ALEXANDRA WOERMANN was built in 1898 by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. at Middlesbrough with a tonnage of 3908grt, a length of 351ft 8ins, a beam of 44ft 2in and a service speed of 12 knots. She was launched in April 1898 as the Bruxellesville for Soc. Maritime du Congo S.A. of Antwerp for their Antwerp to Belgian Congo route. In 1900 she was transferred to Cie Belge Maritime du Congo under the ownership of Elder Dempster. On 29th January 1901 she was sold to Woermann Line and renamed Alexandra Woermann for operation on their Hamburg - West Africa service. She was at Hamburg when the First World War was declared in August 1914 and subsequently served as a transport in German waters. On 5th September 1918 she collided with and sank UC-91 in the Baltic with the loss of 16 lives. She was ceded to Britain on 26th March 1919 and placed under the management of White Star Line. In the following year she was acquired by Ellerman's Wilson Line of Hull and renamed Calypso. After sixteen years further service she was broken up in August 1936 by Van Huyghen Fréres at Bruges.

FRANKFURT was built in 1899 by J. C. Tecklenborg A.G. at Geestemunde with a tonnage of 7431grt, a length of 429ft, a beam of 54ft 2in and a service speed of 12 knots. She was completed for Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1899 and ceded to Britain in March 1919 when she was placed under the management of White Star Line. In 1922 she was sold to the Oriental Navigation Co. of Hong Kong who renamed her Sarvistan. She was finally broken up in Japan during 1931.

YPIRANGA was built in 1908 by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft at Kiel with a tonnage of 4907grt, a length of 450ft 7in, a beam of 55ft 1in and a service speed of 13.5 knots. She was launched on 8th May 1908 as the Ypiranga for Hamburg America's South and Central America and commenced her maiden voyage to Brazil on 14th October. In 1910 her route was extended to Buenos Aires and in the following year she was transferred to the Hamburg - Gulf of Mexico service. On 21st April 1914 she was carrying arms to the rebel Mexican General Huerto and stopped by the USS Dolphin. After protests she was unloaded at Puerto Mexico (Coatzacoalcos). In August of the same year she was laid up at Hamburg and at one stage was fitted out to carry cavalry for a proposed invasion of England. On 28th March 1919 she was ceded to Britain and placed under the management of White Star Line. In the April she initially was used to repatriate troops before being placed on the Australia service. She was laid up at Hull pending an overhaul and refit in 1920 and in January 1921 was purchased from the Ministry of Shipping by Anchor Line. Renamed Assyria for the Bombay service she actually entered service in the following June on the Atlantic run. When new Anchor Line ships joined the fleet in 1925 she was transferred to the Bombay service as well as undertaking several cruises. On 21st December 1929 she was sold for £70,000 to Companhia Colonial de Navegacao of Lisbon who renamed her Colonial for their Lisbon - Angola - Mozambique route. Twenty one years later, in 1950 she was sold to BISCO and renamed Bisco 9 for her final voyage to Dalmuir towed by the tug Turmoil. On 17th September 1950 the tow parted during a gale and she was wrecked near Campbeltown. The crew of 17 were saved and she was broken up where she lay.

ZEPPELIN was built in 1915 by Bremer Vulkan at Vegesack with a tonnage of 14167grt, a length of 550ft 4in, a beam of 67ft 4in and a service speed of 15.5 knots. She was launched on 9th June 1914 as the Zeppelin for Norddeutscher Lloyd and on 21st January 1915 was laid up at Vegesack for the duration of the First World War although she was structurally complete but unfurnished. On 28th March 1919 she was ceded to Britain and placed under the management of White Star. When she arrived she carried the full NDL livery including brown lifeboats. In the following year she was purchased from the Ministry of Shipping by Orient Line who renamed her Ormuz and refitted her at Belfast. She commenced her first sailing to Australia on 12th November 1921. Six years later, in April 1927, she was repurchased by Norddeutscher Lloyd who renamed her Dresden and refitted her for their Bremen - New York service. At 1600hrs on 20th June 1934 she stranded on the coast of Norway, 20 miles from Haugesund whilst undertaking a cruise. After striking a rock at Klepp on Boku Island she was refloated and, as a precaution, was beached near Blikshavn, Karmoy Island. On 21st June at 0245hrs she began to list and by 0800hrs had fallen onto her port side. The Norwegian Kong Haakon of Det Stavangerske D/S transferred the passengers and most of the crew to Haugesund but one passenger died and three were lost during the transfer. In the August she was sold locally and demolished where she lay by Stavanger shipbreakers.

VEDIC was built in 1918 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 9302grt, a length of 460ft 6in, a beam of 58ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. She was intended by IMMC as an emigrant ship to operate out of Europe but although not allocated at this point in time to any of the group's companies Red Star Line was probably the favourite. Launched on 18th December 1917 her hull had been modified during construction to carry troops. Her trials were undertaken in the Clyde on 28th June 1918 and she was handed over on 10th July commencing her maiden voyage on the following day from Belfast - Clyde - New York where she began trooping. She made her first White Star sailing from Glasgow to Boston on 28th December 1918. During September 1919 she was used to repatriate British troops from Northern Russia where they had been deployed in an attempt to quell revolutionary tendencies. On 19th September she went aground on the Orkneys but came off without any damage. In 1920 she was refitted at Middlesbrough and in the August of that year was placed on the Liverpool - Clyde - Canada emigrant route with the capacity for 1250 passengers. She served between Liverpool - Halifax - Portland, Maine during the winter of 1921 and during the summer New York became her terminal port. On 17th May 1922 she was transferred, with the Poland, to the Bremen - Southampton - Cherbourg - Quebec - Montreal route with Halifax being her terminal port during the winter months. In 1925 she was refitted by Harland & Wolff for the Liverpool - Australia migrant service of the White Star, Aberdeen and Blue Funnel Joint Service and made her first sailing on 31st October. She was extensively used by the Salvation Army on charter and flew their flag alongside that of White Star. On 26th February 1930 she was laid up at Milford Haven and in July 1934, being surplus to requirements following the Cunard - White Star merger, was sold for £10,000 and broken up at Rosyth, Firth of Forth.

ARABIC (3) was built in 1908 by A.G. Wesesr at Bremen with a tonnage of 16786grt, a length of 590ft 2in, a beam of 69ft 7in and a service speed of 17 knots. She was launched on 7th November 1908 as the Berlin for Norddeutscher Lloyd and after being delivered on 25th April 1909 commenced her maiden voyage from Bremerhaven - New York - Genoa on 1st May before being deployed on the New York - Mediterranean route. On 18th September 1914 she was commissioned as an Auxiliary Cruiser (Hilfskreuzer) 'C' for the German navy. She was equipped to carry 200 EBER mines and in the October ,and disguised in Anchor Line livery, laid mines off Tory Island in the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland. On 26th October the battleship HMS Audacious ran into the field and sank after striking mines. Unable to return to Germany due to a shortage of coal she sailed to Trondhein where she was interned on 18th November 1914. On 13th December 1919 she was passed to the Shipping Controller, with P&O as managers, and refitted for trooping at Smith's Docks, South Bank-on-Tees. On completion she engaged in trooping duties to Bombay. In November 1920 she was purchased by White Star and went to Portsmouth Dockyard were she was refitted for passenger services. She was renamed Arabic and on 7th September 1921 made her first sailing from Southampton to New York replacing the Canopic on the New York - Mediterranean service. In 1924 she was converted to carry 500 Cabin and 1,200 Third Class passengers and on 16th August replaced the Canopic again, this time on the Hamburg - New York run. On 29th October 1926 she was chartered to Red Star Line for operation on the Antwerp - New York service. Initially retaining the White Star livery she was given the Red Star livery in April 1927. On 27th December 1929 she made her final sailing for Red Star on the Antwerp - New York service before reverting to White Star and deployment on the Liverpool - New York service. During the winter months she was laid up. She commenced her final sailing from Liverpool to New York on 15th March 1931 and in December of the same year was sold for £17,000 and broken up at Genoa.

MAJESTIC (2) was built in 1914 by Blom & Voss at Hamburg with a tonnage of 56551grt, a length of 955ft 10in, a beam of 100ft 1in and a service speed of 23 knots. Her keel was laid by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1913 and she was launched on 20th June 1914 as the Bismarck for the Hamburg America Line. She was the world's largest ship and her sisters, the Imperator (Berengaria) and Vaterland (Leviathan), were already in service. Work on her completion ceased in August 1914 due to the outbreak of war and she remained at Hamburg until the end of hostilities. On 28th June 1919 she was assigned to Britain as part of the war reparations and in 1920 was badly damaged by fire during fitting out. Sabotage by the Germans was suspected on the basis that they didn't want to give the ship up. Work on her was resumed in 1922 under the supervision of Harland & Wolff and on 28th March of that year was completed as the Bismarck to assuage German feelings. However, together with the Imperator (Berengaria) she was purchased by the White Star - Cunard consortium and was delivered to Liverpool as a replacement for the lost Britannic. Her sea trials commenced on 1st April and on 12th she was renamed Majestic after her acceptance trials. She commenced her maiden voyage from Southampton - Cherbourg - New York on 10th May under the command of White Star Commodore, Sir Bertram Hayes. During Cowes week in the following August she was inspected by King George V and Queen Mary. In September 1923 she made her fastest crossing with a time of 5 days 5hrs 21mins at an average speed of 24.75 knots. Only Cunard's Mauretania was faster. On another crossing she carried 480 1st, 736 2nd and 1409 3rd Class passengers, a total of 2625, the most ever carried by the company on a single crossing. During 1924 a crack developed on one side of the hull amidships and the plating on both side was strengthened but although a potentially serious problem was solved her hull was, subsequently, slightly suspect. In 1925 she bettered her best speed with a crossing of five days at an average speed of 25 knots. In early 1928 she was refitted and re-boilered at the Boston Navy Dockyard and completed at Southampton as there was not a graving dock in Britain big enough to take her. She resumed service on 29th February. During the summer of 1930 she operated 3.5 day mid week cruises from New York to Halifax with the Olympic when both ships had to remain in New York for a seven day stopover. In July 1934 she was taken over by Cunard - White Star Ltd when the two companies were forced to merge and replaced the Mauretania. During the same year she ran aground at Calshot but came off on the next tide and in the October, during a voyage to New York, she encountered a fierce storm when a massive wave broke the bridge windows injuring the First Officer and White Star's Commodore Edgar J. Trant who was hosptalised for a month and never sailed again. In 1935 the Normandie superceded her as the world's largest ship. On 31st February 1936 she commenced her 207th and final crossing to New York after which she was replaced by the Queen Mary and laid up at Southampton. On 15th May 1936, although younger than the Berengaria, she was sold for to Thos. W. Ward for £115,000 but before she set sail for the breakers yard she was purchased by the Admiralty for conversion as a cadets training ship. She was converted by Thornycroft at Southampton at a cost of £472,000 during which her masts and funnel were shortened so that she could pass under the Forth Bridge. Apart from the black tops of the funnels which had been removed she remained in White Star livery as HMS Caledonia. All her machinery remained intact and her sewage disposal system was linked to the shore. As part of the training facilities she was equipped with seven guns and range finding controls. On 8th April 1937 she sailed from Southampton for her base at Rosyth and on 10th April eight tugs took her under the Forth Bridge to her berth. With capacity for 1,500 boys and 500 artificer apprentices she was commissioned on 23rd April. When the Second World War was declared the cadets were transferred to shore accommodation, her berth was vacated for naval use and she anchored in the Firth of Forth within the limits of the naval base. Whilst her future was being decided she caught fire, was completed gutted and sank at her moorings on an even keel. In March 1940 she was sold , yet again, to Thos. W. Ward for scrapping at Inverkeithing. She was cut down to her waterline with the exception of the fore peak to assist towage. On 17th July 1943 she was raised and towed the five miles under the Forth Bridge to the scrap yard.

PITTSBURGH was built in 1922 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 16322grt, a length of 601ft, a beam of 67ft 10in and a service speed of 15 knots. She was laid down in November 1913 for IMMC's America Line and was designed as a coal burner. Work was suspended in August 1914 when the First World War was declared as construction was too far advanced for her to be completed as a cargo ship. On 17th November 1920 she was launched as the Pittsburgh for the White Star Line with ownership being recorded as International Navigation Co. Converted to oil burning during completion she was handed over on 25th May 1922 and commenced her maiden voyage from Liverpool - Philadelphia - Boston on 6th June. At 1800hrs on 14th November 1922, during a voyage from New York to Bremen, she rescued the 45 crew members of Libera Trestina's new steamer Monte Grappa which was sinking. On 1st December 1922 she made her first sailing from Bremen - Southampton - Halifax - New York. In April 1923 a giant wave demolished the wheelhouse injuring the occupants. Her terminal port in Germany was changed from Bremen to Hamburg in November of the same year. She was transferred to Red Star Line's Antwerp - Southampton - Cherbourg - New York service with ownership being registered as Frederick Leyland & Co. In 1926 she was renamed Pennland for Red Star Line and commenced her first sailing under that name and on the same service on 18th February. On 16th November 1934 she commenced her last sailing for Red Star Line before the company collapsed. In January 1935 she was sold to Arnold Bernstein of Hamburg for his Red Star Line GmbH and was refitted at Kiel prior to commencing her first voyage from Antwerp - Le Havre - Southampton - Halifax - New York on 10th May. Red Star Line GmbH was sold to Holland America Line of Rotterdam in June 1939 and the Pennland continued to operate the same service without a change of name for her new owner. On 27th April 1940 she commenced her final sailing from Antwerp before returning to Liverpool where she was chartered by the Ministry of War Transport as a troopship for operation under Dutch control. After the July strike to immobilise the French battleship Richlieu she sailed to Dakar with General de Gaulle and 1,200 Free French. When the strike failed the Free French troops, but not the General, were disembarked at Duala. Thereafter she carried internees and POW's to Jamaica before proceeding to Canada where she embarked Canadian troops for the United Kingdom. During 1941 she carried troops to Egypt and shuttled reinforcements to Greece. On 25th April, during her second voyage, she bombed seven times and sunk by German aircraft in the Gulf of Athens. (Photo: Harland & Wolff)

REGINA was built in 1918 by Harland & Wolff at Glasgow with a tonnage of 16313grt, a length of 601ft, a beam of 67ft 10in and a service speed of 15 knots. Sister of the Pittsburgh she was laid down in 1913 for the Dominion Line of Liverpool and was the first of a class of six intermediates for IMMC and Holland America. Launched on 19th April 1917 she was completed in 1918 as a troopship and in the December began operating on the Liverpool - Boston route repatriating troops and carrying emigrants. In August 1920 she returned to her builders in Belfast where she was completed to her original design. She undertook her sea trials on 2nd March 1922 before sailing to Liverpool from where she commenced her maiden voyage in Dominion Line colours on 16th March and operating between Liverpool and Portland, Maine on the White Star - Dominion Line Joint Service. In February 1923 she made her only call to Bermuda, where she landed naval replacements, during a voyage to New York. She was, in June 1924, accredited with being the first ship to experiment with 'Tourist Class'. During a voyage to Europe much of the Third Class accommodation was occupied by 500 Canadian students on a 'College Tour'. The basic Third Class was augmented with greater space and better food and amenities at a higher fare for other passengers. Thereafter, 'Tourist Class' became the new innovation, initially on the eastbound voyage only. In 1925 she was transferred to the Antwerp - New York route and in December of that year, together with other Dominion Line ships, was given White Star livery on the demise of the Dominion Line. She commenced her first sailing in White Star livery on 12th December 1925. In December 1929 she was transferred to the Red Star Line and re-registered as being owned by Frederick Leyland & Co. Deployed on the Antwerp - Southampton - New York service she was a perfect example of the mish mash of identity within the IMMC Group - a Leyland ship with a Dominion name, painted in White Star livery and operated by Red Star Line. Early in 1930 she was renamed Westernland and continued to operate the same route until 1934 when she was laid up. On 1st January 1935 the Red Star service between Antwerp and New York was discontinued and she was acquired by Arnold Bernstein's Red Star Line GmbH and she became one of the first car transporters between Europe and the US in addition to carrying 500 Tourist Class passengers. On 31st December 1935 she rescued the crew of the sinking French trawler Satanile. Less than a year later, on 8th November 1936 she rescued the only survivor of Hamburg America's Isis which had sunk in a storm with the loss of 39 lives. At the end of the 1938 summer season she was laid up at Antwerp and in June 1939 the Holland America Line acquired the entire fleet which continued to operate the same routes with the same name and livery. When the Germans invaded Holland in April 1940 the ships escaped to Britain and on 10th May she became the HQ ship of the Dutch Government in Exile docked at Falmouth. In July 1940 she was requisitioned for trooping duties and converted at Liverpool. She was purchased by the Admiralty in November 1942 and converted into a repair ship, becoming a destroyer depot ship, still as the Westernland, during 1943. Decommissioned in 1945, Cunard - White Star became her temporary managers and they had the idea that she could be converted for their Canadian service which was being operated by only one vessel. Due to her age the concept was dismissed as being unfeasible and she was laid up in the River Blackwater. In October 1946 she was sold to Christian Salvesen for conversion into a whaling ship but this idea was also abandoned because of the work involved and she was sold on 15th July 1947 to BISCO for breaking up. On 1st August 1947, still a coal burner, she arrived at Blythe where she was broken up by Hughes Bolckow.
(Photo: Stuart Bale)

DORIC was built in 1923 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 16484grt, a length of 601ft, a beam of 67ft 10in and a service speed of 15 knots. Sister of the Pittsburgh she was launched on 8th August 1922 and delivered on 29th May 1923, for service with the Regina, and commenced her maiden voyage from Liverpool - Quebec - Montreal on 8th June. In October 1932 she was laid up after the end of the St. Lawrence season but in the following year began cruising out of Liverpool. She was transferred to Cunard - White Star in 1934 and although surplus to requirements for the combined services continued to cruise during the summer before being laid up pending a decision about her long term future. At 0400hrs on 5th September 1935, whilst returning from a Mediterranean cruise with 700 passengers, she was damaged forward after colliding in fog with Chargeurs Reunis' Formigny off Cape Finisterre. The No.3 hold flooded and, as a list developed, an SOS was sent out and at 0530hrs P&O's Viceroy of India arrived on the scene and took off 241 passengers. Later Orient Lines Orion, which was on a maiden shakedown cruise, arrived and took off 486 passengers together with 42 crew members to look after them as the Orion only had First Class guests on board. The Doric then proceeded to Vigo for temporary repairs from where she sailed on 12th September bound for Tilbury where the damage was surveyed. She was deemed to be not worth repairing, declared a total constructive loss and sold to J. Cashmore for £35,000. She sailed from Tilbury on 9th November bound for Newport, Monmouthshire where she was broken up after only 14 years service. Her Fixtures and fittings were sold at public auction. (Photo: Laurence Dunn Collection)

HAVERFORD was built in 1901 by John Brown & Co. at Clydebank with a tonnage of 11635grt, a length of 531ft, a beam of 59ft 2in and a service speed of 13 knots. She was built as the Haverford for the American Line and launched on 4th May 1901 for service between Southampton and New York. Commencing her maiden voyage on 4th September she was, after only two voyages, transferred to the Liverpool - Philadelphia - Boston service. It was rumoured that the captain and many of her crew were football fans and when she arrived back in Liverpool on a Saturday was always two hours ahead of her scheduled noon arrival time. On 25th May 1913 she ran aground on Carrigadda Rock when leaving Queenstown and flooded two holds before being refloated the next day. When the First World War was declared in August 1914 she remained in commercial service until 1915 when she was deployed as a troopship at Mudros during the Dardanelles campaign. On 26th June 1917 she was damaged during a torpedo attack off Ireland with the loss of 8 lives and the subsequent repairs took almost six months. In the following year, on 17th April, she was missed by two torpedoes in the Atlantic. At the end of the war she was used to repatriate US troops before returning to commercial service on the Liverpool - Philadelphia run. In March 1921 she was transferred by IMMC to White Star and commenced her first voyage on 1st April on the Liverpool - Philadelphia - Boston service. She was later replaced by the Pittsburgh and in 1922 was placed on the Hamburg - New York route before, on 16th May, reverting to the America Line for the summer Liverpool - Philadelphia service. On 27th August 1924 she commenced her final voyage to Philadelphia before being sold in the December for scrap. She was broken up in Italy during the following year.

HOMERIC was built in 1922 by F. Schichau at Danzig with a tonnage of 34351grt, a length of 751ft, a beam of 83ft 4in and a service speed of 18.5 knots. She was launched in December 1913 as the Columbus for Norddeutscher Lloyd and, at the time, was the largest twin screw reciprocating engined ship in the world. When the First World War was declared in August 1914, although nearly finished, work on her was suspended and she was laid at Danzig for the duration. On 28th June 1919 she was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Versailles and in June 1920 was purchased from the Shipping Controller by White Star. She was completed under Harland & Wolff supervision and on 31st January 1922 arrived in the UK from Germany where she was renamed Homeric and commenced her first sailing from Southampton - Cherbourg - New York on 15th February. Working alongside the Majestic and Olympic her service speed of 18 knots was considered too slow but she became noted for her steadiness in rough seas. In October 1923 she was refitted by Harland & Wolff during which she was converted to oil burning. Returning to service on 9th April 1924 her increased speed of 19.5 knots was still considered to be too slow by Atlantic standards and this caused scheduling problems but it still reduced her crossing time by 24 hours. As a consequence of US immigration controls her third class capacity was too great which made her unprofitable. In 1928 the new 60,000grt Oceanic was announced as her replacement and on 1st June 1932 she made her final Atlantic crossing before operating Mediterranean cruises out of British ports. On 28th September 1932, while at anchor off Teneriffe, she was damaged after being rammed by Cia Trasmediterranea's Isla de Teneriffe when her steering failed as she was circling the Homeric. During the winter of that year she operated winter cruise to the West Indies. In 1934 she became part of the Cunard - White Star fleet and in September of the following year was laid up of Ryde in the Isle of White. On 27th February 1936 she was sold for £74,000 and broken up by Thos. W. Ward at Inverkeithing.

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