Brasil class
 The Universe Explorer
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The two Brasil-class combination ships of the MARAD-Design P2-S2-9a each achieved well over forty years of successful service.
history
Moore-McCormack
The shipyard Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi began on July 6, 1956 with the construction of the type ship of the class. The Brasil was delivered on September 4, 1958, followed by the Argentina as the second ship on December 9 of the same year . Both units, each costing 25 million US dollars, were used by the US shipping company Moore-McCormack on its freight and passenger liner service between the United States and ports on the east coast of South America. In 1963, the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Baltimore added a superstructure deck to each of the two ships in order to increase the passenger area by 120 seats each. Against the background of the relatively expensive operation under the American flag, the high fuel consumption and the rapidly increasing air travel in South America since the early 1960s, the two ships could no longer be operated economically after eleven years of service, whereupon Moore-McCormack laid up the ships in 1969.
Holland America Line twice
After three years of lay-in, the first change of ownership took place in 1972. The Holland-America Line (HAL) acquired two ships for a total of about 20 million US dollars and left them at the Lloyd shipyard in Bremerhaven purely for passenger ships rebuild. After the renovation, the measurement increased to 23,500 GRT and the passenger capacity to 739. The new shipping company put the two ships back into service as Volendam and Veendam . Only three years after the conversion, HAL gave both ships to its subsidiary Monarch Cruise Lines, which they renamed Monarch Sun and Monarch Star . In 1977 and 1978 HAL bought back both ships and renamed them Volendam and Veendam . HAL sold both ships to various shipping companies in 1984 and 1985.
More careers
In the mid-1980s, the two ships parted ways, both were resold numerous times in the following years and renamed just as often. Time and again, the high fuel consumption of the turbine ships turned out to be disadvantageous for the profitability of the respective operators, but both ships remained in service until the early 2000s.
The original Argentina was last operated as the Enchanted Isle by the Commodore Cruise Line. After its bankruptcy in 2001, the ship lay on the Mississippi for some time before it was renamed New Orleans in 2003 and sent to Alang for demolition.
The former Brasil stood out again with a few events at the end of her career. After it was converted into the University of Pittsburgh's Universe Explorer training ship as the Enchanted Seas at the end of 1995 , it was used as a floating university. On July 27, 1996, a fire broke out in the laundry, in which five crew members died of smoke inhalation and a further 55 crew members and one passenger were injured. There was damage of around 1.5 million US dollars, which was repaired in Vancouver. From 2002 the training trips were continued as “Semester at Sea” of the shipping company World Explorer Cruises. After the ship had been extensively overhauled in Hong Kong in August 2004, Rikkan Shipping from Monrovia acquired the ship on November 9th of that year and sent her ten days later as Universe on her last voyage to Alang. Once there, she was finally put on the beach on December 7, 2004 and scrapped the following year.
Overview
| Type P2-S2-9a - Brasil class | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Building name | Commissioning | Build number | Renaming and whereabouts |
| Brazil | 4th September 1958 | 467 | 1972 → Volendam , 1975 → Monarch Sun , 1977 → Volendam , 1984 → Island Sun , 1985 → Liberte , 1987 → Canada Star , 1988 → Queen of Bermuda , 1990 → Enchanted Seas , 1996 → Universe Explorer , 2004 → Universe , 2004/5 → Demolition in Alang |
| Argentina | December 9, 1958 | 468 | 1972 → Veendam , 1974 → Brasil , 1975 → Veendam , 1976 → Monarch Star , 1978 → Veendam , 1984 → Bermuda Star , 1990 → Enchanted Isle , 2003 → New Orleans , 2003/4 → demolition in Alang |
Web links
- The ships at Simplonpc (English)
- The Bermuda Star in Midshipcentury (English)
- Werftbauliste of Ingalls on shipbuildinghistory.com (English)