Thread: ss Rotterdam V - history

ss Rotterdam V (1959-present) Built in 1959 as ss (steam ship) Rotterdam by the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (Rotterdam Drydock Company), Rotterdam, the Netherlands for the Holland Amerika Lijn/Holland America Line for which she would become their very popular flagship known as "the Grand Dame". At 748 feet long, 94 feet wide and weighing 38,650 tons, she was the largest ship ever built in the Netherlands and she would sail for HAL for 39 years as the last great Dutch "ship of state".

Rotterdam V was conceived as running mate to HAL's popular Nieuw Amsterdam launched in 1937, but work was put on hold at the outbreak of World War II in Europe. When economic conditions once again became favorable for completion of the new ship in early 1954, the beginning of the end of ocean liners as basic transport was visible on the horizon. Her designers took this in mind and created a groundbreaking vessel, a two-class, horizontally divided ship with movable partitions and a unique double staircase allowing for easy conversion to cruising. Rotterdam's machinery was shifted aft, to the now-traditional two-thirds aft position, and in lieu of a funnel twin uptake pipes were fitted. To provide balance, a large deckhouse was built atop the superstructure in the midships position of a typical funnel. While very controversial at the time, Rotterdam's appearance became groundbreaking, and her unique design features can be found on cruise ships today.



She was the fifth ship in the line's history to bear the name of Rotterdam, the principal city in the Dutch province of Zuid (South) Holland, second largest municipality in the Netherlands and the largest port in Europe. The name 'Rotterdam' originally comes from a dam built on the river Rotte.

The first Rotterdam operated initially for the C.V. Plate, Reuchlin & Company, then the Nederlandsche Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (NASM) or Netherlands America Steamship Company from 1872 until 1883. She was an iron 1,700 gross registered ton steamship. Built by Henderson Coulborn & Co. in Renfrew, Scotland, Rotterdam I was deployed on the transatlantic service between Rotterdam and New York, at the time a 21-day voyage. On 26 September 1883 while enroute back to Rotterdam, she ran aground off the west coast of the Dutch island of Schouwen and had to be abandoned by passengers and crew. On 12 October she broke in half during a heavy storm.

The second Rotterdam was launched as the British Empire on 7 March 1878, from the Harland & Wolff Ltd shipyard in Belfast, Northern Island. She was completed on 10 August 1878 and sailed mostly under charter to different companies. Holland Amerika Line purchased her in October 1886 and she was renamed Rotterdam, sailing mainly on the Rotterdam to New York run. In November 1896, she was renamed Edam and for a while, used on the Amsterdam to New York route. She was sold for scrap in 1899 and broken up in Genoa, Italy.

Rotterdam III was launched at Harland & Wolff on 18 February 1897. The 8,186 ton passenger liner was HAL's largest ship at the time and was put to work on the Rotterdam to New York service. In April 1906 she was purchased by the Denmark-based Skandinavien-Amerika Linien (Scandinavia America Line) and renamed C.F. Tietgen, sailing from Copenhagen to New York. In 1913 she was sold to the Russian East Asiatic Steam Ship Company and renamed Dwinsk. Duringh the 1st World War on 18 June 1918, while serving as a British troopship, she was struck by torpedoes of the German sub/u-boot U-151 northeast of Bermuda and sunk with loss of life.

The fourth Rotterdam was again built at the Harland & Wolff yard and, upon completion in June of 1908, operated on the Rotterdam to New York run which now took eight days. For the last two years (1916-1918) of World War I she was laid up at Rotterdam due to fear of torpedo attack and/or mines. She operated again beginning in 1919. In November 1939 she was sold for scrap and broken up in 1940 at Hendrik Ido Ambacht in the Netherlands.

Rotterdam V was painted in the then HAL house colors of a dove gray hull with a thin yellow band. Due to the absence of a traditional funnel (she had the twin set of uptakes instead), the then HAL colors (buff funnel with green-white-green bands) were unable to be applied there. Instead, all of her lifeboats were painted in the line's buff yellow colors with green and white bands (the colors of the city of Rotterdam) painted on their gunwhales.

On 14 September 1958, Rotterdam V was launched by her godmother, HRH Queen Juliana of The Netherlands in the city of Rotterdam in front of some 60,000 spectators. Succesful sea trials were conducted on the North Sea between 1-6 August 1959. On 3 September 1959, Rotterdam V, the flagship of the Holland Amerika Lijn set out on her maiden voyage from Rotterdam to New York, via Le Havre, France and Southampton, England under the command of her master, Commodore Coenraad Bouman. One of her passengers was the then Crown Princess of The Netherlands, the twenty-one year old Princess (currently Queen) Beatrix.

Upon passing Tompkinsville on north-eastern Staten Island, Commodore Bouman had the national flag of the Netherlands, flying on his ship, dipped in a salute to Henry Hudson. Back on 10 September 1609, the English sea explorer and navigator employed by the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or Dutch (United) East India Company, had anchored his ship the Half Moon (found in the current HAL logo) in the general area.

She arrived at the Fifth Street Pier in Hoboken, New Jersey on 11 September 1959 receiving a welcome by water spraying fireboats. After the Princess (via cutter and then to the Royal Netherlands Navy destroyer Gelderland in Gravesend Bay) and all her remaining passengers (the 'normal way') had disembarked, Rotterdam V was towed across the harbor to HAL's new terminal at Pier 40 in Manhattan. Rotterdam departed New York for her east bound journey across the Atlantic on 22 September 1959.

She then departed New York on her first cruise on 11 December, 1959, a 49-day cruise circumnavigating South America. She undertook a second, seventy five-day cruise on 1 February 1960. She would make her first world cruise in January 1961, a seventy seven-day roundtrip from New York. From then on, she would operate the company's world cruise each year until 1986, developing a loyal following.

As originally built, Rotterdam had a two-class system and accomodation, that being First Class for a maximum of 580 guests and Tourist Class for a maximum of 1,055 guests. When launched, Rotterdam came out in First Class with the 240-seat two-deck high Ritz Carlton public lounge with port-side sweeping staircase (used for afternoon tea and dancing), 260-seat Odyssey dining room with forward Grill Room, 50-seat Sky Room small lounge & bar, 142-seat Ambassador Room night club with dance floor, orchestra podium and bar, 163-seat Theatre balcony (used for movies and stage productions), 30-seat First Class Library and Shore Excursion Office, Forecourt foyer, a Card Room, 130-seat Smoking Room with ten double-backed sofas (used for afternoon tea and after dinner coffees and liquers), 35-seat Tropic Bar, First Class Beauty Salon and Barber shop, First Class Pursers Office, an indoor swimming pool and Gymnasium on D-Deck, a First Class Sports Deck with twelve solid teak seats as well as several shuffle board courts.

Tourist Class had the 500-seat Queens Lounge public room, 510-seat La Fontaine dining room with aft Grill Room, 50-seat Sun Room small lounge, 150-seat Tourist Class Smoking Room known as the Club Room, 444-seat Theatre (used for movies and stage productions), Atlantic Promenade (used as teen area), Cafe de la Paix bar/lounge with dance floor, 50-seat Ocean Bar including twenty bar stools, Tourist Class Library, Tourist Class Shopping Arcade known as the Lijnbaan (a popular shopping street in the City of Rotterdam), Childrens' Playroom (complete with four wooden play horses), Verandah Terrace, Tourist Class Pursers Ofice, an outdoor swimming pool on Promenade Deck aft and Tourist Class Sports Deck.

For ten years between April and October with Friday afternoon departures, Rotterdam V would provide weekly trans-Atlantic service between Rotterdam and New York. She did so in rotation with HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam II and the smaller Statendam IV, known collectively as "The Big Three." During November and December, Rotterdam woud switch to cruising including her customary Christmas and New Year's cruise to the Caribbean. Then every year in January, she would sail her three-month World Cruise.

In August 1968, Holland America Line made an anouncement that it would start concentrating more on cruising as opposed to trans-Atlantic liner service. In 1969, Rotterdam made her last regularly scheduled transatlantic crossing and was converted to a one-class cruise ship. She would, however, make four more world cruises in 1993, 1995, 1996, and 1997.

As part of her reconfiguration, the Sky Room became the disco, the Sun Room went to first to Shore Excursion Office and then to auxiliary Gymnasium, and on Sun Deck, starboard-side, twelve passenger accomodation replaced officer's cabins. Her original First Class Sports Deck became 'just' the Sports Deck, available to all pasengers, with a practice tennis court installed. The former Tourist Class Childrens' Playroom was converted into crew accomodation. On Upper Promenade Deck, the 2-level Theatre was renamed the Auditorium, while the Ambassador Room became the Ambassador Lounge. The First Class Beauty Salon and Barber shop were converted into a Gift shop and a perfume shop, while the First Class Purser's Office and the First Class Chief Steward's Office became Gift Shop and Boutique respectively. The Library is still located port side behind the gift shop, the original Forecourt disappeared and, on starboard side behind the Boutique, the original Card Room went from part of the ship's Casino to the Shore Excursion Office. The Smoking Room, Tropic Bar and Ritz Carlton all remained.

On Promenade Deck, the original Atlantic Promenade located on the port side of the movie theater, became the new Card Room, while the Queens Lounge and Ocean Bar remained unchanged. The original Tourist Class Library was converted into a Video Conference Room while the original Tourist Class Shopping Arcade, known as the Lijnbaan, now consists of a jewelry shop, gift shop and Photo Center. The Club Room, the former Tourist Class smoking room, became the ship's Casino offering blackjack, roulette and slot machines and the aft foyer changed into the Photo Gallery. Lastly on tis deck, the Cafe de la Paix became the HAL trademark Lido Restaurant with Liso Terrace (serving hot dogs, hamburgers and tacos) and Lido Bar.





In 1973 her hull was repainted from the original light gray to a dark midnight blue, known as "Nieuw Amsterdam blue," and her accomodation changed to 12 deluxe staterooms, 24 deluxe outside double staterooms, 122 large outside double staterooms, 120 standard outside double rooms, 9 economy outside double rooms, 22 large inside double staterooms, 202 standard inside double staterooms, 5 economy inside double rooms, 13 outside single rooms and 10 inside single rooms for a total of 539 cabins.

Starting in 1973, she was based for part of the year out of New York City for seven-day cruises to Bermuda. In the summer of 1981, she cruised Alaskan waters from Vancouver, BC for the first time.

From September until October 1989, she received a $15 million dollar (mostly interior) refit at the Northwest Marine Ironworks, a Portland, Oregon shipyard. During this refit, Rotterdam V gained a much needed bow thruster.

On 31 January 1996, HAL announced that the much loved ship would be taken out of service as of 30 September 1997. The reason given by her owners (later disputed) was the new SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) requirements coming into effect and the funds, supposedly U.S. 40 million, required to update the thirty-eight year old vessel. Her final regular overhaul took place in October 1996 again at the Northwest Marine Ironworks shipyard in Portland, Oregon. Rotterdam, under the command of HAL Captain Pieter Bos, would make a 19-day farewell cruise at the end of her Alaska season in September 1997 from Vancouver, BC to Port Everglades in Ft Lauderdale, Fl.

In October 1997, she was purchased by Miami-based Cruise Holdings aka Premier Cruises who had her upgraded to SOLAS standards and renamed Rembrandt at Newport News, VA. Premier kept her classic ocean liner 'feel' and on 21 December 1997, she departed on her first cruise to South America. The summer of 1998 found her cruising in the Mediterranean while October of that yera saw her back at her long-time home port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Premier however, also had 'grandiose plans' to rename the ship 'Big Red Boat IV' and to paint her hull a bright red, an idea not very popular with her fans. As Big Red Boat IV she would sail out of Los Angeles on three and four-day party cruises to Mexico in the winter and out of Vancouver, BC on seven-day Alaska cruises in the summer.

As faith would have it, Premier Cruise Line ran into financial difficulties. On 13 September, 2000 during a northbound New England/Canada cruise, her captain was ordered to return his ship to Halifax, Nova Scotia. After off-loading her passengers, the ss Rembrandt was placed under arrest. As a special condition of her warrants, she was allowed to depart for Freeport, the Bahamas where she arrived on 30 December 2000 and was laid-up pending sale. Premier Cruise Lines filed for bankruptcy and went out of business.

On 7 May 2003 Rembrandt became the property of s.s. Rotterdam BV (part of RDM holding or Rotterdamse Droogdok Maatschappij, her original builders). On 17 June 2004, the Polish ocean-going tug 'Englishman' towed her from the Bahamas to the Camell Laird yard at Gibraltar where she arrived on 12 July 2004 and where renovation work was scheduled for her. She would remain docked at the British Crown Colony until October 2005 (see below). By that time, she also had new owner, 'Rederij De Rotterdam BV'.



On 25 October 2005, after a tow from Gibraltar by the Spanish tug 'V B Artico', she arrived at Cadiz, Spain, for additional (dry) dock maintenance including the repainting of her hull in her original light gray color. In addition, she was renamed Rotterdam and registered in the same city. 'V B Artico' would tow her again, this time from 10 to 27 February 2006, from Cadiz to Gdansk, Poland where her asbestos was removed and further renovating would take place (see below).



On 25 August 2006 she received yet another tow, this time to Wilhelmshaven, Germany (see below) where she stayed until August 2008 for additional exterior restoration work.



On 2 September 2008, she left Wilhelmshaven and on 4 September 2008, she made her triumphant return (see above and below) to her city of birth, Rotterdam, where she was berthed at the “Katendrechtse Hoofd” (Head of Katendrecht) located on the northern edge of Rotterdam Zuid (South) in the Maashaven (River Maas harbor) and where she will serve as a floating hotel, static museum ship and conference center. Rotterdam V opened to the public on 15 February 2010.

ss Rotterdam V alongside the Wilhelminakade, Rotterdam in 1961



ss Rotterdam V on her way westbound to New York - Taken from ss Statendam on her way eastbound to Rotterdam - somewhere in the Atlantic in 1962



ss Rotterdam in her 'Nieuw Amsterdam' blue livery in 1987


As Rembrandt in Rotterdam in 1998


As Rembrandt in Rotterdam in 1998

The current HAL ship, Rotterdam VI, has paintings and models of the previous Rotterdams displayed throughout the ship.