Passenger Ships that took Canadian Forces families to Europe during the Cold War era
Author’s note: on Wednesday 10 June 1959, our family left Montreal’s Pier 42 after boarding the Greek Lines ship “Arkadia,” and, along with many other RCAF families, sailed for Le Havre, France, where we arrived on 17 Jun 1959. On 18 June we boarded a coal fed steam locomotive to go to Paris, where we changed trains and then rode on to Homburg, Germany. From there we drove to our new home at No. 19 Zaberner Straßße, Zweibrücken, Germany, as my father, then LAC Aage C. Skaarup, prepared to serve as a Mobile Service Equipment Operator (MSE Op) at No. 3 Fighter (F) Wing.
After four years overseas, on 19 Jun 1963 we said goodbye to Zweibrücken, and took a bus to 1 (F) Wing, Marville, France, stopping for lunch at 2 (F) Wing in Grostenquin, France, en route. On 20 Jun 1963, we boarded a Canadair CC-106 Yukon No. 22 and flew back to Canada. This was my first flight, landing at RCAF Station Trenton, Ontario. We spent the first of many later stops at the Yukon Lodge.
I was later very lucky to have been based at CFB Lahr, Germany, from June 1981 to 2 July 1983. Good things happen quite unexpectedly sometimes, and after completing a lot of courses, training and postings, we found ourselves back in Germany again in June 1989. Our last flight out of Lahr was on 28 June 1992, this time on a Boeing CC-137. I was also able to visit Lahr while on leave from Bosnia-Herzegovina on 10 Sep 1997. The city is the same, but except for a few signs, the Canadian presence is missing, much like Zweibrücken.
One of the common themes I have found when talking to RCAF families who were deployed overseas during the Cold War, is that most remember the ships they sailed on to get there in the 1950s and early 1960s, after which, most, like our family, flew back.
For a trip down memory lane, I am presenting a photo here of each of the passenger ships that were used to transport Canadian Military families overseas in the early days of the Cold War. If I have missed any, please send me an e-mail at hskaarup@rogers.com and I will add a photo asap. Smile if you see your ship!
SS Arcadia
SS Arcadia was a passenger liner built for P&O in 1953 to service the UK to Australia route. Towards the end of her life she operated as a cruise ship, based in Sydney, until scrapped in 1979.
(Don Christie Photo)
SS Arcadia in Aden in March 1965.
SS Arcadia
SS Arcadia.
SS Atlantic
SS Atlantic.
SS Atlantic was an American-built vessel that operated for 42 years in various capacities. First designated SS Badger Mariner, she was originally built as a freighter in 1953. However, her career as a cargo vessel was relatively short. In 1958, she was rebuilt as a passenger liner. Renamed SS Atlantic, this ship became familiar to many American tourists during the 1960s, making cruises to the Caribbean and Mediterranean.In 1971, she was retired from commercial service and purchased by C. Y. Tung, a Chinese shipping magnate, and converted to a university at sea, first as the SS Universe Campus, then as the SS Universe.
RMS Carinthia
RMS Carinthia was an ocean liner built in 1956 as one of the four Saxonia-class ships. She sailed for Cunard Line from her completion until 1968 when she was sold to Sitmar Line, rebuilt into a full-time cruise ship and renamed SS Fairsea. She sailed with Sitmar until 1988, when Sitmar was sold to P&O. She was renamed SS Fair Princess and sailed for Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises until 2000. She was then sold to China Sea Cruises and renamed SS China Sea Discovery. In 2005 or 2006 she was scrapped at Alang, India. (Wikipedia)
RMS Empress of Australia
RMS Empress of Australia.
RMS Empress of Canada
((Rene Beauchamp Photo)
The cruise ship Mardi Gras moored at Montreal on 28 August 1979. Previously the RMS Empress of Canada.
RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner launched in 1960 and completed the following year by Vickers-Armstrongs of Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, England for Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. This ship, the third CP vessel to be named Empress of Canada, regularly traversed the transatlantic route between Liverpool and Canada for the next decade. Although Canadian Pacific Railways was incorporated in Canada, the Atlantic (and pre-war Pacific) liners were owned and operated by the British registered subsidiary Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. and were always British flagged and manned and therefore Empress of Canada was not the flagship of the Canadian Merchant Marine. (Wikipedia)
RMS Empress of England
RMS Empress of England was an ocean liner built in 1956-1957 by Vickers-Armstrongs, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom for the Canadian Pacific Steamships. The ship was launched in 1956; and she undertook her maiden voyage in 1957 and was a near identical sister ship to Empress of Britain.
RMS Empress of England
Empress of France
Empress of France
Empress of Scotland
Homeric
Italia
Ivernia
Neptunia
Oceanos
Samaria
Saxonia
Scythia
Sylvania
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3616886)
Photo taken at Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia by a Royal Canadian Navy Photographer.
Young David Campbell and his Mother waving to Canadian servicemembers arriving from overseas aboard the troopship SS Ile de France, Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 1945.
I imagine many who are reading this remember coming home after being away somewhere over there. I know I sure do.