MV ''Robert Ley'' was a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

leisure organization Kraft durch Freude (

Strength Through Joy NS Gemeinschaft ; KdF) was a German NSDAP-operated leisure organization in Nazi Germany. Richard Grunberger, ''The 12-Year Reich'', p. 197, It was part of the German Labour Front (), the national labour organization at that time. Set up in Nove ...

). She was considered the flagship of the KDF fleet.

History

Construction and equipment

The ship, which was named after the Nazi politician

Robert Ley Robert Ley (; 15 February 1890 – 25 October 1945) was a German Nazi politician and head of the German Labour Front during its entire existence, from 1933 to 1945. He also held many other high positions in the Nazi Party, including , and . So ...

, was designed exclusively for cruises. The keel was laid on behalf of the Nazi organisation Deutsche Arbeitsfront (

German Labour Front The German Labour Front (, ; DAF) was the national labour organization of the Nazi Party, which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during the process of ''Gleichschaltung'' or Nazification. History As early as March 1933, ...

) at Howaldtswerke Hamburg. ''Robert Ley'' was owned by the DAF and was managed, crewed and maintained by the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG). The interior design was commissioned by architect

Woldemar Brinkmann Woldemar Brinkmann (1890–1959) was a German architect and interior designer, he is associated with Nazi architecture. Biography Woldemar Brinkmann was born on 12 March 1890 in Hamburg, Germany. From 1915 until 1923 he training at the Hamburg S ...

. Accommodation on board the ship was single-class in 463 two- and four-bed cabins. Additionally, two 30-bed dormitories were for members of Nazi youth organizations. There was a single luxury suite referred to as the ''Apartment for Adolf Hitler'', though he never used it. Unusually, the crew accommodation was built to the same standard as that for the passengers. The launch took place on 29 March 1938 in the presence of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. The commissioning took place on 24 March 1939. The ship was designed for about 1750 passengers in addition to the crew members. The decks of ''Robert Ley'' consisted of: * Command bridge (with cabins for captain and officers) * Sundeck (with library) * Boat deck (with cabins and small lounges) * Promenade deck (with the main company rooms) * A-deck (with cabins, dining rooms with 860 seats and utility rooms) * B deck (with cabins, laundry and hairdresser) * C-deck (with cabins, bakery and butchery) (bulkhead deck) * D-deck (with cabins, hospital, dining room for crew and workshop) * E-deck (with cabins) * F-deck (with swimming pool, luggage room, supplies and provisions, laundry, machine and auxiliary machinery room)

Use until 1945

Until the beginning of World War II on 1 September 1939, ''Robert Ley'' was used as a cruise ship for the

(Kraft durch Freude) organisation. In May 1939, she sailed together with the KdF ships ''Wilhelm Gustloff'', ''Stuttgart'', ''Der Deutsche'' and ''Sierra Cordoba'' and the ship ''Oceana'' to

Vigo Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...

, Spain, where the fleet arrived on 24 May and unloaded medical and other materials for the nationalist government. On 26 May, the troops of the

Condor Legion The Condor Legion () was a unit of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht which served with the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War. The legion developed methods of strategic bombing that were ...

came on board, 1416 men on the Robert Ley, returning to Hamburg on 30 May. Shortly before the beginning of the Second World War, ''Robert Ley'' was taken over on 25 August 1939 as a

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...

by the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

and converted accordingly in Hamburg. Due to a lack of demand, she was decommissioned on 22 November 1939 as a hospital ship and instead, after further conversion was used as living quarters of the 1st Submarine Training Division in Neustadt, assigned from July 1941 at

Pillau Baltiysk ( ); ; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; ; ; is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separ ...

. From the end of July 1944 she was used as a casualty transport ship in the Baltic Sea, then from September 1944 again as an accommodation ship, this time for the 1st Submarine Training Division in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. After the breakthrough of the Red Army on the Eastern Front, ''Robert Ley'' was used in

Operation Hannibal Operation Hannibal was a German naval operation involving the evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from the Courland Pocket, East Prussia, West Prussia and Pomerania from mid-January to May 1945 as the Red Army advanced during the ...

for the evacuation of civilians and wounded from

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. She left Pillau on 25 January 1945.

Fate

On 9 March 1945, ''Robert Ley'' was in the Port of Hamburg during an air raid on the city by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. The ship received several bomb hits and burned out completely. The still-floating wreck was still in the harbour basin until June 1947, when it was towed to the UK and scrapped by

ship breakers Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for t ...

Thos. W. Ward Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, business primarily working steel, engineering and cement. It began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture ...

Inverkeithing Inverkeithing ( ; ) is a coastal town, parish and historic Royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town lies on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, northwest of Edinburgh city centre and south of Dunfermline. A town of ancient origin, Inverke ...

.marpubs: 9TH MARCH 1945, HAMBURG BOMBING RAID HITS ROBERT LEY
/ref>

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * R. Kiene: ''Robert Ley - Das Flaggschiff der KdF-Flotte''. VDI Bd. 83 * Claus Rothe: ''Deutsche Passagierschiffe 1919 bis 1982''. 1. Auflage. transpress VEB Verlag für Verkehrswesen, Berlin 1987. * Heinz Schön: ''Fahrgastschiff „Robert Ley“. Ein KdF-Schiff im Frieden und Krieg''. In: ''Reihe SMS – Schiffe, Menschen, Schicksale''. Heft Nr. 133, Verlag Rudolf Stade, Kiel 2002.

External links

* ttp://www.seefunknetz.de/djzi.htm Radio station on the Robert Ley {{DEFAULTSORT:Robert Ley Cruise ships of Germany Ships built in Hamburg 1938 ships Hospital ships in World War II Maritime incidents in March 1945