English names for German ships

[Aquamore]

Dear Scuba Boarders

Does anyone out there know why prior to WWII, some ships built in Germany had American names like "Seattle" etc.?

The reason I ask is that in the early 80's we found a large wreck in a Norwegian Fjord. We found it was a German vessel which by all acounts was sunk by the Royal Air Force during the second world war.
After some investigation we learned from the British Ministry of Defence that this was actually 'British proaganda' and the ship was actually sunk accidentally by the German Navy themselves in the 'Fog of War' during the invasion of Norway. According to the log of Capt. Lehmann the skipper, all crew were saved so it is not considered a 'war grave' and can be dived.

The ship was used by the Germans as a prison and one of the prisoners was the famous diving pioneer Hans Hass.

I have made several deep dives on this wreck and have found out more of the history but have never been able to find out why the German ship builders (Deutche Wert), in Hamburg used English names. Has anyone any ideas?



Aquamore

 

[Ontario Diver]

aquamore;

Don't know for sure but when I checked the names of German ships built in that era, I found a number that were named after famous ports (Milwakee, Madrid, Cairo, Rabat, Hamburg, etc.).

Didn't find much that had English names, but a lot of place names.

Hope that this helps.

 

[Aquamore]

Congratulations - you are the first ever diver to reply to my postings.

Ontario Diver I much appreciate your answer and you could be right.

It sounds logical but one of the ships was called the 'Atlanta' and I think this is too far inland to be a port? Or perhaps Atlanta means Atlantis in German?

Maybe the USA named their ships with German names at that time in history as an indication of the German America lines ??

It just doesn't seem realistic that Germany would name a ship after one of the Allied countries in the League of Nations between the wars?

I was hoping to find some history like it was captured by the Nazi's and commendered as a prisonship!

Thanks again for your reply.

I see by your profile you are into 'military' diving? Have you been to Scapa Flow or Truk Lagoon?

Keep in touch

Aquamore

 

[Ontario Diver]

found a site - www.TheShipsList.com which has information about alot of merchant ships.

The Seattle was used by Hamburg-American Shipping on their US & Canada Pacific Coast Service - so the name makes sense. There are some other ships with land-locked cities named, and a couple named after US presidents. Maybe this was a marketing issue/opportunity for them?

I've only been diving for a year so Truk and Scapa are going to wait until I get the experience and the tech training to make it worthwhile. I'm hoping to get down to North Carolina and dive a U-boat this year though.

Dive Safe!

 

[Liquid]

It's a quite common thing, for ships to have names of foreign citys. There are several reasons for it, one of them being, that the first time a ship that has the name of a port enters that port, there is a tradition of special welcoming for it, that will give some publication for the ship. I can give you some examples for such names of citys and countrys, as my fother works in a shipping company and I know some names- Zim is an israely company and has ships with the names-" Zim Genova(italy) Zim Hong Kong(china) Zim Tokyo(japan) Zim Ashdod(Israel) Zim Eilat (Israel), Zim New York(USA) Zim Osaka(Japan)" and many more. As they have about 70 ships, you may imagine that the names are from all over the world. |I can also tell you that it is not a new custom, as This company is over 50 years old and alwais head ships with such names.

 

[Aquamore]

Thanks Liquid it sounds logical.

Ontario, I think I will take the next 2 years off work to read the Ships list... it is facinating!

Thanks for that.

Take your time to get to the right standard before visiting Scapa flow because it is not really for beginners and the sea does not take prisoners!

BBFN
Aquamore