SS Scharnhorst was a Norddeutscher Lloyd ocean liner, launched in 1934, completed in 1935 and made her maiden voyage on 8 May 1935.

She was trapped in Japan in September 1939 and later converted into an Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier named Shin'yō in 1942 and sunk by the US submarine USS Spadefish in 1944.

[9] The UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878–1960,[10] show, for example, that, in 1938, Scharnhorst arrived at Southampton, England, at the end of the voyage from Yokohama, Japan, on four occasions, 21 January 1938, 23 April 1938, 24 July 1938 and 19 October 1938.

The Western Daily Press of Bristol, England, on 27 September 1937, published an account of Scharnhorst's arrival in Hong Kong carrying survivors of an attack on Chinese fishing boats by Japanese aircraft.

In the UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960,[10] the last occasion when Scharnhorst docked in Southampton on the return journey to Bremen was on 28 June 1939.

[14] A newspaper report in the Nottingham Evening Post, in England on 19 September 1939 stated that the ship was being converted to an armed raider.

[20] Her conversion began in September 1942, using steel from the cancelled fourth Yamato-class battleship, and she was commissioned in December 1943 after a month of trials.