SS Arabic (1908)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	SS Arabic
Operator:	White Star Line Red Star Line
Builder:	AG Weser, Bremen
Launched:	7 November 1908
Completed:	25 April 1909
Acquired:	by purchase, November 1920
In service:	7 September 1921
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, December 1931
General characteristics
Tonnage:	16,786 GRT
Length:	613 ft (187 m)
Beam:	69 ft 8 in (21.23 m)
Propulsion:	Quadruple expansion steam engines, 16,000 ihp (11,931 kW), 2 screws
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Capacity:	3212 passengers: 266 × 1st class 246 × 2nd class 2,700 × 3rd class
Crew:	410

Postcard of SS Arabic

SS Arabic was a passenger steamship launched on 7 November 1908 as the SS Berlin and it was built by the A.G. Weser shipbuilding company in Germany. Her Gross Register Tonnage was advertised at 16,786. She made her maiden voyage on 1 May 1909 from New York to Genoa and Bremerhaven. In September 1914 she became an auxiliary cruiser with the Imperial German Navy as a minelayer.

Having laid mines of the northern Irish coast she took refuge in Trondheim with storm damage. Having outstayed her 24 hours grace and unfit to leave port she was interned by the Norwegians on 18 November 1914.

In December 1919 she was given to the Shipping Controller under control of P&O. About a year later in 1920 she was purchased by the White Star Line, based in Liverpool and was refitted in Portsmouth, it was then she was renamed the SS Arabic. In September 1921 she made her maiden voyage as a White Star Line ship, via the Southampton to New York route. Afterwards, she sailed on the Mediterranean to New York service until 1924 when she was moved to the Hamburg to New York route, later that year her passenger accommodation was modified, and on 29 October 1926 Arabic made her first voyage under charter to the Red Star Line and resumed doing so until 1930 when she reverted to the White Star Line and her passenger accommodation was again modified. Less than one year later she was sold for breaking up at Genoa.

External links

• The Ship List