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Concept
SS Belgenland (1914)
Summary
SS Belgenland was a transatlantic ocean liner and cruise ship that was launched in Belfast, Ireland in 1914 and scrapped in Scotland in 1936. She was renamed Belgic in 1917, reverted to Belgenland in 1923, and renamed Columbia in 1935.
Throughout her career the ship was owned and operated by the International Mercantile Marine Company or its subsidiaries. IMM ordered Belgenland as a new flagship for its Belgian-based Red Star Line, but the First World War delayed her completion. Germany occupied Belgium in the First World War, so IMM had Belganland completed in 1917 as a cargo ship, transferred to the UK-based White Star Line and renamed Belgic. In 1918 she was converted into a troop ship.
In 1922 the ship was at last fitted out as a passenger liner. In 1923 she was transferred back to Red Star Line and her name was changed back to Belgenland. From 1924 onward she made her name making annual cruises around the World, leaving New York in November or December and returning in April the next year. She pioneered cruise ship visits to destinations including Bangkok and Bali, and steamed almost 250,000 miles without defect.
In 1927 IMM transferred Belgenlands ownership to the UK-based Frederick Leyland & Co, but kept Red Star Line as her managers. In 1935 IMM transferred her ownership to the US-based Atlantic Transport Line, renamed her Columbia, and made Panama Pacific Line her managers.
In 1930–31 Belgenland took part in successful tests of a long-range ship-to-shore radiotelephone. The Great Depression led IMM to cease her cruises around the World from 1931 and reduce her transatlantic crossings. That year she made six-day cruises and one-day trips from New York. In 1932 she made short cruises and at least one transatlantic crossing. In 1933 she made a Caribbean cruise and at least one transatlantic crossing. In 1934 she made European cruises from England, and then was laid up.
As Columbia in 1935 the ship ran Caribbean cruises: four in spring to the West Indies, and then four in summer to Panama and Venezuela.
Official source
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