Large Passenger Liners - SS Europa, 1928
Edited by David Barth, 7 December 2008
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The SS Europa (later SS Liberte) was one of a pair of fast ocean liners built in the late nineteen-twenties for the
Norddeutsche Lloyd line (NDL) for the transatlantic passenger service. Her sister ship was the Bremen, and the two were
very similar, though not identical (the Bremen was slightly larger, among other differences).
Europa and her sister were designed to have a cruising speed of 27.5 knots, allowing an Atlantic crossing time of 5 days.
This speed enabled Norddeutsche Lloyd to run regular weekly crossings with two ships, a feat that normally required
three.
The sisters were supposed to be completed at the same time, but the Europa suffered a serious fire during her fitting-out,
and sank to the bottom. She was repaired and refloated, but the incident delayed her completion by several
months.
During World War II she was in German hands and largely inactive. There were plans to use her as a transport in Operation
Sealion, the intended invasion of Great Britain, and later conversion to an aircraft carrier. None of these plans came to
pass, and in 1945, she was captured by the allies and used as a troopship. However, after it was discovered that the ship
had infrastructural problems from years of neglect (defective wiring and hull cracks), she was pulled from this
service.
After the war she was turned over to the French, who began to refit her for passenger service. In 1946 while being
refitted, she snapped her moorings during a storm and ran into the wreck of the Paris and sank. She was raised,
and in 1950, made her maiden voyage under her new name, Liberte, to New York. She was laid up in 1961 and scrapped
in 1962.
Career - Europa:
- Name: Europa
- Owner: Norddeutsche Lloyd
- Port of Registry: Germany
- Builder: Blohm & Voss shipyard, Hamburg, Germany
- Launched: 1 August 1928
- Maiden voyage: 19 March 1930
- Fate: Turned over to France as a war reparation in 1946.
Career - Liberte:
- Name: SS Liberte
- Operator: Compagnie Generale Transatlantique
- Port of Registry: France
- Acquired: 1946
- In service: 1950 to 1961
- Out of service: 1946 to 1950
- Fate: Retired in 1961 and scrapped in 1962.
General characteristics:
- Class and type: Ocean liner
- Tonnage: 49,746 gross tons
- Length: 936.7 ft (283.5 m)
- Beam: 101.7 feet (31 m)
- Installed power: Four steam turbines generating 105,000 shp
- Propulsion: Quadruple screws
- Speed: 27.5 knots
- Capacity: 2,193 total passengers in the following classes:
- 860 first class
- 500 second class
- 305 tourist class
- 617 third class
- Crew: 965, total
See also:
RMS Mauretania - 1906.
RMS Titanic - 1911.
Europa - 1928.
Bremen - 1929.
SS Normandie - 1932.
RMS Queen Mary - 1934.
RMS Queen Elizabeth - 1938.
SS America - 1940.
RMS Oceanic - 1951.
SS United States - 1952.
SS France - 1960.
RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 - 1967.
RMS Queen Mary 2 - 2003.
MS Oasis of the Seas - 2009.