by Peter A. Huchthausen
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n 30 August 1939, the German express passenger liner SS Bremen slipped her moorings on Manhattan's West Side and sailed out of New York-embarking on a 3 1/ 2 -month long,
berween New York and the major European pons of Southampton, Cherbourg, Bremerhaven, and Hamburg. Germany snatched a substantial but brief lead in this race in 1929 with the new oil-burn-
Norddeutscher Lloyd's SS Bremen
life and death running escape from British warships. This episode symbolized the fading hope on both sides of the Atlantic of avoiding a return to unrestricted submarine warfare at sea. The express liners of the 1920s and 1930s were a means of transportation for businessmen, statesmen, artists, and ordinary travelers alike who demanded swift and efficient rransAtlantic crossings. In the 1930s popular luxury travel berween the Americas and Europe focused on the rapid crossings achieved by the express service of British, French , and German liners
ing, steam-turbine rwins SS Bremen and SS Europa, owned and operated by Norddeutscher (North German) Lloyd. The populariry of these new German liners demanded a third ship to meet the strenuous requirements of the express route. Norddeutscher acquired an older liner, the 32,35 0-ton Columbus, whose keel had been laid during World War I and had been retained by defeated Germany only through a loophole in the Treary of Versailles. They modified her stacks to resemble her running mates and thus increased their New York express to a trio. By 1932 the three exp ress liners had captured Passengers relax in one ofSS Bremen's first-class cabins. more than rwelve percent of the North Atlantic passenger service. During this same period, the forward thinking Nordde utscher Lloyd also prepared for the advent of transAtlantic air travel by sponsoring the first airship company, Deutsche Zep plin-Reederei, which operated the passenger carrying Graf Zeppelin and ill-fated Hindenburg. Bremen was built by the A. G. Weser Shipyard
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Bremen, Germany. She was designed to make regular cross ings in five days averagi ng 27 knots. Bremen easily took the Blue Ribband world speed award on her m aiden crossing in July 1929, sailing from Cherbourg breakwater to New York's Ambrose Channel lightship in just over four days. Averaging 27.9 kn ots, she broke the record of the British Mauretania. To clin ch her reputation, Bremen returned from New York to Plymouth (Eddystone Light) averaging 27.92 knots. No maiden round trip with rwo record-breaking crossings had ever been accomplished. German engineers disclosed that Bremen's speed was attained with less than her full design power capabili ry, claimed to be 92,500 shaft horsepower. Bremen was powered by rwenry watertube boilers driving steam turbines linked by si ngle, direct drive reduction gears to four propellers. The ship inco rporated the new bulbous bow, designed by American Admiral David Taylor, which improved flow and enhanced speed. Bremen displaced 51,656 tons with a draft of 32 feec. She was built with positive stabiliry under all loading conditions and designed to sustain total flooding of any rwo adjacent compartments. Bremen carried 1,600 tons offuel within a double hull and could load 9,500 tons of fresh water. She was equipped wi th the most modern safery systems, including a fire protection system designed to New York Port Authoriry standards. Her life boats could hold 200 mo re than the total co mplement of passengers and crew. Bremen was also equipped with a Heinke! flo atplane, which was catapulted from a revolving rail located berween the stacks. The plane co uld be launched up to 600 miles from the destination to deliver prioriry mail. By 1935, with the improvem ent of wireless and telephone communications, the floatplanes were discontinued and the catapult was replaced by a large garage for storing automobiles and excess baggage. Many of Bremen's design aspects were unique; for example, the swimming pool was built directly above the keel below "G Deck" and surrounded by rwo boiler rooms, which kept it sufficiently warm to use in winter. A first class restaurant was placed berween the stacks on the sun deck boasting a glorious panoramic view of the sea. 111
SEA HISTORY 110, SPRING 2005