MS Gripsholm (1925)

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MS Gripsholm was an ocean liner, built in 1925 by Armstrong, Whirthworth & Company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England for the Swedish American Line for use in transatlantic traffic from Gothenburg to New York. From 1927 onwards she was used as a cruise ship alongside transatlantic crossings.

From 1942 to 1946, the United States Department of State chartered Gripsholm as an exchange and repatriation ship, carrying Japanese and German nationals to exchange points where she then picked up Americans and Canadians (and British married to Americans or Canadians) to bring home to America and Canada. In this service she sailed under the auspices of the International Red Cross, with a Swedish captain and crew. The ship made 12 round trips, carrying a total of 27,712 reptriates. Exchanges took place at neutral ports; at Lourenco Marques in Mozambique or Mormugoa in Portuguese India with the Japanese, and Stockholm or Lisbon with the Germans.

After the war, Gripsholm was used to deport inmates of US prisons to Italy and Greece.

The Swedish American Line sold Gripsholm to Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1954, who renamed her to MS Berlin. The ship was sold for scrap in 1966.

[edit] External links

• The Great Ocean Liners: Gripsholm (I)
• A Tribute to the Swedish American Line: Gripsholm 1925-1954
• (Swedish) Fakta om Fartyg: MS Gripsholm (1925)