SS Cleveland
Encyclopedia
Hamburg America Line
The Hamburg Amerikanische Packetfahrt Actien Gesellschaft was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, Germany during...
as a cargo and passenger ship between the United States and Germany, and brought many immigrants to the US from Germany during that time.
The SS Cleveland was built by Blohm & Voss
Blohm + Voss
Blohm + Voss , is a German shipbuilding and engineering works. It is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; there were plans to sell 80% of Blohm + Voss to Abu Dhabi Mar Group, but talks collapsed in July 2011.-History:It was founded on April 5, 1877, by Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss as a...
in Hamburg, Germany in 1908, being 588 feet long, 65 feet wide, and measuring 16,960 gross tons [another source states 607 ft (185 m), 63 ft (19.2 m)]. She was the sister ship to the SS Cincinnati. With twin-screw propellers and quadruple-expansion steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s, the maximum speed was 16 knots. The passenger capacity was 239 first-class, 224 second-class, 496 third-class, and 1,882 steerage. Her maiden voyage was in 1909, leaving from Hamburg, Germany on 26 March and arriving in the port of New York City on 8 April.
The Cleveland was involved in a collision on 12 January 1912 with the SS Colorado which was moored in Honolulu, Hawaii. As the Cleveland was being moved, harbor pilot Milton P. Sanders suddenly dropped dead. Control of the Cleveland was not maintained, resulting in collision with and moderate damage to the Colorado.
Service was suspended during World War I, during which Cleveland was kept at Hamburg. After that, the Cleveland was seized by the United States Government under Germany's reparations for the war, and in 1919 it was renamed USS Mobile (ID-4030).
In 1920 the ship was purchased by the Byron Steamship company based in London, England for use in cruises between New York and the Mediterranean. The name was changed a second time to King Alexander. The ship was sold again in 1923 to United States Lines
United States Lines
United States Lines was a transatlantic shipping company that operated cargo services from 1921 to 1989, and ocean liners until 1969—most famously the SS United States.-1920s:...
, again being renamed back to the original Cleveland and used for passage between Hamburg and New York.
Finally, the Cleveland was purchased back by the Hamburg America Line in 1926; its use continued until she was retired in 1931, and later disassembled for scrap in 1933 in Hamburg.
See also
- List of ocean liners
- Images of SS Cleveland
- Photo gallery at navsource.org