Launched 1935 | Fate Sunk 2 May 1943 Tonnage 18,160 GRT | |
Notes Refloated 12 July 1950 and scrapped Builders Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau, AG Weser | ||
SS Gneisenau was a 18,160 GRT Norddeutscher Lloyd 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).
Gneisenau was the second of three sister ships built for NDL. DeSchiMAG in Bremen built Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, while Blohm + Voss in Hamburg built the third sister, Potsdam.
Until the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the trio worked NDL's express service between Bremen and the Far East. At 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) they were some of the fastest ships on the route.
On 2 May 1943, Gneisenau struck a mine in the Baltic Sea, capsized, and sank. The wreck was raised on 12 July 1950 and scrapped in Denmark.