aboard No rth Cape and wo rked his way south into the lengthening winter night. The co mbined skills ofAhrens and his First Officer Eri c Warnin g brought the ship safely to Skagerrak. Waiting, again, for the visibili ty to deteriorate, they das hed south pas t Stavanger and across the No rth Sea before the British Home Fleet could catch them . U nknown to Ahrens, the British submarine HMS Salmon was positioned directly in Bremen's track with her conning tower awash waiting for the liner's approach . Aboard Salmon, commanding offi cer Lieutenant Commander W 0 . Bickfo rd poised to bring the liner to heel. As Salmon's crew were preparin g their deck
gun , a German H einke! 70 seaplane, part of a three-plane escort, spotted the sub, fo rcing her to submerge. W hile still within to rpedo range and kn owing the fa mous liner was under armed aircraft escort, Bickford gave a parting look through his periscope and decided not to attack. H e was keenly awa re of the rules co ntained in the A n g l o-Ge rm a n Agreement Naval of 1935, which required a submarine to surface prio r (Above): The main engine control room was the heart ofSS Bremen s to hal ting a prize. Bickford was later ¡ systems; (below): Captain Ahrens (left) on the bridge wing.
comm ended for letting Bremen pass. Captain Ahrens continued south at full ahead tightly hugging the North Frisian Islands and steamed triumph antly inro the Weser River and hom e to Bremerhaven. In the ensuing wee ks, Propaganda Minister Joseph G oebbels, puffed with triumph, taunted that th e British blockade was ineffective. M eanwhile the British press cited the decency of their submarine co mmand er for not sinking an unarmed liner. Bremen's escape proved to be an epic maritime event that raised serious questio ns about Great Britain's grip on naval supremacy, and for a time, becam e a model fo r Allied and German maritime behavior. Non etheless, the war at sea nevertheless soon deteriorated in to unrestricted warfare. Bremen was des troyed by arson in Bremerhaven in M arch of 194 1. ,!, Captain Peter H uchthausen, a thirty-year US Navy veteran, served at sea and ashore in anti-submarine warfare and as naval attache in Yugoslavia, Romania, and the Soviet Union. H e has written six books on maritime history, including Hostile Waters, O ctober Fury and K-19 TI1e Widowmaker.
For the full account of SS Bremen's escape, look for:
Shadow Voyage-The Extraordinary Wartime Escape of the Legendary SS Bremen by Peter A. Huchthausen, scheduled for release by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in April 2005 . (ISBN
SEA HISTORY I LO, SPRJNG 2005
0-47 1-45758-2) 17