cruiseship

She was a good looking ship. It was Saturday 5 March 1927. See comments on next photo.

Franconia was built in 1923 and visited Sydney five times on world cruises between 1927 and 1939. She also called once during Word War 2, in January 1941 to pick up troops: a summer time voyage in austere conditions on a crowded ship built for the North Atlantic must have been an ordeal in itself. Franconia survived the War and was scrapped in 1956.

beachcomber australia FredV45 Thanks folks :)

SHIP DETAILS Rig Twin-Screw Turbo-Electric, 4,912 nhp Built 1935 Built In Barrow-in-Furness Tonnage 23,580g 13,159n Built By Vickers-Armstrong Ltd. Dimensions 640.3 x 82.2 x 33.7 Demise Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., reg. London. 1935 Oct 4: Maiden voyage was a cruise. 1935 Nov.: Placed on the London - Australia express service. 1939-45: Troopship. 1948-9: Reconditioned. 1949 Oct.27: Resumed the Australian service via Bombay. 1961: Converted to a one-class ship. Bombay omitted. 1963 June 20: Last voyage to Australia. Sold to John S.Latsis, reg. Piraeus & renamed for Karachi - Mecca pilgrimage service. 1969 May 27: Arrived at shipbreakers at La Spezia, Italy to be scrapped. Source: passengers.history.sa.gov.au/node/936709

Strathmore was the third of the five Strath Sisters and after the three-funneled Strathnaver and Strathaird, with their turbo-electric engines, the single-funneled 'sisters' Strathmore, Stratheden, and Strathallan, reverted to the more traditional geared turbines, which had a lower capital cost. Launched on the 4th April 1935, P&O's directors proudly commissioned a lavish brochure to introduce their fine new passenger liner to the public. Source: www.pandosnco.co.uk/strathmore.html The same source also provides a fantastic gallery of photos depicting the interior of the ship.

Information about the S.S. Deutschland that was renamed the Viktoria Luise from 1910-1921.

the web being what it is, there is some slightly contradictory information floating around. Wikipedia seems to imply that as soon as she was converted to a cruise ship, she was painted all white (as seen here on a company postcard , oceanlinerpostcards.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html .) however, clearly the name came before the paint job. Since the postcard seems to be from 1911, and the ship was renamed and re-purposed in 1910, this is probably her initial voyage into New York under her new name, because of her dressed out flags. her initial claim to fame: Launched in 1900, she won the Blue Riband from the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse of the North German Lloyd line, crossing the Atlantic Ocean in just a little over five days.

Some more clues from the NY Times Archive OLD DEUTSCHLAND IN PORT.; She's the Victoria Luise Now and the Largest Cruising Steamer Afloat. RIVAL WORLD CRUISES.; Speedy, Deutschland Is Being Rebuilt for Leisurely Voyaging.

Another Bain/LOC photo of the Victoria Luise: