SS Scharnhorst (1934)


SS Scharnhorst was a Norddeutscher Lloyd ocean liner, 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. 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 and Yokohama; her sister ships were SS Potsdam and SS Gneisenau. These three ships were planned to shorten the journey time between Bremen and Shanghai from the usual 50 days to 34. She was trapped in Japan in September 1939 and later converted into an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier named Shinyo in 1942 and sunk by US submarine USS Spadefish in 1944.

Construction

in Bremen built Scharnhorst and her sister ship for NDL, completing them in 1935. Blohm + Voss in Hamburg built another sister ship,.
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. ' had conventional reduction gearing from her turbines to her propeller shafts, but Scharnhorst and had turbo-electric transmission. Scharnhorst had twin AEG turbo generators that supplied current to electric motors on her propeller shafts.
SS Scharnhorst was launched in Bremen on 14 December 1934. The occasion was attended by Hitler. A report appeared in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 15 December 1938.
FOR THE FAR EAST. Hitler Attends Launch of The Scharnhorst
Bremen, Dec. 14. President Hitler attended the launch of the Scharnhorst, the new liner for Germany's Far East service. The Minister of Communications, who christened the ship, announced that work will begin shortly on two sister ships. Reuter.
Tags: none

Regular Passenger Service, May 1935 to September 1939

The three sister ships SS Scharnhorst, SS Potsdam and SS Gneisenau worked the Norddeutscher Lloyd express service between Bremen 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, dated 24 April 1935, read as follows:
NEW GERMAN SERVICE. Schedule Drawn Up
The first N.D.L. vessel for the new German Far East service to start on her maiden voyage will be the S.S. Scharnhorst on May 8, and will be followed at the beginning of July by the S.S. Potsdam. The third ship, the S.S. Gneisenau, the launching of which will take place shortly at a Bremen ship yard, will start out at the beginning of December, 1935. The schedule for the new German Far East service, which has been definitely drawn up in all its details, has been notably augmented by the regular calling at Palma de Majorca and Naples, both on the outward and homeward voyages.
Tags: none

The UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, show, for example, that, in 1938, SS 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 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
UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 show Scharnhorst docking in Southampton on the return journey to Bremen on the following sixteen occasions:
YearQ1Q2Q3Q4
1935--2 Aug20 Dec
1936-23 Apr24 Jul23 Oct
193721 Jan24 Apr25 Jul24 Oct
193821 Jan23 Apr24 Jul19 Oct
193910 Jan5 Apr28 Jun-

SS Scharnhorst was mentioned in newspapers in 1937. The Western Daily Press, Bristol, England, on Monday 27th September 1937, published an account of SS Scharnhorsts arrival in Hong Kong carrying survivors of an attack on Chinese fishing boats by Japanese aircraft:
JAPANESE CONDEMNED AT GENEVA
... aeroplanes on this occasion appear to have been aiming at the railway stations outside the two cities. The German liner Scharnhorst, arriving at Hong Kong yesterday, brought a few survivors from a fleet of Chinese fishing junks. WHILE THEY WERE FISHING...
Tags: none

The route to Shanghai developed from 1938 to become one of the main escape routes of German and Austrian Jews, since in Shanghai emigration visas were not required.
The timetable of round trips from Bremen to Yokohama and back continued until 1939. In the UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, the last occasion when SS Scharnhorst docked in Southampton on the return journey to Bremen 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 Kobe. Scharnhorst had set off from Kobe on 18 Aug 1939 on her return journey to Hamburg but had returned to Kobe, apparently in view of the current war threat in Europe.
GERMAN LINER STAYING AT KOBE "INDEFINITELY"
GERMAN LINER STAYING AT KOBE "INDEFINITELY" Kobe, Sept. 1. THE NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD liner Scharnhorst will stand by here indefinitely in view of the current war threat in Europe. The German ship left Kobe for Shanghai and Hong Kong on her return voyage to Hamburg on Aug. 18 but returned here again. - Eastern News
Tags: none

A newspaper report in the Nottingham Evening Post, in England, Tuesday 19 September 1939, reported the following:
REPORT IN THE HOCHI SHIMBUN
A report in the Hochi Shimbun to-day states that the German Norddeutscher-Lloyd liner Scharnhorst, which is now at Kobe, is being converted into an armed raider
Tags: none

A similar report appeared in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 9 September 1939.
JAPANESE WANT TO BUY SCHARNHORST
JAPANESE WANT TO BUY Scharnhorst Kobe, Sept. 8. JAPANESE steamship companies, it is understood, have offered to purchase the 18.000-ton Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Scharnhorst. The Kobe agents of the Norddeutscher Lloyd say that the vessel is under the control of the German Embassy in Tokyo.
Tags: none

Another report appeared in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 20 September 1939.
SCHARNHORST AS RAIDER!
Tokio, Sept. 19. A REPORT that the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Scharnhorst, now at Kobe, is being converted into an armed raider appears in the Hochi Shimbun. The paper adds the liner is surrounded by launches and there is much fuss and bustle aboard. This is taken by some observers as meaning she is being refitted as an armed vessel - Reuter.
Tags: none

In July 1942 SS Scharnhorst was sold to the Japanese government. Subsequently, the Imperial Japanese Navy acquired her and had her converted into the escort carrier. Her conversion began in September 1942, using steel from the cancelled fourth Yamato-class battleship, and she was commissioned in December 1943 after a month of trials. She was sunk in the Yellow Sea on 17 November 1944 by the United States Navy submarine.
The story of SS Scharnhorst continues on the Wikipedia page for the Shin'yō.