Our German ship on stamp group Navicula used two personalized stamps for sending their magazine to members in 2011. One depict the liner VATERLAND the other the BISMARCK.
Built as a passenger ship under yard No 214 by Blohm & Voss at the Steinwerder yard near Hamburg for the Hamburg America Line.
1913 Keel laid down
20 June 1914 launched as the BISMARCK, christened by Countess Hanna von Bismarck. The granddaughter of the 19th century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck after the ship was named.
Tonnage 56,551 gross, 26,249 net., dim.291.3 x 30.5m., length bpp. 279.0m.
Accommodation for 750 first class, 545 second class and 850 third class passengers.
August 1914 work on her ceased and she was laid up in Hamburg for the duration of the First World War.
28 June 1919 ceded to Great Britain.
05 October 1919 damaged by a fire, this caused over a year’s delay in her completion.
28 March 1922 completed.
She sailed only under German flag during her sea trials in 1922.
10 March 1922 after arriving in Southampton renamed in MAJESTIC and owned by the White Star Line.
10 May 1922 maiden voyage from Southampton via Cherbourg to New York.
At that time she was the largest passenger ship in the world.
The ship served as the flagship of the White Star Line from 1922 until 1934. After her May 1922 maiden voyage MAJESTIC became one of the most popular liners afloat and in 1923 she carried more passengers than any other Atlantic liner. In 1924, 1926, 1928 and 1930 she carried more passengers than her sister ships. She earned the affectionate nickname 'Magic Stick'.
Due to a structural defect in her topsides, MAJESTIC suffered a 100-foot crack in December 1924 and underwent permanent repairs and strengthening along B-deck before returning to service in April 1925. Small cracks were also noted on her sister LEVIATHAN around the same time, but only minor repairs were carried out and she developed a similar 100-foot crack five years later.
In 1925, she completed an eastbound crossing at 25 knots, which was the fastest she ever managed, and faster than either of her sisters' best efforts. However, her older sister LEVIATHAN often had a slightly higher average speed each year than MAJESTIC.
In 1928, MAJESTIC was extensively refitted and modernized and enjoyed a boom year for passenger lists, but numbers fell slightly in 1929 and then the Great Depression set in by 1930.
In 1934 in the North Atlantic an enormous wave smashed over the bridge of the RMS MAJESTIC, injuring the first officer and White Star's final commodore, Edgar J. Trant, who was hospitalized for a month and never sailed again.
Following the merger of the White Star and Cunard Lines in 1934, MAJESTIC served the new company until 1936. In 1935, it was announced that her sister BERENGARIA would be retired first after several fires aboard caused by the original wiring and Cunard arguing with the American Board Of Trade who stated that the ship was no longer fit for American traveler’s, but the decision was reversed and MAJESTIC was retired instead.
After being laid up at Southampton, she was sold on 15 May 1936 for scrap to TW Ward. However, due to a stipulation in her original agreement of being a prize of war handed over to the White Star Line as compensation for lost tonnage, she could not be sold to the Admiralty, so an exchange was set up where the ship breakers were given 24 outmoded destroyers as compensation for the equivalent scrap value of MAJESTIC. In July 1936 the ship was converted into a Cadet training ship and renamed HMS CALEDONIA.
The conversion of CALEDONIA was undertaken at Southampton and comprised the shortening of her masts and funnels so that she could pass beneath the Forth Railway Bridge and a reduction in the number of lifeboats.
On 8 April 1937, CALEDONIA departed Southampton for her new base in Rosyth and was commissioned on 23 April 1937, with a capacity of 1,500 cadets.
After the outbreak of World War II, the cadets were removed to accommodation ashore and the ship's berth was emptied for Naval use. CALEDONIA was temporarily anchored in the Firth of Forth pending a decision as to her disposal.
On 29 September 1939, CALEDONIA caught fire and burnt out, sinking at her moorings. The wreck was sold in March 1940 to Thomas W. Ward for scrap, but it was not until 17 July 1943, that the remains of CALEDONIA were raised and towed to the scrap yard in Inverkeithing for scrapping.
Germany 2011 0.85 Euro (personalized stamp)
Source: Merchant Fleets in profile Volume 4 by Duncan Haws.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Majestic_(1914)