Editing SS Cap Arcona (section)

==Evacuation of East Prussia==
On 31 January 1945, the Kriegsmarine reactivated her for [[Operation Hannibal]], where she was used to transport 25,795 German soldiers and civilians from [[East Prussia]] to safer areas in western Germany.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=David |year=1997 |title=Wartime Disasters at Sea |place=Yeovil |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |pages=235–236}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Koberger |first=Charles W Jr. |year=1989 |title=Steel Ships, Iron Crosses, and Refugees |place=New York |publisher=Praeger |page=87}}</ref> By then these trips were made very dangerous by [[Naval mine|mines]] and [[Soviet Navy#World War II: The Great Patriotic War|Soviet Navy]] submarines. On 30 January {{MV|Wilhelm Gustloff||2}}, carrying around 10,000 passengers and crew, was torpedoed by the {{ship|Soviet submarine|S-13}} and sank in 40 minutes. An estimated 9,400 people died. Early on the morning of 11 February, the same submarine torpedoed the {{GRT|14666}} {{SS|General von Steuben||2}} on its way to [[Copenhagen]] with wounded and bed-ridden soldiers and civilian passengers, killing over 4,000 people. On 20 February, ''Cap Arcona''{{'}}s captain, Johannes Gertz, shot himself in his cabin while berthed in Copenhagen rather than face another trip back to Gotenhafen.{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004|p=32}}

On 30 March 1945, ''Cap Arcona'' finished her third and last trip between Gdynia and Copenhagen, carrying 9,000 soldiers and refugees. However, her turbines were completely worn out. They could only be partially repaired and her days of long-distance travel were over. She was decommissioned, returned to her owners Hamburg-Süd and ordered out of Copenhagen Harbour to Neustadt Bay.{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004|pp=44–45}}

[[File:An ID', cap bevo and POW letter used by a former crew member of the SS Cap Ancona Ship.jpg|thumb|An ID', cap bevo and POW letter used by a former crew member of the SS Cap Arcona Ship]]