GRT 20,223
Length 609 Feet
Breadth 78 Feet
Built by Blohm & Voss of Hamburg in 1928 for Swedish American Line (SAL) she was named “Kungsholm”. She ran on the North Atlantic route between Europe and North America in the 1930’s.
She was requisitioned by the US Government during World War II and renamed “John Ericsson”. During the war she operated as a troop carrier and took part in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944.
Sold to Home Lines in 1948, she was refitted and renamed “Italia”. She served until 1964 when she was sold to Freeport Bahama Enterprises who renamed her “Imperial Bahama” and used her as a floating hotel.
She was sold for scrap in 1965.
This is a Postcard from Dan in Georgia. Dan is a kindred spirit who loves Ships, Airships Old Aircraft and postcards. He runs the AirShips.Net website dedicated to the Hindenburg and other Zeppelins.
Thanks for the fantastic postcards, Dan. I’ve sent a couple more in reply!
I have my father’s old ‘Shellback’ document (crossing the equator as I’m sure you know) that he received on his way to Guadacanal via New Zealand aboard the John Ericsson dated July 1st, 1942. I have been hunting down this ship and thanks to Bing and you I have found her. Thanks for posting her, my brothers and sis will be delighted as am I. Thanks again, Rick Dale
Rick
Thanks for the good news. I’m delighted you were able to find this post.
If you have any images from the John Ericsson that you’d like to share, I’d be happy to post them here.
Best wishes
Neil
It interesting to see the MV Italia. Do you or anyone know about the M/S Italia – I came to America in 1953 on that ship. Would be interesting to get more info on it. I have a picture and the passenger list from that ship when we came here. Thank you
EV I think we might be talking about the same ship.
See this link: http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/kungsholm2.html
The length, beam, GRT and Photo in this article match Dan’s “MV Italia” postcard, and yet the photos in the link above also match the Wikipedia article about “Kungsholm”, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Kungsholm_(1928)
If you’d like to share a scanned image of your picture and list I’ll be happy to share it with everyone here. She sounds like a fascinating ship.
After reading the two sites you indicated – sounds like it could be the same ship. Now, I’d like to send a scanned picture, but how do I do this on this site?
EV
please send the image to mail-at-shipwatcher-dot-com along with any links, credits, or comments that you’d like me to add, and I’ll upload it
Okay, When did my lights go out – but I don’t understand – it’s probably so simple, yet “nichts versteh” that’s German for don’t understand how to get that pic to you. What do you mean mail-at-shipwatcher-dot com I really feel like — excuse the pun I missed the boat.
Thanks
EV, sorry to be elusive, but if I entered my email address like normal: xxxx@yyyy.com, the spam robots would harvest it, and I’d end up getting lots of spam.
So if I write it in a way that robots can’t understand but you can, the robots won’t get me and I’ll get less junk mail.
So you get my email address by typing the word “mail” (without the quotes) then pressing the “@” button then typing “ShipWatcher.com” (without the quotes).
The other way I can explain it is if you remove the XXXXX’s from the email address below youi’ll end up with my email address: mailXXXXX@ShipXXXXXXwatcher.com
Does anyone know how I can get a copy of the 1955 voyage manifest from Hamburg to NY? My mother in law was on that ship and would love to get a copy for her. Thank you.
My mother and I along with my 2 younger sisters sailed on this ship July 1957 on the £10 assisted passage scheme to emigrate to Canada. We landed at Halifax – Nova Scotia and onward to Toronto to join our Dad who had gone out earlier to get a job etc. Great memories of this ship. We were nor really used to 3 sitdown meals in such oppulance.