SS Deutschland (1923)

SS Deutschland was a 21,046 gross registered ton (GRT) German HAPAG ocean liner which was sunk in a British air attack in 1945, with great loss of life.

One of a group of four ships that included the SS Albert Ballin, SS Hamburg, and SS New York, the Deutschland was launched on 28 April 1923. She began her maiden voyage on 27 March 1924, to Southampton and then on to New York City. The ship had tremendous problems with vibration, becoming known as the "Cocktail Shaker"; she was re-engined in 1929, with service speed reduced to 19 knots.

In 1940, she became an accommodation ship for the German navy at Gotenhafen. In 1945, on seven Baltic voyages, she carried 70,000 soldiers and refugees from the German eastern territories to the west.

Sinking
In April 1945, she possibly began conversion to a hospital ship. The story goes that an attempt was made to paint the vessel white, but there was only sufficient paint available to paint her funnels white, and to paint a Red Cross on one side of one of her funnels. On 3 May 1945, she capsized and sank in the Bay of Lübeck off Neustadt after a British air attack. The same British air attack sank SS Cap Arcona and Thielbek.

In 1949, her wreck was raised and scrapped.