SS Cleveland

SS Cleveland was a German transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in 1908 and scrapped in 1933. Cleveland was built for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) as a sister ship for Cincinnati.

Cleveland in the port of Hong Kong, 1909.
History
Name
  • 1908: Cleveland
  • 1919: Mobile
  • 1920: King Alexander
  • 1923: Cleveland
Namesake
Owner
Port of registry
Route
BuilderBlohm & Voss, Hamburg
Launched26 September 1908
Maiden voyage27 March 1909
Identification
FateScrapped 1933
General characteristics
Tonnage16,970 GRT, 10,145 NRT
Displacement27,000 tons
Length588.9 ft (179.5 m)
Beam65.3 ft (19.9 m)
Draught50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
Depth46.6 ft (14.2 m)
Decks3
Installed powerby 1930: 2,046 NHP
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity
  • passengers, 1908:
  • 246 first class
  • 332 second class
  • 448 third class
  • 1,801 steerage class
  • troops, 1919: 4,620
  • refrigerated cargo:
  • 29,577 cubic feet (838 m3)
Crew1919: 573
Sensors and
processing systems
Notessister ship: Cincinnati

Captain Christian Dempwolf of the SS Moltke was appointed as captain of the Cleveland in late August 1909.[1]

In 1919 Cleveland became the troop ship USS Mobile (ID-4030). In 1920 it returned to civilian service as the UK liner King Alexander. In 1923 United American Lines bought her and restored it original name Cleveland.

In 1926 HAPAG bought Cleveland back. It was laid up from 1931 and scrapped in 1933.

Building

Blohm & Voss built Cleveland at Hamburg. She was launched on 26 September 1908, two months after her sister Cincinnati.[2]

Cleveland's registered length was 588.9 ft (179.5 m), her beam was 65.3 ft (19.9 m) and her depth was 46.6 ft (14.2 m). Her tonnages were 16,970 GRT and 10,145 NRT.[3] As built, she had berths for 2,827 passengers: 246 first class, 332 second class, 448 third class and 1,801 steerage class.[2] She also had 29,577 cubic feet (838 m3) of refrigerated hold space for perishable cargo.[4]

Cleveland had twin screws, each driven by a quadruple expansion steam engine.[3] They gave her a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h).[2]

Early career

Cleveland began her maiden voyage from Hamburg to New York on 27 March 1909. She spent the next five years mostly in scheduled transatlantic service.[2]

Cleveland also made six cruises around the World.[2] On 24 January 1912 she was being moved in Honolulu Harbor when her pilot, Milton P Sanders, died of a heart attack.[5] As a result, control of Cleveland was lost, and her bow collided with the stern of the cruiser USS Colorado.[6]

By 1913 Cleveland was equipped for wireless telegraphy. Her call sign was DDV.[7]

HAPAG had scheduled further World cruises for Cleveland and her sister for 1915. Cleveland was due to leave Hamburg on 14 January 1915 and return on 4 June. Instead, in the First World War HAPAG suspended its passenger services and Cleveland was laid up in Hamburg.[2]

War reparations

In 1919 the United States Government seized Cincinnati as World War I reparations. She was converted at Liverpool, England into a troop ship with berths for 4,620 troops, and commissioned as USS Mobile.[8]

Mobile made nine transatlantic crossings from France to the USA, repatriating a total of 21,073 US troops. In November 1919 she was decommissioned and relinquished to the United States Shipping Board.[8]

White Star Line briefly chartered Mobile, and then the Byron Steamship Company bought her and renamed her King Alexander after Alexander of Greece. The company was a UK-based subsidiary of the National Greek Line. Hence King Alexander was registered in London[9] but her new route was between Greece and the USA.[2]

In 1923 United American Lines bought King Alexander and restored her original name Cleveland. Prohibition in the United States had begun in 1920, so UAL registered her in Panama to enable her to serve liquor aboard. UAL had Cleveland refitted in Hamburg and restored to her Hamburg – New York route.[2]

Final years

In 1926 HAPAG bought back Cleveland and two other former HAPAG passenger liners from UAL for ℛℳ 10 million.[10]

Plan of a triple-expansion piston engine with Bauer-Wach exhaust turbine system. Cleveland had quadruple-expansion engines, but the arrangement of her turbines was similar.

In 1929 a Bauer-Wach exhaust turbine system was added to each of Cleveland's engines.[11] Exhaust steam from the low-pressure cylinder drove a turbine, which via double-reduction gearing and a Föttinger fluid coupling drove the same shaft as the reciprocating engine. The two turbines increased Cleveland's total installed power to 2,046 NHP.[3]

Cleveland was laid up from 1931. In 1933 HAPAG sold her back to Blohm & Voss for scrap.[2]

References
  1. "Captain Dempwolf Promoted." Baltimore, Maryland: The Baltimore Sun, August 29, 1909, p. 23 (subscription required).
  2. "Cleveland (1909–1933)". Hamburg-Amerikanische-Paketfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft (H.A.P.A.G.) (in German). Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  3. "Steamers & Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). Lloyd's Register. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  4. "List of vessels fitted with refrigerating appliances". Lloyd's Register (PDF). Lloyd's Register. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  5. "Colorado's damage slight". The New York Times. 28 January 1912. p. 29. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  6. "The Colorado damaged". The New York Times. 25 January 1912. p. 3. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  7. The Marconi Press Agency Ltd 1913, p. 235.
  8. "Mobile II (Id.No. 4030)". Naval History and Heritage Command. United States Navy. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  9. Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (1921). Mercantile Navy List. Board of Trade. p. 338. Retrieved 19 February 2021 – via Crew List Index Project.
  10. Wilson 1956, pp. 46–47.
  11. "Mobile (ID 4043)". NavSource Online. Retrieved 23 February 2021.

Bibliography
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Mobile (1908).
  • Boyle, Ian. "HAPAG Page 2: 1900–1914". Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). Simplon Poastcards. – postcards of Cleveland in her civilian liveries
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