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The Hamburg Amerika Line had until this
time designed liners for speed. With
their previous fast liner
Deutschland being plagued by
serious vibration problems, they began
building ships to compete for size.
Although Amerika was the largest
ship built in Germany at that time, the
White Star Line owned the one ship in the
world larger, the 23,876-ton
Baltic that entered service in
1904. Her maiden voyage from Hamburg -
Dover, Cherbourg and New York began
October 11th 1905. Additions to
Amerika’s upper passenger
decks in 1907 increased her volume to
22,621 tons. While steaming off Dover in
1912, she was involved in a collision
with the British submarine
‘B2’, 15 submariners
died in the incident. The Hamburg Amerika
Line laid Amerika up at Boston
after the outbreak of World War One in
1914. Germany paid a heavy price for
berthing these ships in American ports as
in 1917; they were all seized to
transport US troops to the war in
Europe.
Between 1917 and 1919, Amerika
completed nine troop-carrying voyages
between the United States and France
under the name America. The end of
the war saw the Treaty of Versailles
award her to the United States Mail
Steamship Company. After undergoing a
refit, America’s new owners
re-deployed her on the New York - Hamburg
run in 1921. She had to undergo almost
two years of repairs after her passenger
decks were damaged by fire during a refit
in 1926. Three years after returning to
the Atlantic run, America was laid
up at Chesapeake Bay. The Japanese
attacks on Pearl Harbor December 7th 1941
led to US Authorities requisitioning the
abandoned America to serve as a
troop ship under the name Edmund B
Alexander. The aftermath of that war
led to large numbers of US servicemen
being based throughout Western Europe.
Between 1946 and 1949, Edmund B
Alexander was used to carry wives and
children of US servicemen to the new
military bases in Europe. The completion
of that task saw Edmund B
Alexander laid up at Hudson River
until her scrapping at Baltimore in
1957.
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