SS Thielbek (1940)
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Operator | Knöhr and Burchard (1940–61) |
| Port of registry |
|
| Builder | Lübecker Maschinenbau AG |
| Yard number | 382 |
| Launched | 1940 |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 2,815 GRT |
| Length | 105 m (344 ft) |
| Beam | 14.7 m (48 ft) |
| Propulsion | 2-cylinder compound steam engine |
| Speed | 11 kn (20 km/h) |
Thielbek was a 2,815 GRT cargo steamship that was built in Germany in 1940, sunk in an air raid in 1945, refloated in 1949 and repaired, and was in service until 1974. Lübecker Maschinenbau Gesellschaft in Lübeck built her in 1940 for the Knöhr and Burchard shipping company of Hamburg. In 1961 Knöhr and Burchard sold her to buyers who renamed her Magdalene and registered her in Panama. In 1965 she was renamed Old Warrior. She was scrapped in Yugoslavia in 1974.
Thielbek is notable for having been sunk by
Under Allied interrogation, the commander of the Gestapo in Hamburg later revealed that the prisoners were to be killed,[1] possibly by scuttling the ships with the prisoners still aboard.[2]
Background
On 17 April 1945 Thielbek was told she was to prepare for a "special operation". The next day the SS summoned Thielbek's Captain John Jacobsen, and Cap Arcona's Captain Heinrich Bertram to a conference at which they were ordered to embark concentration camp prisoners. Both captains refused, and Jacobsen was relieved of his command.
The order to transfer the prisoners from the camps to the prison ships came from
Embarkation of prisoners began on 20 April, with the Swedish Red Cross present. The ship's water supply was insufficient for so many people and 20 to 30 prisoners died daily. The prisoners, with the exception of political prisoners, remained aboard for two or three days before being transferred to Cap Arcona by the cargo ship Athen.
Sinking
 | This section relies largely or entirely on a single source. (February 2018) |
Between the two attacks on Cap Arcona, nine
Subsequent career
In 1949, four years after her sinking, Thielbek was refloated. Human remains found aboard her were buried in the Cap Arcona cemetery at
See also
- List of maritime disasters
- SS Cap Arcona
- Soviet hospital ship Armenia
- RMS Laconia
- SS General von Steuben
- Junyō Maru
- HMT Rohna
- Ukishima Maru
- MV Wilhelm Gustloff
Notes
- ^ a b Vaughan 2004, pp. 154–156.
- ^ Bond 1993, pp. 150–151.
- ^ Vaughan 2004, p. 151.
References
- Bond, DG (1993). German history and German identity: Uwe Johnson's Jahrestage. Rodopi. pp. 150–151. ISBN 90-5183-459-4.
- Vaughan, Hal (2004). Doctor to the Resistance: The Heroic True Story of an American Surgeon and His Family in Occupied Paris. Potomac Books Inc.
External links
- Allen, Tony (3 May 2017). "SS Thielbek (+1945)". Wrecksite.
