The vessel was put into service in Sweden 1925 under the name of "Gripsholm".It was the first North-Atlantic -Liner driven by Diesel- engines. During the war Sweden gave the "Gripsholm" to the International Committee of the Red Cross for humanitarian services. After the war it served on the Göteborg-New York line. Modernized in 1949/50 it was sold in 1955 to the "Norddeutsche Lloyd" shipping company and renamed to "Berlin". The Berlin ran on the Bremerhaven-New York line. However the ship was to slow to be competitive with modern liners. It was then used for cruises. In 1966 the ship was put out of service and scrapped. Stamps issued March 12th,1955. p.s.: If I am not completely wrong these stamps are the only ones of (West-) Berlin,inscribed "Landespost Berlin". Earliar ones were inscribed "Deutsche Post" or "Deutsche Post Berlin", later ones "Deutsche Bundespost Berlin".
The "Cap Polonia" was built as a luxury liner for the South-America service.It was launched in 1914.However due to the war it was converted into an auxiliar-cruzier the "Vineta".But because it failed to meet the speed reqirements,the Imperial Navy refused to take the ship. It was then rebuilt again,now as originally planned. In 1919 the British confiscated the ship as part of the war-reparations. However two successive british shipping-companies failed to operate the complex machinery properly,when repatriating soldiers to Capetown and later to Bombay.Instead of the 17 knots it was built for,they hardly managed to reach 10-12 knots on those transports. In 1921 a german shipping company could re-buy the ship for a mere US-$ 150.000. Finally the Cap Polonia made her maiden voyage to South-America in 1922.At the time it was the largest german liner. In addition to the Hamburg-South-America line-service,the ship also was used for cruises. In 1930 it was taken out of service,because of the Great Depression. Finally it was scrapped in 1935. Stamp issued April 14th,1977. from a set of 4;
Addition to the previous post: The "Bremen" was only one of a number of ships with that name. This very one was built in France,shortly before the war. It was named "Pasteur" (see Robert´s post # 6). The "Pasteur" had not been put into service,when the war began. France evacuated 200 tons of her gold-reserves on the "Pasteur" to Canada in 1940,when the Germans advanced. After France was defeated,Britain took over the ship and used it as a troop-carrier and military hospital ship during the war. In 1946 the "Pasteur" was given back to France,what used her as a troop-carrier during the wars in Indochina and Algeria. In 1957 the "Norddeutsche Lloyd" shipping company bougth the ship. It was refurbished and renamed as "Bremen".It was on duty on the North-America line and later more and more on cruises. In 1970 the ship was sold to Greece.Renamed "Regina Magna" it cruised the Mediterranean. A few years later it was sold again,this time to Saudi-Arabia. Here it was renamed a last time, "Filipinas-Saudi I",and was converted to a hotel-ship in Djidda. A last time it was sold to a company in Hong-Kong for scrapping. It was going to be towed to a scrap-Yard in Taiwan,but sank on her way in the Indian Ocean on June 6th,1980. By the way: in 1960 a stewart named Siegfried and a page named Roy worked and met on the "Bremen".They soon began to perform a magic show within the entertainment program for the passengers. It was the start of their remarkable career.
