World War II Chronicle: January 27, 1941
SS Columbus
Front page, below the fold mentions the captured crew of the German liner Columbus remodeling what became their prisoner of war camp.
Laid down before World War I, material shortages during the war halted construction of the 32,000-ton Hindenburg. After the war, her sister ship — the original Columbus — was sent to Britain as reparations. She was one of several German liners bought by White Star Line — the operator of Titanic, which sank just six years before. Hindenburg was renamed Columbus and, upon her completion in 1924, was Germany’s fastest and biggest ocean liner.
After Germany launched what became the second world war on Sept. 1, 1939, she called Columbus to return. After dropping passengers off at Cuba she headed for Veracruz, Mexico, staying until the crew was ready to run the British blockade on Dec. 14, 1939. Seven American destroyers escorted the German liner through our 300-mile neutral zone, but five days after setting sail, and some 400 miles off the coast of Virginia, Columbus was intercepted by the British destroyer HMS Hyperion.
Rather than face capture, the crew scuttled their ship. Fortunately for the shipwrecked Germans, as tiny Hyperion didn’t have room, the American cruiser USS Tuscaloosa was shadowing the action. Our sailors took the 576 men, women, and boys on board (two did not managed to leave the sinking ship), splitting the the Germans between the seaplane hangar and sick bay and headed for New York City. The shipwrecked survivors (all too glad not to be British prisoners of war) disembarked for processing at Ellis Island on the 20th.
13 months later, 411 crew remained in the United States and would spend the remainder of the war in Fort Stanton, New Mexico.