SS Volendam

SS Volendam was a Dutch-owned transatlantic liner, launched in Scotland in 1922 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1952. She was part of the first generation of turbine-powered steamships in the Holland America Line (Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij, or NASM) fleet. Volendam and her sister ship Veendam were NASM's largest turbine steamships until the flagship Statendam was completed in 1929. In the 1920s and 30s, Volendam spent most of her career on scheduled services between Rotterdam and Hoboken, New Jersey. She also operated seasonal cruises: mostly to the Caribbean, but occasionally to the Mediterranean, and to Norway. In the Second World War, she evacuated refugees from Europe, including children from Britain, until in 1940 she was damaged by two torpedoes. In 1941 she returned to service as a troop ship. In 1947, she became an emigrant ship, at first carrying mostly Dutch emigrants. In 1948 she returned to transatlantic service, offering budget travel, which attracted US and Canadian students making their summer vacation in Europe. She was scrapped in 1952. This was the first NASM ship to be named after the town of Volendam in North Holland. NASM next used the name in 1972, when it bought and renamed the turbine steamship Brasil.