SS Columbus (1922)

The SS Columbus, was a German ocean liner laid down before the start of World War I.

SS Columbus
History
Germany
NameSS Columbus
NamesakeChristopher Columbus
OwnerNorddeutscher Lloyd
OperatorGermany
Port of registryHamburg, Germany
RouteHamburg–New York
Ordered1914
BuilderSchichau, Danzig, Germany
Yard number929
Launched12 August 1922
CompletedJune 1924
Maiden voyageMid-1924
In service1924
Out of service1939
Renamed1914; Hindenburg to Columbus; 1920
Refit1929
HomeportBremen
Motto"Columbus' ship"
Nickname(s)"Germany's Merchant Ship"
FateScuttled by crew to avoid capture by Royal Navy, 19 December 1939.
NotesLocated at latitude 38 degrees, 2 minutes N, longitude 65 degrees, 33 minutes W
General characteristics
Class and typeColumbus-class ocean liner
Tonnage
  • 32,354 GRT (1924–1929)
  • 32,565 GRT (1929–1939)[1]
Length750 ft (230 m)[1]
Beam83 ft (25 m)[1]
Height49 ft (15 m)[1]
Decks8
Propulsion
  • Triple-expansion reciprocating engines (1924–1929)
  • Steam turbine engines (1929−1939); Twin propeller[1]
Speed
  • Before refit: 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
  • After refit: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)[1]
Boats & landing
craft carried		24
Capacity1,750 passengers

The vessel was originally to be named Hindenburg. However, her then-sister, originally named Columbus, was handed over to British government and then sold to the White Star Line after the war as part of reparations in 1920 and renamed Homeric by her new owners.

The Allies allowed the Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), her owners, to keep the remaining ship. NDL decided to give her the name of her departed sister, now the British Homeric. Construction, which had been held up by the war, resumed at Schichau Shipyards in Danzig, Germany.

Construction and maiden voyage

Material shortages caused by the war delayed her completion until 1922. She made her maiden voyage in April 1924. At the time, she was the German merchant marine's largest, fastest ocean liner.

She measured 32,581 gross register tons, was 750 feet (230 m) long with 1,750 cabins for luxury, first, second and tourist class passengers.

Her maximum speed was 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). She had triple-expansion steam engines.


She was quite popular and convinced NDL that larger passenger liners were feasible. She was also one of the first liners to have an outside swimming pool installed on her top deck, as well as a platform for night-time dancing.

“She had been chartered for a number of years by Cooks Travel Agency in New York and cruised into West Indian waters about every two weeks with occasional trips around South America and Africa."[2]: 5 

Later career

With the building of the liners Bremen and Europa, the Columbus was supplanted as the queen of the NDL fleet.


In 1929, she was given a refit to modernise the vessel.

She followed the style of her younger, larger and faster running mates. This included the addition of two larger, much shorter smokestacks and replacement of the reciprocating engines with geared steam turbines.

Columbus after her 1929 refit, intended to modernise the vessel. Her squat funnels follow the style of the Bremen & Europa

She left Bremerhaven for New York on 20 June 1939. She left New York for a West Indies cruise on 19 August 1939.


At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Columbus was ordered to return to Germany at once.

The Royal Navy was on the lookout for enemy ships. Putting her passengers ashore at Havana, Cuba, her captain and crew sped to Veracruz, evading the British.

In early November, they received orders to attempt a blockade run to Germany. On 14 December the Columbus departed Veracruz, escorted by seven American destroyers through the American coastal neutrality zone.[2]: 68, 13–23 

On 19 December the British destroyer HMS Hyperion sighted Columbus about 400 miles off the coast of Virginia. The still neutral American heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa was also in the area, and silently observed the two ships.

Rather than surrender the ship, the crew scuttled her, and she burned and sank. Her passengers and crew, 576 crewmembers, including boys, stevedores and nurses, were taken aboard Tuscaloosa as rescued seamen, not as prisoners of war as they would have been had the British picked them up. Tuscaloosa took all personnel to New York City.[3][4] On 18 January 1940, 512 crewmen were moved to Angel Island. In October, 8 officers were able to escape on the Asama Maru.[2]: 26–43, 50  In 1941, 411 German nationals from the Columbus were sent to Fort Stanton, New Mexico. At the end of war many returned to Germany.

On 11 December 1941, in a speech before the German Reichstag announcing his decision to declare war on the United States, Adolf Hitler described the presence of Tuscaloosa at the scuttling of the Columbus as a hostile act against the German nation, insisting that the American cruiser had forced the liner "into the hands of British warships". As such, Hitler listed the loss of the Columbus among the casus belli for his declaration of war.[5]

See also

References
  1. Harnack, Edwin P (1938) [1903]. All About Ships & Shipping (7th ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 549.
  2. Giese, O., 1994, Shooting the War, Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, ISBN 1557503079
  3. "Interns At New Camp", St. Joseph News-Press, March 18, 1941: 8, retrieved May 4, 2012.
  4. J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, R. Lord. Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites, "Department of Justice Internment Camps: Fort Stanton, New Mexico" (National Park Service) Retrieved 13 Jun 2014.
  5. Hitler, Adolf. Adolf Hitler's Declaration of War against the United States.
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