Laid down in 1914 at A.G. Weser, Bremen, the ship which eventually
became White Star's Albertic lay unfinished at the yard until World War
I ended. Construction resumed in 1919, and she was expected to become
NDL's Munchen, but she was ceded to Great Britain as a war reparation
after her launch in 1920. She was then purchased by the Royal Mail
Line and, after three years of fitting out, made her maiden voyage as
Royal Mail's Ohio on 3 April 1923, from Hamburg to New York via
Southampton and Cherbourg.
Royal Mail's Southampton-Cherbourg service was terminated when Royal
Mail acquired White Star in late 1926. Ohio was then sold to White
Star, renamed Albertic, and placed on the Liverpool-Canada service,
making her first voyage for her new owner in April 1927. In 1928, she
moved to the London-Canada service. A year later Albertic replaced the
wrecked Celtic (II)
on the Liverpool-New York service, but she returned to the Canadian service
in May 1930.
Although some sources say or suggest that she remained in regular service
until 1933 and was also used for cruising, there is no record in either
The Times of London or The New York Times of her being used
for any purpose after a 29 August 1930 roundtrip from Liverpool to Québec
and Montréal. She seems to have been laid up in the Clyde soon after her
return to Liverpool in September and never used again.
Albertic was one of ten White Star ships transferred to Cunard White
Star in 1934. She never sailed for the merged line, however, and was
scrapped in Japan later that year.
Sources: Bonsor's North Atlantic Seaway; Haws' Merchant Fleets; Kludas'
Great Passenger Ships of the World; The Times, London, and The New York
Times, various dates from 1930 to 1933.
