The son of a convicted Nazi, swayed by public opinion, has decided to remove his father’s name from a huge tanker he owns.

Shipping magnate Edward Hereema, who heads the Swiss-based Allseas Group, last week he had decided that the Pieter Schelte Heerema — the world’s biggest ship — should now be called Pioneering Spirit.

Pieter Schelte Heerema, who died in 1981, was a renowned maritime engineer and a committed Nazi.

According to various sources, Schelte joined the Waffen SS and was known for his antisemitic convictions. He eventually became an informant for the Dutch resistance in 1943.

After the war, he was sentenced in Holland to three years in prison for war crimes, but was let off early due to his work for the resistance.

Allseas said the decision to change the name of the ship came after “widespread reactions”.

The name had drawn criticism from Dutch lawmakers and Jewish leaders since it was announced in 2008.

Calls for a name change picked up steam in recent weeks as news emerged that as the ship was due to embark on its first assignment, the dismantling of off-shore wells for Royal Dutch Shell.