Blücher (ship, 1902)
 The Blücher
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The passenger steamer Blücher came into service as an improved Barbarossa class ship for HAPAG . His name was reminiscent of the Prussian field marshal von Blücher , who had distinguished himself in the wars of liberation against Napoleon .
When the order was awarded, it was planned to use the Reichspostdampferlinie to East Asia, which HAPAG still operated jointly with Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL).
In fact, the Blücher was first used in the North Atlantic, as HAPAG gave up its stake in the Reichspostdampferlinie at the end of 1903.
Use at HAPAG
The Blücher left Hamburg on June 6, 1902 on her maiden voyage to New York . It was mainly used on this route alongside cruises until 1912.
In 1906 she was used for the first time to carry out a cruise and replaced her sister ship Moltke in this area .
On January 8, 1910, the Blücher began a special cruise in New York that was to last 81 days: "The First Grand Cruise to South America and the Straits of Magellan" .
The ship ran via Saint Thomas , Belém (Pará) , Bahia , Santos , Montevideo to Punta Arenas , where it met a French Antarctic research group. The return trip led via Buenos Aires , Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro , Pernambuco , Trinidad and Kingston (Jamaica) back to New York.
In 1912, the ship's luxury cabins were converted, which was now to be used on the Río de la Plata in conjunction with the HSDG steamer Cap Finisterre (14,503 GRT). On June 26, 1912, the Blücher started this service.
War and post-war use
On August 3, 1914, the Blücher headed for Recife / Pernambuco and was launched there.
On June 1, 1917, when Brazil entered the war, the ship was confiscated and renamed the Leopoldina . Like the sister ship Moltke in Italy, the former Blücher was now the largest Brazilian merchant ship.
The government chartered the ship to France on February 27, 1918.
The Leopoldina was used between April and December 1921 by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in service to the USA. In March 1923 the ship was bought and renamed Suffren . On May 9, 1923, she ran for the first time from Le Havre with the new name to New York. Her last trip to the USA began on September 22, 1928. Then the former Blücher was launched and canceled in Genoa in May 1929.
literature
- Arnold Kludas : Rapid growth from 1900 to 1914 . In: The history of German passenger shipping , Volume 3 (= writings of the German Maritime Museum ). No. 20 . Ernst Kabel Verlag, Hamburg 1988, ISBN 3-8225-0039-9 .
- Claus Rothe: German ocean passenger ships. 1896 to 1918 . Steiger Verlag, Moers 1986, ISBN 3-921564-80-8 .