SS Gneisenau (1935) explained

-- commercial vessels -->	+SS Gneisenau Ship Country: Nazi Germany Ship Namesake: August Neidhardt von Gneisenau Ship Owner: Norddeutscher Lloyd Ship Builder: Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG Ship Launched: 17 May 1935 Ship Fate: Sunk 2 May 1943 Ship Notes: Refloated 12 July 1950 and scrapped Ship Type: Ocean liner

SS Gneisenau was a Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) ocean liner that was launched and completed in 1935. Like several other German ships of the same name, she was named after the Prussian Generalfeldmarschall and military reformer August Neidhardt von Gneisenau (1760–1831).

Construction and career

Gneisenau was the second of three sister ships built for NDL, with the other ships being the Potsdam (later Empire Fowey) and the . DeSchiMAG of Bremen, Germany, built Gneisenau. Gneisenau was launched at Bremen on 17 May 1935.^[1]

Gneisenaus maiden voyage began on 3 January 1936.^[2] Until the outbreak of World War II, she worked NDL's express service between Bremen and the Far East. At she was among the fastest ships on the route. On 2 May 1943, Gneisenau was mined in the Baltic Sea, capsized, and sank. The wreck was raised on 12 July 1950 and scrapped in Denmark.^[3]

Sources and further reading

• Book: Harnack, Edwin P . 1903 . 1938 . All About Ships & Shipping . 7th . London . . 549 .
• Book: Rothe, Claus . 1987 . Deutsche Ozean-Passagierschiffe 1919 bis 1985 . Berlin . VEB Verlag für Verkehrswesen . 3-344-00164-7 .
• Book: Talbot-Booth, E.C. . 1936 . 1942 . Ships and the Sea . 7th . Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd . London . 405, 518 .

Notes and References

1. Book: Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier I (Europa) . Sgarlato . Nico . Sgarlato . Alessio . Secret Projects of the Kriegsmarine: Unseen Designs of Nazi Germany's Navy . Greenhill Books . 2022 . 978-1-78438-688-7.
2. Web site: Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. 31 Dec 1935. 1. 22 January 2019. 23 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181023121649/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/singfreepressb19351231-1.2.13?ST=1&AT=advanced&K=gneisenau&KA=gneisenau&DF=01%2F01%2F1935&DT=01%2F01%2F1950&Display=0&NPT=&L=&CTA=&QT=gneisenau&oref=article. live.
3. Web site: SS Gneisenau (+1943) . Wrecksite . 22 June 2015 . 15 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210315012324/https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?5480 . live .