SS Europa, later SS Liberté, IMO 5607332, was a German ocean liner built for the Norddeutsche Lloyd line (NDL) to work the transatlantic sea route. She and her sister ship, , were the two most advanced, high-speed steam turbine ocean vessels in their day, with both earning the Blue Riband. After World War II French line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique was awarded the Europa as a war prize to replace the destroyed , which had caught fire and capsized at her moorings while interned by the United States in New York City. Europa was refitted at Le Havre and rechristened the Liberté, serving until the arrival of the in 1961 as the premier liner in the Compagnie's fleet. She was laid up in 1962 and scrapped at La Spezia, Italy, in 1963. History Construction Europa was built in 1928 with her sister ship to be the second 50,000–gross ton North German Lloyd liner. They both were powered with advanced high-speed steam turbine engines and were built with a bulbous bow entry and a low streamlined profile. Europa and her slightly larger sister ship were designed to have a cruising speed of 27.5 knots, allowing an Atlantic crossing time of 5 days. This enabled Norddeutsche Lloyd to run regular weekly crossings with two ships, an operation that previously required three. The launching of Europa took place at Blohm & Voss shipyard, Hamburg on Wednesday, August 15, 1928. Europa was intended to be completed in spring 1929. However, on the morning of 26 March 1929, a fire broke out while still at the equipment dock. The fire raged all day long and it was not until the evening when the fire was under control. The ship's turbines were damaged heavily and also the remainder of the ship had been significantly damaged. After long discussions between builder and shipping company, it was decided to repair the ship. Within eleven months the ship was finished and completed on February 22, 1930. The cause of the fire has never been clearly identified. Blue Riband Europa made her maiden voyage to New York on 19 March 1930 taking the westbound Blue Riband from with the average speed of 27.91 knots and a crossing time of 4 days, 17 hours and 6 minutes. During the voyage many of her passengers were disturbed by the soot coming out of Europas low funnels. The problem was corrected by raising the