S.S. America – 1939 – 1994
The S.S. America has a great story to tell and the following pages will be enjoyed by those who sailed on her – and those who wish they had.
August 31, 1939, Newport News Va… Over 30,000 spectators showed up at the Newport News shipyard for the launch of the S.S. America. Americans were proud of their new ocean liner. A sailing ambassador the new ship represented the best of the nation’s technology, art, style, and way of life at a time when ocean liners were objects of national pride.
Above the crowd newsreel cameras jostled for position and, across the country, radio listeners tuned in the live broadcast offered by three national radio networks. At 11:50 AM the tide crested in the James River and with the words ‘ I Christen Thee America”, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt smashed a bottle of Ohio Champagne against the bow and sent the new ocean liner sliding down the way.
This auspicious beginning was immediately overshadowed by world events. The day after the S.S. America was launched; Nazi Germany invaded Poland and engulfed the world in war. After a brief cruising career, the new ship was converted to the troopship USS West Point. Her speed was her most valuable asset and she spent the war years delivering thousands of troops around the globe.
W.A. Raines
“My wife carried our 8 month-old daughter in her arms. So she was walking in the Yard, she found a ticket on the ground and picked it up. People around told her it was for a seat on the platform for the dignitaries and since she had a baby in her arms she should use it… She was seated beside Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. It was a very exciting day.”
Arthur Volheim
S.S. America interiors
.The first all-women design team to decorate an ocean liner Dorothy Marckwald and Anne Urquhart look out at us with a confident knowing smile. They created a ship that was uniquely American in style and spirit.
When the Marckwald/Urquhart team designed the S.S America interiors they stayed clear of the opulent ArtDeco style found on the Normandie. They also avoided the confusing mixture of French provincial, Elizabethan, Georgian, and pseudo-hunting lodge – Wild West interiors found on the Manhattan and Washington.
“For the S.S. America interiors ”, said Marckwald, “it was decided that this latest of our passenger ships should distinctly and completely represent our own personality; therefore, a simple, comfortable American style was determined upon.” “Simple” meant comfortable yet elegant. For “American style”, she chose contemporary art and “Hollywood Modern” interiors. The cream-colored walls, recessed lighting, and black linoleum floors with white inlaid swirls shared a similarity with the slick stage sets of a Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire film. The ship was a hit with the traveling public and continued to have a loyal following well into the 1970s.
FROM AMERICA TO WEST POINT – 1941 – 1946
Vernon Wall
Every Friday I had to start that big engine and test the generator. That was right over the captain’s cabin. I guess it made a lot of racket. He would send a messenger to tell me to hurry the test. Every Friday I would make up stories about how this or that was not quite right. I loved running that big beast. I was all of 19 then.”
Henry T Wildman
Motor Mechanic 2nd Class
THE QUEEN OF THE MERCHANT MARINE – 1946 – 1964
From the L Driscoll Collection
For the first time, her true personality emerged. Her clean uncluttered superstructure topped off by those big wing-tipped teardrop-shaped smoke stacks gave her a modern contemporary appearance. She was well proportioned (except for a short bow which gave her a sturdy powerful look that projected confidence without pretension. Her interior combined warmth and sophistication without being stuffy. The ship possessed beauty and grace without the glitz and glitter found on European liners. It was a winning combination of good looks and comfort that would bring back loyal customers year after year. They enjoyed the warm friendly ship, pleasant atmosphere, good food, good service, and comfortable accommodations.
Ship Historian Peter Kholer captured the spirit of the ship in the summer 1990 issue of Steamboat Bill. The America seemed always to be a happy ship without faults or annoying quirks. the sort of unpretentious vessel that the glitter people may not have patronized, but regular travelers were devoted to.
Her 18 of peacetime service with United States Lines ended in November 1964. In peacetime, she transported over 500,000 passengers safely, and elegantly while steaming over 2.8 million nautical miles in the process.
Felix Morely
Washinton Post Editor
Sailing on the delivery voyage from Newport News to New York, July 1940
To my mind, there is no finer way to Europe than the America provides”.
Spencer Tracy
Actor and winner of two-consecutive Academy awards for best actor.
THE AUSTRALIAN MAIDEN – SS AUSTRALIS – 1964 -1978
Sold to the Greek Chandris Lines for use in emigrant service from England to Australia and New Zealand. Renamed Australis, her superstructure was extended and passenger capacity doubled. For comfort sailing through the tropics, a large outdoor swimming pool and air-conditioning were added. The “Australian Maiden” completed 62 global voyages (1965-1977) transporting over 300,000 hopeful passengers to a new life in Australia and New Zealand.
Steve Mullis
1978 VENTURE CRUISES & THE CRUISE FROM HELL
THE SS ITALIS: AN UPTOWN GIRL DOWN ON HER LUCK – 1978-1980
Chandris certainly knew how to squeeze last Drachma out of a ship, After the Venture cruise fiasco, the company took out the rusting forward stack and renamed the ship Italis and sent out on Mediterranean cruises. At 40 years of age, the old girl had a hard time keeping up with the newer ships. Although the public rooms were still grand, other areas were not at all up to current cruise ship standards. Many of the cabins were in a deteriorated state, and a bent propeller sent pulsating vibration through the lower decks. It was a short gig. In 1979, after 40 years of carrying passengers, the ex America, ex West Point, ex Australis sailed into retirement.
In between cruises, Chandris rented the Italis out. One of the last Americans to board the ship under interesting circumstances was a former passenger Frank Day.
“Hello! I sailed on the America four times while she was still in service with USL, but went aboard yet again under very surprising circumstances. In July of 1979, I was in Monrovia, Liberia to cover a summit of the Organization of African Unity for the U.S. State Department. One afternoon shortly before the OAU event began I was standing on the terrace of the Intercontinental Hotel high on a hill overlooking Monrovia harbor. Just before sunset, a beautiful liner from a bygone era sailed into the harbor. It took me all of two seconds to recognize her, though she was missing a funnel and had been renamed the Italis.”
“It was a little unsettling seeing this lovely, elegant queen of the North Atlantic in such reduced circumstances in a squalid West African port.”
See “More Information”
American Diplomat Frank Day
THE RETIREMENT YEARS – 1980 – 1994
Hope arrived on August 31, 1992, in the form of two Thai businessmen, who held hotel interests in the Far East. They purchased the ship for $2 million with plans to tow her to the growing seaside resort of Phuket, Thailand for conversion to a luxury hotel. A Ukrainian flag tug, the Neftegaz 67, was hired for $ 920,000. Renamed the American Star the ship left Pireas Roads Greece on December 25 1993 for her new home.
“Her only passengers were pigeons and seagulls who left their droppings. Seeping water from broken pipes and windows had stained carpets, rusted decks, and warped bulkheads. Weeds sprouted from the exterior wood decks.”
THE FINAL VOYAGE – 1994
Rather than using the quicker Suez Canal route, the buyers chose The slow more arduous route out of the Mediterranean, down the West coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope then 5,225 miles across the Indian Ocean to Phuket; an arduous 100-day journey in good weather a perilous one in the stormy winter months. Stamous Ioannou who prepped the ship for the voyage watched the American Star pull out of Pireous Roads Greece on December 25, 1993. “The day was very nice and the weather good. The only one who had bad feelings was me. I was very much afraid of the area and the seas around the Cape of Good Hope.”
He had good reason to be apprehensive. As soon as the ship left the straits of Gibraltar and headed down the coast of Morocco heavy weather hit.
S.S. America The Many Lives of a Great Ship.
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| Name | Years | Owners |
| S.S. America | 1939-1941 | United States Lines |
| USS West Point | 1941 | Naval Transport Service |
| USS West Point | 1942-1946 | United States Navy |
| S.S. America | 1946-1964 | United States Lines |
| S.S. Australis | 1964-1978 | Okeania, S.A. a subsidiary of Chandris Lines |
| S.S. America | 1978 | America Cruise Lines, later Venture Cruise |
| S.S. Italis | 1978-1980 | Chandris Lines |
| S.S. Noga | 1980-1984 | Inter Commerce Corporation |
| S.S. Alferdoss | 1984-1993 | Silver Moon Ferries |
| S.S. American Star | 1993-1994 | Chaophraya Development and Transportation LTD. |
S.S. AMERICA AT A GLANCE
S.S. AMERICA
Built for
UNITED STATES LINES
By
NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING AND DRY DOCK CO.
GIBBS AND COX, INC. NAVAL ARCHITECTS
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
Length……………………………………………….723 feet
Beam, molded, maximum……………………………93 feet 3 inches
Number of decks…………………………………….11
Load draft to bottom of keel…………………………32 feet 8 7/8 inches
Displacement full load………………………………35,440 tons
Gross tonnage……………………………………… 33,532 (British) 26,454 tons (USA)
Block coefficient at full draft load………………………0.58559
Prismatic coefficient at full draft……………………. 0.5996
Cargo, general bale………………………………….259, 982 cubic feet
Capacity galleys meals per day……………………. 6,000
Shaft horse power, normal………………………… 34,000
Propulsion…………………………………………. Two sets of triple expansion turbines
Shaft horse power maximum guarantee…………… 37,400
Design speed……………………………………….. in excess of. 22 knots
Maximum speed…………………………………… Over 25 knots.
Total number of rooms and spaces………………… 950 of which 23 were public spaces
Cruising radius, at 22 knots at load draft…………. .11,000 miles
Fuel capacity, 97% full……………………………. 4,938
Fresh water………………………………………… 4,733 tons
Compartmentation, flooded……………………….. 3 compartments
Keel laid…………………………………………… August 22, 1938
Launched…………………………………………… August 31, 1939
Maiden Voyage…………………………………… August 10, 1940
Interior Architects…………………………………. Eggers & Higgins
Interior Decorators………………………………… Smyth, Urquart & Marckwald
Total passengers.
• America. 543 Cabin Class, 418 Tourist Class, and 241 Third Class. Total 1202
• West Point. 8000
• America. (Post war). 519 First Class, Cabin Class 414, Tourist 116. Total 1049
• America. 1960. 516 First Class, Tourist Class 532. Total 1048
• Australis. 2,258 one class
Officers and crew. Pre war 643, War 785, post war 677, Australis 586
(Source Marine Progress August, 1940. Newport News Shipyard bulletin September 1946, US Lines and Chandris Lines brochures)
Names and Owners/Operators.
America………………….1939 – 1941. United States Lines
West Point……………….1941 Naval Transportation service.
West Point………………..1942 – 1946 United States Navy
America…………………..1946 – 1964 United States Lines
Australis…………………1964 – 1978 Okeania, S.A. a subsidiary of Chandris Lines
America………………….1978 – 1978 America Cruise Lines, later Venture Cruise Lines
Italis………………………1978 – 1980 Chandris Lines
Noga……………………..1980 – 1984 Inter Commerce Corporation
Alferdoss…………………1984 – 1993 Silver Moon Ferries
American Star……………1993 – 1994 Chaophraya Development and Transportation Ltd.
SERVICE.
Miles Passengers carried
America cruises 112,917 20,000
West Point 436,144 505,020
America transatlantic 2,800,000 476,462
Australis 1,682,000 300,000
Total 4,971,061 1,301,482
Sources: Log of cruises USS West Point Reunion Association, America by Peter C Kohler, Bill Miller the Chandris Liners.
S.S. America on Wikipedia
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