The Emerald in 2008 | |
History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Owner |
|
Operator |
|
Port of registry | |
Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock [2] |
Cost | US $25 million |
Yard number | 521 [3] |
Laid down | January 15, 1957 [4] |
Launched | August 28, 1957 |
Completed | June 19, 1958 |
Maiden voyage | June 28, 1958 |
Out of service | 2009 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Scrapped in 2012 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type | Ocean liner |
Tonnage | 15,371 GRT [5] |
Length | 177.88 m (584 ft) [6] |
Beam | 25.6 m (84 ft 0 in) |
Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
Capacity | 546 passengers |
General characteristics (1991 onwards) | |
Type | Cruise ship |
Tonnage | |
Capacity | 1,198 passengers |
Crew | 412 |
SS The Emerald was a cruise ship owned by Louis Cruise Lines (now Celestyal Cruises). She was built in 1958 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock company in Newport News, Virginia, United States, for the Grace Line, as the ocean liner Santa Rosa. Between 1992 and 1995, she sailed for Regency Cruises as Regent Rainbow and between 1997 and 2008, she sailed for Thomson Cruises (now Marella Cruises) as The Emerald. Before retiring in 2009, she was the last passenger ship built at a U.S. shipyard that was still in active service. [8]
In 1956, the Grace Line ordered two new ships to replace the aging 1932-built sisters, Santa Rosa and Santa Paula. Gibbs & Cox had designed the older two ships and would now design their successors. These modern ocean liners were built by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock, Newport News, Virginia, USA and were among the last passenger ocean liners built entirely in the U.S. [9] There was full air conditioning for passengers, and the first ships in America to be equipped with Gyrofin stabilizers. [10]
The interior was fireproofed with aluminum, and designed by Dorothy Marckwald & Anne Urquhart, the same designers that did the interiors for the SS America and SS United States. Accommodations were spacious with all cabins facing outside, and every cabin had its own bathroom. The Santa Rosa's had two aft cargo holds had side doors and automatic conveyors to quickly move pallets on and off the ship, thus giving her a rapid turn-around at port. [11] Santa Rosa was launched on August 28, 1957 and delivered on June 12, 1958. [5]
The new Santa Rosa and Santa Paula entered service on the New York to South America and the Caribbean for Grace Line. The Santa Rosa made its maiden voyage on Oct. 10, 1958, when it became the largest ship ever to make the voyage up the Hudson River to Albany, N.Y. [9] She also became the first major passenger liner to make her maiden appearance in New York harbor from the north.
In the early morning hours of March 26, 1959, Santa Rosa was returning to New York in heavy fog. She was 22 miles east of Atlantic City, N.J., when she collided with the tanker SS Valchem. [12] No one was injured on the liner but four crewman on the tanker was killed and 16 were injured. Santa Rosa’s bow punched a cavity extending halfway into the tanker and caused flooding of the lower engine room with resultant loss of power. Two boilers were also demolished. [13] The funnel of the Valchem and adjacent vents were scooped off the tanker and carried onto Santa Rosa’s bow. [14] Santa Rosa sustained heavy damage but was repaired and returned to service.
In 1970, the Grace Line merged with Prudential Lines to become Prudential-Grace Line. Santa Rosa sailed for another year but in 1971, passenger operations ceased and both she and the Santa Paula were laid up at Hampton Roads in Virginia and put up for sale. [11] In 1975, Santa Rosa was obtained by the U.S. Department of Commerce and in 1976, she was sold to Vintero Corp. of New York City and renamed Samos Sky. [5] She was intended to operate South American service once again, but this venture failed and she remained idle. [5] In 1989, she was sold to Coral Cruise Lines, part of the Lelakis Group, and towed to Greece that December. In March 1990, Samos Sky arrived in Chalkis, Greece and was renamed Pacific Sun and then, later that year, Diamond Island. [5] [15] At the cost of $70 million, she was converted into a cruise ship; her superstructure was expanded, whilst her hull remained largely unaltered and she retained her original steam turbine engines, which were renovated with parts from the former Santa Paula. [5] [16] The work was finished in 1991. [5]
The modernised ship entered service under Regency Cruises as the popular Regent Rainbow in 1992, [15] until Regency Cruises suffered extensive losses and was declared bankrupt in 1995. Regent Rainbow was placed under arrest that November. [6] In December 1996, Regent Rainbow was sold to Louis Cruise Lines and renamed The Emerald. [15] In 1997, she was chartered to Thomson Cruises to operate cruises for the British market. [6] During her time with Thomson she became the company's most popular ship, [17] and remained in service with them until October 2008, when she was dropped in favor of a larger, more modern and economical vessel. [18] Hereafter, she saw limited further service for Louis until 2009, when the company announced that she was being laid up and most likely would not sail again. [19]
Following the departure of The Emerald from their service, Louis looked for other owners who would operate her for further use, since she met SOLAS 2010 regulations, but she remained laid up at Eleusis, Greece. In 2011, she was inspected by scrappers [16] and in July 2012, she departed Greece for the scrapyard at Alang, India. [20] She was scrapped under the shortened name Emerald. [15]
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For other ships with the same name, see SS Santa Paula.
SS Santa Rosa was a passenger and cargo ocean liner built for the Grace Line for operation by its subsidiary Panama Mail Steamship Company of San Francisco. She was the first to be launched and operating of four sister ships, the others in order of launch being Santa Paula, Santa Lucia and Santa Elena. All four ships, dubbed "The Four Sisters" and "The Big Four" were noted as the finest serving the West Coast and were of advanced technology. All served in World War II as War Shipping Administration (WSA) troop ships. Both Santa Lucia and Santa Elena were lost in air and torpedo attacks off North Africa.
SS Santa Rosa was a passenger/cargo ocean liner in service for the Grace Line and later the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. The vessel also saw military transport service during both World War I and World War II.
SS Santa Paula was a freighter of the Grace Line and later the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. The vessel also saw military transport service during both World Wars.
SS Santa Paula was a passenger and cargo ocean liner built for the Grace Line. She was the second of four sister ships ordered in 1930 from the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny, NJ. Her regular service route included inter-coastal service between the east coast and the west coast of the US via the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. She later sailed on cruises from New York to the Caribbean and South America. She was the second of three vessels to bear the name Santa Paula for Grace Line service.
SS Santa Paula may refer to:
Dorothy “Dot” Marckwald (1898–1986) was a prominent American interior designer in the mid-20th century who focused primarily on the interiors of luxury ocean liners. Her most important works were the interiors for the SS America and the SS United States, which was the fastest passenger liner of all time. She worked closely with William Francis Gibbs, one of America’s most renowned naval architects, and her own firm Smyth, Urquhart, & Marckwald, the only firm run by women to decorate the interior of such ships. The interiors of the SS United States were especially innovative because of the use of entirely flame-retardant materials. In total, Marckwald completed the interiors of thirty-one ships, and revolutionized luxury ocean liner design along the way.
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