SS Donau (1929)

Donau, showing her Maierform bow
History
Germany
Name	Donau
Namesake	Danube
Owner	Norddeutscher Lloyd
Operator	1939–45: Kriegsmarine
Port of registry	Bremen
Route	1930–39: Bremen – Panama Canal – Los Angeles – San Francisco
Builder	DeSchiMAG Vulcan, Hamburg
Yard number	214
Launched	25 March 1929
Completed	6 June 1929
Identification	until 1933: code letters QMJS by 1934: call sign DOBR
Fate	sunk by limpet mines, 1945 raised and scrapped, 1952
General characteristics
Type	refrigerated cargo ship
Tonnage	9,026 GRT, 5,637 NRT, 12,140 DWT
Length	521.0 ft (158.8 m)
Beam	63.5 ft (19.4 m)
Depth	31.0 ft (9.4 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	1000 NHP; 6,500 ihp
Propulsion	1 × triple expansion engine; 1 × exhaust steam turbine 1 × screw
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h)
Capacity	holds included 42,518 cubic feet (1,204 m3) refrigerated space
Crew	63
Sensors and processing systems	as built: wireless direction finding; submarine signalling by 1937: echo sounding device
Armament	In WW2: anti-aircraft guns; depth charges
Notes	sister ship: Isar

SS Donau was a Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) refrigerated cargo steamship that was built in Germany in 1929 and sunk in occupied Norway in 1945. In the 1930s she sailed mostly between Bremen and the West Coast of the United States via the Panama Canal.

In the Second World War the Kriegsmarine used Donau for transport. Mostly she took troops, horses, and supplies from Germany and occupied Denmark to occupied Norway. She also made at least two trips to Finland. In 1942 the SS and Gestapo used Donau to take deport 532 Jews from Norway to Stettin, whence they were taken by train to Auschwitz. Only nine of her deportees survived.

Donau survived an accidental collision in 1940 and grounding in 1942. Two Norwegian resistance divers sank her in 1945. Her wreck was raised and scrapped in 1952.