SS Imperator

German liner Imperator at anchor, c. 1913, with the grandiose bow eagle of the Hapag company still in place.
History
German Empire
Name	SS Imperator
Owner	Hamburg America Line
Port of registry	Hamburg
Builder	AG Vulcan Hamburg, Germany
Launched	23 May 1912
Christened	24 May 1913
Completed	June 1913 at Hamburg, Germany
Maiden voyage	11 June 1913, Cuxhaven to New York
Fate	War prize to the United States
United States
Name	USS Imperator
Acquired	by the Navy 5 May 1919 at Brest, France
Commissioned	5 May 1919 USS Imperator at Brest, France
Decommissioned	24 November 1919 at New York City
Identification	ID-4080
Fate	Sold to the Cunard Line and renamed Berengaria
United Kingdom
Name	RMS Berengaria
Owner	1919–1934: Cunard Line 1934–1938: Cunard White Star Line
Acquired	1919
Homeport	Liverpool, UK
Fate	Scrapped between 1939–1946
General characteristics
Class and type	Template:Sclass-
Tonnage	52,117 GT
Length	906 ft (276 m)
Beam	98 ft 3 in (29.95 m)
Draught	35 ft 2 in (10.72 m)
Decks	11
Installed power	Steam generated at 265 psi by 46 watertube boilers of Vulcan Yarrow design, originally coal burning, later converted to oil fired in 1921.
Propulsion	4 steam turbines AEG-Vulcan / Parsons direct drive on four shafts, total of 60,000 shp (45,000 kW)
Speed	24 kn (44 km/h; 28 mph) max
Capacity	4,234 passengers: 908 first class 592 second class 962 third class 1,772 steerage
Crew	1,180

SS Imperator was an ocean liner built for the Hamburg America Line (Hamburg Amerikanische Paketfahrt Aktien Gesellschaft, or HAPAG), launched in 1912. Although in German and English all ships are usually referred to as feminine, during his Hamburg American Line career, the ship was referred to as masculine at the special request of Kaiser Wilhelm II. At the time of his completion in June 1913, he was the largest passenger ship in the world by gross tonnage, surpassing Titanic's sister ship, RMS Olympic. Upon launch, he also surpassed the recently-sunk RMS Titanic and the Olympic by 24 ft (7.3 m) in length.

He was the first of a trio of successively larger Hamburg America ships that included SS Vaterland and SS Bismarck, built by the line for transatlantic passenger service.

During World War I, the ship remained in port in Hamburg. After the war, he was briefly commissioned into the United States Navy as USS Imperator (ID-4080) and employed as a transport, returning American troops from Europe. Following his service with the U.S. Navy, Imperator was handed over to Britain's Cunard Line as part of war reparations where he sailed as the flagship RMS Berengaria for the final decade of his career.

Construction and early career

Imperator in Hamburg, 1913

The first plates of his keel were laid in 1910 at the Vulcan Shipyards in Hamburg, Germany, and made his maiden voyage in 1913. At 52,117 gross tons, Imperator was the largest ship in the world until Vaterland sailed in May 1914.

Before his launch on 23 May 1912, Cunard announced that their new ship, RMS Aquitania, which was under construction at the time at the John Brown shipyards in Glasgow, would be longer by 1 foot (300 mm). There was chagrin in Hamburg. Several weeks later, he was fitted with an imposing bronze eagle figurehead, created by Professor Bruno Kruse of Berlin, which adorned his forepeak with a banner emblazoned with HAPAG's motto Mein Feld ist die Welt (My field is the world); this meant that the length of Imperator surpassed that of Aquitania. The eagle's wings were later torn off in an Atlantic storm during the 1914 season, after which the figurehead was removed and replaced with gold scroll-work similar to that on his stern.

On his initial sea trials, the ship ran aground on the Elbe river due to insufficient dredging and a flash fire in the engine room which resulted in eight crewmen being taken to hospital. On his official trials, he suffered overheating of the turbines and some stability issues were discovered. The trials were therefore abandoned and the builders were called in to carry out emergency work. At the same time, the overnight cruise for the Kaiser was cancelled; it was eventually carried out in July that year.

Imperator left on his maiden voyage on Wednesday, 11 June 1913, with Commodore Hans Ruser in command and Hamburg-Amerika appointing four other captains for the journey to make sure that everything went smoothly. On the way, he stopped at Southampton and Cherbourg before proceeding across the Atlantic to New York, arriving on 19 June 1913. On board were 4,986, consisting of 859 first-class passengers, 647 second-class passengers, 648 third-class passengers, 1,495 in the steerage, and 1,332 crew. The ship returned to Europe from Hoboken, New Jersey on 25 June 1913.

Detail of the figurehead after its wings were damaged

On his first arrival the harbour pilot assigned to bring him into the Ambrose channel, Captain George Seeth, noted that the ship listed from side to side when the helm made changes to the ship's direction. He was soon nicknamed "Limperator".

In October 1913, Imperator returned to the Vulkan shipyard to facilitate drastic work to improve his handling and stability, as it had been discovered that his centre of gravity was too high (see metacentric height). To correct the problem, the marble bathroom suites in first class were removed and heavy furniture was replaced with lightweight wicker cane. The ship's funnels were reduced in height by 9.8 ft (3 m). Finally, 2,000 tons of cement was poured into the ship's double bottom as ballast. This work cost £200,000, which had to be borne by the shipyard as part of their five-year warranty to the shipowners. At the same time, an advanced fire sprinkler system was fitted throughout the ship, as several fires had occurred on board since the vessel had entered service.

During the 1914 refit of Imperator, Commodore Ruser handed over command of the ship to Captain Theo Kier and left to take command of the new larger flagship Vaterland, which was nearing completion. Imperator returned to service on 11 March, arriving at New York five days later on the 19th.

Among his luxurious features, Imperator introduced a two-deck-high, Pompeiian-style swimming pool for his first-class passengers.

World War I and U.S. Navy service

In August 1914, as World War I began, he was laid up at Hamburg and remained inactive for more than four years, falling into dilapidation. Following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, Imperator was taken over by the Allied Food Shipping and Finance Agreement, and allocated to the United States for temporary use as a transport alongside Vaterland, which was now renamed SS Leviathan and bringing American service personnel home from France.

USS Imperator (ID-4080) off Manhattan, New York City.

He was commissioned as USS Imperator (ID-4080) in early May 1919. After embarking 2,100 American troops and 1,100 passengers, Imperator departed Brest, France on 15 May 1919, arriving at New York City one week later. Operating with the Cruiser and Transport Force from 3 June to 10 August, he made three cruises from New York to Brest, returning over 25,000 troops, nurses, and civilians to the United States.

While en route to New York City 17 June, Imperator assisted the Jeanne d'Arc, which had broken down in the Atlantic Ocean. The President of Brazil was on board Jeanne d'Arc and Imperator received him and his party for transport to the United States, arriving there several days later.

Decommissioned at Hoboken, New Jersey in early 1919, Imperator was transferred to the British Shipping Controller on 20 September, and it was decided that he would be operated by Cunard. Captain Charles A. Smith and a full crew was sent out to New York on Carmania by his new operators and the official handover from the American board of shipping to Cunard took place on 24 November. Imperator was then transferred to Cunard's pier 54 for Cunard service.

Cunard service

RMS Berengaria

Berengaria underway after conversion from coal to oil burning boilers, 1921.

The ship arrived at Southampton on Sunday 10 December 1919 and then proceeded to Liverpool for what was planned to be a quick overhaul (he was scheduled to leave on his first voyage for his new owners on 10 January 1920). However, upon inspection, the ship was found to be in poor condition. During dry-docking on 6 January, it was found that the ship's rudder had a piece missing and his propellers were suffering from erosion on their leading edges. These issues were attended to while the ship was refurnished with items borrowed from the Cunard vessels Transylvania and Carmania.

Due to the extent of the work that had to be carried out, Imperator remained at Liverpool until 21 February and during this time the company's annual dinner was held on board, before the ship returned to service on the North Atlantic. On 2 March 1920, the ship left New York, taking nine days to reach Southampton. During the voyage, Imperator developed a severe list which was found to be caused by a faulty ash ejector. Cunard decided that the ship was in need of a major overhaul and he was withdrawn from service.

The ship was renamed after the English queen Berengaria of Navarre. Many Cunard ships had been named for parts of the Roman Empire and had names that ended in "ia". Like several other Cunard ships, RMS Berengaria kept the "ia" ending to his name but was not named after a province of the ancient world.

Sir Arthur Rostron of the RMS Titanic passenger rescue fame and former captain of Carpathia took command of Berengaria in July 1920. The following year both Berengaria and Aquitania were sent to Armstrong Whitworth shipyards to be converted from coal firing to oil.

In September 1925, a security alert at sea was triggered when the Cunard company offices in New York received a message stating there was a bomb aboard Berengaria; the vessel was then 1,200 miles out from New York, bound for Southampton. The ship was searched although the passengers and most of the crew were not informed as to the reason. A fire drill was held just before the supposed time of detonation, so passengers could be placed close to their lifeboat stations without arousing suspicion. The bomb threat failed to materialize.

On 11 May 1932, Berengaria ran aground in the Solent. He was refloated an hour later. In May 1934, Berengaria was again in the headlines when he ran aground on the mud banks at Calshot on the Solent. He was pulled free from the mud by four tugs from Southampton. The vessel suffered no damage and the incident did not affect his sailing schedule.

Despite his German heritage, Berengaria served as flagship of the Cunard fleet until he was replaced by his sister ship, RMS Majestic (also German: ex-SS Bismarck), in 1934 after the merger of Cunard with White Star Line. In later years, Berengaria was used for discounted Prohibition-dodging cruises, which earned him the jocular nickname "Bargain-area".

Toward the end of his service life, he suffered several electrical fires caused by aging wiring, and Cunard-White Star opted to retire him in 1938. He was sold to Sir John Jarvis, who also purchased Olympic, to provide work for his local region. He sailed for the River Tyne under the command of Captain George Gibbons and was scrapped down to the waterline. Due to the size of the vessel and the outbreak of the Second World War, final demolition took place only in 1946.

Gallery

• 
  The stern of the immense Imperator prior to his launch.
• 
  First Class Main Staircase of Imperator.
• 
  Imperator in 1913.
• 
  USS Imperator (ID-4080), at left, and USS Leviathan (ID-1326) at Hoboken, New Jersey.
• 
  Imperator's turbines under construction at Vulcan, Hamburg. Note workmen, center right, for size comparison.
• 
  Advertisement by Hamburg-American Line in American Homes and Gardens magazine, 1913

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

Further reading

• The Hamburg-American Company's New 50,000-Ton Liner (International Marine Engineering feature article, August 1912, pp. 301–305, with launch photos & engineering details.)
• SS Imperator / RMS Berengaria
• Atlantic Liners: A Trio of Trios, by J. Kent Layton
• Ocean Liners, by Oliver le Goff
• The Beautiful and Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Imperator/Berengaria, by Les Streater

External links

• S.S. Imperator at Flickr via Library of Congress
• S.S. Imperator (German Passenger Liner, 1913) – Served as USS Imperator (ID # 4080) in 1919. – Later the British Passenger Liner Berengaria
• USS Imperator (ID # 4080), 1919–1919.
• Photo gallery of Imperator at NavSource Naval History
• RMS Berengaria / SS Imperator on Facebook
• Imperator / Berengaria Home at Atlantic Liners.
• Ship's page at ocean-liners.com
• The Ultimate Imperator
• Chris' Cunard Page
• Final sailing to Sir John Jarvis's scrapyard; Jarow