EUROPA liner 1930

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EUROPA liner 1930

Post by shipstamps » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:50 pm




Built as a passenger-cargo liner under yard No 479 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg for the Northdeutscher Lloyd, Bremen.
01 July 1927 keel laid down.
15 August 1928 launched under the name EUROPA.
Tonnage 49.746 gross, 20.308 net, 31.125 dwt., dim. 285.5 x 31.12m., length bpp. 271.3m.
Powered by four steam turbines, 125.000 hp. (maximum), speed maximum 28 knots.
Accommodation for 723 first class, 628 second and 903 third class. Crew 970.
26 March 1929 major fire when fitting out, she was set on the bottom to prevent capsizing.
22 February 1930 trial took place.
01 March 1930 completed.

An interesting feature of the EUROPA was the catapult, which enabled a seaplane with a consignment of mails to leave the vessel hundreds of miles out at sea. At New York delivery of the mail was expected sometimes by as much of 24 hours earlier, while letters for European destination often arrived two days before the ship.
She was built for the liner service between Europe and North America.

19 March 1930 maiden voyage from Bremen via Southampton-Cherbourg to New York under command of Commodore Johnsen. During the crossing she broke the old record of the BREMEN, made the passage 4 days, 17 hours and 6 minutes; she made the passage with an average speed of 27.91 knots.
In 1933 the Blue Riban returned back to the BREMEN.
Late 1935 the catapult was removed and the space became a garage.
10 August 1939 she left for her last North Atlantic voyage under German flag, returning from New York on 23 August.
September 1939 laid up at Bremen, then accommodation ship for the German Navy.
In January 1940 moved to Hamburg to be refitted for the proposed invasion of Britain (Operation “Seelöwe”), but the scheme never materialized, and she returned later to Bremerhaven. In 1942 there were plans to convert her to an aircraft carrier, but also this plans failed.

08 May 1945 taken over by the US Navy and renamed USS EUROPA (AP 117).
She made some troop voyage from Europe; her first voyage was with 6.500 troops from Bremen via Southampton to New York. She left Bremen on 12 September 1945.
Thereafter she made a voyage from Southampton with 5.569 troops on board to New York arriving there 25 November 1945.
Then an other voyage from Southampton with 6.224 troops, arriving New York on 17 December 1945.
15 March 1946 she left again New York bound for Bremen.

08 June 1946 allotted to France.
She was sent to Le Havre and transferred by the French Government to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line) and renamed LIBÉRTÉ.

08 December 1946 while berthed at Le Havre, broke from her moorings during a gale, and came in collision with the sunken liner PARIS. She settled to the bottom badly holed.
15 April 1947 refloated and sent to St Nazaire for a full scale reconstruction by Chantiers de Penhoët.
October 1949 during this refit got on fire in passenger accommodation.
Passenger accommodation for 533 first, 500 cabin, 400 tourist class.
Tonnage 51.839 gross, 21.113 net, 10.420 dwt.
17 August 1950 sailed from Le Havre for the North Atlantic service.
1954 Her funnels lengthened.
02 November 1961 she left for her last voyage from Le Havre to New York, arrived back in Le Havre on 16 November 1961.
Thereafter laid up.

30 December 1961 sold to Italy for breaking up.
25 January 1962 under tow she left Le Havre for La Spezia, where she arrived on 30 January.
She was broken up by Terrestre Marittime, La Spezia.
On Germany 1937 40pf + 35pf. sg 647, scott B115, Fujeira 1968 1r sg?, scott Mk 162.


Source: North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P. Bonsor. Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen 1857-1970 by Edwin Drechsel.

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