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Already during the 1950s those who wished to cross the Atlantic quickly would choose the airway and the new Trans-Atlantic passenger
liners no longer tried to compete in speed, but they offered comfort. Oceanic liners in those years were built larger than ever, but the
elegant Dutch passenger liner SS Rotterdam launched in 1958 was not huge if compared with those modern norms. However she was much larger
than the SS Great Eastern launched exactly 100 years before than her, and more spacious than the RMS Mauretania from 1906, despite being
shorter.
The SS Rotterdam differentiated from all the previous large units because she lacked funnels. Her turbines, allocated in the
aft part to leave more space for passengers amidships, developed only 35000 horsepower (in comparison with the 70000 of the RMS Mauretania)
which allowed for a service speed of 20 knots. The ship had twelve decks and accommodations for 647 passengers in first class and 809 in
second class. As every modern passenger liner she was built with a full air conditioning installation. Another novelty was
the absence of drinkable water tanks, for three evaporators would distill 700 tonnes of salt water each day.
The SS Rotterdam served for Trans-Atlantic service with Holland America Line until 1969; subsequently she would be refitted as an one-class
cruise ship. On her new role she continued operating with HAL, being very successful in a routine of winters in the Caribbean
and summers in Alaska, with the occasional and very popular world cruise. Subsequently the SS Rotterdam was operated by Carnival Cruise
Lines until 1997 and by Premier Cruise until 2000. After a refit and restoration, this unusually succesful passenger liner returned to
Rotterdam in 2008, where she serves as a floating hotel, museum and training school since 2010.
Class: 1 unit
Type: Oceanic passenger liner
Length: 228 meters
Beam: 28.65 meters
Height: 49.8 meters
Draught: 9.04 meters
Displacement: 31530 tonnes
Tonnage (gross register): 38645 tonnes
Propulsion: 2 x shaft, 2 x steam turbine De Schelde, 4 x boiler De Schelde, 35000 horsepower
Speed (service): 20 knots (37 kilometers/hour)
Range: N/A
Complement: 776
Passengers: 1456
Cargo: N/A
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