SS Statendam was a steam turbine transatlantic liner. She was the third of five Holland America Line ("Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij" or NASM) ships to be called Statendam. She was built to replace the second Statendam, which the UK Government had requisitioned as a troop ship in 1915, and which had been sunk in 1918.
The new Statendams building was unusually protracted. Her keel was laid in Ireland in 1921, but she was not launched until 1924. Further delays in her building led NASM to have her towed to be completed in the Netherlands.
Statendam was economical to run, and survived the shipping slump caused by the Great Depression. She was the largest ship in NASM's fleet, and in the merchant fleet of the Netherlands, until the second was completed in 1938.
From late April to late December each year she ran scheduled services between Rotterdam and Hoboken via Boulogne, Southampton and Plymouth. From late December to late April most years she went cruising, usually to the Caribbean. In early 1934 she made one cruise from New York to the Mediterranean.
After the Second World War began in September 1939, Statendams westbound Atlantic crossings carried thousands of US and European refugees. From December 1939 she was laid up in Rotterdam. During the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940 she was burnt out, and that August her hulk was scrapped.
Building at Belfast
Harland & Wolff built Statendam in Belfast as yard number 612. Her keel was laid on 11 August 1921 on slipway 14 in H&W's East Yard. This was three months after the 67th United States Congress had passed the Emergency Quota Act, which limited immigration to the USA. Statendam was launched on 11 September 1924, but with no launching ceremony. This was four months after the next Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, further reducing immigration. Until the First World War, transatlantic passenger shipping companies had carried large numbers of emigrants to the USA, mostly in Third Class or steerage accommodation. The new acts greatly reduced migration to the USA, so NASM had H&W revise Statendams design to reduce the amount of lower-class accommodation she would have.
Her predecessor Justicia had "combination machinery": three screws; two driven by triple expansion steam engines, and one driven by an exhaust steam turbine. This elaborate system was obsolescent even when Justicia was completed in 1917. Hence for the new Statendam, NASM chose purely turbine propulsion with only two screws, which the turbines drove via single reduction gearing. This was simpler, lighter and more compact than Justicias machinery, and proved very economical. The combined power of Statendams turbines was rated at 4,644 NHP or 19,500 shp, and gave her a speed of .
Completion at Schiedam
Shortly after Statendam was launched in 1924, work on her stopped for almost three years, because NASM lacked the funds to complete her. In 1927 the Dutch government gave NASM a state loan to get her completed. On 13 April the L Smit & Co tugs Poolzee, Oostzee, Roode Zee, and Seine towed Statendam out of Belfast. On 20 April they reached Schiedam in South Holland, where Wilton's Machinefabriek en Scheepswerf took over building her. She was completed on 3 April 1929.
Statendams lengths were overall and registered. Her beam was and her depth was . Her tonnages were , and . She had berths for 150 passengers in first class, 344 in second class and 800 in third class. Her holds had capacity for of grain, or of baled cargo. of her holds were refrigerated. Her crew had 300 members.
Statendam was smaller than Justicia, but larger than , which had been NASM's flagship and largest liner since 1908. Statendam took over as NASM's flagship, and was also the largest ship in the Dutch merchant fleet until the second Nieuw Amsterdam was completed in 1938.
NASM's President, Ripperda Wierdsma, stated "We do not wish to compete for the Blue Riband of the Atlantic, but we do intend to excel in comfort, cleansiness and cuisine". Statendams public rooms included a palm court on the bow deck below her pilot bridge, giving passengers a view of the sea to both sides and forward over the bow. She had a walnut-panelled library on her promenade deck. She had a lounge aft, and an orchestra whose concerts in the lounge were relayed around the ship by loudspeakers. Other public rooms included a veranda café and an "American bar".
For her sea trials on 3 April 1929, Statendam carried more than 300 guests, including Prince Hendrik the Prince Consort, members of the Cabinet of the Netherlands, and the Mayor of Rotterdam.
