SS Potsdam (1899)

SS Potsdam was an ocean liner completed in 1900 by the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany for the Holland America Line (HAL) for transatlantic service from Rotterdam to New York. She was the largest ship operated by HAL at the time.[1][2]

SS Potsdam

Potsdam, c.1910
History
Name	Potsdam (1900–1915) Stockholm (1915–1929) Solglimt (1929–1940) Sonderburg (1940–)
Owner	Holland America Line (1900–1915) Swedish American Line (1915–1929) First German Whaling Company (1940–)
Builder	Blohm + Voss
Yard number	139
Launched	15 December 1899
Fate	Scrapped 1946–1947
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	12,835 GRT 8,044 NRT 12,606 DWT
Length	167.66 m (550.1 ft)
Beam	18.93 m (62.1 ft)
Draft	10.51 m (34.5 ft)
Installed power	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 7,600 ihp (5,700 kW)
Propulsion	Twin screws
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity	1120 passengers

In 1915 the ship was sold to the newly founded Swedish American Line and renamed SS Stockholm for transatlantic service from Gothenburg to New York. In 1929 she was sold to Norwegian interests and converted to the whale factory ship SS Solglimt. Following the German invasion of Norway in 1940 Solglimt was captured by the Kriegsmarine, transferred to the First German Whaling Company and renamed SS Sonderburg.[2][3]

Sonderburg was scuttled by German troops in 1944 to block entrance to Cherbourg Harbour. In 1946 she was partially demolished to clear the shipway, with the final remains towed to the United Kingdom in 1947 to be scrapped.[2]

• 
  Stockholm enters port with a thousand African Americans of the 369th New York Regiment returning from WWI
• 
  Solglimt being bombed by the British in Cherbourg in 1942