Nieuw Amsterdam (ship, 1938)
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The Nieuw Amsterdam was a steam turbine ship of the Holland-America Line and at times its flagship .
history
The Nieuw Amsterdam was put into service in May 1938; the keel was laid on January 5, 1936 and the ship was christened by Queen Wilhelmina on April 10, 1937. The Nieuw Amsterdam was at that time the largest ship ever built in the Netherlands. It was completely furnished in the Art Deco style , the exclusively artificially lit main restaurant was decorated with Murano glass and the columns in it were covered with gold leaf . The maiden voyage began on May 10, 1938 in Rotterdam and led to New York via Boulogne-sur-Mer and Southampton . The Nieuw Amsterdam began its last intended journey before it was used as a troop transport on November 22, 1939; after that she stayed in New York and was only used for short distances to keep her out of the war.
Only in September 1940 she was made available to the British War Department, which ordered her to Halifax, where she was converted into a troop transport. Her entire luxurious interior has been removed and the previously black paintwork on her hull has been replaced by a field gray one. Because time was pressing and the Allies had to transport troops from New Zealand and Australia to the Middle East, the ship was sent unarmed on its first voyage in military service. Only in Singapore were 36 guns installed. In January 1941 the Nieuw Amsterdam was used to pick up troops from Australia in convoy with the Queen Mary , the Mauretania , the Aquitania and the Empress of Britain and Andes . She then operated between Suez and Durban . After the bombing of Pearl Harbor , it was used in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. A submarine attack off Halifax on Christmas 1944 was probably recognized in time. Destroyers accompanying the Nieuw Amsterdam swarmed out, and it can be assumed that they sank the enemy submarine. In the last year of the war, the Nieuw Amsterdam transported Canadian and US troops to Scotland .
After the war, the ship was initially used to bring Dutch citizens home from the West Indies. On April 10, 1946, it was returned to its home port of Rotterdam, now again in the possession of the Holland-America Line, and on May 22, it was handed over to its builders in order to undo the changes that the war effort had brought about . The furniture had been stored in San Francisco , but now it turned out that these six years had not left the ship's furnishings without traces. 3000 chairs and 500 tables had to be refurbished and numerous pieces of furniture completely replaced. All 374 bathrooms had to be replaced and the wooden parts of the furnishings, which were decorated over and over with carvings from the soldiers transported, had to be replaced. On October 29, 1947, however, the ship was again ready to fulfill its original purpose. It now had 36,667 gross tons .
From 1947 to 1971 the Nieuw Amsterdam provided the liner service between Rotterdam and New York and also served as a cruise ship. She continued to enjoy great popularity, even though the United States , which scored a Blue Ribbon on her maiden voyage under Harry Manning , withdrew her rank as the flagship of the fleet. Nevertheless, it was modernized again in 1956. Among other things, air conditioning was made possible for the entire ship and the hull was painted gray following the new HAL color concept. In 1961 it was renovated again; From this point on, there were only cabins in first class and tourist class, and third class was no longer available. The ship with the eleven decks and indoor and outdoor pools now had 36,982 gross tons. Outwardly, it had changed with the long picture windows cut into its sides. In 1967 new boilers were installed because more and more problems were showing up in operation. On November 8, 1972, it started its last voyage in regular service, after which it was only used for cruises. From September 1972 it sailed under the flag of the Antilles . However, due to the age of the ship, the cruise operation with the Nieuw Amsterdam also ended on December 17, 1973. In 1974 she was scrapped in Taiwan .
More ships named Nieuw Amsterdam
The name Nieuw Amsterdam had already been borne by an earlier ship of the Holland America Line, the Nieuw Amsterdam . In 1983 it was given again to a HAL ship that is now sailing under the name Thomson Spirit , and in 2010 another ship of this shipping company was named Nieuw Amsterdam .
Use as a company logo
The silhouette of the Nieuw Amsterdam can be seen in the HAL company logo.
Known passengers
Thomas and Katia Mann used the Nieuw Amsterdam when they moved to the United States in 1938. They went on board in Boulogne on September 17, 1938. Albert Schweitzer , Katharine Hepburn , Rita Hayworth and Spencer Tracy also traveled on this ship. During the Second World War , the Greek royal family used the ship to go into exile in South Africa.
Others
A Schreiber sheet , which can be used to build a model of the Nieuw Amsterdam on a scale of 1: 400, is available in stores; other models and kits can also be purchased.
literature
- Thomas Mann, sea voyage with Don Quixote. With an overview and photographs of all of Thomas Mann's trips to the Atlantic , Frankfurt am Main (Fischer) 2002, ISBN 3-10-048513-0 , p. 53
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.halpostcards.com/unofficial/rdm2.html
- ↑ http://www.halpostcards.com/unofficial/namst38p.html
- ↑ http://cruises.about.com/b/2008/10/12/holland-america-will-name-its-15th-ship-the-nieuw-amsterdam.htm
- ↑ Simone Schreyer: The rich in tradition: Nieuw Amsterdam. In: Focus Online . November 24, 2009. Retrieved October 14, 2018 .
- ↑ http://qa.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-onboard/NieuwAmsterdam