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The ''Belgenland'' was built in 1914 and originally served as a freighter and World War I troopship for the White Star Line under the name ''SS Belgic''. Because she was needed for the war effort, she was hastily finished with only two smokestacks and a superstructure only one deck high. Initially used for carrying cargo, in 1918 she was given accommodations for up to 3,000 troops. Her gross tonnage was listed at 24,547. The doomed liner Justicia was a near identical sister ship both being built at the same yard. ==Conversion to luxury liner== It was intended to be the world's largest liner, with a length of 1000 foot and a gross tonnage of about 80,000 tons, named Ceric. Later, during construction, it was modified and renamed Belgic. She remained in her troopship guise until April 1921, when she was laid up at Liverpool. There were no berths available at any of the shipyards so that she could be rebuilt. Harland & Wolff finally had a free berth, and in March 1922 she was towed to Belfast, where work on her reconstruction began in earnest. She was given to the Red Star Line and renamed ''Belgenland''. She was the second Red Star ship to be given this name. She was given a superstructure four decks in height and a third smokestack. Her tonnage was increased to over 27,000 gross tons, making her Red Star’s largest and most luxurious ship. She remained on her route for a decade, and occasionally spent time on extensive world and winter cruises. On 4 December 1924 she embarked on a 133-day world cruise — one of the longest attempted by a luxury liner at the time - advertised as "The Largest Ship to Circle the Globe". One of her most famous passengers was Albert Einstein. Returning to Germany on board her in 1933, he found out Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Einstein got off the ship at Antwerp, sailed on another Red Star Liner back to the United States (the ''Westernland''), and vowed never to return to Germany.〔http://www.shapell.org/manuscript/einstein-renounces-german-citizenship-becomes-outlaw-in-nazi-germany〕 Also in the 1920s, White Star line stewardess, Violet Jessop, famous for surviving the RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic sinkings, sailed on ''Belgenland'' on two round the world cruises while employed for Red Star. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SS Belgenland (1914)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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