whoa! this isn't the De Grasse, this was a german vessel from the first world war, The De Grasse was used as a replacement for the Empress of Canada which was burned out in 1952
This is the HAPAG liner that was launched in 1913 as the 'Admiral von Tirpitz'.
Name shortened to 'Tirpitz in February, 1914 and work halted during hostilities. Completed in 1920 and, as a war reparation, was managed for the British Government by the P&O.
Sold to the Canadian Pacific in mid 1921 and renamed 'Empress of China'. Alterations took until 1922 before she made her maiden voyage, Glasgow to Vancouver and then to Yokohama, for CPR.
Renamed 'Empress of Australia' in 1922
She had been fitted with turbines and an unusual hydraulic gearing when built and this proved troublesome. In 1926 Fairfield fitted new turbines with conventional gearing and rebuilt the passenger accommodation: she reentered service in June 1927.
She became a trooper during WWII and remained as such until scrapped in 1952 at Inverkeithing.
21,498GT, 615' x 75', 16.5 knots service speed, 370 1st, 190 2nd, 415 3rd, 1,000 steerage as built.
19 knots, 400 1st, 150 2nd, 650 3rd after reengined and alterations in 1926.
Sorry about misinformation on Empress of Australia.I got Wrong ship. This is Empress 1 and not 2. Many thanks to Bruce C, for putting correct information to this ship
Thanks also to Tell, for pointing my mistake out.
Completed two twenty-one day trips in her, summer of 1950, serving her last days as a CP managed troopship to British garrisons around the Med. She made a name for herself at Yokohama during the 1923 earthquake, and served on one leg of the 1939 royal tour of Canada. Accommodations for the deck crowd - and probably all lower deck - were primitive, overcrowded and unhealthy.
