Del triplets

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The Del-Triplets (German: Del Drillinge) were a ship trio of the Mississippi Shipping Company that was put into service in 1946/47 .

history

In the final phase of World War II, the Mississippi Shipping Company from New Orleans, known as Delta Line, began planning to rebuild a fortnightly passenger and cargo service from the Gulf of Mexico across the Caribbean to the South American east coast ports of Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Paranagua and Buenos Aires Aires.

In cooperation with US Navy Commander Howard L. Vickery, the head of the United States Maritime Commission , the shipping company succeeded in initiating the construction of three ships based on the C3 standard cargo ship type. The naval architect George G. Sharp from New York then created a sensational design for three combination ships with streamlined, fully air-conditioned superstructures and an adjoining swimming pool.

The shipyard for the three turbine ships , each costing around seven million US dollars, was Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula . The lead ship Del Norte began her maiden voyage on November 26, 1946. The sister ships Del Sud and Del Mar were put into service on March 28, 1947 and June 13, 1947. After the service had successfully established itself, 44-day round trips could soon be booked, which were marketed under the motto “Resorts at sea”.

Over the next twenty years, the three "Dels" developed a loyal following. The high operating costs led to losses in the 1960s, whereupon the ships were converted to conventional fast freighters in 1967 . In the course of the beginning of containerization, the ships soon fell behind here too. In 1972, all three ships embarked on a final loading voyage to Indonesia and were then sold for scrapping in Taiwan.

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