Ships of State - BREMEN the shocking modern German Greyhound

When BREMEN, the first of the two, the world shocking last German Greyhounds, and `Ships of State´, was introduced in 1929 - BREMEN had provoking radical new streamlined lines and broke with any traditions. When asking todays public: what is a typical liner, BREMEN is named among the first five.

Only ten years after the Versailles Peace Treaty, with 20,000,000,000,000.00 Goldmark anual reparations for the next 58 years, an occupation of the Ruhrgebiet, a raging inflation till 1923 (then introduction of the Rentenmark), the resurging Germany and NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD back at the top again.
And BREMEN and EUROPA had been financed private! Bank loans from German and US American banks, plus the liberation of frozen LLOYD capital from pre WWI.

by Earl of Cruise

BREMEN, in her first years with the squat funnels - courtesy coloured by Daryl LeBlanc

The difference to EUROPA are the paired windows in the front of the promenade deck and the big ventilators, the last remains of ancient liners

The PRIDE OF A NATION - BREMEN, and its near sister EUROPA, the new quadruple turbine steamers of NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD became a symbol for a new peaceful Germany, open to the world. BREMEN was modern, innovative, revolutionairy, built by a nation with peace in mind and offering top German hospitality - the again famed LLOYD Service.
BREMEN´s launch took place in August 1928 in Bremen at DESCHIMAG-WERFT AG WESER in Gröpelingen, one day after the launch of EUROPA in Hamburg at BLOHM&VOSS - both christend by Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg.

BREMEN on the slip under construction at AG WESER in Gröpelingen - Source: Bundesarchiv, copy collection Earl of Cruise

BREMEN was notable for her bulbous bow construction, high-speed engines, and low, streamlined profile. At the time of her construction, she and her sister ship EUROPA were the two most advanced high-speed steam turbine ocean liners of their day. The German pair sparked an international competition in the building of large, fast, luxurious ocean liners that were national symbols and points of prestige during the pre-war years of the 1930s. She held the BLUE RIBAND, and was the fourth ship of NDL to carry the name BREMEN - courtesy from YouTube by Valentin Izagirre

After christening by Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg, BREMEN glides into her element - Source: Bundesarchiv, copy collection Earl of Cruise

BREMEN and EUROPA had been a kind of healing for a nation that was in its first years after WWI depressed, famine stricken, inflation devasted, filled with guilt and `politcal a gun powder pit´. Only US loans stabilized the country and its economy. And these loans enabled Germany paying its reparations, which were used by the western European Allies to pay their depts in USA.

The coming large buildings of NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD, the artist for this advertising could not imagine the real difference of BREMEN and EUROPA from the standard look of ocean liners - LLOYD advertising, collection Earl of Cruise

BREMEN, the new German superliner, the first of the Ocean Expesses, leaving the Columbuskaie for the first time for her inaugural and record breaking crossing - Source: Bundesarchiv, copy collection Earl of Cruise

Less than a year after her launching, BREMEN made her first voyage to America, New York and captured the BLUE RIBAND in a stride with a crossing time from Cherbourg to New York of 4 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes. BREMEN averaged 27,83 kts on that crossing.
BREMEN left under the command of Commodore Leopold Ziegenbein on July 16th, 1929 the Columbuskaje in Bremerhaven with 2,200 passengers on board. BREMEN left its home port for an exiting flight. The Columbuskaje is black from the masses of people. After departing from the port of Cherbourg, BREMEN passed the Ambrose fire ship on July 23rd, 1929 after 4 days, 18 hours and 17 minutes and thus reached New York. 8 hours faster than the Cunard Liner MAURETANIA, which BREMEN has literally chased the coveted BLUE RIBAND.
BREMEN was nearly as fast as light cruisers, the greyhounds of the world’s navies. It was as up-to-date as possible and was equipped with desalination machinery, transforming seawater into drinking water.

Commodore Georg August Louis Leopold Ziegenbein and a Staff Captain make the rounds - collection Earl of Cruise

When BREMEN was transferred from Bremen to Bremerhaven, there was a huge crowd along the Weser river. Everyone wanted to see the new luxury liner. Eyewitnesses later told there would have been no space between the men standing on the banks of the river Weser from Bremen to Bremerhaven (originating from the tarp Weddewarden first mentioned in 1091, later unified with other settlements to Wesermünde, renamed to Bremerhaven in 1827, since then part of the  Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, here are the Deutsche Schiffahrtsmuseum, the Klimahaus Bremerhaven, and the Deutsche Auswandererhaus are located)

Artists impression of the first catapult flight from BREMEN during her inaugural crossing - copy from a book in my library, artist not named

One thing in this triumph for LLOYD was gloomy - EUROPA caught fire while outfitted at BLOHM&VOSS and became a total loss, but BLOHM&VOSS employees realized a wonder - EUROPA was ready to sail in 1930. The other solution was a new construction which would have caused a delay of years. The original intention of the LLOYD was a record breaking double crossing, that would have become a marketing blow. It was back then an ambitious idea, but destiny choose another way.

EUROPA burning while outfitted at BLOHM&VOSS - Source: Bundesarchiv, copy collection Earl of Cruise

After the successful inauguration of COLUMBUS, which was laid pre WWI as later considered to become HINDENBURG, and could be finished only with a special treaty with United Kingdom, the 'Columbus-Abkommen' of August 5th, 1921 which guaranteed the finishing of BISMARCK as WHITE STAR LINE´s MAJESTIC. The sister vessel of HINDENBURG finally became WHITE STAR´s HOMERIC. The COLUMBUS was 1924 an international success starting from zero - the once ridiculed but after 1919 missed German service was back with COLUMBUS.

COLUMBUS, 1924, ex HINDENBURG, 1914, LLOYD´s first big bang on the Northatlantic after WWI - Source: Bundesarchiv, copy collection Earl of Cruise

Rising passenger numbers, in Tourist, Second and First Class , the immediate success of COLUMBUS, encouraged the board of LLOYD to think about two enlarged versions of COLUMBUS ...The world economic statistics did show an upward turn all over the globe. The European economy and especially the German, recovered ... paid by the money caroussel starting with the credits of the USA for Germany. But unfortunately it was not realized that way. After the gloomy years of war the people all over the planet wanted to live, happy having survived the war and Spanish Flu, and begann a joyious party of Life. New art was developed, the funtional and "clean" BAUHAUS and in 1925 ART DÉCO staged in Paris´ Lime Light and started its "world tour", jazz became popular, a new self-confident middle class developed, old money did recover, and new money tried to catch up in style and habitus ... Ocean traveling became popular again. In these years a new modern Art of Travel developed, passengers boarded national and international luxury trains (ORIENT EXPRESS, RHEINGOLD, ÉTOILE DU NORD, PULLMAN - as the BRIGTHON BELLE, etc.) And the print media and the new cinema showcased new luxuries and "must have´s".

	Transatlantic				NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD
Year	I. Class	II. + III. Class	Total	Crossings
1921	216,307	709,403	925,800	1,249
1922	265,821	540,475	806,296	1,862	16,024
1923	326,984	651,277	978,261	2,067	45,023
1924	330,206	454,908	785,114	1,906	31,858
1925	345,017	524,013	869,030	1,980	54,649
1926	327,259	646,007	946,266	1,944	70,114
1927	335,651	699,997	1,035,648	2,025	77,883
1928	337,221	723,526	1,060,747	2,184	92,533
1929	332,916	736,201	1,069,117	2,126	104,549
1930	293,202	709,151	1,002,353	2,125	145,003

Source; The Atlantic Conference, W.H.Roper

 The economies, worldwide recovered slowly after WWI, the first slow down can be seen in the pax numbers of 1924, despite the next slowing in 1928, the number did fall, 1929 did not show a significant slow down as the New York Stock Exchange Crash was in October 1929 - but 1930 it was clearly hitting the the traffic

The success of COLUMBUS took the LLOYD board by surprise. The new, "old", liner became accepted by the international travel public and showed LLOYD that its way of service was desperately missed on the seas and especially on the North Atlantic. It seemed the guests accepted the longer crossing time for the extraordinary food and service on board. COLUMBUS had triple expansion reciprocating engines, quite old when laid, but desperately outdated in 1924. Pampering their guests was created in the hanseatic rivalry between LLOYD and HAPAG, and its continental rival COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE. LLOYD wanted to enlarge its success and profit with the new enlarged and technical actual liners. During the feasability studies in Bremen, the people engaged in the project realized, there is only one way for success - a 5 or better 4 day liner ...
This meant taking again the challenge constructing greyhounds with top luxury and guests pampering service for the prestigeous route to New York.
The size of an enlarged COLUMBUS, of 32,345 GT, was quick left behind, and the plans grew from a single twin screw liner of 35,000 GT and 23 kts to a quadruple screw liner of 46,000 GT with 26 kts and ended at 50,000 GT with a propulsion plant for 135,000 hp to achieve the needed 26 to 28 kts including a power reserve for delays. When it was discussed at an early stage in the LLOYD office if the company should invest in a 5 day liner with an average speed of 26 kts - again an express steamer as pre WWI, soon the LLOYD board, especially Ernst Glässel, realized it would need two of these new ships in combination with the COLUMBUS for a three liner weekly Transatlantik service.
COLUMBUS but was outdated for its technology when introduced - two triple expansion steam engines of 32,000 hp and 18 kts ...
Later COLUMBUS was send to the yard to be modernized with new steam turbines for 23 kts, and his exterior was altered to match somehow the new Ocean Express Liners, LLOYD´s new Greyhounds.

Der COLUMBUS after reconstruction and with new steam turbines - collection Earl of Cruise

Depite the "normal" `female´ adressing of ships in Germany, COLUMBUS was adressed `male´, similar to der IMPERATOR

In the follow it had to be discussed how to finance two of these new Greyhounds and who should construct. One definitely had to be built in Bremen, but the second was in question. SCHICHAU in Danzig, VULCAN - but could only built in its Hamburg yard ... BLOHM&VOSS was their last choose, as for the rivalry to Hamburg and as BLOHM&VOSS was the "house yard" of archrival HAMBURG AMERIKA LINIE ... December 13th, 1926 it was decided: AG "WESER" and BLOHM&VOSS would construct the two new vessels.

BREMEN with location for the four classes on board, I. Class yellow, II. Class blue, Tourist Class ocher, III. Class green, Crew pink - copy from my book DIE GESCHICHTE DER DEUTSCHEN PASSAGIERSCHIFFAHRT, Arnold Kludas

For the financing, there was never any state subsidiary possible or asked for, as it was not a tradition in Germany, not even in the KAISERREICH, that the state of Germany was subsidising any liner company. Mail contracts signed with the state mail office never even financed the running costs of a mail carrying vessel!
During the first construction period, on the drawing boards, a number of changes in the project had been made and discussed. In the end, after a number of discussions and meetings, BREMEN and EUROPA got "Bauer-Wach" - exhaust-steam-turbines out of four atmospherically enclosed boiler rooms. This means that the combustion air for the oil burners of the boilers was blown into the boiler rooms by eight steam turbine-driven blowers, which were thus under pressure and were only accessible by pressure locks.

One of the transmission turbines of BREMEN while testing - copy form Die Schnelldampfer BREMEN und EUROPA, Arnold Kludas

For the steam generation, 20 oil-fired water-pipe boilers, including eleven double and nine-one, were installed in four groups with a total of 227 oil burners. The steam voltage was 23 atü (≈24 bar) at a steam temperature at the superheater outlet of 370° C. The maximum steam output was 500 t / h. Three boilers with their own fans were available for the port operation, so that the locks could be left open for any work in the boiler room. The total heating area was 17,050 m², the superheating area was 3.875 m² and the air preheating area was 8,786 m². The feed water was preheated to 130 ° C. The fuel oil requirement was about 33 t/h or 380 g/PSh or 800 t/day. 7,552 tons of oil was the bunkering capacity.

Turbine driving range in one of the machine rooms of BREMEN - copy form Die Schnelldampfer BREMEN und EUROPA, Arnold Kludas

BREMEN had a set of four geared turbines with a total of max. 135,000 hp (power measured at the shafts). Each set had a high-pressure, a medium-pressure, a low-pressure and a back-up turbine. For the move over stern, 65% of the forward drive was available. At normal speed the turbines turned at 1800 rpm, the propellers at 180 rpm. The output was 84,000 hp. The four propellers consisted of bronze and had a diameter of 5,000 mm. Their pitch was 5,200 mm and had a weight of 17 t.
The power requirement was covered by four diesel generators with 230 V operating voltage and 520 kW power. On board were a total of 420 electric motors, about 21,000 incandescent lamps, electric cookers and 20 elevators.

BREMEN´s catapult waterairplane - collection Earl of Cruises, Sourece: Bundesarchiv

Like EUROPA, on the upper deck between the funnels, BREMEN had  had a catapult with a hydroplane, which served the with DEUTSCHE REICHSPOST agreed faster mail-transport. In the beginning, she had a Heinkel HE 12 on board, which on 5 October 1931 had an accident, the crew Mr. Simon and Mr. Wagenknecht found death. The plane was launched some hours before the destination port and landed for a while at the waterway in Blexen. In 1932 BREMEN got the Heinkel HE 58, which had previously been used on Europe. From 1933 to 1935 BREMEN had a Junkers Ju 46 on board.
BREMEN was laid on June 18th, 1927 at the DESCHIMAG-WERFT AG "WESER" in Bremen, August 16th, 1928.
In contrast to previous buildings, the hull of Bremen was made of 7,000 tonnes of high-strength steel with a weight of 500 kg / mm² (500 N / mm²) and partly wellded. For the first time, the construction showed the Taylor bulbous bow used in American war ships. Another first was the streamlined superstructure with a rounded deckhouse and squat funnels - BREMEN and EUROPA´s exterior look was that of traditionalists shocking modernism and real thoroughbreds.

Ballroom I. Class of BREMEN, the picture is made out one of the alcoves, facing the stage, in the middle is a fountain - collection Earl of Cruise

For the passengers the technical aspects of BREMEN may have been interesting, but in their interest was the interior style and comfort! The LLOYD was allways in the first line regarding comfort and service for its passengers, and the new liners had be oriented to cater the demanding wishes of international traveling public. Because of the international competition the shipping lines put their effort in the luxuries especially for the First Class. Pre WWI the IMPERATOR Class vessels of HAMBURG AMERIKA LINIE was the non plus ultra of luxuries onboard vessels. For that the interior was designed by well-known German architects, to a large extent by F.A. Breuhaus, Bruno Paul, Carl Rotermund of Bremen and the architect Karl Wach from Düsseldorf. Rudolf Alexander Schröder, translator, poet, interior architect and painter of Bremen designed the architecture of the ecclesiastical Smoking Salon. Despite any thoughts, BAUHAUS was not the first choice, as it was considered as to "cold" for the interior ambience. In the end it was decided to use the German style Neue Sachlichkeit. Which in BREMEN turned out with a further "cleaned" style of the interior of COLUMBUS.

I. Class Lounge of BREMEN - copy from a NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD promotion broshure

And BREMEN and EUROPA got parted casings, as VATERLAND and BISMARCK to increase the interior concept of a flight of rooms. The only other international liner copying this genious room concept was the French super liner NORMANDIE, where it was at its perfection.

Wintergarden of BREMEN, this kind of look out lounge was a first on ocean liners became a pedigree on future liners and cruise vessels - screenshot from YouTube

Critics said the LLOYD had passed a chance designing BREMEN and EUROPA´s interior too "common styled" instead of outstanding if they had choosen BAUHAUS style. Toping this critic, they argued the Sun deck Restaurant was an "orgy of conservatism".

Sonnen Deck Restaurant of BREMEN, it was recalling the RITZ CARLTON restaurants onboard the HAPAG liners

BREMEN, First Class Staircase - courtesy Rich Turnwald Collection

BREMEN, First Class Hall - screenshot from YouTube

On June 12th, 1929, the trials began, and on the test drive on June 27th, 1929 Bremen reached a maximum speed of 28.8 knots. On July 5th, 1929, she was handed over to NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD (NDL), and on July 16th, 1929, she began her marvelous and triumphant journey from Bremerhaven to New York.
In total, BREMEN's construction cost about 65,000,000.00 Reichsmarks.

I. Class Cabin of BREMEN - copy form Die Schnelldampfer BREMEN und EUROPA, Arnold Kludas

II. Class Cabin of BREMEN - copy form Die Schnelldampfer BREMEN und EUROPA, Arnold Kludas

III. Class Cabin of BREMEN - copy form Die Schnelldampfer BREMEN und EUROPA, Arnold Kludas

After arriving at the Brooklyn Pier of NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD in New York, American newspapers celebrate the ship as the "new queen of the seas", the "German giant ocean steamer", celebrate it as a triumph of German technology, and New York mayor Walker emphasized the fact that Germany had regained its maritime prestige in spite of all the unfavorable effects of the war and the Versailles Peace Treaty. And the "Bremer Nachrichten" reported on July 24th, 1929, that "no other ocean liner had received such a reception in America."
Early NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD started a marketing campaign for its new Greyhounds and used besides print media adverts and posters too the still new media film which aired in cinemas. The company DÖRING FILM GmbH, of entrpreneurs Engeneer Dietrich W. Dreyer and Johann Friedrich Döring, a film producer for cultur, travel films and advertisments, created evening playlength documentary films of COLUMBUS in 1924 and again of BREMEN in 1929 - `Bremen - Königin der Meere´ to be aired in cinemas.
The life of BREMEN was not that easy, but glamurous. Stars, politicians and VIPs boarded the Greyhound regularly. Among those VIPs had been too Meher Baba (geb. Merwan Sheriar Irani) and Jiddu Krishnamurti from India, then British Empire of India - most others are known in general - as Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Marlene Dietrich, Ferdinand Porsche, Richard Tauber, Max Schmeling, to name only a few.
BREMEN emerged on the Northatlantic in July 1929, while the international economy had been slowing down. But nobody knew what would come in October 1929 - The New York Stock Exchange crash of October 24th, 1929. The world tumbled into the most severe ever economic turmoil. The US American administration of Republican President Herbert Hoover withdraw, without any idea of makroeconomics, which it seems is still today their problem, all loans which caused further damage and downturn. The first victim was Germany, which immediately collapsed, any longer unable to pay it reparations: This caused a collapse of the former Western Allies of WWI - France, Italy and Great Britain. The Great Depression started. The 1929 crash brought the Roaring Twenties, a time of wealth and excess, to a shuddering halt. Passagenger numbers on the Northatlantic declined dramatically, industrial production nearly stopped ... and in most countries poverty grew. Even the rich, normally not affected by economic crisis, we see it in the Financial Crisis of 2007, had been affected.

DAILY MAIL headline 25th, 1929 - Source: HISTORY CHANEL

Bank panik 1929 - Source: History Chanel
Similar scenes are seen back then in each country, all over the world ... As so often the 1929 crash was the result of playing with fortunes and futures, created by greed
History Chanel Video STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929

Selfish populistic politicians gained power when claiming, they are giving back wealth and strength to the devastated people ... we see today the same tendencies in a number of countries hit by the Financial Crisis of 2007. Especially in those with massive structural economic and industrial proplems.
The lowest peak during the Great Depression was reached in 1932, and a slow, very slow recovering started. The US stock market would not return to the peak closing of September 3, 1929, until November 23, 1954! The USA crept out only because of WWII, Great Britain, Italy and France, which was hit at last ...
A number of famous Transatlantic liners had to be withdrawn as their time had passed - outdated technically and with their design, no longer state-of-the-art accomodation, too expensive to maintain any longer and no longer needed for the few passengers still crossing. Some got a life saving deployment in cruising as MAURETANIA. But most others as she herself, went to the breakers.
The other liners still plowing the waves of the North Atlantic generated losses to their owners, as the paying passengers became less. While in other times the North Atlantic traffic was financing the expansions of the shipping companies into world spanning transport organisations, the north Atlantic traffic had be subsidised by the revenues from the other offers of shipping companies, and state subsidiaries ...

BREMEN on RAYMOND WHITCOMB charter during her Round South America cruise, traversing the Panama Canal, BREMEN started her South America cruise on February 11th, 1939, and was the first ship of this size to traverse the Panama Canal - collection of Earl of Cruise

For a number conspiracy theorists this cruise is a ridiculous symbol for Nazi espionage ... To me conspiracy theories are a hapelss explanation for those who can´t explain realities.

Partnering with RAYMOND WHITCOMB the German superliner BREMEN made a number of cruises. Based on the success the COLUMBUS had especially in the US American market. Still affected by the Great Depression the LLOYD was a value for money offer to those rich who still had been able to cruise.
The Great Depression made it hard for the LLOYD to pay their depts for constructing BREMEN and EUROPA. The depression was the only reason that liners such as BREMEN never really earned money - they became of Ships of State, representing their country and culture. LLOYD but still was able financing the running costs and maintenance for its Greyhounds, as its depts for.
While BREMEN and EUROPA had been financed private by the LLOYD, other companies, CUNARD, Cie Gle TRANSATLANTIQUE, HOLLAND AMERICA LINE and others, had to rely on state subsidies financing their newbuildings started to construct before BLACK TUESDAY hit the world economy. It was again the time of rising nationalistic chauvinism in each country - like America First.
After years of creating social turmoil in Germany the Nazi Party gained power in parliament and in January 1933, Hitler became Reichskanzler of a right winged coalition gouvernment. Late, in the meantime senile, Reichspräsident von Hindenburg, who despised Hitler, accepted at last the Austrian wallpainter after countless ante chamberings of his entourage and from industrialists. The start of evil ... Within years he transformed the once peaceful Germany into a vibrating agressive military powerhouse. He took hold of all aspects of society and indoctrinated the people. Everything became a thing of propaganda, even at first sight innocent "happy-go-lucky" films. In the end nobdy, except few, could withdraw from Nazi ideology.

UfA film "Spiel an Bord", 1936, a German love and rogue comedy entirely filmed on board BREMEN, no set constructed!, directed by Herbert Selpin, who later was killed by the Nazis after directing the illful propaganda film "TITANIC", "Spiel an Bord" was based on the stage play of Axel Ivers, this Youtube film was aired in communist GDR! - Source: YouTube ragtime scott
After premiering in 1936 the film was released again in 1939 after the successful returning of BREMEN to Germany.

BREMEN further had to suffer Nazi German boycott which srated in USA. The heated atmosphere lead to actions against German liners. Often the pier of LLOYD became the site of Anti-Nazi demonstrations. On 26 July 1935 a group of communist demonstrators boarded Bremen just before she sailed and tore the Nazi flag from the jackstaff and tossed it into the Hudson River. At the time there was a dual flag law, by which both the black-white-red horizontal tricolour (based on the previous flag of the German Empire), and the swastika flag were simultaneously official national flags of Germany. As the ship's swastika flag was the one tossed into the river, US authorities claimed that no symbol of Germany had been harmed. On 15 September 1935 Germany changed its flag law, removing the status of the black-white-red flag of imperial Germany with which the Nazis on coming to power had replaced the black-red-gold flag of the Weimar Republic as co-national flag.

The merchant fleet flagg during the Weimar Republic, the national flag is in the left top corner - Source: Wikipedia

The once flag of the Kaiserreich was based on the colours of Prussia - black and white (symbolising silver), and red from the hanseatic cities
The constitution of Weimar was the most liberal constitution any country could have, unfortunately the German populace was not mature enough to secure it, and fell in the trap of a populist who promised to make things better in the future ... Prosperous and Great again ...

A cartoon, a new popular art in US America, showing American communists protesting the growing brutality of the Nazi regime by throwing rhe Nazi flag into New York Harbor

Normally nn the jackstaff flew the flag of the homeport, with changing this to the Swastika flag the shipping lines started to place the homeport´s coat of arms at their bows. When replacing the Swastika as only national flag, countless seamen had tears in their eyes, and thought of bad times to come.

While the German populace was in the grip of Nazi propanda, the international shipping companies in Germany madde it a strict rule: No Propaganda on board! No show of Nazi symbols, so party members had to hide their Nazi party stickers while serving their guests on board, and no rude chauvinistic actions!
To counter the Nazi boycott against German vessels, the service level onboard German ships rose to never seen levels. Therefore German ships sold for cruises in the Americas still had been a success, even among Jews! Another reason for the popularity of German vessels as cruisers or to travel on was the foreign exchange management introduced by the Nazis. Foreigners, owning an account in Germany, could no longer transfer their money to their homeland accounts! One form for the foreign owners to benefit from was traveling in Germany, or spending the money onboard a German ship, for crossings or cruises. For Germans it became hard to nearly impossible because of the same law,  traveling abroad, or taking a voayage on a ship with a foreign destination, and impossuble traveling on board foreign flaged vessels.
Countless people and politicians, secretly admired the shown success of Germany under nazi rule ... It was a fragile success, based on "clay feet". State depts rose to hights that never could be paid back - except only by contributions paid after a successful war.
During the OLYMPIC GAMES in 1936 German people experienced "a kind of spring". It was a scheme of liberalism, to bribe the international visitor. Too many did fall into this trap. Prior to the participation of USA at these "Olympics",  Avery Brundage as leader of America's OLYMPIC organizations, he fought zealously against a boycott of the 1936 SUMMER OLYMPICS, which had been awarded to Berlin, during the Weimar Republic, before the rise of its Nazi government and its subsequent, escalating persecution of Jews. For this Brundage was awarded with the contract for the construction of the new German embassy in Washington - Honi soit qui mal y pense ...
During time of the OLYMPIC GAMES the German liners, and especially BREMEN and EUROPA had been "filled to bursting".
Those "uneffected" by the international boycott of German ships, enjoyed the pampering LLOYD service on board the BREMEN and sailed unharmed by Nazi propaganda. Unfortunately Commodore Ziegenbein, a liberal and humanitarian, was forced 1936 into retierment by the Nazis, as he acted often against them and their opressions. He did save with his actions a number of German citizens not to be caught by the regime´s ever present GeStaPo ... among my uncle in 1934.
In 1926 NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD and HAMBURG AMERIKANISCHE PACKETFAHRT ACTIENGESELLSCHAFT had signed a treaty which said both companies would serve all their linie together. While LLOYD was planing and constructing BREMEN and EUROPA, HAMBURG AMERIKA LINE´s director general (CEO) Wilhelm Cuno, businessman and politician who was the Reichskanzler of Germany from 1922 to 1923, for a total of 264 days (His tenure included the episode known as the Occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops and the period in which inflation in Germany accelerated notably, heading towards hyperinflation),suggested to LLOYD that HAPAG should take over EUROPA and would give to LLOYD two of its BALLIN Class liners - having do so, both companies had similar ships to serve the Northatlantic route. Int the end the LLOYD refused. But in troubling times of depression HAPAG and LLOYD moved closer again, and finally had been forced into the HAPAG LLOYD UNION be the Nazi government.
BREMEN and EUROPA´s inauguration initiated an international competion for modern new superliners - new Grandhotels at sea. The era of `Ships of State´ started!
And a new race for the Blue Riband, especially across the chanel the German success had been a blow to the pride. But in the Mediterranean another seafaring nation was stepping into the lime light with REX and CONTE DI SAVOIA. CUNARD and WHITE STAR started planing new superliners - a new OCEANIC for WHITE STAR, and CUNARD had the ambitious plan for a two liner service from Europe to New York. The LLOYD shock, not only, changed Cie. Gle TRANSATLANTIQUES plans of their `Super ÎLE DE FRANCE´ into T6 - NORMADIE.
LLOYD´s international competitors planed and built new liners and superliners, and latest with NORMANDIE the once shocking modern BREMEN and EUROPA became old ... The race for the transatlantic superlatives was on. Some managers of the shipping lines with foresight, did see in the lst two years the advent of airtavel for those in utter hurry to cross the Atlantic. While the world economy did not recover in the way as hoped - depsite the start of the New Deal policy in 1936, the number of unemployed US citizens rose to 12 million.
To critics it became clear that the new superliners would only survive with state subsidiaries
HAMBURG AMERIKA LINES and LLOYD, now under control the Nazi fiscal governance, started thoughts about new liners and later started its drswings. HAPAG as the LLOYD had to join their Northatlantic trade in one company - still advertised as seperate companies. HAPAG pertnered with Vladimir Yourkevich who designed the new VATERLAND Class with luxurious accomodations for passengers and significant freight capacity, similar to the ALBERT BALLIN Class.
The LLOYD board could bribe somehow the Nazi officials for its own new superliner project, which was seen in the ministery of transport as prestigious project, showcasing German top engineering.

VATERLAND, launched 1940, as she should be finished, 41,000 GT, 251,44 x 30 m, 62,000 hp max, 25,5 kts, I. Class 297 + 126, Tourist Class 456 +40, III. Class 467 + 60, Crew 568 - photo made at the HAMBURGER KUNSTHALLE, the museum website

BREMEN and EUROPA did show minor structural agin in her last years, and had been placed second in luxuries and accomodations. A rebuilding was considered as too costintensive, therefore LLOYD did decide for a new superliner project.

Project AMERIKA/VICTORIA for LLOYD, 80,000 GT, 328 x 34 m, 300,000 hp max, 34 to 37 kts, I. Class 400, Tourist Class 700, III. Class 900 - copy from DIE GESCHICHTE DER DEUTWSCHEN PASSAGIERSCHIFFAHRT, Bd V, Arnold Kludas

Last week of August 1939. Tensions in Europe rose despite "Impeachment Policy" to never seen hights, and US citizens fled Europe under war clouds. Mid Atlantic, August 25th, 56 degrees longitude, Captain Adolf Ahrens recieved a message that he had to turn and sail back to Bremerhaven. He decided against, as the ship was filled with refugee seeking passengers, and a save passage through the chanel was not guaranteed as for the tensions, that could turn within hours into war. But BREMEN too had not enough bunker on board for the return voyage, despite sailing back north of the British isles.

No, you can not say the events meet BREMEN unprepared, even the youngest on board suspected something. With the departure from Bremerhaven on August 22nd, "a depressed mood prevailed", as then 18-year-old Steward Wilhelm Bohling recalls. Shortly afterwards, the ship, which finally had an occupation of 2,000 passengers, had to embark in the English Channel. "I saw how the port driveways of Southampton and Cherbourg were blocked with submarine networks," said Wilhelm Bohling.

The captain also made arrangements: bridge, radio station and fire station are secured by armed crew. At sea there is already absolute silence. An English liner just returned home. "Sorry," his message is, "we can no longer connect with German ships." No telegrams arrived, not even the weather report. Likewise, on the following day, August 23rd, Captain Ahrens again broke the rules by radioing Germany of his intention to proceed to New York. On August 27th, Captain Ahrens broke radio silence again by informing his superiors that he had only enough fuel left for three days and would sail to Havana, where passengers would disembark. This time the German Admiralty and Transportation Ministry issued him clear and direct orders to disembark his passengers in New York. Despite in the New York office of NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD, they become uneasy: why only BREMEN has been hiding in silence since August 28th, not informed from Germany - the ship is already near the coast south of New York - it sparks the time of its arrival. At six o'clock that day, BREMEN aproached New York on schedule. While the passengers are disembarking, and freight is unloaded, the captain and LLOYD decide BREMEN leave back to Germany as soon as possible, without passengers. With a bit of luck the crossing would still be possible before brake out of war.

After docking in New York on August 28th, 1939, only days before the outbreak of WW II, Captain Adolph Ahrens of NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD was faced with a decision.

The independent-minded skipper could disobey orders again by allowing his ship, the passenger liner Bremen, the jewel of the German merchant fleet, to be interned by the neutral United States, or he could obey instructions and make a run for it, piloting BREMEN on a mad dash for home under the eyes and guns of Britain’s Royal Navy, whose surface fleet dominated the North Atlantic. Ahrens opted to pilot his ship to its berth in Germany.

BREMEN during her last night in New York, August 29th to 30th - screenshot, collection Earl of Cruise

BREMEN waits at its Hudson river pier as customs officials search the vessel and refuse to let it sail. Detaining of the ship followed after President Roosevelt’s decree that all ships of potentially belligerent nations be searched for guns and war materials. Protests from the German Embassy were ignored.

But the harbor captain is holding back the ship, a new US decree: everything on board foreign ships must be checked for weapons, contrabands and ammunition. In all serenity, the tax collectors loosen wall cladding for two days, drain water from the swimming pool and crawl through the machine's shaft tunnels. The next day new orders followed, now in the name of security. The US authorities ordered a life boat drill, and the entire crew had to row for excersise in the harbor basin. All lifejackets had to be counted. And during their severe searchings the US officials took prolonged coffe breaks and meals. "It was clear to everyone: these are deliberate delays in order to enable the British to seize the ship," said Wilhelm Bohling. BREMEN´s officers for sure believed that the Roosevelt administration delayed their departure in order to give the Royal Navy time to establish pickets in the Atlantic or in the hope that Captain Ahrens would lose heart and allow his ship to be interned and, perhaps, eventually seized by U.S. authorities.

At the end of the workday the customs agents departed, explaining that their report had to be read by the chief of customs in New York before the ship could leave.

Because of the unexpected delay, Captain Ahrens granted his crew a furlough for the night. Many of the sailors had been so familiar with New York from previous trips that they jokingly referred to the city as "a suburb of Bremerhaven". As they sauntered through Times Square, they found a message about their ship’s arrival running on the electrically lit billboard of the New York Times building. Some of the sailors repaired to the German restaurants of Manhattan, while others took in such sights as Broadway and Rockefeller Center.

While the Swastika was raised the crew intoned the national anthem and rose its right arms for the Hitler Greeting. Captain Adolf Aherns, behind the stand with the draped Nazi flag, conducted, as expected, the ceremonies - collection Earl of Cruise

This flag, and its mirroed Indo-Germanic sun symbol is by German law forbidden to showcase, except in historic context, or show during demonstration, or used in any other context. To me only natural, as for the democracy of the Federal Republic of Germany it is an essential part, that this new democratic state has nothing to do with any Nazi terror, but is concious about its historic resposibility.

Nevertheless, BREMEN managed to get away from New York on August 30th, without a single passenger on board. At 6:30 pm, she finally set sail. The crew gathering on deck, stretching their arms with the "Hitler Greeting" and singing the German anthem, `Deutschland über alles´ and the obligatory forced `Horst Wessel Lied´, as one finds, an answer out of defiance to the fealt harassment of the Americans.

When BREMEN passed NORMANDIE, sailors from both ships waved and dipped their colors in salute. Unlike the BREMEN, NORMANDIE would never leave again New York harbor. NORMANDIE was interned and requisitioned by the United States as a troopship before being destroyed, at dockside reconstructions for becoming a troop and navy ship, by a "mysterious" fire in 1942. It was simple carelessness, incompetence, arrogance and hapless hybris that destroyed `Le Seignieur d´Atlantique´!

Passing the Ambrose lightship Captain Ahrens is steering his ship darkned on a new course - unexpected by potential chasers, parallel to the coast of Canada, then on the North Atlantic. He wants to mislead alleged persecutors. The war has not yet broken out, nor is BREMEN just a passenger ship, a national symbol!, but Captain Ahrens is already sailing tactical maneuvers.

The fog has disappeared this morning in the middle of the Atlantic. It could be a ride like so many before for BREMEN: America lies in the wake, the weather is calm with clear visibility, the ship runs full steam ahead, homeward. Captain Adolf Ahrens commands the crew on deck, His commandos are precise, precise, unambiguous, and monstrous: The wheelhouse and map stand he let cushion with mattresses and sandsacks to protect them against aviation attacks, and he arranges the camouflage of the ship, and anybody of the available men on board, including the musicians, must paint. White are the superstructures, too conspicuous, as the LLOYD yellow masts and the chimneys. The crew paints everything gray, only the hull remains black. It is September 3rd, 1939, the third day of the war!

The camouflaged BREMEN, speeding at 27-28 knots, BREMEN continued northeastward through heavy seas and thick fog. Running lights were extinguished, radio silence was maintained, and extra lookouts were posted on deck and on the masts. At the first indication of another ship on the horizon, BREMEN changed course to avoid being spotted. 

On September 6th, Germany’s ambassador in Moscow, Count Friedrich Werner von der Schulenberg, informed the Kremlin of his government’s intention to divert blockade runners to the ice-free northern Russian port of Murmansk on the eastern shore of the Kola Inlet, 30 miles from the Barents Sea. Soviet authorities were expected to unload German ships and send their cargo by rail to Leningrad, where German freighters waited. The Soviets complied willingly.
Ahrens received orders to steam for Murmansk while in the Denmark Strait. Given the confusion of war, the crew of BREMEN entered Russian waters in a state of anxiety. The Germans reversed direction and withdrew to sea at the sight of a plume of smoke from low in the waterline, steaming toward them from the shore. They easily outran the warship, which turned out to be a Soviet torpedo boat. After it was identified as friend and not foe, BREMEN resumed course and rendezvoused with the Soviet warship. A boarding party was dispatched from the torpedo boat. The German and Soviet officers tried to communicate in halting English but were relieved to discover that one of the BREMEN´s stewards, born in Kronstadt before WW I, was fluent in Russian. 
Finally BREMEN anchored in the port of Murmansk in Northern Russia, as the USSR then was, as a surprise to the world, Hitlers Allie. Having covered 4,045 nautical miles since leaving New York six days and 13 hours earlier.

A sceleton crew stayed on board BREMEN. The main crew numbers traveled in "hiding" through Russia into the Third Reich.

When it was decided to bring BREMEN back home to Bremerhaven, after the occupation of Norway, which meant a possible airprotection from the shore airfields, the neccessary crew numbers traveled back to Murmansk and made BREMEN ready to sail. .

It proved to be the longest journey the Bremen had ever undertaken. After a dangerous three-month odyssey, the luxurious BREMEN finally returned to her mooring at Bremerhaven’s Columbuskaie. Captain Ahrens relied on skillful seamanship, good fortune, and the assistance of Nazi Germany’s ally at the war’s onset, Stalin´s Soviet Union. A German tanker arrived end of September in Murmansk to replenish BREMEN for the intended last leg of her escape home.

The outbreak of the Winter War between Soviet Union and Finland, after Stalin invaded the neutral country on November 30th, dampened spirits. After a Finnish air raid damaged a nearby air base, the Soviets insisted that all ships in the harbor darken their lights.Murmansk then was busy with German shipping during this time. Also in port was the U.S. merchantman CITY OF FLINT, which had been seized by the pocket battleship DEUTSCHLAND in the North Atlantic for carrying contraband bound for Britain. Ironically, Murmansk would become a key destination for Anglo-American convoys supplying the Soviets after Hitler turned on Stalin in 1941. Ahrens bided his time, waiting patiently for the snow squalls of winter before taking the BREMEN back to sea and to Bremerhaven. Fifty-seven of his crew secretly returned to BREMEN in preparation for the journey home.
Early morning on December 7, BREMEN pulled out of Murmansk before sunrise and under cover of a heavy snowstorm. She was a gray ghost sailing against a dark horizon. Long nights and rough seas at those latitudes in the last weeks of the year aided the voyage. BREMEN was zickzacking along the Norwegian coast at high speed. However, BREMEN had one close call with the Royal Navy after leaving the safe haven of Murmansk. On December 12, the British submarine SALMON intercepted BREMEN off the Norwegian coast. SALMON was unable to claim his prize. The U-boat was forced to crash-dive when a Dornier Do-18 flying boat, dispatched by the German Navy to escort BREMEN, appeared on the horizon. SALMON survived to cripple the German cruisers LEIPZIG and NÜRNBERG before returning to its base.

On December 13, BREMEN finally returned to its berth in Bremerhaven the Columbuskaie. “The joy at having won the race twice, and having brought safely home our beloved BREMEN, this precious possession of the German mercantile fleet, can be seen in everyone’s eyes,” Captain Ahrens said.
The captain and crew received a hero’s welcome from the chairman of North German Lloyd and the Reichsminister of Transportation. A band played, and a company of naval sailors presented arms. Ahrens’s earlier disobedience on the high seas before the outbreak of war was forgotten. He was promoted to commodore for his derring-do and seamanship. He was lionized in the German news media and received thousands of letters from well wishers. BREMEN won its battle, but would never go to sea again.

BREMEN in cmouflage dazzle painting, prepared for operation Sea Lion, ramps had been constructed for tanks to be stored on her promenade decks ... but sea tests did show that BREMEN and EUROPA would be too instable carrying the amount of tanks on the promenade deck - collection Earl of Cruise

In the following months, the ship was painted in camouflage colors and refitted as troopship No. 802 for Operation Seelöwe / Sea Lion, the planed German invasion of Great Britain that would never be launched. Aware of BREMEN´s new mission, the Royal Air Force attempted but failed to sink her. On March 16, 1941, a fire broke out in her expensively furnished woodpaneled dining room, which had been converted to a mattress storeroom. It spread over the entire ship, and despite a vigorous response from Bremerhaven’s fire brigades burned out of control. Badly listing toward the quay, BREMEN was flooded so that she could right herself and sink in the shallow water of the Weser River, making the salvage of machinery easier.

BREMEN burning and listing at her berth at Columbuskaie - collection Earl of Cruise

The Gestapo initially suspected that British intelligence had a hand in the destruction of the ship, but before long the investigation fell upon a 15-year-old deckhand from the Bremen, Walter Schmidt, who eventually confessed to having set the fire in revenge for a clip on the ear given him by a supervisor. Wartime justice was swift and severe. Schmidt was executed.

The burned out hulk of BREMEN - collection Earl of Cruise

BREMEN, which began the war with a storybook adventure, ended it as charred hulk brooding over the ruins of Bremerhaven, a port city regularly visited by the RAF and U.S. Eighth Air Force bombers. In 1946, BREMEN was towed to a sandbar three miles up river. The mammoth ship, resembling by then a beached and decomposing whale, was gradually dismantled and scrapped between 1952 and 1956. The remains of BREMEN´s double hull bottom still can be seen at low tide on the sandbank ...

The remains of BREMEN - collection Earl of Cruise

BREMEN was among the most highly pedigreed blockade runners in maritime history. Along with her sister ship, Europa, BREMEN represented NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD´s bid to challenge CUNARD LINE and Cie Gle TRANSATLANTIQUE for luxury transatlantic passenger service in the years between the world wars. Architect Bruno Paul, whose work won prizes for Germany at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and whose buildings were noted for their clean, classic elegance, led her design team. Paul, who had blueprinted one of Berlin’s first high-rise buildings, gave BREMEN´s salons and cabins a thoroughly modern appearance. Bruno Paul used the unique split-funnel design in which both of the ship’s twin stacks, obstructions on most passenger vessels, parted on the promenade deck to provide additional space for salons and entertainment rooms.

Ships of State - NIEUW AMSTERDAM, 1938, Ship of Peace and Ship of Tomorrow

The style of bygone Sealife

HISTORY- ts / ss BREMEN and ts / ss EUROPA

HISTORY - German Greyhounds III

Further readings 
.
Ahrens, Adolf: Die Siegesfahrt der „Bremen“. Berlin 1939

Aschenbeck, Nils: Schnelldampfer Bremen - Die Legende/Express Liner Bremen - The Legend. Delmenhorst 1999 ISBN 3-932292-16-2

Bertram, Georg: Aus der Zeit der großen Schnelldampfer. Hauschild ISBN 3-931 785-42-4
Hofbauer, Michael, Schmelzle, Peter - Red.: Geschichten um das Blaue Band - Rekorde, Legenden, Katastrophen - 75 Jahre Gewinn des Blauen Bandes durch den Dampfer Bremen. Deutsche Post AG, Special edition accompaying the issue of the DP Bremen stamp: 75 years winning the Blue Riband
Huchthausen, Peter A.: Shadow Voyage: The Extraordinary Wartime Escape of the Legendary S.S. Bremen, Wiley, 2005.

Kludas, Arnold: Die Schnelldampfer Bremen und Europa - Höhepunkt einer Epoche. Koehler ISBN 3-7622-0682-7
Willoughby, J. Russell: Bremen & Europa - German Speed Queens of the Atlantic. Maritime Publishing Concepts 2010 ISBN 978-0-9531035-5-3

Nur das Gästebuch bezeugt den alten Glanz. Erinnerungen an Julius Hundt, Chief-Ingenieur der „Bremen“ / Besuch an Bord war ein Erlebnis. In Weser-Kurier. Bremen 1999

„Bremen“-Fotos aus privaten Alben. Bildband über den Schnelldampfer. In Weser-Kurier, Bremen 1999

Hermann Haarmann / Ingrid Peckskamp-Lürßen: Mit der Kamera um die Welt – Richard Fleischhut (1881–1951). Kettler-Verlag, ISBN 3-937390-67-7

BREMEN´s profile as being built in 1929 - Source: Wikipedia

"Shot From Ships" Air Classics, Mar 2002 by Cook, John C

"Bremen sends plane from sea with mail", The New York Times, 23 July 1929, p. 1

Huchthausen, Peter A. (2005). Shadow Voyage: The Extraordinary Wartime Escape of the Legendary SS Bremen. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-45758-2. OCLC 55764562.

Huchthausen, Peter A. "The SS Bremen Article". Retrieved 2007-11-02.

Bailey, Bill (1993). "Chapter XIV: Ripping the Swastika off the Bremen". The kid from Hoboken : an autobiography. San Francisco: Circus Lithographic Prepress. OCLC 27835027. Retrieved 2007-11-02.

"Historical flags (Germany)". Flags of the World. 2003-12-27. Retrieved 2007-11-02.