SS Pasteur / TS Bremen

The fascinating story of a Cunard vessel that became the last German flagship, adored by France, and popular around the world

TS Bremen was one of the most popular liners operating across the Atlantic. Built for the French as the SSPasteur, she made a dramatic escape in 1940 carrying 200 tons of French gold bullion reserves to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Requisitioned by the British under Cunard, she became a hospital troopship, carrying 300,000 Allied troops around the world, with a major role in supplying the Battle of El Alamein. Charles de Gaulle claimed that thePasteur’s contribution "significantly helped bring . . . Hitler to his ultimate end." Post-war she remained in French military service until 1956, conveying French troops to Vietnam, Algeria, and the Suez Crisis. Following lay-up, she was sold to the North German Lloyd Line as their final flagship, refitted and renamed Bremen. The sale sparked violent protests in France, but she was now the pride of the German nation and began her next career. The book contains many previously unpublished images, including spectacular color views of the liner in transatlantic cruising service and her dramatic sinking on her final voyage for demolition in Taiwan in 1974.

Andrew Britton is a retired teacher and a lifelong shipping enthusiast and collector with a vast body of photographs and ephemera. Also an avid steam railway enthusiast, he is a part-owner of eight British steam locomotives that operate on heritage railways. He has previously written Classic Liners: SS United States, RMS Queen Mary,RMS Queen Elizabeth, and Waterloo to Weymouth.