SS Cleveland
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= Cleveland in Hongkong (1909).jpg |Ship caption= Cleveland in Hong Kong, 1909. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= |Ship flag= |Ship name= *1908: Cleveland
|Ship namesake= *1908, 1923: Cleveland
|Ship owner= *1908: 23px HAPAG
|Ship operator= |Ship registry= *1908: {{flagicon|German Empire}} Hamburg
|Ship route= *1909: Hamburg – New York
|Ship ordered= |Ship builder= Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 26 September 1908 |Ship sponsor= |Ship completed= |Ship maiden voyage= 27 March 1909 |Ship acquired= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship identification= *by 1913: wireless call sign DDV
|Ship fate= Scrapped 1933 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship tonnage= {{GRT|16970}}, {{NRT|10145}} |Ship displacement= 27,000 tons |Ship length= {{cvt|588.9|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{cvt|65.3|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= {{cvt|50|ft|0|in|abbr=on|2}} |Ship depth= {{cvt|46.6|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship decks= 3 |Ship power= by 1930: 2,046 NHP |Ship propulsion= *as built: 2 × screws,
|Ship speed= {{convert|16|kn|km/h}} |Ship capacity= *passengers, 1908:
|Ship crew= 1919: 573 |Ship armament= |Ship sensors= *by 1930:
|Ship notes= sister ship: Cincinnati }} |
SS Cleveland was a German transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in 1908 and scrapped in 1933. Cleveland was built for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) as a sister ship for Cincinnati.
In 1919 Cleveland became the troop ship USS Mobile (ID-4030). In 1920 it returned to civilian service as the UK liner King Alexander. In 1923 United American Lines bought her and restored it original name Cleveland.
In 1926 HAPAG bought Cleveland back. It was laid up from 1931 and scrapped in 1933.
Building
Blohm & Voss built Cleveland at Hamburg. She was launched on 26 September 1908, two months after her sister Cincinnati.{{cite web |url= http://www.schiffe-maxim.de/Cleveland.htm |title=Cleveland (1909–1933) |work=Hamburg-Amerikanische-Paketfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft (H.A.P.A.G.) |language=de |access-date=23 February 2021}}
Cleveland{{'}}s registered length was {{cvt|588.9|ft|abbr=on}}, her beam was {{cvt|65.3|ft|abbr=on}} and her depth was {{cvt|46.6|ft|abbr=on}}. Her tonnages were {{GRT|16970}} and {{NRT|10145}}.{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30b0272.pdf |title=Lloyd's Register |chapter=Steamers & Motorships |publisher=Lloyd's Register |access-date=23 February 2021}} As built, she had berths for 2,827 passengers: 246 first class, 332 second class, 448 third class and 1,801 steerage class. She also had {{convert|29577|cuft|0}} of refrigerated hold space for perishable cargo.{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30a0630.pdf |title=Lloyd's Register |chapter=List of vessels fitted with refrigerating appliances |publisher=Lloyd's Register |access-date=23 February 2021}}
Cleveland had twin screws, each driven by a quadruple expansion steam engine. They gave her a speed of {{convert|16|kn|km/h}}.
Early career
Cleveland began her maiden voyage from Hamburg to New York on 27 March 1909. Late that August, HAPAG transferred Captain Christian Dempwolf from {{SS|Moltke||2}} to be Master of Cleveland.{{cite news |title=Captain Dempwolf Promoted |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |place=Baltimore, MD |date=29 August 1909 |page=23 |via=Newspapers.com |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/373093453/?terms=%22Christian%20Dempwolf%22&match=1}}
Cleveland spent the next five years mostly in scheduled transatlantic service. She also made six cruises around the World. On 24 January 1912 she was being moved in Honolulu Harbor when her pilot, Milton P Sanders, died of a heart attack.{{cite news |title=Colorado's damage slight. |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=28 January 1912 |page=29 |access-date=23 February 2021 |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/01/28/100512438.html?pageNumber=29 }} As a result, control of Cleveland was lost, and her bow collided with the stern of the cruiser {{USS|Colorado|ACR-7|6}}.{{cite news |title=The Colorado damaged |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=25 January 1912 |page=3 |access-date=23 February 2021 |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/01/25/100512003.html?pageNumber=3}}
By 1913 Cleveland was equipped for wireless telegraphy. Her call sign was DDV.{{sfn|The Marconi Press Agency Ltd|1913|p=235}}
HAPAG had scheduled further World cruises for Cleveland and her sister for 1915. Cleveland was due to leave Hamburg on 14 January 1915 and return on 4 June. Instead, in the First World War HAPAG suspended its passenger services and Cleveland was laid up in Hamburg.
War reparations
In 1919 the United States Government seized Cincinnati as World War I reparations. She was converted at Liverpool, England into a troop ship with berths for 4,620 troops, and commissioned as USS Mobile.{{cite web |url= https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mobile-ii.html |title=Mobile II (Id.No. 4030) |work=Naval History and Heritage Command |publisher=United States Navy |date=8 December 2020 |access-date=23 February 2021}}
Mobile made nine transatlantic crossings from France to the USA, repatriating a total of 21,073 US troops. In November 1919 she was decommissioned and relinquished to the United States Shipping Board.
White Star Line briefly chartered Mobile, and then the Byron Steamship Company bought her and renamed her King Alexander after Alexander of Greece. The company was a UK-based subsidiary of the National Greek Line. Hence King Alexander was registered in London{{cite book |author=Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen |year=1921 |title=Mercantile Navy List |page=338 |url= https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/viewimages?&name=King%20Alexander&steamsail=Steam&submit=Enter&year=1921 |publisher=Board of Trade |via=Crew List Index Project |access-date=19 February 2021}} but her new route was between Greece and the USA.
In 1923 United American Lines bought King Alexander and restored her original name Cleveland. Prohibition in the United States had begun in 1920, so UAL registered her in Panama to enable her to serve liquor aboard. UAL had Cleveland refitted in Hamburg and restored to her Hamburg – New York route.
Final years
In 1926 HAPAG bought back Cleveland and two other former HAPAG passenger liners from UAL for ℛℳ 10 million.{{sfn|Wilson|1956|pp=46–47}}
In 1929 a Bauer-Wach exhaust turbine system was added to each of Cleveland{{'}}s engines.{{cite web |url= http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/174043.htm |title=Mobile (ID 4043) |work=NavSource Online |access-date=23 February 2021}} Exhaust steam from the low-pressure cylinder drove a turbine, which via double-reduction gearing and a Föttinger fluid coupling drove the same shaft as the reciprocating engine. The two turbines increased Cleveland{{'}}s total installed power to 2,046 NHP.
Cleveland was laid up from 1931. In 1933 HAPAG sold her back to Blohm & Voss for scrap.
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |author=The Marconi Press Agency Ltd |author-link=Marconi Company |year=1913 |title=The Year Book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony |place=London |publisher=The St Katherine Press}}
- {{cite book |last=Wilson |first=RM |year=1956 |title=The Big Ships |place=London |publisher=Cassell & Co}}
External links
{{Commons category|Cleveland (ship, 1909)}}
- {{cite web |url= http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/HAPAG2.html#anchor781094 |last=Boyle |first=Ian |title=HAPAG Page 2: 1900–1914 |work=Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) |publisher=Simplon Poastcards}} – postcards of Cleveland in her civilian liveries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveland}}
Category:Maritime incidents in 1912
Category:Ocean liners of the United Kingdom
Category:Passenger ships of Panama
Category:Ships built in Hamburg
Category:Ships of the Hamburg America Line
Category:Steamships of Germany
Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom
Category:Steamships of the United States
Category:Transports of the United States Navy