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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Europa (AP-177)

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Delta - Uniform - Hotel NDUH

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

Europa Class Transport:

Built in 1928 by Blohm and Voss, Hamburg, Germany

Taken as a war prize, 8 May 1945

Acquired by the US Navy and commissioned USS Europa (AP-177), 25 August 1945, CAPT. B. F. Perry in command

Decommissioned, 2 May 1946

Delivered to the State Department, 8 June 1946

Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown

Transferred to France in partial payment of war reparations

Wrecked and sunk, 8 December 1946, at La Harve, France, before being placed in service as SS Liberte

Raised, 15 April 1947, reconditioned, and placed in service, 17 August 1950 as the French Line passenger liner SS Liberte

Final Disposition, scrapped in 1962

Specifications:
Displacement 55,500 t.(fl)
Length. 937'
Beam 102'
Draft 34'
Speed 26 kts.

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
Pre-War Commercial Service
	456k	The Nord Deutscher Lloyd passenger liner SS Europa fitting out in Hamburg, Germany in 1930. *Europa* was scheduled to be completed in 1928, but due to severe fire damage during the construction phase she entered service in 1930.	Gerhard Mueller-Debus
	80k	The Nord Deutscher Lloyd passenger liner SS Europa arriving in port, probably Hamburg, date unknown.	Robert Hurst
	89k	Pre-war images of passenger liners SS Europa and SS Bremen moored pierside at Bremerhaven, Germany. US Navy photo from "Great Liners At War" by Stephen Harding.	Robert Hurst
	80k	SS Europa tied up dockside at Bremerhaven, Germany in early May 1945. This image, taken by members of the first U.S. unit to reach the harbor, shows the vessel wearing a dazzle-pattern camouflage paint scheme reminiscent of those worn by Allied troopships in the First World War. US Navy photo from "Great Liners At War" by Stephen Harding.	Robert Hurst
	82k	SS Europa being nudged by tugs towards the Bremerhaven drydock where she will undergo the refurbishment and conversion work to prepare her for her troop-repatriation duty. She was commissioned as USS Europa, 25 August 1945. US Navy photo from "Great Liners At War" by Stephen Harding.	Robert Hurst
USS Europa (AP-177)
	37k	Europa (AP-177) moored pierside, circa 1945, location unknown	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
	83k	*USS Europa* (AP-177)** tied up in Bremerhaven before departing on her first repatriation voyage. Sharing the pier is the USAHS Larkspur, herself a former German passenger steamer US Navy photo from "Great Liners At War" by Stephen Harding.	Robert Hurst
	74k	*USS Europa* (AP-177)** tied up soon after her 24 March, 1946 arrival back at Bremerhaven, Germany. Decommissioned, 2 May, 1946, the ship ultimately returned to commercial service as SS Liberte of France's Compagnie Generale Transatlantique. US Navy photo from "Great Liners At War" by Stephen Harding.	Robert Hurst
Post-War Commercial Service
	32k	Prior to the conversion of ex-*USS Europa* (AP-177)** to SS Liberte, gale winds in December 1946 blew her into capsized SS Paris at La Harve, causing severe damage	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
	69k	Ex-*USS Europa* (AP-177)** prior to conversion as SS Liberte sunk at La Harve, France, December 1946. Photo by Brooks Rowlett.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
	34k	The French Lines passenger linerSS Liberte arriving at New York in 1950	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
	26k	The French Lines passenger liner SS Liberte departing New York in 1950	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret
	300k	German newspaper photo of the ex-French Lines passenger liner SS Liberte being dismantled at La Spezia, Italy in mid-1964.	Gerhard Mueller-Debus