RMS Sylvania

P1

• Sylvania ( 1957-68 )
• Fairwind ( 1968-88 )
• Sitmar Fairwind (1988 )
• Dawn Princess ( 1988-93 )
• Albatros ( 1993-03 )
• Genoa ( 2003-04 )

The Sylvania was a transatlantic liners of the Cunard Line from 1957. Finally ship of the company it was built specifically for transatlantic service. After a conversion to a cruise ship she went to 2003 for Sitmar Line, Princess Cruises and Travel Phoenix.

• 3.1 External design
• 3.2 interior design

Design and construction

In addition to the prestigious transatlantic route from Southampton to New York Cunard Line also operated a number of other routes across the Atlantic, including one from Liverpool to Montreal in Canada. For this, a class of four identical ships were ordered in 1951, which also received six cargo holds for economic reasons in addition to the passenger cabins. Furthermore, the housing has been simplified by reducing only two classes: the first class, and economy class, the latter occupying the large part of the vessel. The dimensions were limited by the fact that the ships up the St. Lawrence River can drive up to Montreal had.

The contract for the four ships went to the Scottish shipyard of John Brown & Company in Clydebank, near Glasgow. This gave the lead ship Saxonia 1954 from, followed by her three sisters in clock: Ivernia 1955, Carinthia in 1956 and finally Sylvania 1957 The names were - as usual with Cunard - Latin names for the provinces of the Roman Empire or the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. . They also had a post ships entitled to the additional name RMS ( Royal Mail Ship).

History

1957-1968: RMS Sylvania

On June 5, 1957, the Sylvania ran from Greenock on her maiden voyage to Montreal from. Then she took with her sister ship the regular service on the route Liverpool - to Montreal and back - Greenock - Quebec. This should be their main job until 1967, interrupted only during the winter months, where instead the route Liverpool because of the ice on the St. Lawrence river - Cobh - Halifax - New York was down. However, Cunard was forced in later years because of the increasing competition from aviation to look for alternative tasks. Thus, the Sylvania drove example temporarily for better utilization route Rotterdam - Southampton - Le Havre - Quebec - Montreal.

In parallel, all four sisters were used from the early 60s for cruises. A corresponding adjustment of the passenger accommodations was carried out during a stay shipyard in early 1965 and on 20 February 1965, she left Southampton for her first major cruise to the Mediterranean (27 days). Also, from January to May 1966, she went on cruises. However, their subsequent dry-dock period coincided with a sailor strike, so they lay dormant for six weeks in Liverpool in mid-May. The loss to Cunard by the strike were quantified later on £ 3 million. Among other things, therefore, the winter route was Liverpool - New York finally ceased in late 1966. The Sylvania they drove for the last time in November of the year.

In the following dry-dock period 1966/67, it was deleted completely white for the upcoming cruise season. Then she took in January / February 1967, a 36 -day voyage to the Caribbean, to which joined to May five Mediterranean cruises from Gibraltar - from including round-trip flight from London Gatwick, an early example of Fly / Cruise packages. As a special feature in this season's Sylvania led with a hovercraft -type SR.N6, which should make advertisement for the British Hovercraft Corporation in some Mediterranean ports in the first place, but also occasionally took exits with the passengers. On all of these trips, it proved very problematic that only the public areas of Sylvania were air conditioned, but not the cabins, specially heated the almost unbearable in the Caribbean.

In May, the ship returned to its ancestral transatlantic route Liverpool - back Montreal, from Montreal, they hoped that this year because of the EXPO 67 high passenger numbers. The Sylvania expired on June 15, 1967 shortly after the expiry of the return journey at Trois- Rivières on reason. Despite several attempts did not succeed made ​​to free them, and finally the passengers were two days later brought with tenders ashore to make the journey with a ship of the Canadian Pacific Line or plane. Only after all the bunkers and fresh water tanks emptied and the crew had been brought ashore, she swam at last and was towed back to Montreal. Within 3 days the damage was fixed so that it was available for her next scheduled departure on July 4 again.

Due to ongoing financial losses, Cunard in December 1967, finally, the Sylvania and Carinthia from service. Both were launched in Southampton and offered for sale.

1968-88: Fairwind

On February 2, 1968, both ships were sold to the Italian Societa Italiana Trasporti SpA maritimi ( Sitmar Line), who wanted to use them under the names Fairwind and Fairland as emigrant ships on the route from Europe to Australia and New Zealand. The shipping company operated this route since 1955 on behalf of the Australian Government and wanted to gain by the new ships an advantage in the re-tendering of the contract for the period from 1970. However, Sitmar was defeated by the Greek Chandris Lines and so instead a conversion to cruise ships, it was decided.

After a year of renovation in the triester shipyard San Marco from January 1970 to January 1971, Fair Wind took up the service for the American market, where they - along with her ​​sister, who had meanwhile been renamed to Fairsea - proved to be very popular. In winter it makes mainly from South America tours of Fort Lauderdale while she usually drove from San Francisco in the summer to Canada and Alaska. In 1988, she took even two cruises up the Amazon to Manaus. However, on the way back to the U.S. West Coast broke one of the propeller shafts, so that the Fair Wind to San Francisco had to go to the Dock.

In the late 80s, Sitmar attempted in the face of falling passenger numbers to a new image. For this purpose, among others, all ships will receive a new coat of paint and new names. The unplanned Dockaufenthalt the fair wind came in quite handy, and so she left the shipyard with an eye-catching blue chimney and the new Swan logo as Sitmar Fairwind. A few weeks later she suffered before Nassau engine failure and had to go back into the dock, this time to New York. Before she could leave this again after several weeks of repair, Sitmar was purchased and dissolved on September 1, 1988 by P & O.

1988-93: Dawn Princess

Just eight days after the purchase of Sitmar was the Sitmar Fairwind for P & O Princess Cruises subsidiary transferred, they continue inserting under the name Dawn Princess on the American market. However, they remained here only a few years of which she spent three months in 1991 for asbestos removal in Portland. In early 1993, she was finally sold as part of the modernization of the fleet and replaced by a new building ( an eponymous ship of the Sun class).

1993-2003: Albatros

The next owner of the ship was V.Ships, a company of Vlaslov group who were also owners of Sitmar. This they chartered from 27 March 1993, the German tour operator Phoenix Reisen, for which she expired on 18 August under the new name Albatros for their first cruise towards North Cape. The new operator had many things for her, including annual world travel. But already the second of which ended on 22 May 1995 unexpectedly in the Red Sea, as in the engine room a fire broke out. Although the fire was extinguished, but the boilers were safe side notabgeschaltet, so that the ship several hours unable to maneuver floating in the sea. Finally, they reached Jeddah, from where the passengers were brought home by charter aircraft. The Albatros himself drove under its own power to Marseille, where they went in for repair in the shipyard until July 26.

Just two years later she suffered on a 2 week cruise around the British Isles, the largest accident of her career: On the way from the Scilly Isles to the east they ran May 13, 1997 at the North Bartholomew Rock in the Bay of St. Mary's. The underwater cliff tore a 61 -meter leak in the hull and only their stable, designed for the Canadian ice, hull structure prevented a total loss. With flip side, she returned to St. Mary's, where the next day the 504 passengers were picked up by a ferry ship and brought to Penzance. eventually could be salvaged and installed on its own with 6 knots to Southampton into dock for repair.

The remaining years of the Albatros were relatively quiet, with Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea travel in the summer, Mediterranean travel in the fall and an annual trip around the world in winter. When piled up the machine problems in the fall of 2003, Phoenix decided to terminate the charter contract. Because from the perspective of V.Ships a repair of the 46 -year-old power plant was too expensive, it was finally sold in December 2003, according to Alang for demolition. She left Genoa on 21 December 2003 under the overpass names and reached Genoa on 1 January 2004 Alang, where it was set and broken on the beach.

Design and renovation

External design

All four ships of the Saxonia class had the typical appearance of the transatlantic liner of her time: Black hull, long-drawn bow, white superstructure with a slightly rounded toe and stepped rear end. What was unusual, only the strongly rounded shape of the individual massive chimney. Another typical feature was the four eye-catching and loading gear fore and aft ships, which were needed for loading and unloading of the cargo spaces. During the annual overhaul in the winter 1966/67, the Saxonia in view of the increasingly frequent cruises in Mediterranean and tropical waters received a completely white painting. Only the chimney retained its old red - black color.

For use as a cruise ship at Sitmar the exterior of the ship 1970/71 was radically changed: The bridge was designed slimmer and more streamlined, the originally straight chimney gave a slightly conical shape with an eye-catching Rauchabweiser and all charging harnesses were removed. The paint was matched to the then usual colors of Sitmar, with white hull and yellow chimney with a large V ( for Vlasov, the parent company of Sitmar ) to it. To have a straight color degree, also the radar mast and the top superstructure deck had a yellow paint.

During the shipyard stay in 1988 was the first Sitmar Fairwind - ship of the new design with completely white base coat, blue chimney with the new Swan logo of Sitmar and three eye-catching wavy lines towards the stern. Besides it only got Fairstar the new coat of paint (but without the wavy lines ) before Sitmar was sold ..

With the change to the appearance of the Princess Cruises vessel was changed again: Now it wore a uniform white paint, differed by only the dark blue chimney cap and the wave logo of the shipping company to the chimney.

One last time, changed the paint with the change to Phoenix Reisen as the Albatros TS. Hull and superstructure remained white, but with a narrow turquoise trim. The chimney was now turquoise with black cap and the Phoenix Logo (white Albatros front of the yellow sun disk ).

Interior Design

Originally, all ships of the Saxonia class in the fore and aft ship a cargo area with three cargo holds. In between there was the passenger area. Despite a significant preponderance of cabins tourist class, which means there was very elegant and oriented to the Cunard ships of decades past. There was a two-story theater and all public rooms were air conditioned.

While her sisters Saxonia and Ivernia were mid-60s extensively remodeled for cruises that Sylvania was awarded in January 1964 for 80 of its tourist-class cabins have a private bathroom ( previously it was for all 250 cabins in this class only shared bathrooms ).

With the change to Sitmar she and her sister Carinthia were also converted into pure Cruise ships. Of this amount, all cargo compartments in the front and an additional cabins onboard cinema have been set up .. On the aft ship three swimming pools were installed. In addition, all cabins now received their own bathrooms and were connected to the air conditioning. Overall, the maximum of 925 passengers were after reconstruction two restaurants, five bars and night clubs, a theater with 330 seats and the board 's cinema.