BELGENLAND / BELGIC  ( 4TH ) / COLUMBIA

KEEL LAID IN 1914, BUT SHE WAS NOT COMPLETED UNTIL 1917,THE DELAY BEING DUE TO WW1 ( HER ORIGINAL NAME WAS TO HAVE BEEN 'EUROPA') SHE WAS ALSO ASSIGNED THE NAME 'CERIC' WITH THE IDEA THAT SHE SHOULD BE THE REPLACEMENT FOR THE WHITE STAR 'TITANIC',WHICH HAD SUNK IN 1912, BUT THIS IDEA WAS ABANDONED AND SHE WAS COMPLETED AS A TROOP SHIP/FREIGHTER FOR THE RED STAR LINE AS OPPOSED TO THE ORIGINAL INTENTION OF PASSENGER LINER.AFTER THE WAR SHE WAS TOTALLY RE-BUILT HAVING AN EXTRA FUNNEL FITTED AMONGST OTHER THINGS AND RE-EMERGED AS A PASSENGER SHIP IN 1923,THE DELAY HERE WAS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THERE WERE NO FREE BERTHS AVAILABLE IN A SHIPYARD TO HAVE THE WORK CARRIED OUT SOONER.SHE WAS RE-NAMED 'BELGENLAND' FOR THE RED STAR LINE, HAVING HAD THE NAME 'BELGIC' FOR A SHORT TIME ONLY. IN 1933 SHE WAS LAID UP. IN 1935 SHE WAS SOLD TO THE ATLANTIC TRANSPORT COMPANY AND RE-NAMED 'COLUMBIA'.PROFITABLE WORK COULD NOT BE FOUND FOR HER SO SHE WAS SCRAPPED IN 1936.