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SS Scharnhorst (1934)

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For other ships with the same name, see Scharnhorst (disambiguation).
History
Nazi Germany
OwnerNorddeutscher Lloyd[1]
OperatorNorddeutscher Lloyd
Port of registryBremen
RouteBremen – Far East
BuilderDeSchiMAG, Bremen[1]
Yard number891[2]
Launched18 December 1934[citation needed]
Completed1935[1]
In service3 May 1935[2]
HomeportBremen
Identification
Fatesold
Japan
NameJapanese aircraft carrier Shin'yō
OperatorImperial Japanese Navy
Acquired1942
Commissioned15 December 1943[2]
Fate
General characteristics
Tonnage
  • as built: 18,184 GRT[1]
  • tonnage under deck 13,618
  • 10,712 NRT[1]
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)[4]
Sensors and
processing systems		direction finding equipment, echo sounding device, gyrocompass[1]
Notes

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 in the German Third Reich. Under the German merchant flag she was the second liner named after General Gerhard J. D. von Scharnhorst (1755-1813), the famous Prussian army reformer and military theorist. She was converted into an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier named Shinyo in 1942 and sunk by a US submarine in 1944.

Construction

DeSchiMAG in Bremen built Scharnhorst and her sister ship Gneisenau for NDL, completing them in 1935.[1] Blohm + Voss in Hamburg built a third 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][4][5] Scharnhorst had twin AEG turbo generators that supplied current to electric motors on her propeller shafts.

Service

The three sister ships worked NDL's express service between Bremen and the Far East, and at 21 knots (39 km/h)[4] were some of the fastest ships on the route.[5]

The UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960[8], show, for example, that, in 1938, Scharnhorst arrived at Southampton, England, at the end of the voyage from Yokohama, 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 Yokohama, Japan, early in December 1937, and arrived at Southampton, England, on 21 Jan 1938, before continuing to Bremen. The details recorded in Southampton in the UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960[9] are as follows: 

   Port of Departure: Yokohama, Japan
   Arrival date: 21 Jan 1938
   Port of Arrival: Southampton, England
   Ports of Voyage: Yokohama; Kobe; Shanghai; Hong Kong; Manila; Singapore; Penang and Port Said
   Ship Name: Scharnhorst
   Shipping line: Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen
   Official Number: 2737

Second World War

The outbreak of the Second World War in Europe in 1939 trapped Scharnhorst in Japan. In 1942 the Imperial Japanese Navy acquired her and had her converted into the escort carrier Shin'yō.[10] She was sunk in the Yellow Sea on 17 November 1944 by the United States Navy submarine Spadefish.[3]

References

  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 c d "NDL Page 3: 1915-1939". Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL). Simplon – The Passenger Ship Website. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b Stille 2006, p. 43
  4. ^ a b c d Harnack 1938, p. 549
  5. ^ a b c Talbot-Booth 1942, p. 405
  6. ^ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/161134540
  7. ^ Polmar, Genda & et al. 2006, p. 262.
  8. ^ https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1518&h=9256734&ssrc=pt&tid=85845745&pid=40530411287&usePUB=true
  9. ^ https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1518&h=9256734&ssrc=pt&tid=85845745&pid=40530411287&usePUB=true
  10. ^ Stille 2006, p. 42.

Sources

  • Harnack, Edwin P (1938) [1903]. All About Ships & Shipping (7th ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 549. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • 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. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Stille, Ben (2006). Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers: 1921–1945. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-84603-009-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Talbot-Booth, E.C. (1942) [1936]. Ships and the Sea (Seventh ed.). London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. pp. 405, 518. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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