SS Belgenland was a transatlantic ocean liner and cruise ship that was launched in Belfast, Ireland in 1914 and scrapped in Scotland in 1936. She was renamed Belgic in 1917, reverted to Belgenland in 1923, and renamed Columbia in 1935.
Throughout her career the ship was owned and operated by the International Mercantile Marine Company or its subsidiaries. IMM ordered Belgenland as a new flagship for its Belgian-based Red Star Line, but the First World War delayed her completion. Germany occupied Belgium in the First World War, so IMM had Belganland completed in 1917 as a cargo ship, transferred to the UK-based White Star Line and renamed Belgic. In 1918 she was converted into a troop ship.
In 1922 the ship was at last fitted out as a passenger liner. In 1923 she was transferred back to Red Star Line and her name was changed back to Belgenland. From 1924 onward she made her name making annual cruises around the World, leaving New York in November or December and returning in April the next year. She pioneered cruise ship visits to destinations including Bangkok and Bali, and steamed almost 250,000 miles without defect.
In 1927 IMM transferred Belgenlands ownership to the UK-based Frederick Leyland & Co, but kept Red Star Line as her managers. In 1935 IMM transferred her ownership to the US-based Atlantic Transport Line, renamed her Columbia, and made Panama Pacific Line her managers.
In 1930–31 Belgenland took part in successful tests of a long-range ship-to-shore radiotelephone. The Great Depression led IMM to cease her cruises around the World from 1931 and reduce her transatlantic crossings. That year she made six-day cruises and one-day trips from New York. In 1932 she made short cruises and at least one transatlantic crossing. In 1933 she made a Caribbean cruise and at least one transatlantic crossing. In 1934 she made European cruises from England, and then was laid up.
As Columbia in 1935 the ship ran Caribbean cruises: four in spring to the West Indies, and then four in summer to Panama and Venezuela. By autumn she was laid up again, and in 1936 she returned to Britain to be scrapped.
Belgenland was by far the largest ship Red Star Line ever owned. In her heyday she was the largest liner in transatlantic service between Antwerp and New York, and the largest liner to cruise around the World. As Columbia she was the largest ship then registered in the US.
Harland & Wolff built Belgenland. She shared the same hybrid propulsion system as several other H&W liners of her era including and . However, she was a unique ship with no sister. She had a reputation for stability in the worst North Atlantic weather, and for reliability.
Belgenland had strong links with Belgium, although she was never registered there. Her more notable passengers included Eleanor Roosevelt in 1929, Douglas Fairbanks in 1931, and Albert Einstein in 1930 and 1933.
Building
IMM ordered Belgenland in March 1912 from Harland & Wolff, who built her on slipway number 1 as yard number 391. She was laid down before the First World War, but by the time she was launched on 31 December 1914 the war had been under way for four months. Work on her was suspended to let H&W concentrate on more urgent war-related work. As the Central Powers' U-boat campaign depleted Allied shipping, the need for replacement ships increased, and H&W resumed work on Belgenland. She was completed as a troop ship on 21 June 1917 and renamed Belgic.
H&W planned Belgenland to have three funnels and two masts, and a passenger superstructure of several decks. For war service, however, she was completed as a cargo ship with two funnels and three masts, and without the two upper decks of her planned superstructure. The extra mast enabled her to have more derricks, with which to handle cargo more quickly. She was one of a number of ships that had been planned as liners but were part-completed at that time as cargo ships. H&W completed the similar but smaller with one funnel and almost no superstructure, to serve as the wartime cargo ship Orca.
Belgics registered length was , her beam was , her depth was and her draught was . Her holds included space for of refrigerated cargo. As built, her tonnages were and .