SS Volendam

Postcard of Volendam
History
Netherlands
Name	Volendam
Namesake	Volendam
Owner	NASM
Operator	Holland America Line
Port of registry	Rotterdam
Route	1922: Rotterdam – Hoboken 1939: Antwerp – Hoboken 1940: Rotterdam – Hoboken 1948: Rotterdam – Hoboken or Quebec
Builder	Harland & Wolff, Govan
Yard number	649
Launched	6 July 1922
Completed	12 October 1922
Maiden voyage	4 November 1922
Out of service	1951
Refit	1928, 1937, 1941, 1948
Identification	until 1933: code letters PWQC by 1934: call sign PIHP
Fate	Scrapped in 1952
General characteristics
Type	ocean liner
Tonnage	15,434 GRT, 9,197 NRT, 13,713 DWT
Length	575 ft (175 m) overall 550.2 ft (167.7 m)
Beam	67.3 ft (20.5 m)
Draught	32 ft 5 in (9.88 m)
Depth	32.6 ft (9.9 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	1,913 NHP; 8,000 bhp
Propulsion	4 × steam turbines single-reduction gearing 2 × screws
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity	cargo: 484,000 cu ft (13,700 m3) grain 453,000 cu ft (12,800 m3) bale passengers: 1922: 263 × 1st class, 436 × 2nd class, 200 × 3rd class 1928: 263 × 1st class, 428 × 2nd class, 484 × tourist class 1937: 261 × 1st class, 266 × tourist class, 315 × 3rd class 1948: 1,682 × tourist class
Troops	3,000
Crew	273
Sensors and processing systems	1924: submarine signalling 1930: wireless direction finding 1946: radar
Armament	in Second World War: DEMS
Notes	sister ship: Veendam

SS Volendam was a Dutch-owned transatlantic liner, launched in Scotland in 1922 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1952. She was part of the first generation of turbine-powered steamships in the Holland America Line (Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij, or NASM) fleet. Volendam and her sister ship Veendam were NASM's largest turbine steamships until the flagship Statendam was completed in 1929.

In the 1920s and 30s, Volendam spent most of her career on scheduled services between Rotterdam and Hoboken, New Jersey. She also operated seasonal cruises: mostly to the Caribbean, but occasionally to the Mediterranean, and to Norway. In the Second World War, she evacuated refugees from Europe, including children from Britain, until in 1940 she was damaged by two torpedoes.

In 1941 she returned to service as a troop ship. In 1947, she became an emigrant ship, at first carrying mostly Dutch emigrants. In 1948 she returned to transatlantic service, offering budget travel, which attracted US and Canadian students making their summer vacation in Europe. She was scrapped in 1952.

This was the first NASM ship to be named after the town of Volendam in North Holland. NASM next used the name in 1972, when it bought and renamed the turbine steamship Brasil.