View source for SS Deutschland (1923)

{{Short description|German ocean liner steamship (1923-45)}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=SS Deutschland (1923).jpg
|Ship caption=The SS ''Deutschland'' 
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=[[Weimar Republic]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Weimar Republic|civil}}
|Ship name='''SS ''Deutschland''''' 
|Ship namesake=
|Ship owner=[[Hamburg-America Line]]
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=[[Germany]]
|Ship route=[[Hamburg]] to [[New York City|New York]]
|Ship ordered=1921
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|Ship builder=[[Blohm & Voss]], Kommandit Ges auf Aktien, Hamburg, Germany
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|Ship launched=28 April 1923
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|Ship maiden voyage= 27 March 1924
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|Ship homeport=Hamburg, Germany
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|Ship fate=Transferred to the [[Kriegsmarine]] in 1940.
|Ship notes=* '''Paintwork:'''
* black hull
* red boot-topping
* upper works white
* funnels buff with red, white and black tops
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}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=[[Nazi Germany]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|naval}}
|Ship name='''SS ''Deutschland''''' 
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|Ship acquired=1940
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|Ship fate=Capsized and sank on 3 May 1945 as a result of a British air attack.
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship type=[[Ocean liner]]
|Ship tonnage=21,046 gross register tons
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|Ship length=196.6&nbsp;m overall
|Ship beam=22&nbsp;m
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|Ship depth=12.8&nbsp;m
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|Ship decks=4
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|Ship power=8 steam turbines 
|Ship propulsion=Twin screw
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|Ship speed=20 knots
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|Ship complement= 976 passengers 
|Ship crew=422 officers and crew
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'''SS ''Deutschland'''''<ref group=note>Sometimes called ''Deutschland IV'' to distinguish from others of the name</ref> was a 21,046 gross registered ton (GRT) German [[ocean liner]] of the [[HAPAG]] line. It was sunk in a British air attack on May 3, 1945. 

==History==
===Commissioning===
One of a group of four ships that included the [[SS Albert Ballin|SS ''Albert Ballin'']], [[SS Hamburg (1925)|SS ''Hamburg'']], and [[SS New York (1927)|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 turbine-powered ship had a speed of 14.5 knots; she was later re-engined with larger-geared turbines in 1929, with service speed increased to 19 knots. This gave the ship a seven-day passage across the Atlantic.

On 11 November 1933, ''Deutschland'' collided with the American [[cargo ship]] {{SS|Munargo|1921|6}} in [[New York Harbor]]. ''Munargo'' suffered severe damage and was beached north of [[Bedloe's Island]],<ref name=Times201133a>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Casualty reports |date=20 November 1933 |page=19 |issue=46606 |column=G }}</ref> but was refloated on 18 November 1933.<ref name=Times211133a>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Casualty reports |date=21 November 1933 |page=23 |issue=46607 |column=F }}</ref>

In October 1938, while en route to New York with 981 persons aboard the ship suffered an explosion in her Number Two hold. After calling for assistance, the crew was able to bring the fire under control and continue on her itinerary.<ref>{{cite news |title=FIRE ON REICH LINER IS CURBED AS SHIPS SPEED TO HER AID |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/10/26/96849578.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 |access-date=2 September 2023 |work=New York Times |date=26 October 1938}}</ref>

===World War II===
In 1940, ''Deutschland'' became an accommodation ship for the [[Kriegsmarine|German Navy]] at [[Gotenhafen]]. In 1945, on seven Baltic voyages as part of [[Operation Hannibal]], she carried 70,000 refugees from the German eastern territories to the west.

===Sinking===
In April 1945, her conversion into a [[hospital ship]] was begun. 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. 

Between 16 and 28 April 1945, the concentration camp of [[Neuengamme]] was systematically emptied of all its remaining prisoners, other groups of concentration camp inmates and Soviet POWs; with the intention that they would be relocated to a secret new camp. In the interim, they were to be concealed from the advancing British and Canadian forces; and for this purpose the SS assembled a prison flotilla of decommissioned ships in the [[Bay of Lübeck]], consisting of the liners [[Cap Arcona]] and Deutschland, the freighter Thielbek, and the motor launch Athens. Since the steering motors were out of use in Thielbek and the turbines were out of use in Cap Arcona, Athen was used to transfer prisoners from Lübeck to the larger ships and between ships; they were locked below decks and in the holds, and denied food and medical attention{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}. 

During the first days of May 1945, thousands of concentration camp inmates were locked below decks and in the holds, and denied food and medical attention.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}} All people on board the ''Deutschland'' survived the attack, though two accompanying vessels sank with great loss of life. Subsequently, on 3 May 1945, she was attacked by British RAF squadrons three times, and capsized and sank in the [[Bay of Lübeck]] off [[Neustadt in Holstein|Neustadt]], but everyone aboard survived. A fourth British air attack that day sank the [[Cap Arcona|SS ''Cap Arcona'']] and the ''[[SS Thielbek (1940)|Thielbek]]'', with great loss of life.<ref>Roy Nesbit: ''Cap Arcona: atrocity or accident?, Aeroplane Monthly'', June 1984.</ref><ref>Heinz Schön: ''Die Cap Arcona-Katastrophe. Eine Dokumentation nach Augenzeugen-Berichten''. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1989, {{ISBN|3-613-01270-7}}."</ref>

In 1949, the wreck was raised and scrapped.

==See also==
{{Portal|Germany}}
* [[List of maritime disasters]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{1933 shipwrecks}}
{{May 1945 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deutschland (1923)}}
[[Category:Ships of the Hamburg America Line]]
[[Category:Cruise ships of Germany]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1933]]
[[Category:Hospital ships in World War II]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea]]
[[Category:Military scandals]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in May 1945]]
[[Category:Troop ships of Germany]]
[[Category:Steamships of Germany]]
[[Category:The Holocaust]]
[[Category:Deportation]]
[[Category:1945 in Germany]]
[[Category:1923 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Hamburg]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by British aircraft]]
[[Category:Ships sunk with no fatalities]]