Belgenland (ship, 1917)
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The Belgenland was a transatlantic steamship of the Belgian-American shipping company Red Star Line, launched in 1914 under this name and first put into service in 1917 under the name Belgic . Conceived as a luxury liner for passenger service, it was initially used as a freighter and then as a troop transport in a completely different external form due to the effects of the First World War and managed by the White Star Line . For a short time it was also used as a passenger ship immediately after the war, but only for travelers of the III. Class. Only after the final takeover by the Red Star Line, which was not possible before 1923, and the associated renaming in Belgenland , could the ship, as originally planned and built according to the original plans, be used as a luxury liner in the transatlantic service and later increasingly for cruises and circumnavigations. It remained in service until 1936 and was initially one of the largest ships of its time. Due to its drastically different appearance than Belgic or Belgenland , it was also called "the ship with the two faces".
Planning and commissioning (from 1914)
Since 1909, the enthusiastic Lapland the Red Star Line passengers on the route Antwerp-New York. The expansive course of the Belgian-American shipping company under the umbrella of JP Morgan's IMM conglomerate paid off in full, which is why it was not surprising that an even larger liner was ordered for the Atlantic passage in March 1912. Red Star's new flagship was supposed to be the pride of the kingdom of the Saxon-Coburgs and, quite incidentally, to face the awkward competition from the Holland-America line from the neighboring country. Just as the Lapland was a scaled-down version of White Star's “ Big Four ” class a few years earlier, the Olympic and Titanic were unmistakably the inspiration for the Belgenland that was now being created . With a length of well over 200 m, the steamer would have been one of the largest ships in the world from 1915 if the world war had not got in its way. The ship was built at the same shipyard as the famous White Star liners. Harland & Wolff designed and built the new Atlantic giant because Belgian shipbuilding companies were simply not technologically capable of such an order at the time. Despite the outbreak of war, the launch as Belgenland with registration in Antwerp took place on December 31, 1914 , as pictures from this event clearly show. So it was not, as is often wrongly read, the conversion of a planned, larger White Star ship, but exactly as ordered by the Red Star line, the new flagship was built for the Belgian-American shipping company, based on the design principles of " Olympic Class ". Due to the world war that broke out in July / August 1914, however, the completion as a glamorous luxury liner was out of the question. Belgium became a single battlefield and with the best of intentions could not have taken over the ship. In addition, Antwerp was already in the hands of the Imperial German Army. But Great Britain urgently needs shipping space to supply the island. So it was decided to provisionally complete the Belgenland as a huge freighter and troop transport, to hand it over to the White Star Line and to rename it in Belgic according to its tradition . On June 21, 1917 the steamer was officially put into service with a volume of 24,547 GRT for the government of His Majesty, but had little in common with the originally planned external appearance. De facto without superstructures and with two instead of the planned three chimneys, the Belgic remained visually one of the strangest ships on the Atlantic, whose actual dimensions could no longer be seen. Technically, the liner had been completed essentially as planned. The principle with two piston steam engines for the two outer screws and the steam turbine for the central propeller corresponded in principle exactly to the "Olympic class" and accelerated the ocean liner with 18,500 PSi up to 18 knots. However, the stern construction was completely different. Although Harland & Wolff originally planned a traditional, overhanging stern for the ship, such as the Titanic and Olympic , this was changed in the course of the further construction phases. Here the Belgenland / Belgic ushered in a new era on the North Atlantic. For the first time, a cruiser stern was installed on such a large ship beyond the 200m length mark. This underscored Harland & Wolff's claim to innovation and made the new steamer technically one of the most modern liners of its era. As a Belgic , the ship survived the World War without any damage worth mentioning. In November 1918 the Belgic cast off on her first post-war voyage from Liverpool to New York and stayed on this route until March 8, 1921. The ship was actually used to transport passengers of the III. Great use, for which the Belgic was "spruced up" a little inside and given a civilian Red Star Line paintwork. At that time, Harland & Wolff had no free dock available for substantial renovation work and so the Belgic was launched in Liverpool in April 1921 . When a slipway became free at the shipyard , the Belgic was towed to Belfast in March 1922, where the renovation work began, which turned the Belgic back into the Belgenland with a measurement of 27,132 GRT. A year later, the imposing luxury liner was completed according to the original plans both inside and out and was finally able to begin its real maiden voyage. The equipment left nothing to be missed, was generous from the social lounge to the swimming pool. And in the interior design, too, you could feel the Olympic and Titanic in many places. The library in particular was almost a copy of the counterpart on the two White Star Superliners. The Belgenland was by far the largest and most luxurious Red Star liner of all time. With it the shipping company had reached and passed its zenith.
Time as a luxury liner (from 1923)
On March 17, 1923, the ship for the Red Star Line was completed, which she used in transatlantic passenger traffic and also used for extended winter cruises and circumnavigations of the world. The ship remained registered in Liverpool. The passenger accommodations were designed for 500 passengers in the first, 500 in the second and 1,500 in the third class. In the dining room with 370 seats, described as “ultra-modern”, passengers could sit at tables with two, four or six chairs. Right next door there were separate dining rooms for families or dinner parties who preferred to stay private. The first class cabins had running warm water. The center of society was the reception hall decorated with palm trees , in which the on-board orchestra played and dance evenings took place. Additional facilities included a smoking room, a veranda café, a gym, a kindergarten, a library and a lounge from which the spacious promenade deck could be overlooked.
On April 4, 1923, ran Belgenland in Antwerp for its first trip across Southampton to New York from. On December 4, 1924, she embarked on a 133-day trip around the world, one of the longest voyages of a luxury liner to date. In this context, the Belgenland was touted as "The Largest Ship to Circle the Globe". In April 1927 a fourth passenger class, the tourist class, was introduced and from May 1929 you could only travel in first class, tourist class or third class. On June 17, 1932, the Belgenland made her last voyage on the Antwerp – Southampton – New York route. She was then used for cruises from New York to the Caribbean .
In March 1933 Albert Einstein returned to Europe after a three-month stay in the United States on board the Belgenland . After he received alarming news during the trip about what was going on in Germany now ruled by the National Socialists , he decided not to return to Germany. While on board he made his resignation from the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin . Einstein disembarked in Antwerp and broke off all contacts with Germany. On October 7, 1933 he went with his wife Elsa , his secretary Helene Dukas and his assistant Dr. Walther Mayer in Southampton on board the Red Star Line steamer Westernland to return to the USA.
From May 1926 to March 1933, the former Titanic stewardess Violet Jessop was part of the crew of the Belgenland . She took part in 35 crossings, including two world trips.
Late years (from 1932)
The Great Depression in the late 1920s / early 1930s hit the Red Star Line and Belgenland hard. On March 18, 1933, the Belgenland steamed for the last time from New York to Southampton, Le Havre and Antwerp and was then launched. The following summer, the ship made only three Mediterranean cruises and not a single Atlantic crossing. In September 1933 the Belgenland was launched again in the Port of London on the Thames .
In January 1935, the American company Atlantic Transport Company bought Belgenland and renamed it Columbia . For the Panama Pacific Line, which is subordinate to the Atlantic Transport Company, the Columbia was used for cruises from New York to California via the Panama Canal . After this was unsuccessful, the ship was put on the route from New York to the Caribbean. This also failed because the ship was oversized for this route and was not profitable.
The Columbia was finally decommissioned and put on April 22, 1936 in New York for Great Britain, where on May 4, 1936 in Bo'ness (Scotland) at the demolition yard P & W McLellan began with the scrapping.
Web links
- Technical and historical ship data in The Ships List (upper third)
- Description of the equipment of the Belgenland
- Extensive information on the construction and history of the ship
- Illustrated description of the ship by the White Star Line
- Albert Einstein's journey with the Belgenland in 1933
Individual evidence
- ^ National Museums NI. Retrieved August 17, 2020 (UK English).
- ^ Public Record Office of Northern Ireland: The Belgenland Antwerpen. March 6, 2014, accessed August 17, 2020 .
- ^ Dunn, Laurence T: Belgic. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, accessed August 17, 2020 .
- ^ National Museums NI. Retrieved August 17, 2020 (UK English).
- ^ Belgic (4), White Star Line. Retrieved August 17, 2020 .
- ^ National Museums NI. Retrieved August 17, 2020 (UK English).
- ↑ Einstein's return journey with MS Belgenland in 1933