Editing SS General von Steuben

{{Short description|German military transport ship; sank 1945, killing thousands}}
{{redirect|General von Steuben|the general the ship is named after|Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben}}
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{{more citations needed|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Bundesarchiv N 1572 Bild-1925-079, Polarfahrt mit Dampfer "München", Advent-Bay.jpg
|Ship caption=SS ''General von Steuben''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country= Germany
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Weimar Republic|civil}} → {{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|merchant}} → {{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|naval}}
|Ship name= * 1923: ''München''
* 1930: ''General von Steuben''
* 1938: ''Steuben''
|Ship namesake= *1922: [[Munich]]
*1930: [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben]]
|Ship owner= [[Norddeutscher Lloyd]]
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry= [[Ports of Bremen|Bremen]]
|Ship route= 
|Ship ordered= 9 September 1920
|Ship builder=[[AG Vulcan Stettin]], Germany
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number= 669
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched= 25 November 1922
|Ship completed= 26 March 1923
|Ship christened=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage= 21 June 1923
|Ship refit= 1930–31
|Ship identification= *1923-1935: [[code letters]] QLSR
*{{ICS|Quebec}}{{ICS|Lima}}{{ICS|Sierra}}{{ICS|Romeo}}
*1935-on: [[Maritime call sign|call sign]] DOAQ
*{{ICS|Delta}}{{ICS|Oscar}}{{ICS|Alpha}}{{ICS|Quebec}}
|Ship fate= Sunk by {{Ship|Soviet submarine|S-13}}, 10 February 1945
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship type= [[Ocean liner]]
|Ship tonnage= {{GRT|14660}}, {{NRT|8385}} (1930 refit)
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length= {{cvt|546.5|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{cvt|65.0|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship depth= {{cvt|43.7|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship decks= 4
|Ship power= *as built: 2 × [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple-expansion engines]]; 517 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]]
*1931: as above, plus 2 × [[:de:Abdampfturbine|exhaust steam turbines]], 1,622 NHP
|Ship propulsion= 2 × [[propeller|screws]]
|Ship speed= *1923: {{convert|15.75|kn|km/h}}
*1931: {{convert|16.3|kn|km/h}}
|Ship capacity= 1926-1930: 494 cabin class, 266 tourist class, 251 third class
1931-1934: 214 cabin class; 358 tourist class; 221 third class]
1935-on: 496 (one class for cruising only)
|Ship crew=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''SS ''General von Steuben''''' was a German [[passenger liner]] and later an armed [[transport ship]] of the [[Kriegsmarine|German Navy]] that was sunk in the [[Baltic Sea]] during [[World War II]]. She was launched in 1923 as '''''München''''' (after the [[Munchen|German city]], sometimes spelled '''''Muenchen'''''), renamed '''''General von Steuben''''' in 1930 (after the [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben|famous German officer]] of the [[American Revolutionary War]]), and renamed '''''Steuben''''' in 1938.

During World War II, the ship served as a troop accommodation vessel, and from 1944 as an armed transport. On 10 February 1945, while evacuating German military personnel, wounded soldiers, and civilian refugees during [[Operation Hannibal]], the ship was [[torpedo]]ed by the [[Soviet submarine S-13|Soviet submarine ''S-13'']] and sank. An estimated 4,000 people lost their lives in the sinking.

==Early history==
[[File:Bundesarchiv N 1572 Bild-1925-109, Polarfahrt mit Dampfer "München", Gutvangen.jpg|thumb|Passengers disembark from the ''München'' at [[Gudvangen]], [[Norway]] in the summer of 1925]]
In 1923, ''München'' became the first German trans-Atlantic passenger liner to be launched, and also the first to enter New York Harbor, since the end of World War I. She arrived in July 1923 on her maiden [[Transatlantic crossing|transatlantic]] voyage.<ref name="auto">[https://www.gendisasters.com/new-york/13837/new-york-city-ny-hudson-river-liner-muenchen-fire-feb-1930 "New York City, NY (Hudson River) Liner MUENCHEN Fire"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720172347/http://www.gendisasters.com/new-york/13837/new-york-city-ny-hudson-river-liner-muenchen-fire-feb-1930 |date=20 July 2017 }} ''Associated Press'', 11 February 1930</ref>

==1930 fire and sinking==
On 11 February 1930, after ''München'' docked in New York City and discharged passengers and most of her crew from a voyage from [[Bremen]], Germany, a fire broke out in a paint locker on board and quickly spread to another storage hold. The massive fire and explosion resulted in a [[five-alarm fire]] and all of the city's fire equipment was sent to the burning ship. The fire could not be controlled and the ship sank next to the wharf where it had docked.<ref name="auto"/>

In one of the largest shipping [[Marine salvage|salvage]] efforts of its time, ''München'' was raised, towed to a [[dry dock]], repaired, and returned to service.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=q-MDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+mechanics+1930+aircraft&pg=PA887 "The Ship That Came Back To Life"] ''Popular Mechanics'', June 1930</ref> Shortly afterwards, the ship's owner renamed her ''General von Steuben.''<ref name="Grooss2017">{{cite book|last=Grooss|first=Poul|title=The Naval War in the Baltic 1939 -1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-P0sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT473|access-date=23 February 2018|date=30 April 2017|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|isbn=9781526700025|page=473}}</ref>

==World War II==
The ship, now called ''Steuben'', was commissioned in 1939 as a ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' accommodation ship. In 1944, she was pressed into service as an armed transport ship, taking German troops to eastern Baltic ports and returning wounded troops to [[Kiel]].

===Operation Hannibal===
Along with the {{MV|Wilhelm Gustloff||2}} and numerous other vessels, ''Steuben'' was part of the largest evacuation by sea in modern times. The [[Operation Hannibal]] evacuations surpassed the [[Dunkirk evacuation|British evacuation]] at [[Dunkirk]] in both size of the operation and number of people evacuated.

By early January 1945, Grossadmiral [[Karl Dönitz]] realized that Germany was soon to be defeated. Wishing to save his submariners, he radioed a coded message on 23 January 1945 to the [[Baltic Sea]] port of Gotenhafen (the Polish city and port of [[Gdynia]] under German occupation) to evacuate to the West, under the code name ''Operation Hannibal''.

Submariners at that point were schooled and housed in ships floating in the Baltic ports, most of them at Gotenhafen. Among the ships were {{SS|Deutschland|1923|2}}, {{SS|Hamburg|1925|2}}, ''Hansa'', and ''Wilhelm Gustloff''.

Notwithstanding the losses suffered during the operation, over two million people were evacuated ahead of the [[Red Army]]'s advance into East Prussia and [[Danzig]] (now Gdańsk, [[Poland]]).

In the winter of 1945, [[East Prussia]]n refugees headed west, away from the city of [[Königsberg]] and ahead of the Soviet advance into the Baltic States and East Prussia. Thousands fled to the Baltic seaport at Pillau (now [[Baltiysk]], Russia), hoping to board ships that would carry them to the relative safety of Western Germany. ''Steuben'' was part of the fleet sent for the purpose.

===Final voyage===
On 9 February 1945, the 14,660-ton ''Steuben'' sailed from Pillau, near Königsberg on the Baltic coast, for Swinemünde (now [[Świnoujście]], Poland). Official reports listed 2,800 wounded German soldiers; 800 civilians; 100 returning soldiers; 270 navy medical personnel (including doctors, nurses and auxiliaries); 12 nurses from Pillau; 64 crew for the ship's anti-aircraft guns, 61 naval personnel, radio operators, signal men, machine operators and administrators, plus 160 merchant navy crewmen, for a total of 4,267 people on board.<ref>Koburger, Charles W., ''Steel Ships, Iron Crosses, and Refugees'', Praeger Publishers, NY, 1989, p.7. Koburger also notes that other equally reliable sources put the total embarked at 3,300.</ref> Due to the rapid evacuation ahead of the Red Army's advance, many Eastern German and Baltic refugees boarded the ''Steuben'' without being registered, increasing the number of those on board to approximately 5,200.

Just before midnight on 9 February, the [[Soviet submarine S-13|Soviet submarine ''S-13'']], commanded by [[Alexander Marinesko]], fired two [[torpedo]]es 14 seconds apart at the ''Steuben''; both hit her [[Port and starboard|starboard]] [[Bow (watercraft)|bow]], just below the [[Bridge (nautical)|bridge]], where many of the crew were sleeping. Most were killed by the impact of the torpedoes. According to survivors, the ''Steuben'' sank by the bow and listed severely to starboard before taking her final plunge, within about 20 minutes of the torpedo impacts. An estimated 4,500 people died in the sinking. German [[S138-class torpedo boat|torpedo boat]] [[SMS G196|''T-196'']] hastily pulled up beside ''Steuben'' as she sank; its crew pulled about 300 survivors straight from ''Steuben'''s slanting decks and brought them to Kolberg in [[Pomerania]] (today [[Kołobrzeg]], Poland). A total of 650 people were rescued from the ''Steuben''.

==Wreck==
[[File:Engine order telgraph on wreck of SS Steuben.jpg|thumb|[[Scuba diving|Scuba diver]] examining one of ''Steuben''<nowiki/>'s [[engine order telegraph]]s]]
The ''Steuben'' [[Shipwreck|wreck]] was found and identified in May 2004 by [[Polish Navy]] [[Hydrographic survey|hydrographical]] vessel [[ORP Arctowski|ORP ''Arctowski'']]. Pictures and graphics appeared in a 2005 ''[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]'' article.<ref>Marcin Jamkowski [author] & Christoph Gerigk [photographer], (2005, February), Ghost ship found, ''National Geographic 207''(2), 32–51. See note in the "References" section.</ref>

The wreck lies on its port side at about {{convert|70|m}} in depth, and the hull reaches up to {{convert|50|m}} in depth. The ship was mostly intact when it was found.

In July 2021, the German [[news magazine]] ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' reported that the wreck had been plundered and severely damaged in the process. The wreck is an official [[war grave]], and entering it is illegal. Due to international treaties, the wreck remains property of the German state, but Poland is responsible for its protection.<ref>{{citation|author=Solveig Grothe|title=Die Baltische Titanic|language=de|trans-title=The baltic Titanic|publisher=Der Spiegel|date=10 July 2021|pages=46–48}}</ref> Over the past decade, [[looting]] has become one of the biggest reasons for the deteriorating condition of shipwrecks in the Baltic sea.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.shz.de/regionales/schleswig-holstein/Das-sind-die-Gruende-fuer-den-schlechten-Zustand-von-Wracks-in-der-Ostsee-id33418942.html|title=Plünderungen und Sauerstoff: Das sind die Gründe für den schlechten Zustand von Wracks in der Ostsee|language=de|trans-title=Lootings and oxygen: Those are the reasons for the bad condition of many ship wrecks in the Baltic sea|date=26 August 2021|author=Michael Kierstein|website=shz.de}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{SS|Cap Arcona||2}}
* ''[[Iosif Stalin class passenger ship|Iosif Stalin]]''
* ''[[Goya (ship)|Goya]]''
* {{SS|Deutschland|1923|2}}
* ''[[Thielbek]]''
* [[MV Wilhelm Gustloff|MV ''Wilhelm Gustloff'']]
* ''[[Armenia (ship)|Armenia]]''
* [[List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*[http://bob.plord.net/Ships/MS-3/Germany/GeneralvonSteuben.html brief data sheet on the ''Dampfschiff General von Steuben'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080506113629/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0502/feature2/ ''National Geographic'' story] ''[[National Geographic Magazine]]'', February, 2005, Marcin Jamkowski
*Williams, David, ''Wartime Disasters at Sea'', Patrick Stephens Ltd., Nr Yeovil, UK, 1997, p.&nbsp;228.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Steuben (ship, 1923)}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ4Nr5lWdzo Video of diving the wreck of ''General von Steuben'']

{{Norddeutscher Lloyd ships}}
{{1930 shipwrecks}}
{{February 1945 shipwrecks}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:General Von Steuben}}
[[Category:1922 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Stettin]]
[[Category:Merchant ships of Germany]]
[[Category:Steamships of Germany]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1930]]
[[Category:World War II passenger ships of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by Soviet submarines]]
[[Category:Germany–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1945]]
[[Category:Ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd]]
[[Category:Auxiliary ships of the Kriegsmarine]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Poland]]