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This liner was one of two sister ships
ordered by the North German Lloyd Line to
be delivered in 1915. The outbreak of
World War One in 1914 forced work on both
ships to be postponed for the duration of
the war. After the war came to an end in
1918, the nearly completed
Columbus II was awarded to
the White Star Line to be operated under
the name Homeric. The Allies took
no interest in second ship with the
intended name ‘Hindenburg’ as
it was still at the early stage of
building. Due to a shortage of materials
in the following years, it took until
1922 for the second ship to be launched.
The North German Lloyd Line had by then
decided to use the name Columbus for
their new ship. After setting out on her
maiden voyage from Bremen - New York
April 22nd 1924, this third ship to use
the name Columbus became the largest ship
in service for a German company as the
Allies had confiscated all their larger
ships after the war.
The instant success of Columbus
led to the North German Lloyd Line
placing orders for two 51,000-ton ships,
Bremen and Europa. Due to
propulsion problems beginning in 1927,
Columbus had to be returned to her
builders in 1929 to undergo an extensive
refit. She had geared steam turbines
fitted at that time and new shorter
funnels to make her look more modern. At
the outbreak of World War Two,
Columbus was returning to New York
form a cruise in the Caribbean when her
captain received orders to put into
Havana. Further orders were received
while at Havana to unload the 745
passengers and make a run for Germany.
After a British man-o-war tracked
Columbus down on route to Germany,
her crew took the decision to scuttle
their ship rather than have it fall into
the hands of the enemy. On September 20th
1939, Columbus went down on fire
400 miles off the American coast. The
American cruiser Tuscaloosa picked
up her crew of 579.
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