Cap Arcona

SS Cap Arcona

The SS Cap Arcona, named after Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen, was a large (27561 tons) German luxury ocean liner (Luxusdampfer) and the flagship (Flaggschiff) of the Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (Hamburg-South America Line). On 3 May 1945, she was sunk in Lübeck Bay off Neustadt (killing c. 5,000 people, only 350 were rescued) by the same British air raid that sunk hospital ship "Deutschland" (all 2,000 prisoners on the "Deutschland" were safely taken off onto the "Athen", before the ship capsized) and "Thielbek" (killing 2,750 people, only 50 survived). A total of 23 ships were sunk and 115 damaged in the attacks by the Royal Air Force on this day, although they posed no threat of war, mostly only used as rescue ships for the Operation Hannibal.

History

Blohm+Voss in Hamburg built Cap Arcona, launching and completing her in 1927. She was 27,561 GRT, 205.90 m (675 ft 6 in) overall and a beam of 25.78 m (84 ft 7 in). She made her maiden voyage on 29 October 1927, carrying passengers and cargo between Germany and the east coast of South America, and in her time was the largest and fastest ship on the route. She was driven by eight steam turbines, single-reduction geared to two propeller shafts. She had three funnels, and her passenger comforts included a full-size tennis court abaft her third funnel. The ship had at least 26 lifeboats, most of which were mounted in two tiers. Cap Arcona had modern navigation and communication equipment. She was equipped for submarine signalling which allowed a ship to hear acoustic signals from aids to navigation. She also had wireless direction finding equipment, and from 1934 she had an echo sounding device and a gyrocompass.

She had a passenger capacity from 1927 of 575 1st class, 275 2nd class, 465 in dormitories; total 1,315 and from 1937 a total of 850 with a crew of 475. In 1940, the Kriegsmarine requisitioned her as an accommodation ship. In 1942 she served as the set for the making of the German feature film Titanic. In 1945 she evacuated almost 26,000 German civilian refugees from East Prussia before the advance of the Red Army.

Cap Arcona's final use was as a prison ship anchored in Lübeck Bay. In May 1945 she was heavily laden with prisoners transferred from POW and concentration camps in the east which had been over-run by the Red Army when the Royal Air Force deliberately bombed her, killing about 5,000 people; with more than 3,000 further casualties in the sinkings of the accompanying vessels of the prison fleet, including SS Thielbek. This was one of the largest single-incident maritime losses of life in the Second World War. Swedish and Swiss Red Cross officials had already informed British intelligence on 2 May 1945 of the presence of large numbers of prisoners on ships at anchor in Lübeck Bay.

The prisoners aboard the ships were of at least 30 nationalities: American, Belarusian, Belgian, Canadian, Czechoslovakian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourger, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swiss, Ukrainian, and possibly others. RAF Pilot Allan Wyse of No. 193 Squadron recalled:

"We used our cannon fire at the chaps in the water... we shot them up with 20 mm cannons in the water. Horrible thing, but we were told to do it and we did it."

From the Till report of June 1945:

"The Intelligence Officer with 83 Group RAF has admitted on two occasions; first to Lt H. F. Ansell of this Team (when it was confirmed by a Wing Commander present), and on a second occasion to the Investigating Officer when he was accompanied by Lt. H. F. Ansell, that a message was received on 2 May 1945 that these ships were loaded with prisoners but that, although there was ample time to warn the pilots of the planes who attacked these ships on the following day, by some oversight the message was never passed on... From the facts and from the statement volunteered by the RAF Intelligence Officer, it appears that the primary responsibility for this great loss of life must fall on the British RAF personnel who are said to have failed to pass to the pilots the message they received concerning the presence of prisoners being held on board these ships."

Further reading

• (2004) The 100-Year Secret: Britain's Hidden World War II Massacre. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-59228-532-5. 
• Talbot-Booth, E.C. (1936). Ships and the Sea, Third, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 410. 
• Till, Major Noel O (September 1945). Report on Investigations, WO 309/1592, No. 2 War Crimes Investigation Team. 
• Watson, Robert P. (2016). The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306824890.