross tons Length: 196.6 m overall Beam: 22 m Depth: 12.8 m Decks: 4 Installed power: 8 steam turbines Propulsion: Twin screw Speed: 20 knots Complement: 976 passengers Crew: 422 officers and crew SS Deutschland [note 1] was a 21,046 gross registered ton (GRT) German HAPAG ocean liner which was sunk in a British air attack in 1945, with great loss of life.
One of a group of four ships that included the SS Albert Ballin, SS Hamburg, and SS New York, the Deutschland was launched on 28 April 1923. She began her maiden voyage on 27 March 1924, to Southampton and then on to New York City. The ship had tremendous problems with vibration, becoming known as the "Cocktail Shaker"; she was re-engined in 1929, with service speed reduced to 19 knots.
In 1940, she became an accommodation ship for the German navy at Gotenhafen. In 1945, on seven Baltic voyages, she carried 70,000 soldiers and refugees from the German eastern territories to the west.
Contents
Sinking
In April 1945, she possibly began conversion to a hospital ship. The story goes that an attempt was made to paint the vessel white, but there was only sufficient paint available to paint her funnels white, and to paint a Red Cross on one side of one of her funnels.[citation needed] On 3 May 1945, she capsized and sank in the Bay of Lübeck off Neustadt after a British air attack. The same British air attack sank SS Cap Arcona and Thielbek.
In 1949, her wreck was raised and scrapped.
See also
- Maritime disasters
Footnotes
- ^ Sometimes called Deutschland IV to distinguish from others of the name
References
- Roy Nesbit - Cap Arcona: atrocity or accident? - Aeroplane Monthly, June 1984.
- Williams, David, Wartime Disasters at Sea, Patrick Stephens Ltd., Nr Yeovil, Somerset, UK, 1997, pp.236-37.
Categories:- Ships of the Hamburg America Line
- Cruise ships of Germany
- Hospital ships
- World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea
- Military scandals
- Maritime incidents in 1945
- Troop ships of Germany
- Steamships of Germany
- The Holocaust
- Deportation
- 1945 in Germany
- 1923 ships
- Ships built in Hamburg
- Ships sunk by aircraft
- Cruise ship stubs
- World War II stubs
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