Homeric

After World War I, White Star's fleet was in dismay. Their 48,000-ton flagship Britannic was lost in the Aegean in 1916, while Oceanic of 1899 had been wrecked on the islands of Foula in 1914.

At wars end, the Treaty of Versailles appropriated two German super liners to White Star, the 56,000-ton Bismarck (later renamed Majestic, and the largest of HAPAG's great Imperator Class trio), left unfinished at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard, and the 35,000-ton Columbus at F. Schicau in Danzig.

While both ships had been launched, they were far from complete, and it would take a further two years for them to be outfitted entirely, leaving White Star unable to compete against the Cunarders until mid 1922.

Laid down in 1912, the Columbus was the first of two of vessels ordered by Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd) for their premiere run, Bremerhaven to New York. At 35,000 tons, they would be large ships for their day, and like Hamburg-Amerika new liners of the Imperator Class, their focus would be on luxury rather than speed.

Powered by tried-and-true triple expansion reciprocating engines, the two new liners were twin screw (the largest in the world until the introduction of the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969), and had a relatively modest service speed of just a shade over 18 knots (33 km/h).

Settling quickly into her Atlantic routine, Homeric proved to be a popular ship for White Star, although her speed became a major concern for the line, for at 18 knots (33 km/h), Homeric could not keep pace with her fleet-mates, making it difficult to maintain a weekly schedule.

At the conclusion of her second season, in October 1923, Homeric was removed from service for an extended winter overhaul, and her boilers were converted to burn fuel oil. The extensive re-working would require a full eight months at the shipyard, but on 9 April 1924, she was returned to service, proving to be slightly faster, averaging 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h) for her first crossing.

However, even at 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h) she could not be successfully matched with the Olympic and Majestic, both with a service speed above 21 knots (39 km/h). Nevertheless, the increase did reduce one day from her average transatlantic voyage.

Built with the steerage trade in mind, Homeric had a huge portion of her accommodations devoted to immigrants, and when the United States curtailed the flow of foreign settlers in the mid 1920's the Homeric was particularly hard hit. Her transatlantic crossings began to lose money as early at 1926, and the ship was sent on cruises around the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Even though the liner had only been in service since 1922, by 1927 she was seriously showing her age.

Despite a worsening financial footing, White Star launched the Britannic and Georgic, and once these new motor ships entered service, Homeric became surplus on the Atlantic. It was decided that Homeric would concentrate on cruising full time, and on 1 June 1932, she departed New York on her final transatlantic crossing. Her career on the Atlantic was indeed short-lived, she crossed for a mere 10 years.

After the merger of Cunard with White Star Line, Homeric was considered surplus tonnage and was flagged for withdrawal from service. In July 1935, the Homeric participated in King George V's Silver Jubilee fleet review, a prestigious honour, but only two months later, the Homeric was laid up in preparation for scrapping. In late 1936, after the successful debut of the 81,000-ton Queen Mary, she was sold to Thomas Ward & Sons for scrap.