Bismarck (1922) |
Later names: |
|
Majestic (1922) |
|
HMS Caledonia (1937) |
Builder: |
Blohm & Voss Hamburg, Germany |
Ordered: |
N/A |
Keel Laid: |
1913 |
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Year Built: |
1922 |
Launched: |
July 20, 1914 |
Type: |
Passenger |
Completed: |
March 28, 1922 |
Fate: |
Sept. 29, 1939 burned and sank at Rosyth, Scotland. Raised July 17, 1943 and scrapped at Thomas W. Ward, Inverkeithing, Scotland. |
Owner
|
Hamburg-Amerika Line Hamburg, Germany |
Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (White Star Line) Liverpool, England (After 1934 Cunard White Star) |
|
Admiralty London, England |
Dimensions, machinery and performance |
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Length: |
955' 8" |
Engines: |
4 Parsons direct drive steam turbine (by B&V) |
Beam: |
100' 1" |
Boilers: |
Oil fired |
Draft: |
35' |
Shafts: |
4 |
Gross Tons: |
56,551 (a) |
HP: |
|
DWT: |
N/A |
Speed: |
23.5 knots |
Crew: |
1,000 |
Funnels: |
3 |
Passengers: |
2,095 (b) |
Masts: |
2 |
Construction notes |
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(a): |
After the 1928 refit re-registered at 56,620 tons. |
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(b): |
In the 1928 refit altered to 2,632 total. |
Timeline |
|
1913: |
Keel laid by Kaiser Wilhelm II. |
July 20, 1914: |
Launched. |
Aug. 1914: |
Construction suspended due to war. Hull remained laid up at Blohm & Voss. |
June 1919: |
Ordered to be turned over to the U.K. as war reparations by the Treaty of Versailles. Construction completed by Blohm & Voss under Harland & Wolff supervision. |
Oct. 5, 1920: |
Partially destroyed by fire at Blohm & Voss, the cause of which was suspicious. |
Mar. 28, 1922: |
Completed and taken for trials. Grounded in the Elbe due to low water, refloated on next tide. (When completed the funnels were painted in Hamburg-Amerika colors as a protest by the shipyard, the name Bismarck was also painted on the bows.) |
Apr. 12, 1922: |
Renamed Majestic. |
May 10, 1922: |
Maiden voyage Southampton-Cherbourg-New York. (Under command of Captain Sir Bertram F. Hayes, C.M.G., D.S.O., R.D., R.N.R. who while commander of HMT Olympic used his ship to ram and sink SMS U-103.) Arrived at New York in 5 days, 14 hours, 14 minuets. |
May 20, 1922: |
Departs New York with about 1,600 passengers. Just after entering the narrows an unidentified man jumped overboard and was drowned. (While in New York an estimated 25,000 people toured the ship.) |
June 17, 1922: |
Departing New York on her second voyage was overtaken by a police boat and stopped near Scotland Light and a passenger, William B. Cheeseborough, was detained by the NYPD on charges from California and removed from the ship. |
July 29, 1922: |
After departing New York two teenage stowaways were found, the girls, Anna Muller and Katherine Fleming, were returned on another White Star ship. |
Aug. 6, 1922: |
Inspected by King George VI and Queen Mary at Cowes, Isle of Wight. |
Nov. 15, 1922: |
Arrived at Boston Naval Shipyard for drydocking. The hull was scraped and was repainted. |
Nov. 21, 1922: |
Departed drydock. |
1928: |
Arrived for a refit at Boston Naval Shipyard. Promenade deck enclosed with glass, funnels deepened and passenger accommodations altered to 2,632. |
Oct. 4, 1936: |
Hit by large wave near Bishop Rock breaking windows on the bridge and injuring the master, Edgar L. Trant, commodore of the White Star Line and the 2nd Officer, H. M. McGill. Trant received a head injury which became infected, he was hospitalized in New York on arrival on Oct. 10. |
Feb. 1936: |
Final trans-Atlantic voyage, laid up at Southampton after 207 trans-Atlantic voyages. |
May 15, 1936: |
Sold to Thomas W. Ward for scrap. |
July 1936: |
Bought by the Admiralty for conversion to a cadet training ship. Converted at Thornycroft in Southampton. (funnels and masts lowered) |
Apr. 8, 1937: |
Departed Southampton for Rosyth, Scotland. |
Apr. 23, 1937: |
Commissioned HMS Caledonia. |
Sept. 29, 1940: |
Caught fire and sank in shallow water at Rosyth. |
Mar. 1940: |
Hulk sold to Thomas W. Ward for scrap. Over the next three years some scrapping was completed on site. |
July 17, 1943: |
Raised and towed to Inverkeithing to complete scrapping. |
Notes: |
Bismarck was the last of the three big liners ordered by Albert Ballin, the Director of the Hamburg-Amerika Line, the others, Vaterland and Imperator were both completed and seized by the U.S.A. at the outbreak of the Great War. After the war Imperator was ceded to the U.K. and renamed Berengaria and Vaterland was ceded to the U.S.A. and renamed Leviathan. |
Builder's Data |
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Page published Oct. 19, 2011 |