View source for SS Thielbek (1940)

{{Short description|German cargo steamship which was sunk, repaired, and renamed multiple times (1940-74)}}
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|Ship caption= ''Thielbek''
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|Ship name=*''Thielbek'' (1940–45)
*''Reinbek'' (1949–61)
*''Magdalene'' (1961–65)
*''Old Warrior'' (1966–74)
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|Ship operator=Knöhr and Burchard (1940–61)
|Ship registry=*{{Flagicon|Nazi Germany|civil}} Hamburg (1940–45)
*{{Flagicon|West Germany|civil}} Hamburg (1949–61)
*{{Flagicon|Panama|civil}} Panama (1961–74)
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|Ship builder=Lübecker Maschinenbau AG
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|Ship yard number= 382
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|Ship launched= 1940
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|Ship fate=*Sunk by air raid, 3 May 1945
*Raised 1949
*Scrapped 1974
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|Ship tonnage={{GRT|2815}}
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|Ship length={{convert|105|m|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|14.7|m|ft|abbr=on}}
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|Ship propulsion= 2-cylinder [[Marine steam engine#Compound|compound steam engine]]
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'''''Thielbek''''' was a {{GRT|2815}} [[Cargo ship|cargo]] [[steamship]] that was built in Germany in 1940, sunk in an air raid in 1945, [[Marine salvage|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 [[Ship breaking|scrapped]] in [[Yugoslavia]] in 1974.

''Thielbek'' is notable for having been sunk by [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] aircraft on 3 May 1945, killing 2,750 people aboard. She was at anchor in the [[Bay of Lübeck]] with the passenger ships {{SS|Cap Arcona|1927|2}} and the {{SS|Deutschland|1923|2}}, which were sunk in the same air raid. At the time ''Cap Arcona'' and ''Thielbek'' were crowded with prisoners from the [[Neuengamme concentration camp|Neuengamme]], [[Stutthof concentration camp|Stutthof]], and [[Mittelbau-Dora]] concentration camps.

Under Allied interrogation, the commander of the [[Gestapo]] in Hamburg later revealed that the prisoners were to be killed,{{sfn|Vaughan|2004|pp=154–156}} possibly by [[scuttling]] the ships with the prisoners still aboard.{{sfn|Bond|1993|pp=150–151}}

==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 [[Hamburg]] [[Gauleiter]] [[Karl Kaufmann]], who in turn was acting on orders from Berlin. Kaufmann later claimed during a War Crimes Tribunal that the prisoners were destined for Sweden, but at the same trial [[Georg-Henning Graf von Bassewitz-Behr]], the [[Higher SS and Police Leader]] (HSSPF) of Hamburg, said that the prisoners were in fact to be killed on Himmler's orders.{{sfn|Vaughan|2004|pp=154–156}}

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 {{MV|Athen|1936|2}}.

==Sinking==
{{one source|section|date=February 2018}}
Between the two attacks on ''Cap Arcona'', nine [[Hawker Typhoon]] aircraft of [[No. 198 Squadron RAF]] stationed at [[Plantlünne]] attacked ''Thielbek'' and ''Deutschland'', five aircraft firing rockets at ''Deutschland'' and 4 at ''Thielbek''. Numerous cannon shells and 32 rockets were fired at ''Thielbek''.{{sfn|Vaughan|2004|p=151}} She caught fire, developed a 30 degree list to starboard, and sank 20 minutes after being attacked. Of the 2,800 prisoners aboard ''Thielbek'', only 50 survived the attack.

==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 [[Neustadt in Holstein]]. She remained in Knöhr and Burchard service until 1961 when she was sold, renamed ''Magdalene'', and registered under the [[Panama]]nian flag of convenience. In 1965 she was renamed ''Old Warrior''. She was scrapped in [[Split (city)|Split]], Yugoslavia, in 1974.

==See also==
{{Portal|Germany}}

*[[List of maritime disasters]]
*{{SS|Cap Arcona|1927|6}}
*{{ship|Soviet hospital ship|Armenia}}
*{{RMS|Laconia|1921|6}}
*{{SS|General von Steuben}}
*{{ship||Junyō Maru}}
*{{HMT|Rohna}}
*{{ship||Ukishima Maru}}
*{{MV|Wilhelm Gustloff}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last=Bond |first=DG |year=1993 |title=German history and German identity: Uwe Johnson's Jahrestage |url=https://archive.org/details/germanhistoryger0000bond |url-access=registration |publisher=Rodopi |pages=[https://archive.org/details/germanhistoryger0000bond/page/150 150–151] |isbn=90-5183-459-4 }}
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Hal |year=2004 |title=Doctor to the Resistance: The Heroic True Story of an American Surgeon and His Family in Occupied Paris |publisher=Potomac Books Inc }}

==External links==
*{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Tony |title=SS Thielbek (+1945) |work=Wrecksite |date=3 May 2017 |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?59619}}

{{May 1945 shipwrecks}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thielbek}}
[[Category:1940 ships]]
[[Category:1945 in Germany]]
[[Category:Bay of Lübeck]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in May 1945]]
[[Category:Merchant ships of West Germany]]
[[Category:Military scandals]]
[[Category:Nazi war crimes in Germany]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by British aircraft]]
[[Category:Steamships of Germany]]
[[Category:Steamships of West Germany]]
[[Category:World War II massacres]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea]]