The America is one of those ships that has served under as many different names as people have pairs of shoes. Eight name changes later, the former America now lies wrecked at Fuerteventura, Canary Islands.
There was only one problem with the America as originally built, though, and that was with the funnels. Since the smoke from the aft funnel (note that the forward funnel was not a working funnel, but instead a ventilator) was not keeping smoke off the decks as intended, the funnels had to be raised fifteen feet.
Within a year of her entry into service, however, the United States would enter World War II, and so the commercial days of the America came to a temporary end, as the U.S. Navy needed her for more urgent war duties...
But, as all things eventually do, the West Point's trooping days came to an end. In early 1946, she was decommissioned, and returned to Newport News for reconditioning...
In 1952, the America was complemented with the record-breaking liner United States. Because of the disparity in speed between the America and the United States, the America acted independently from the United States, as a consort of sorts. In the 1960's, as she did earlier in her career, and as many of the
great liners of the day were doing at this time, the America went cruising part
time. This was due to the airliners taking a strong foothold on the transatlantic
business. In September 1963, a labor dispute over restroom facilities, forcing the
cancellation of her In November 1964, the America was sold for $1.5 million. The lucky buyers were Okeania S/A, a division of the Chandris Group. Following the sale, the America sailed off to Piraeus, in Greece, for a major refit for a new career...
Eventually, as with the transatlantic trade back in her America days, the Australis began losing money due to airline travel. Despite occasional cruising, she still was losing money, and so in November 1978, she was withdrawn, and was sent to Timaru, New Zealand, and laid up, awaiting her fate. As fate would have it, the Australis was sold, for a sum of $5 million, to an American firm called Venture Cruise Lines. She sailed to New York, to again be refitted for another career...
The first voyage was, to put it nicely, a disaster. This was due
to the fact that the ship looked great externally, but internally, she was in a severe state of
neglect, with parts of the liner incomplete, worn Because of this, in total humiliation, the America was yanked from service, and laid up at her New York pier. Her owners, Venture Cruises, were bankrupt, and so the U.S. District Court took the America in hand and auctioned her off to recover debts. The America was sold for $1 million to the Chandris Group. Thus Chandris made $4 million in pure profit with the America! After the sale, she was sent to Perama, near Piraeus, in Greece, and laid up. She would soon be revived again, for the final chapter in her seagoing career...
The ship was in fact sold for scrapping in the late 1980's. The scrap merchant had made an offer of $2 million to scrap the liner, and after paying a deposit of $1 million, began work. After removing the lifeboats and the lifeboat davits, and placing a bulldozer on the aft deck to begin the rest of the scrapping, the scrap merchant defaulted on the payments, and so Silver Moon kept Alferdoss, albeit without the lifeboats, but now had a cool $1 million. In 1993, the Alferdoss was sold again, this time to Chapheya Transport Company. Perhaps this was the reprieve that the former America had been waiting for...
The stern section of the liner has since been claimed by the sea,
rolling over and sinking into the sea. The bow section still stands How long will the American Star last? So far, the bow section has remained, but is slowly deteriorating. Hopefully, the remains will last a very long time, this which was once one of America's greatest passenger liners.
America Vital Statistics Gross Tonnage: 33,532 (1949), 33,961 (1960) Length: 723 feet Width: 93 feet Draft: 29 feet Machinery: Steam turbines geared to triple-screw Speed: 22 knots Capacity: 516 First, 371 Cabin, 159 Tourist. After 1960, revised to 516 First and 530 Tourist. Built: Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, 1940 Demise: Wrecked off the Canary Islands, 1994. The Classic Liners of Long Ago © 2000-2007 Nick Works, Inc. |
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America was
originally built for United States Lines for their transatlantic service. America's
place of birth was the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, in Newport News,
Virginia, later the birthplace of the famed United States. Just like the Leviathan
before her, and the United States after her, America was designed by the
famed naval architect William Francis Gibbs. On August 31, 1939, she was launched by
the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. The following day, Germany invaded Poland, and
World War II became a reality.
The brand new America
first entered service in 1940, just before the United States entered World War II.
Because the United States Lines could not guarantee the safety of America and her
passengers on the high seas due to the political situation (despite the country's
neutrality at the time), America did not immediately take to her intended
transatlantic role. Instead, with her name and nationality painted on her sides, she
entered service cruising in the to the Caribbean and California (the latter via the Panama
Canal).
For added security during
World War II, the America was renamed the USS West Point (AP-23), and
was painted a dull wartime gray. This was later changed to a camouflage coloring.
Converting the former America to a troop ship with a capacity of 8,175
took only eleven days. As a troop ship, the West Point served marvelously,
logging distances equivalent to fifteen round-the-world voyages, and carrying 350,000
people. Her trooping voyages took her to such places as Australia, India, South
Africa, many parts of Europe, and the American west coast. She also made passages
through both the Panama and Suez canals.
The West Point
served marvelously indeed, with no major mishaps in her five years of military service.
However, she was the subject of several near-misses. Enemy bombers came
within fifty yards of her off of Singapore, she was a near victim of air attacks in the
Red Sea, off Australia, and at Port Suez, and torpedoes crossed her bow off of Brazil.
A good part of 1946 and six
million dollars later, the West Point emerged anew as the America.
Now, with the war over, the America could serve on the route that she was
intended for - the North Atlantic, single-handedly working the United States Lines's
transatlantic service as flagship of the American merchant marine.
noon-time sailing. The America
ended up being laid up in Hoboken for months while rumors circulated that the America
would be retired permanently or even sold off. However, in February 1964, the America
returned to service.
Chandris transformed the
former America into their Australis, Greek for "Australian
Lady", flying first the Panamanian flag, and then the Greek flag. With a gray
hull, blue funnels with large white X's on their sides (X is the Greek letter Chi, which
is part of the name Chandris), and a hook mast on her aft funnel, Australis took
to the Greek-Australian immigrant trade. Her route for this service took her from
Southampton, through the Mediterranean (or around South Africa when the Suez was closed),
to Australia and New Zealand, to Mexico, to Panama, the Caribbean, Florida, and then back
to 
Southampton. While working this trade, she had the
distinction of carrying the most passengers than any other liner in service at that time,
with a capacity of 2,258.
When the Australis
arrived in New York, she went in for a refit, being renamed the America, despite
her Greek flag. She was painted similarly to how she was as the original America,
but this time she sported a blue hull, blue funnels, black tops, and a red band beneath
the black topping. Venture Cruises intended to use the America for
short-distance "voyages to nowhere" from New York. All of two voyages
later, she was out of service again.
mattresses, rats, and roaches. And on top of that, she was
overbooked. The second voyage was even worse, with complaints ranging from
"unworkable" toilets to overbooking.
Chandris revived the America
as their Italis, which is Greek for "Italian Lady". In refitting
the liner, Chandris removed the forward funnel due to severe corrosion.
Thus the ship would have a new profile as the Italis, having only one
funnel.
In my opinion, this served to improve her profile, with the single funnel
making the ship look more balanced, since it is in the center of her
superstructure. Chandris
planned to use the Italis as a cruise liner, sailing primarily on two-week
cruises to the Mediterranean. On these trips, Italis would sail primarily
from Barcelona, with mostly Latin Americans that used connecting air
flights. Unfortunately, this service was not to be a very long-lived service.
By the following fall, the service ended, and the Italis was returned to Perama,
never to turn her screws again. In 1980, the Italis was sold to
Intercommerce Corporation, for a potential revival...
Intercommerce Corporation renamed the Italis the Noga.
The plan was to convert the 40-year-old ship to a prison ship in Beirut. Nothing
ever came of this plan, and the Noga continued to lay where she was in
Perama. In September 1984, she was again sold, this time to Silver Moon Ferries, and
there was another plan for a new career for the now 44-year-old liner...
Silver Moon Ferries renamed
the Noga the Alferdoss. The name "Alferdoss" means
"Paradise" in Arabic. For ten years, Silver Moon owned the Alferdoss,
reportedly waiting for the price of scrap metal to climb so that scrapping would become
profitable.
When Chapheya Transport
bought the Alferdoss, she was dry-docked, and renamed American Star.
It was found that the American Star's hull was surprisingly in an
extremely good condition. The plan for the aging liner now was to be a floating
hotel off of the island of Phuket, in Thailand. American Star had her
propellers removed in order to prevent drag, and interestingly enough, the "X"
on her funnel was removed, and her funnel was painted red and black. She was placed
under the tow of the Ukranian tug Neftegaz 67, and off to Thailand she went!
Or so it seemed...
On January 15, 1994, off
of the Canary Islands, the American Star hit a storm, the tow lines broke, and American
Star was adrift. Neftegaz 67, as well as a second tug, attempted to
get another towline on board, but it was no use. Two days later, the four riding
crew members were airlifted off of the American Star, and she grounded off of
Fuerteventura. Argument between various parties that had an interest in the liner
allowed for mother nature 
to take her toll on the
liner, and thus the pounding surf caused the American Star to break in half aft
of her funnel. On July 6, 1994, the American Star was declared a total
loss, and the liner was left to whatever nature had in store for it.
proud, though rusted, and deteriorating. The local residents
have pillaged the liner for any wood that could be found on board, and all of the porthole
glass has been broken, according to reports.
