OCEAN LINER CONTRASTS
Some ships have relatively short careers, while others have long and distinguished lives. This could be attributable to many factors: the design, a change in circumstances, or technological advancement which affects the ship’s later usefulness. Holland America Line’s Rotterdam of 1959 and Italian Line’s Leonardo da Vinci of 1960 were both fine transatlantic liners and late examples of so-called ‘Ships of State’ but, arguably, the Dutchman was eminently more successful than her Italian counterpart.
After World War II, after three new Tourist-classorientated ships had been built, Holland America Line deemed it appropriate to build a running mate to the venerable Nieuw Amsterdam of 1938. Ordered from the Rotterdam Drydock Company on 26 October 1955 and christened Rotterdam, she sailed on her maiden voyage on 3 September 1959.
The ship’s profile struck a new note in having the conventional funnel replaced by twin side-by-side pipe uptakes served by transversely separated boiler exhaust trunks. The profile was also unconventional in having a relatively dry seaboat, and served as a showcase for Dutch art and design.
