The Liberté was built as the Europa for Germany's North German Lloyd line by Blohm & Voss yards in Hamburg.  Despite a fire and sinking during construction, she entered service on 19 March, 1930.  She won the Blue Riband from her sister the Bremen, although the Bremen recaptured it in 1933.

Laid up during World War II in Bremerhaven, the Europa was seized by the United States in 1945 and renamed the USS Europa (AP-177) for use as a trooper, but this duty lasted less than a year.  In 1946, she was given to the French by the Reparations Commission and renamed Liberté.  On 8 December 1946, she sank a second time after escaping her moorings and colliding with the sunken wreck of the Paris (see above).  After a refit costing nearly $20 million and another fire, she entered Transatlantic service for the CGT in 1950, arriving in New York for the first time under the tricolour on 17 August.  She ran in tandem with the Ile de France and later the Flandre.  She was retired in late 1961 and scrapped in 1962.

• Uncommon Journeys: Liberté

This print of the Liberte and many other French ships are available from affiche-francaise.com