SS Nieuw Amsterdam was a Dutch transatlantic ocean liner that was built in 1938 and scrapped in 1974. She was the second Holland America Line (Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij, or NASM) ship to be named after the former Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now New York.

When new, Nieuw Amsterdam was the largest and swiftest ship in NASM's fleet, the largest ship in the Dutch merchant fleet, and the largest ship ever built in the Netherlands. She succeeded as NASM's flagship. She was the Netherlands' "ship of state", just as was for France, was for the United Kingdom, and was for Italy.

Her peacetime career, both before and after the Second World War, was seasonal. She made transatlantic crossings between Rotterdam and Hoboken, New Jersey from about April to December, and cruises from about December to April. She cruised from NASM's terminal in Hoboken, mostly to the Caribbean. She twice cruised around South America: the first time early in 1939, and the second time early in 1950.

From 1940 to 1946 Nieuw Amsterdam was an Allied troopship. She served mostly in and around the Indian Ocean, but also in the Atlantic, and occasionally in the Pacific.

By 1969 she had started cruising from Port Everglades, Florida. In 1971, she ceased scheduled transatlantic services and was employed solely for cruising. She was withdrawn at the end of 1973, and scrapped in Taiwan in 1974.

Building NASM originally planned to call the ship Prinsendam; a name the company had not used before. However, during her construction NASM changed this to Nieuw Amsterdam. The company's previous was launched in 1905 and scrapped in 1932. It had been its flagship until was completed in 1908.

Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij built the new ship in Rotterdam for 20 million guilders as yard number 200. She was laid down on January 3, 1936; launched by Queen Wilhelmina on April 10, 1937; and completed on April 23, 1938.

Nieuw Amsterdams lengths were overall and registered. Her beam was and her depth was . She was the largest ship NASM had ever ordered. All of her dimensions were bigger than those of , which NASM had ordered before the First World War as Statendam, but which the United Kingdom had requisitioned as a troopship, and then lost to enemy action.

Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde built Nieuw Amsterdams six water-tubed Schelde-Yarrow boilers and eight steam turbines. The boilers had a combined heating surface of , and supplied steam at 625 psi. Her turbines were in four pairs: high-pressure, low-pressure, and two stages of intermediate pressure. She had twin screws, each driven by four turbines via single reduction gearing. She had two funnels.

The combined power of her eight turbines was rated at 8,116 NHP or 34,620 ihp. On her sea trials in March 1938 she achieved . Her service speed was .

Nieuw Amsterdam had berths for 1,220 passengers: 556 in first class, 455 in second class and 209 in third class. Her holds had capacity for of grain or of baled cargo. of her holds were refrigerated.

When new, Niew Amsterdam was better protected against fire than any other ship afloat. She also had the largest proportion of cabins with ensuite bathrooms, and the largest air conditioning plant of any ship. She was first ocean liner to have an air-conditioned theater.

Interior

Her design was Art Deco inside and out. Huibert Prins designed her, and 15 architects and 50 artists worked on her décor, including Leen Bolle, Adriaan Lubbers, Reijer Stolk, Siem van den Hoonaard and Frits van Hall. The interior was spacious, and had fluorescent lighting, aluminum motifs, and light, pastel colors throughout. The ship had an understated elegance that made her a favorite among seasoned transatlantic passengers.

The First Class dining saloon had columns covered in gold leaf, tinted mirrors, ivory walls, satinwood furniture, and a Moroccan leather ceiling with Murano glass light fixtures. Like the First Class dining saloon of Normandie, it had no portholes or windows to the sea, and relied solely on artificial lighting. There were four escalators for stewards to use when serving the cabin class and tourist class dining saloons.

There was a First Class smoking room with Circassian walnut paneling and deep armchairs and settees. The smoking room had a bar, and was flanked by two enclosed sun verandas extending to the sides of the ship.

Nieuw Amsterdam was the second ship in the world after Normandie to have a theater. Its deeply cushioned seats had an unobstructed view of the stage. The auditorium was egg-shaped, using the latest scientific sound-proofing materials and amplifying equipment for high-quality acoustics for concerts, drama, and pre-release motion pictures.

The ship had two swimming pools: one outdoors, and the other indoors on E-deck, with Delftware tiling.

First Class cabins ranged in size from single-berths to elaborate cabins-de-luxe. Nieuw Amsterdam was the first ship on which all First Class cabins had an en-suite bathroom.

Pre-war career

Nieuw Amsterdam began her sea trials on March 21, carrying 350 guests. The trip included a call at Boulogne, and got back to Rotterdam on March 24. Her builders handed her over to NASM on April 23. She was registered at Rotterdam, and her wireless telegraph call sign was PGGF.

Nieuw Amsterdam worked NASM's route between Rotterdam and Hoboken, New Jersey. Westbound voyages included calls at Boulogne and Southampton, and eastbound voyages included calls at Plymouth and Boulogne.

She began her maiden voyage from Rotterdam on May 10, 1938. On May 16 she reached Hoboken 10 hours early, having averaged from Southampton to Hoboken. At Hoboken she landed 537 passengers, including 50 reporters from the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant. She began her return voyage from Hoboken on May 21, called at Plymouth on May 27, and continued to Rotterdam.

Nieuw Amsterdam was variously acclaimed as the "Ship of the Year" or "Ship of Tomorrow". She was neither as large nor as fast as the foremost British, French, German or Italian transatlantic liners, but she won a loyal clientele. She and her running-mate Statendam were among the few profitable liners of the 1930s. On June 11, 1938 Nieuw Amsterdam left Hoboken carrying 850 passengers. On July 2 she left Hoboken with 1,144 passengers, including 485 in cabin class. On July 23 she left Hoboken with 852 passengers, including 410 in cabin class. The latter were reported to be "the largest cabin figures on any ship in recent weeks".

On July 30, 1938 Nieuw Amsterdam became the first ship to subscribe to a new service from the Radiomarine Corporation of America, an RCA subsidiary. A market index of 40 representative stocks would be radioed to participating ships three times a day, for passengers who wished to be kept informed of stock prices. On December 25, NASM announced that 12 electric eyes would be installed, to operate automatic door-openers at the entrances and exits of the escalators used by stewards serving the dining saloons, in order to speed up service.

Transatlantic passenger traffic was seasonal, so Nieuw Amsterdam went cruising from mid-December 1938 to the end of March 1939. She made three cruises: two to Rio de Janeiro, followed by one circumnavigating South America. On December 17, 1938, she left Hoboken for Rio de Janeiro via Curaçao and La Guaira. She returned via Salvador, Bahia, arriving back in Hoboken on January 12, 1939. On January 14 she left Hoboken on her second cruise to Rio de Janeiro, arriving back in Hoboken on February 9, 1939. On February 11, 1939, she left Hoboken on her 48-day cruise around South America. She covered , and arrived back in Hoboken with 575 passengers on March 29.

Crisis in Europe

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. On the same day, Nieuw Amsterdam reached Hoboken carrying 1,286 passengers. This was 150 more than her capacity, and included a number of refugees. One was the Jewish businessman Arnold Bernstein, whom Nazi Germany had imprisoned, and forced to forfeit his shipping line in return for his release. NASM accommodated 26 women passengers in the children's playroom, 16 in the ship's hospital and six in the officers' mess. 14 male passengers were accommodated in the engineers' mess. Furniture was removed and mattresses laid on floors for them.

On September 5 Nieuw Amsterdam left Hoboken. She was due in Rotterdam on September 13, but the United Kingdom and France were blockading Germany, so on September 11 the Royal Navy arrested her in the English Channel. She joined other ships detained at The Downs anchorage, waiting to be inspected for contraband. The Navy found in her cargo a consignment of 1,500 tons of copper, which one of her passengers had bought in the US for Germany. The Dutch government agreed to assume title of the copper, to avoid the British seizing it. The Navy arrested two tourist class passengers as alleged German spies, and interned 34 German stewards and crew members. One of the alleged spies tried to kill himself. The ship was released on September 14 to complete her voyage.

On September 6, NASM gave Nieuw Amsterdams crew a 15 percent pay rise. However, after she reached Rotterdam her crew went on strike for hazard pay. The dispute was settled on September 20, but by then 200 prospective passengers had canceled their reservations. As a result, on this crossing she did not need to accommodate passengers in makeshift dormitories. She left Rotterdam on September 22 carrying 1,260 passengers, most of whom were US citizens. After calling at Boulogne and Southampton she reached Hoboken on September 29 carrying 1,197 passengers, including British actress Merle Oberon and Polish pianist Jan Smeterlin. Also aboard was Chiang Kai-shek's adopted son Chiang Wei-kuo, who had been serving in the German Army.

Bermuda service Nieuw Amsterdam had made 17 round trips between Rotterdam and Hoboken. On September 27, 1939, NASM announced that she would be laid up indefinitely because of high wartime marine insurance rates. However, on October 3 the Parliament of Bermuda approved an agreement between the Bermuda Trade Development Board and NASM for her to serve the island, making weekly sailings from Hoboken each Saturday and Bermuda each Wednesday. The service was experimental, to run for four weeks.

She left Hoboken on her new run for the first time on October 21, and reached Hamilton, Bermuda the next day. However, she returned to Hoboken carrying only 83 passengers. On November 4 NASM announced that the experiment had not attracted enough bookings, and so her November 11 sailing from Hoboken to Hamilton would be her last.

1939–40 winter cruises

After the Bermuda service failed, NASM announced that Nieuw Amsterdam would make five winter cruises from New York. Four would be to the Caribbean, and the fifth, starting on February 8, would repeat her circumnavigation of South America. NASM later revised the plan, abandoning the cruise around South America, and instead scheduled her to make a total of ten Caribbean cruises.

On December 23, 1939, she left Hoboken carrying 600 passengers on a cruise to Havana and Miami. Her decorations included a Christmas tree high in her Grand Hall. She got back to Hoboken on January 1, 1940. On January 3 she left Hoboken for Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Curaçao, and La Guaira. She got back to Hoboken in January 11.

From January to March 1940 she made five cruises to Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Curaçao, and La Guaira, leaving Hoboken about every fortnight. Most of them also called at Puerto Cabello. On March 23 she left Hoboken for Port-au-Prince and Havana, returning to Hoboken on March 31.

Nieuw Amsterdam was then scheduled to make three more fortnightly cruises to St Thomas, Curaçao, La Guaira and Puerto Cabello. The first left Hoboken on April 6, and the second left Hoboken on April 20. The third left Hoboken on May 4, and reached La Guaira on May 9.