SS Donau (1929)

In 1928–29 Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau built a pair of sister ships at its Vulcan shipyard in Hamburg for NDL. Isar was built as yard number 213, launched on 23 January 1929, and completed on 4 May. Donau was built as yard number 214, launched on 25 March 1929, and completed on 6 June. They were relatively large cargo ships for their time. Donaus registered length was , her beam was , and her depth was . Her tonnages were , , and . of her holds were refrigerated, and she had berths for 16 passengers. Each ship had four masts, with derricks for handling cargo. Isar and Donau each had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine, augmented by an exhaust steam turbine that drove the same propeller shaft. The combined power of Donaus engines was rated at 1,000 NHP or 6,500 ihp, and gave her a speed of . Isar and Donau each had a Maierform bow to reduce water resistance. As built, Donaus navigation equipment included wireless direction finding and submarine signalling. By 1937 she had an echo sounding device. NDL registered Donau at Bremen. Her code letters were QMJS. By 1934 these were superseded by the call sign DOBR. ==Peacetime service==

From 1930 until 1933 Donau made at least six voyages from Bremen to Los Angeles and San Francisco via the Panama Canal. In 1937 she sailed from Bremen to Brisbane and Sydney. In 1938 she again sailed to San Francisco via the Panama Canal, but calling also in El Salvador, and at Puerto San José in Guatemala. In 1939 she twice sailed to Vancouver via the Panama Canal, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On 17 August 1939 Donau left Hamburg bound for Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver. On 25 August she arrived at Antwerp, and the next day she was recalled to Bremen. ==Second World War service==

On 21 September 1939 the Kriegsmarine requisitioned Donau, and ordered her to Hamburg to serve as a troop ship to East Prussia. Only nine of the prisoners survived the Second World War. On 19 December 1942 Donau ran aground in Oslofjord. On 24 October 1943 she left Turku in Finland for Oslo. In January 1944 she was again at the disposal of the head of maritime transport in occupied Norway. From 20 to 23 February she sailed from Oslo to Tallinn. That July she was in the Skagerrak, and in August and October she was in the Baltic. In November 1944 Donau sailed in a convoy to Norway. Allied aircraft bombed the convoy in the Skagerrak on 26 and 27 November, but the convoy returned fire, and Donau and her sister ship Isar safely reached their destination in Langesund. They made their return voyage in the first week of December. , who with Roy Nielsen limpet mined Donau in 1945, visiting her wreck after it was raised in 1952 In January 1945 Donau shuttled between Aarhus in Denmark and Oslo in Norway. On or shortly before 16 January, Roy Nielsen of Milorg and Max Manus of Kompani Linge planted ten limpet mines below the waterline along a section of the port side of Donaus hull, while she was docked in Oslo. The mines were meant to detonate in open sea once the ship had left Oslofjord, but her departure on the morning of 17 January 1945 was delayed, so they detonated before she reached Drøbak, where the captain managed to beach her. ==Salvage and scrapping==

Erling Erichsen, Donaus former commander, assessing the condition of the wreck after she was raised in 1952 In May 1945 ownership of the wreck passed to the Norwegian government. In October 1947 Rederi AS Henneseid of Porsgrunn acquired salvage rights to it. But Henneseid failed to raise the wreck, so in 1951 the rights reverted to the Norwegian government. In September 1951 Jansens Rederi AS of Bergen began salvage work. Jansens succeeded in raising the wreck on 19 April 1952. Akers Mekaniske Verksted was to repair the ship, but she was beyond economic repair. In August 1952 she was towed from Oslo to Bremerhaven, where Eisen & Metall KG Lehr & Co scrapped her. ==Feature film==

The 2008 Norwegian film Max Manus: Man of War includes the mining of Donau. The Norwegian film Den største forbrytelsen depicts the deportation of the Norwegian Jews in October 1942. ==References==