Europa

# Europa (Hapag-Lloyd Cruises) Built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, the Europa was a turbine-driven passenger liner of the Norddeutscher Lloyd that held the Blue Riband as the fastest ship on the Europe-New York transatlantic route. The ship nearly perished in a catastrophic fire while still under construction at the shipyard, but was painstakingly reconstructed through the efforts of engineers Franz Küntzel and Carl Jacob, who stabilized the vessel and repaired severe heat damage to its structure. The Europa carried a seaplane catapult on its upper deck for faster mail delivery and was selected to transport German Olympic teams, with newsreel footage of the vessel preserved from the period.