The Columbus and her sistership the Hindenburg were planned before World War 1. The ship originally intended to be called Columbus was near complete at war's end and was taken by the British as reparations. She became the Homeric for the White Star Line.

The Germans were allowed to keep the other ship, which had barely been started. When completed in 1922, it was decided to name her Columbus instead of Hindenburg in order to lessen the pejorative effects of a German name.

The Columbus

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In 1929, she was re-engined, giving her the ability to make 22 knots. She also got new, squatter funnels (shown here) which made her look more like the line's new express liners Bremen and Europa. She continued on the express run, with some cruises, until World War 2 began. She was burned and scuttled by her crew off the American coast when confronted by a British warship

The Norddeutcher Lloyd (North German Lloyd) built near-sister ships in 1929 and 1930. The fourth Bremen, built by Deschimag, AG Weser in Bremen, Germany, made her maiden voyage on 16 July 1929. She was 51,656 tons, 938 feet long and 102 feet wide and carried 800 first, 500 second, 300 Tourist and 600 third class passengers with a crew of 990.

On her maiden voyage, she averaged 27.83 knots thereby winning the Blue Riband for the fastest westbound Atlantic crossing. She beat her own record on the return, averaging 27.92 knots. However, when Europa entered service the following year, she took her fleet mate's title away. The Bremen won again in June of 1933, but then lost it to the Italian Rex two months later.

The Bremen was brought to Bremerhaven at the beginning of WW2 with plans of using her for a planned invasion of England, and was destroyed by arson there in March of 1941.

The Bremen IV

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The Europa was built at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg. She was 49,746 tons, 941 feet long and 102 feet wide. Both ships had quadruple screws driven by geared steam turbines, and they looked fairly similar from the outside, with two relatively low smokestacks, a trademark that was exaggerated in company art. However, the Europa's accommodation was different... she carried 687 first, 524 second, 306 tourist and 507 third, with a crew of 970. The interiors of both were a severe interpretation of Art Deco, with geometric shapes and uninterrupted clean lines.

The ships were supposed to enter service at the same time, but the Europa suffered a fire at her fitting-out dock and thus was delayed until March 1930, when she took the Blue Riband from the Bremen.

She was at Bremerhaven when the war began, and although talk circulated of using both ships for a planned invasion of England, this obviously did not occur.

In 1945, the United States seized the Europa and used as a Navy transport. The following year, she was given to the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique of France as reparations for the loss of most of their fleet (including the Normandie, which the US unwittingly destroyed in New York while converting her into the USS Lafayette). 

She was renamed the Liberte, and six months later, she broke her moorings in Le Havre during a storm and sank. She was raised, and - after extensive repairs and reconstruction - entered service on 17 August 1950. She was given many of the interior fittings of the Normandie, which had thankfully been warehoused in New York before the latter burned as noted above. Liberte continued sailing with CGT until December of 1961, when she was sold for scrap.

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