The second Europa (top) and the third incarnation, the 33,000-ton vessel (to the right). Above is Eduard Crusemann, the co-founder of the Norddeutscher-Lloyd line (the original Europa owners) and (above right) is Robin Maclear and nephew James of The Cruise Line company – modern descendants of the Crusemann family (see Page 54).


intended to make them appear low and sleek. Too low, as it turned out. Both eventually had to have their stacks raised some 15ft.


Inside, they were complete Bauhaus fantasies. Gone were the palm courts and winter gardens of the old, pre-War Teutonic masterpieces. Bremen and Europa were almost relentlessly modern. Their designer said that they gleamed like new planets. It was originally intended they would make simultaneous maiden voyages, and take the Blue Riband together. In the event, a dockyard fire almost destroyed Europa in her fitting-out berth. By the time she emerged in March 1930, Bremen had already swept the board in the speed stakes, taking the record from the ageing Mauretania. What followed was no real surprise. Europa took the westbound Blue Riband on her maiden voyage that same month, only for Bremen to briefly recapture the record in June 1933. The two then settled into a regular routine and would become famous for their cabin service. But, like most of their giant


rivals, their timing could hardly have been worse. The two sisters


52 WORLD OF CRUISING I Autumn 2013


arrived at the onset of the Great Depression. Later, when the market had recovered a little, they suffered because of their connections with the new regime of Adolf Hitler. The tide of history always seemed against them.


n 1937, Europa carried out the maudlin task of bringing home the caskets of the Hindenburg victims. When war broke out, she was in Hamburg, and somehow managed to survive the years of bombing that all but destroyed the city. In May 1945, she was seized by American troops and the US Department of Transport put her into service as the USS Europa, carrying up to 4,500 GIs home at a time. They were lucky to get home at all. Five years of neglect had seriously weakened the ship’s structure. She was then awarded to France, as a replacement of sorts for the sunken Normandie, and brought to Le Havre.


I


Here, she promptly broke loose from her moorings in a winter gale, struck the half submerged wreck of the Paris and sank up to her superstructure in the harbour mud. But the French persevered. First they raised her


and towed her to Saint Nazaire to be rebuilt. It had been originally intended to rename her as Victoire, but that was scrapped in favour of Liberte. Then another disastrous shipyard fire almost


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