SS Kroonland was an ocean liner for International Mercantile Marine (IMM) from her launch in 1902 until she was scrapped in 1927. Kroonland was the sister ship of and a near sister ship of and of the same company. Kroonland sailed for IMM's Red Star Line for 15 years, and also sailed for IMM's American Line and Panama Pacific Line. During World War I, the ship served as United States Army transport USAT Kroonland through April 1918, and as the Navy auxiliary USS Kroonland (ID-1541) from April 1918 to October 1919.
Announced by the Red Star Line in 1899, Kroonland was completed in 1902 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia. When launched, she was the largest steamship ever built in the United States. Kroonland sailed from New York City to Antwerp on her maiden voyage in June 1902, beginning service on the route she would sail for the next twelve years. According to The New York Times, Kroonland became the first ship to issue a wireless distress call at sea when she radioed for help during a storm in 1903. In another radio first, Kroonland heard the "first real broadcast of history" in December 1906.Bliss, p. 3. Kroonland was one of ten ships that came to the aid of the burning liner in the mid-Atlantic in October 1913. Despite stormy seas, Kroonland was able to take aboard 89 survivors, for which captain and crew received accolades that included U.S. Congressional Gold Medals.
When the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 disrupted service to Belgium, Kroonland shifted to alternate routes. On a trip to the Mediterranean in October 1914, Kroonland was detained by British authorities at Gibraltar, and part of her cargo was confiscated amidst diplomatic wrangling between the then-neutral United States and the United Kingdom. During a chartered circumnavigation of South America in February 1915, Kroonland became the largest passenger ship to have transited the Panama Canal during that time. Kroonland was placed in New York – Panama Canal – San Francisco service until a landslide temporarily closed the canal to navigation. Returned to transatlantic service, Kroonland was one of the first U.S. ships armed by the Navy for defense against German submarine attacks. In May 1917 Kroonland was struck by a torpedo, which failed to detonate and only slightly damaged the ship.
After the United States entered World War I, Kroonland served as a troopship for the U.S. Army and Navy. She made six trips carrying troops to France before the Armistice and eight voyages after, transporting nearly 38,000 troops in total. Returned to IMM in late 1919, Kroonland was scorched in a shipyard fire in January 1920 while she was being refitted for passenger service. The liner resumed North Atlantic service in April, remaining there until returning to New York – San Francisco service in 1923. Kroonland inaugurated IMM's winter New York – Miami service from December 1925 to March 1926, but was laid up in Hoboken, New Jersey, when IMM did not resume the Miami service the following year. The ship was sold and scrapped at Genoa in 1927.
Design and construction In July 1899, the Red Star Line announced plans for the construction of four large ocean liners. Two ships, Kroonland and , were to be built at William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia, and the others, and , at John Brown & Company of Clydebank in Scotland.Bonsor, p. 840. By April 1901, the two Scottish-built ships were completed and in service for Red Star, with the construction of the American pair well underway.
Kroonland and the virtually identical Finland, at each,Bonsor, p. 856. were slightly larger than Vaderland and Zeeland.Bonsor, p. 855. The American pair were the largest steamships built in the United States at the time of their launch, and were the highest tonnage civilian ships ever built by William Cramp. U.S. Navy ships listed are by displacement. Kroonland was long (pp) and abeam, with a molded depth of . Her hull was steel and nearly all the rivets were set with pneumatic rivet guns.Pollack, p. 109.
Kroonland was propelled at up to by twin triple-expansion steam engines. The engines were each rated at and had cylinders of , , and with a stroke. There were nine single-ended coal-fired Scotch boilers with a heating area of , a grate area of , and an operating pressure of . Kroonland had eleven watertight compartments with reinforced bulkheads, and was designed to remain afloat with up to two compartments flooded. Kroonlands coal bunkers surrounded the boilers, to offer limited protection in case the ship was used in wartime.William Cramp, p. 133.
The area below the main deck could carry up to of freight and stores. Kroonlands water tanks could carry of fresh water. Refrigerated storage was provided for meats and other perishables.William Cramp, p. 134.
Third-class passenger accommodations were located on the main deck: three compartments for men located forward, and a single compartment for families at the rear. The family compartment had state rooms containing either two, four, or six bunks. All compartments had well-lighted dining areas and wide hallways that led to lavatories and sanitary facilities on the upper deck.
The upper deck housed facilities for officers and first- and second-class passengers. A long forecastle contained the accommodations for the crew and petty officers, as well as a hospital and the third-class lavatories.William Cramp, p. 135. First-class staterooms for 106 passengers were located close to the middle of the ship. To their rear, between the funnels, was the first-class passenger dining room, spanning the width of the ship. With seating for 208, it featured mahogany furniture and satinwood paneling with inlays, and a glass skylight ceiling that extended up through two decks. Beyond this area were the galleys, sculleries, and pantries that served all passenger classes. Moving further aft, the second-class passenger dining room, which could accommodate 120 diners, was next. It, too, spanned the width of the ship and featured mahogany furniture, but was paneled with tapestry upon a cream-colored ground. Beyond the dining area were cabins for 76 second-class passengers.
A bridge deck amidships contained state rooms for another 204 first-class and 120 second-class passengers. In the rear was a deck house that contained a social room for third-class passengers. A promenade deck was located above and was permanently enclosed by a boat deck, where Kroonlands 20 steel lifeboats were stowed.William Cramp, p. 136. The promenade deck housed the library and smoking room for first-class passengers.
Kroonland was launched on the afternoon of 20February 1902 in a small, informal ceremony. Mrs. Rodman Griscom christened the ship, but Kroonland did not budge on the launching way; cold weather had frozen the tallow used to grease the timbers. Hydraulic jacks eventually freed the ship for her plunge into the Delaware River.
Red Star Line service, 1902–1914 Kroonland sailed on her maiden voyage from New York to Antwerp on 28June 1902. Kroonland remained on New York – Antwerp service for the next twelve years. In these early years of service, she was involved in two radio firsts. After the steering gear failed west of Fastnet Rock during a moderate gale in early December 1903, the ship's crew was able to communicate their predicament via the Marconi wireless system,Williams, p. 227. becoming, according to one contemporary news account, the first ship in distress ever to use wireless. Kroonland put in at Queenstown, Ireland, for repairs, and transferred her passengers and freight to ships of the White Star Line, another IMM subsidiary.Kroonlands first- and second-class passengers were transferred to RMS Teutonic and third-class passengers were transferred to another, unreported steamer. See: Cargo was transferred onto . Freight customers ended up paying twice for the shipments because Red Star and White Star, even though both subsidiaries of International Mercantile Marine, were separate companies. See: The other radio first came on 24December 1906, when the ship's wireless operator heard—rather than the expected dots and dashes of morse code—the voice of a woman singing. The singing was followed by a recording of Handel's "Largo", a poetry reading, and more music played from phonographs. The steamer was on the receiving end of what journalist and author Robert St. John called the "first real broadcast of history", originated by early radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden from Brant Rock in Massachusetts.
During her time on the New York – Antwerp route, Kroonland was frequently battered by the storms that were typical in the North Atlantic. In November 1904, a Brussels news agency reported a rumor that the ship had foundered in a mid-ocean storm. The report—proved false when Kroonland safely docked in New York)—received wide coverage in the American press. Also, While in a heavy December gale, the ship was struck by what contemporary news accounts referred to as a "tidal wave" as high as the tops of her funnels. The wave crashed over the deck, and brought the ship to a standstill. A Belgian passenger's leg was broken when he was thrown into a wall, and a crewman on watch in the crow's nest was sent tumbling to the deck below with only minor injuries.
In another December gale in 1907, one of the two propeller shafts on Kroonland broke while the liner was off the Isles of Scilly. Using the lone remaining propeller, the liner was able to make her way back to Southampton, where two tugs brought her into port. Passengers were transferred to to continue their transit to New York, while Kroonland entered drydock at Southampton. Fitted with a new shaft, she sailed—without passengers and cargo—for New York, where she arrived on 2January 1908. In February 1910, severe winter storms on the North Atlantic extended one of Kroonlands westbound trips, delaying her arrival in New York by three days. In May, Kroonland broke another propeller shaft, and again headed to Southampton for repairs.
Not all of the ship's mishaps were storm-related. In late April 1911, Kroonland hit the breakwater in Dover Harbour, disabling the steering gear and delaying the ship by a day. On 8January 1913, Kroonland ran aground in Ambrose Channel during a heavy fog while outbound from New York. It took more than six hours for tugs to free the liner from the soft mud.
The Red Star Line changed Kroonland from American to Belgian registry on 6November 1908 in Antwerp. One reason given for the change was to allow Red Star to hire non-American crews at lower cost. She made her maiden voyage under the Belgian flag the next day. In May 1911, Kroonlands crew, acting on rumors of an impending British mariner's strike, refused to sign on for the ship's next voyage, forcing Red Star to hire a replacement crew.Typically, crew members had no contracts and had to "sign on" after each voyage. See: Coons and Varias, p. 125.
International Mercantile Marine submitted a bid for a ten-year contract for Kroonland and Finland to carry U.S. mail between New York and San Francisco after the opening of the Panama Canal. By law, only U.S.-flagged ships could carry U.S. mail under contract. It was also anticipated that U.S.-flagged vessels would receive preferential treatment for canal tolls.Vose, p. 425 In a short ceremony aboard the liner in New York Harbor on 27December 1911,Vose, p. 418. the Belgian flag was lowered and the American flag was raised to the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by the steamer's band, shortly before she sailed for Antwerp. Finlands registry was changed on 3January 1912.
Volturno rescue