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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:

Laid down, date unknown, by Blohm and Voss, Hamburg, Germany

Launched, 15 August 1928

Delivered, March 1930, to Nord Deutscher Lloyd

Maiden Voyage, Bremen-Southampton-Cherbourg-New York, 19 March 1930

Sold to German-American Line in 1941

Taken as a war prize, 8 May 1945

Acquired by the US Navy and commissioned USS Europa (AP-177), 25 August 1945, CAPT. Benjamin Franklin 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 in May 1946

Transferred by the government of France to the France Line in July 1946,

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, sold to Italian shipbreakers, 30 December 1961, scrapped in 1962

Specifications:
Displacement 49,746 t. (gross)
Length. 936'
Beam 102'
Draft 48'
Speed 27.5 kts.

Propulsion

twelve steam turbines

single reduction geared

quadruple propellers

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
Pre-War Commercial Service
	68k	Launching of the Nord Deutscher Lloyd passenger liner SS Europa at Hamburg, Germany in 1928.	Gerhard Mueller-Debus
	51k	SS Europa with a fire on board while fitting out at the Blohm und Voss Shipbuilding Yard, Hamburg, March 1929. Photo courtesy Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-07567	Robert Hurst
	53k	SS Europa under steam at Hamburg, February 1930 prior to her sea trials commencing. Photo courtesy Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-0951	Robert Hurst
	57k	The He 59 (DE-1919) "Bremen Atlantic" seaplane being hoisted onto the Heinkel-designed catapult aboard the passenger liner SS Europa, August 1930. Photo courtesy Bundesarchiv, Bild 102 - 10309	Robert Hurst
	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
	303k	The Nord Deutscher Lloyd passenger liner SS Europa underway, date and location unknown.	Tommy Trampp
	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
	207k	SS Europa docking/undocking, date and location unknown. Photo from the book by Nicholas T. Cairis, "Passenger Liners of the World Since 1893" (1979).	Tommy Trampp
	91k	SS Europa tied up pierside at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 18 September 1940. That night she was the target for five Bristol Beauforts of No.22 Squadron. only one located the ship but was unable to attack because of the intense searchlight glare. Photo and text from "The other few: The Contribution made by Bomber and Coastal Command aircrew to the winning of The Battle of Britain", by Larry Donnelly DFM.	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	*USS 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)** moored pierside at New York in January 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
	126k	Starboard view at sea of the French Lines passenger liner SS Liberte circa 1950. Impression by "Marin-Marie".	Tommy Trampp
	716k	Moran tugs assist SS Liberte, formally the Blue Riband award winning North German Lloyd SS Europa, during a mid 1950s winter departure from New York.	Tommy Trampp
	113k	SS Liberte underway in harbor, location unknown. Wire photo dated 27 July 1950.	Tommy Trampp
	119k	SS Liberte post card image postmarked 2 January 1951, New York, N.Y.	Tommy Trampp
	159k	SS Liberte underway, date and location unknown.	Tommy Trampp
	135k	SS Liberte in harbor, date and location unknown. Post card image by William H. Miller.	Tommy Trampp
	184k	Post card image of SS Liberte underway, circa 1952,	Tommy Trampp
	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