SS Nieuw Amsterdam (1937) — BrandWiki

SS Nieuw Amsterdam (1937)

Overview

Nieuw Amsterdam

country	Netherlands
namesake	New Amsterdam
nickname	"Darling of the Dutch"
owner	NASM
operator	Holland America Line
registry	Rotterdam
route	1938–39: Rotterdam – Hoboken 1939: Hoboken – Hamilton, Bermuda *1947–71: Rotterdam – Hoboken
ordered	1935
builder	Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij. Rotterdam
original cost	20 million guilders
yard number	200
laid down	January 3, 1936
launched	April 10, 1937
completed	April 23, 1938
maiden voyage	May 10, 1938
refit	1947, 1961
out of service	1973
identification	* call sign PGGF
fate	Scrapped 1974

SS Nieuw Amsterdam was a Dutch transatlantic ocean liner that was built in 1938 and scrapped in 1974. She was the second Holland America Line (Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij, or NASM) ship to be named after the former Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now New York.

When new, Nieuw Amsterdam was the largest and swiftest ship in NASM's fleet, the largest ship in the Dutch merchant fleet, and the largest ship ever built in the Netherlands. She succeeded SS Statendam (1924) as NASM's flagship. She was the Netherlands' "ship of state", just as SS Normandie was for France, RMS Queen Mary was for the United Kingdom, and SS Rex was for Italy.

Her peacetime career, both before and after the Second World War, was seasonal. She made transatlantic crossings between Rotterdam and Hoboken, New Jersey from about April to December, and cruises from about December to April. She cruised from NASM's terminal in Hoboken, mostly to the Caribbean. She twice cruised around South America: the first time early in 1939, and the second time early in 1950.

From 1940 to 1946 Nieuw Amsterdam was an Allied

Building

NASM originally planned to call the ship Prinsendam; a name the company had not used before. However, during her construction NASM changed this to Nieuw Amsterdam. The company's previous SS Nieuw Amsterdam (1905) was launched in 1905 and scrapped in 1932. It had been its flagship until SS Rotterdam (1908) was completed in 1908.

Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij built the new ship in Rotterdam for 20 million guilders as yard number 200. She was laid down on January 3, 1936; launched by Queen Wilhelmina on April 10, 1937; and completed on April 23, 1938.[1]

Nieuw Amsterdam's lengths were 758 ft overall and 713.7 ft registered. Her beam was 88.3 ft and her depth was 50.0 ft. She was the largest ship NASM had ever ordered. All of her dimensions were bigger than those of SS Justicia, which NASM had ordered before the First World War as Statendam, but which the United Kingdom had requisitioned as a troopship, and then lost to enemy action.

Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde built Nieuw Amsterdam's six water-tubed Schelde-Yarrow boilers and eight steam turbines. The boilers had a combined heating surface of 51000 sqft, and supplied steam at 625 psi. Her turbines were in four pairs: high-pressure, low-pressure, and two stages of intermediate pressure. She had twin screws, each driven by four turbines via single reduction gearing. She had two funnels.

The combined power of her eight turbines was rated at 8,116 NHP or 34,620 ihp. On her sea trials in March 1938 she achieved 21.5 kn.[1] Her service speed was 20 kn.[2]

Nieuw Amsterdam had berths for 1,220 passengers: 556 in first class, 455 in second class and 209 in third class. Her holds had capacity for 272000 cuft of grain or 253000 cuft of baled cargo.[1] 17633 cuft of her holds were refrigerated.

When new, Niew Amsterdam was better protected against fire than any other ship afloat. She also had the largest proportion of cabins with ensuite bathrooms, and the largest air conditioning plant of any ship. She was first ocean liner to have an air-conditioned theater.

Pre-war career

Nieuw Amsterdam began her sea trials on March 21, carrying 350 guests. The trip included a call at Boulogne, and got back to Rotterdam on March 24. Her builders handed her over to NASM on April 23.[1] She was registered at Rotterdam, and her wireless telegraph call sign was PGGF.

Nieuw Amsterdam worked NASM's route between Rotterdam and Hoboken, New Jersey. Westbound voyages included calls at Boulogne and Southampton,[8] and eastbound voyages included calls at Plymouth and Boulogne.[4]

She began her maiden voyage from Rotterdam on May 10, 1938.[9] On May 16 she reached Hoboken 10 hours early, having averaged 21.7 kn from Southampton to Hoboken.[8] At Hoboken she landed 537 passengers, including 50 reporters from the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant. [10] She began her return voyage from Hoboken on May 21, called at Plymouth on May 27, and continued to Rotterdam.[11]

Nieuw Amsterdam was variously acclaimed as the "Ship of the Year" or "Ship of Tomorrow". She was neither as large nor as fast as the foremost British, French, German or Italian transatlantic liners, but she won a loyal clientele. She and her running-mate Statendam were among the few profitable liners of the 1930s.[9] On June 11, 1938 Nieuw Amsterdam left Hoboken carrying 850 passengers.[12] On July 2 she left Hoboken with 1,144 passengers, including 485 in cabin class.[13] On July 23 she left Hoboken with 852 passengers, including 410 in cabin class. The latter were reported to be "the largest cabin figures on any ship in recent weeks".[14]

On July 30, 1938 Nieuw Amsterdam became the first ship to subscribe to a new service from the Radiomarine Corporation of America, an RCA subsidiary. A market index of 40 representative stocks would be radioed to participating ships three times a day, for passengers who wished to be kept informed of stock prices.[15] On December 25, NASM announced that 12 electric eyes would be installed, to operate automatic door-openers at the entrances and exits of the escalators used by stewards serving the dining saloons, in order to speed up service.[7]

Transatlantic passenger traffic was seasonal, so Nieuw Amsterdam went cruising from mid-December 1938 to the end of March 1939. She made three cruises: two to Rio de Janeiro, followed by one circumnavigating South America.[16] On December 17, 1938, she left Hoboken for Rio de Janeiro via Curaçao and La Guaira. She returned via Salvador, Bahia,[17] arriving back in Hoboken on January 12, 1939.[18] On January 14 she left Hoboken on her second cruise to Rio de Janeiro,[19] arriving back in Hoboken on February 9, 1939.[20] On February 11, 1939, she left Hoboken on her 48-day cruise around South America.[21] She covered 14000 nmi, and arrived back in Hoboken with 575 passengers on March 29.[22]

Crisis in Europe

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. On the same day, Nieuw Amsterdam reached Hoboken carrying 1,286 passengers. This was 150 more than her capacity, and included a number of refugees. One was the Jewish businessman Arnold Bernstein, whom Nazi Germany had imprisoned, and forced to forfeit his shipping line in return for his release. NASM accommodated 26 women passengers in the children's playroom, 16 in the ship's hospital and six in the officers' mess. 14 male passengers were accommodated in the engineers' mess. Furniture was removed and mattresses laid on floors for them.[23]

On September 5 Nieuw Amsterdam left Hoboken.[24] She was due in Rotterdam on September 13, but the United Kingdom and France were blockading Germany, so on September 11 the Royal Navy arrested her in the English Channel.[25] She joined other ships detained at The Downs anchorage, waiting to be inspected for contraband.[26] The Navy found in her cargo a consignment of 1,500 tons of copper, which one of her passengers had bought in the US for Germany. The Dutch government agreed to assume title of the copper, to avoid the British seizing it. The Navy arrested two tourist class passengers as alleged German spies, and interned 34 German stewards and crew members. One of the alleged spies tried to kill himself.[25] The ship was released on September 14 to complete her voyage.[27]

On September 6, NASM gave Nieuw Amsterdam's crew a 15 percent pay rise. However, after she reached Rotterdam her crew went on strike for hazard pay. The dispute was settled on September 20,[28] but by then 200 prospective passengers had canceled their reservations. As a result, on this crossing she did not need to accommodate passengers in makeshift dormitories.[29] She left Rotterdam on September 22 carrying 1,260 passengers, most of whom were US citizens.[30] After calling at Boulogne and Southampton she reached Hoboken on September 29 carrying 1,197 passengers, including British actress Merle Oberon and Polish pianist Jan Smeterlin. Also aboard was Chiang Kai-shek's adopted son Chiang Wei-kuo, who had been serving in the German Army.[29]

Early post-war years

On October 29, 1947 Nieuw Amsterdam left Rotterdam for Hoboken for the first time in seven years.[66] She called at Southampton,[67] and on November 6 entered the Hudson River to a traditional welcome of fireboats making a display with jets of water, and ships and boats giving three blasts on their whistles. At Hoboken she landed 1,256 passengers.[62] On November 10 she left Hoboken for Rotterdam, carrying 604 passengers, and 44919 lb of charity relief supplies for the Netherlands.[68]

On December 4, 1947 Nieuw Amsterdam left Hoboken on a cruise to the Caribbean: her first cruise since May 1940.[69]

Until 1940, NASM transatlantic ships had served Boulogne. After the war this did not resume, because the port of Boulogne was not yet in a condition to resume handling large ocean liners. Instead, from February 3, 1948, Nieuw Amsterdam started calling at Le Havre.[70]

In 1948 some of her westbound crossings were almost fully-booked. The number of passengers she landed at Hoboken from Europe was 1,190 on August 10,[71] 1,244 on November 3,[72] and 1,201 on December 19.[73] Among them were the writer Aldous Huxley on November 3,[72] and Ralph Bunche on December 19, returning from his work assisting the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine.[73] Notable passengers sailing east on Nieuw Amsterdam that year included the exiled royal family of Yugoslavia: King Peter II, Queen Alexandra, and their young son Crown Prince Alexander, who left Hoboken for France and Britain on July 24.[74]

Nieuw Amsterdam was scheduled to make five cruises in the 1948–49 season.[75] The first carried 800 passengers.[76] It left Hoboken on December 21, called at San Juan, La Guaira and Kingston, Jamaica,[77] and got back to Hoboken on January 3, 1949.[78] Her third cruise was an 18-day voyage that added Cap-Haïtien and Ciudad Trujillo to her more usual ports of call. It left Hoboken on January 21, carrying 650 passengers. Two similar cruises followed.[75] On March 24, 1949, she resumed her transatlantic service, leaving Hoboken with 1,120 passengers for Europe.[79]

The Master of NASM's flagship was customarily commodore of the company's fleet. Nieuw Amsterdam was the flagship from her introduction in 1938 until the introduction of the new SS Rotterdam in 1959. The flagship was entitled to a special version of the NASM's green and white house flag, which had an orange star in one corner.[80] In June 1949 NASM appointed a new Master to Nieuw Amsterdam, Cornelis HP Coster, who was also a commandeur in the Royal Netherlands Navy Reserve. This entitled Nieuw Amsterdam to fly the ensign of the Dutch naval reserve while he was in command.[81] Coster retired in October 1950.[80]

In 1949 the ship continued to be almost fully-booked on some crossings. The number of passengers she landed at Hoboken from Europe was 997 on June 28,[82] 1,230 on September 4,[83] 1,201 on October 19,[84] and 1,038 on December 14, including the composer Samuel Barber.[85] On August 16 she left Hoboken for Europe carrying 1,025 passengers, including the sculptor Jacob Epstein, pollster George Gallup, and actor Walter Pidgeon.[86]

For the 1949–50 cruise season, Nieuw Amsterdam was to make a series of Caribbean voyages, and then end the season with a 50-day circumnavigation of South America. Her first Caribbean cruise left Hoboken on the night of December 17–18, 1949, carrying 600 passengers. New ports of call included Fort-de-France, and Cartagena, Colombia.[87] On January 6, 1950, she left Hoboken on a 13-day Caribbean cruise carrying only 400 passengers.[88] However, on January 21 she began her next 13-day cruise with 675 passengers.[89]

Her voyage around South America began from Hoboken on February 8. 607 passengers paid a total of US$2.7 million in fares. Her route was via Havana to the Panama Canal, then anti-clockwise around the continent: down the Pacific coast of South America, up the Atlantic coast, and into the Caribbean to visit Trinidad, Curaçao and Jamaica before returning.[90] She got back to Hoboken on March 29.[91] On March 31 she resumed her transatlantic service, leaving Hoboken for Rotterdam.[92] NASM claimed that demand for transatlantic travel in 1950 was high, with many sailings scheduled for later in the year already fully-booked by February.[93]

On December 20, 1950, the ship left Hoboken on her first Caribbean cruise of the 1950–51 season.[94] She returned on January 1, 1951.[95] That winter, using both Nieuw Amsterdam and a smaller liner, SS Veendam (1922), NASM ran seven cruises, which carried a total of about 4,000 passengers.[96]

Reduction gear failure

At the end of October 1951, Nieuw Amsterdam was taken out of service for three months for her five-year survey[97] and an overhaul.[98] At the end of January, 1952 she left Rotterdam, on February 6 she arrived in Hoboken,[99] and on February 9 she left carrying 750 passengers on a seven-day cruise to Havana and Nassau, Bahamas.[98] One of her subsequent cruises started from Hoboken on March 18 and was due back on the morning of April 1. However, when she was in harbor in Kingston, Jamaica, the reduction gearing to her starboard propeller shaft broke. This reduced her speed to 13 kn and impaired her maneuverability. Her Master canceled a call she was scheduled to make at Havana, she got back to Hoboken half a day late, and NASM gave her 750 passengers an eight percent refund on their fares.[100]

Nieuw Amsterdam was repaired and returned to service. On June 6 she left Hoboken on a fully-booked sailing with 1,213 passengers for Europe.[101] On July 20 she reached Hoboken with 1,082 passengers from Europe.[102] On November 6 the Panamanian Liberty ship Faustus ran aground, blocking the Nieuwe Waterweg into Rotterdam. By November 8 she was still aground, so Nieuw Amsterdam was diverted to the Port of Amsterdam. It was the first time she had ever visited the port.[1]

For 1953, Nieuw Amsterdam's schedule included a 36-day Rotary cruise to the western Mediterranean, starting from Hoboken on April 23. One of her eastbound transatlantic crossings was scheduled to make an additional intermediate call at Boston on August 18, to embark a pilgrimage to Ireland led by Archbishop Richard Cushing.[103] Some of her transatlantic crossings were almost fully-booked. On November 13, 1953, she landed 1,145 passengers at Hoboken, including the Hungarian ballet-dancers István Rabovsky and Nora Kovach, who had defected via West Berlin that May.[104]

On June 11, 1955 Nieuw Amsterdam diverted on an Atlantic crossing to meet the Greek cargo ship Marpessa, which had radioed for help for an injured crewman. He was transferred to Nieuw Amsterdam's hospital, where surgeon from among the liner's passengers operated on him, assisted by the ship's physician.[105]

For the 1956–57 season, NASM at first planned for Nieuw Amsterdam to make two Caribbean cruises, and then a 60-day cruise to the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean, including Istanbul and Venice.[106] However, the company later replaced the Mediterranean cruise with three more Caribbean ones. She was to spend the first part of the winter undergoing a three-month overhaul, which was to include fitting stabilizers to her hull and installing air conditioning throughout her passenger accommodation.[107] At the same time, her hull was repainted from NASM's traditional black to a new dove-gray.[108]

She returned to service in January 1957, called at Halifax on the first westbound crossing after her overhaul, and arrived at Hoboken on January 29.[108] She was to start her first cruise from Hoboken on February 19, 1957, and the fifth and final one on April 30.[107]

1961 refit

In October 1961 Nieuw Amsterdam was withdrawn from service to be extensively refitted. Her accommodation was reduced to two classes: first class and tourist class. Her cabins and public rooms were given new carpets, mirrors, and furniture. Lighting was improved throughout the ship. An additional children's playroom, shopping arcade, library, music room, writing room, and CinemaScope movie theater were added.[116] The refit took four months, and cost the equivalent of more than US$5 million.[117]

Much of her passenger accommodation was made flexible, to meet the differing requirements of cruising and transatlantic service. Her first class accommodation could be varied from 301 to 690 berths, and her tourist accommodation could be varied from 583 to 972 berths. For cruising, she would offer up to 750 first class berths. Her machinery and electrical equipment were overhauled.[116] The overhaul increased her tonnage from to .[118] After her overhaul the ship arrived in Hoboken on January 26, 1962[117] to begin the first of four Caribbean cruises for that season.[116]

After her refit, NASM increased the number of months Nieuw Amsterdam spent cruising, and reduced the number that she spent in transatlantic service. By late October 1962 she was on a 12-day fall cruise,[119] and NASM planned a season of continuous cruises from December 1962 to June 1963.[120] In New York on April 22, 1963, Crown Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands came aboard the ship for a private lunch during her World tour.[121] The ship continued to be nearly fully-booked for some of her transatlantic crossings. On August 21, 1963, she landed 1,163 passengers from Europe at Hoboken.[122]

In February 1967 NASM installed a Golfomat electronic golf simulator aboard the ship, and engaged Doug Ford to demonstrate it in port. The machine simulated the golf course of the Congressional Country Club in Maryland.[123] Also in 1967, NASM rescheduled Nieuw Amsterdam's annual overhaul to start at the beginning of April instead of the end, for reasons of economy. The company canceled a 12-day Caribbean cruise, six-day Bermuda cruise and one eastbound transatlantic crossing that she the ship been scheduled to make. She was scheduled to return to service on May 6, leaving Rotterdam on a 28-day Mediterranean cruise.[124]

Mostly in the North Atlantic

Her duties changed in February 1944. She was in Durban from February 10 to 20, called at Cape Town on February 22, and then went via Freetown in Sierra Leone to the Firth of Clyde in Scotland.[55]

Nieuw Amsterdam spent the next few months of 1944 trooping across the North Atlantic, usually between Halifax and the Clyde. She was in New York on April 13–18, and from May 7 to June 3. She made one voyage via Freetown to Cape Town, where she was in port on August 22–27. She then resumed North Atlantic crossings between the Clyde and either New York or Halifax, with one visit to Boston from October 25 to November 11. On March 4–8 she was in Liverpool.[55]

Her duties changed again in April 1945. She left the Clyde on April 22, andwent via Gibraltar, the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal to Australia, where she was in Fremantle on May 16–18 and Sydney from May 23 to June 2. She then went via Durban, Cape Town and Freetown to Liverpool, where she was in port on July 6–18. She then crossed the Atlantic via Halifax to New York, where she spent a month in port from July 26 to August 24.[55]

From New York, Nieuw Amsterdam crossed to Southampton, from where she made two round trips to Halifax in September and October 1945. She left Southampton on October 26, went via the Suez Canal and Trincomalee in Ceylon, and Penang and Port Swettenham in Malaya, and reached Singapore on November 22,[55] where she landed 5,000 Dutch troops and civilians on their way back to the Dutch East Indies.[1]

On December 8 she left Singapore, carrying 3,800 Dutch citizens, including 1,200 children, to be repatriated to the Netherlands.[1][60] The children were very weak after being held in Japanese internment camps. Measles broke out aboard ship, and many of the children died. Girls aged 17 and 18 volunteered as nurses, but they became infected and died. The dead were buried at sea, and the funerals were held silently, at night, in an attempt to avoid causing panic.[60] The ship went via Colombo and the Suez Canal to Southampton, where she arrived on January 1, 1946.[55]

Nieuw Amsterdam was a troop ship for 73 months, in which time she sailed 530452 nmi, including 17 round trips across the North Atlantic and back, and carried 378,361 people.[61][62] She was returned to her owners, and arrived back in Rotterdam on April 11, 1946.

Also by 1946, radar had been added to her navigation equipment.

SS Nieuw Amsterdam (1937)

Building

Interior

Pre-war career

Crisis in Europe

Bermuda service

1939–40 winter cruises

Troop ship

In and around the Indian Ocean

1947 refit

Early post-war years

Reduction gear failure

Fire in Rotterdam

1961 refit

Replacement boilers

Port Everglades

Bibliography

External links

References

Mostly in the North Atlantic