Liner (2f/2m).
L/B/D:
939.1 × 101.9 (286.3m × 31.1m). Tons:
51,656 grt. Hull:
steel. Comp.:
1st 600, 2nd 500, tourist 300, 3rd 600; crew 990. Mach.:
steam turbines, 4 screws; 27 kts. Built:
AG Weser, Bremen, Ger.; 1929.
One of two express steamers laid down for Norddeutscher Lloyd's transatlantic passenger service, the sleek-hulled, squat-funneled Bremen was launched on August 16, 1928, one day after her sister ship
Europa. Initially conceived as 35,000-ton ships to sail in consort with NDL's Columbus, while still on the ways it was decided to enlarge the ships to 50,000 tons in a direct bid to rival Cunard Line's
Mauretania, queen of the Atlantic since 1909. Bremen's maiden voyage from Bremen to Southampton, Cherbourg, and New York began on July 17, 1929, and ended five days later, after a crossing from Cherbourg to Ambrose Light at a speed of 27.83 knots (4 days, 17 hours, and 42 minutes)—more than one knot faster than Mauretania's record of twenty years before. She surrendered the westbound honor to Europa the following year, but on the return leg of her maiden voyage, she set an eastbound record of 27.91 knots between Ambrose and Eddystone Light, a passage next bettered by herself in 1933, at 28.5 knots. In an effort to further capitalize on their ships' considerable speed, Norddeutscher Lloyd fitted Bremen and Europa with seaplanes that enabled the two ships to deliver mail as much as forty hours prior to their arrival in port. This extravagant innovation was dropped in 1935.
Bremen's last westbound passage ended at New York on August 28, 1938. Two days later she sailed for Europe without passengers and when war was declared she was diverted to Murmansk; she finally returned to Bremen in December. Although the intent was to use her as a troopship for Operation Sealion, when the German invasion of England was aborted in September 1940, she became an accommodation ship. On March 16, 1941, a disgruntled seaman set a fire that destroyed the ship. Bremen was not broken up until after the war, between 1952 and 1956.
Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway. Braynard & Miller, FiftyFamous Liners.
