SS De Grasse

De Grasse as originally designed with two funnels (1924–1947)

Originally speculated ordered under the name Suffren, the ship was renamed after the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) acquired the Brazilian ship SS Leopoldina. The De Grasse was put into service in August 1924 on the Le Havre to New York route.[1] It was modernized in 1931.

At the start of World War II, it continued its crossings, but in a slightly militarized version (blocked portholes, light armament). In the spring of 1940, it was transformed into a troop transport. The ship was decommissioned in May 1940 at Bordeaux.[1] It was then used as a floating barracks ship for German soldiers and then as a base ship for Italian submariners (Italy had based more than twenty submarines a Bordeaux to support the Germans during the Battle of the Atlantic). Appearing as too dangerous a target after the first British bombardment on Bordeaux, the ship surrendered to the Vichy government in May 1942, which used it as a training ship.

The Germans partially sank it during their retreat in August 1944. It was refloated in August 1945 and sent to the Penhoët shipyards to be repaired and modernized (it lost a funnel during these transformations).[1] The ship was reassigned to the Le Havre to New York route while the CGT reconstituted a fleet.

As RMS Empress of Australia

In 1953, De Grasse was sold to Canadian Pacific Steamships after the ship, RMS Empress of Canada caught fire and capsized. De Grasse was renamed in that same year to Empress of Australia. However, she didn't serve Canadian Pacific for long as in 1956 the ship was sold to the Italian company Sicula Oceanica.[4]

In 1956, the Empress of Australia was sold to Sicula Oceanica, and after a refit, the ship was renamed the Venezuela servicing the Naples to Caribbean route. She had an uneventful career with her new owner.[4] In 1962, the Venezuela was wrecked off Cannes. She was refloated but was broken up at La Spezia, Italy in August of the same year.[3]