The Fleets

Scheepvaart Maatschappij Trans-Oceaan 's-Gravenhage

After World War 2 the Dutch Government purchased three Victory ships which were converted into troop transport ships by the United States and renamed them WATERMAN, ZUIDERKRUIS and GROOTE BEER. The WATERMAN and ZUIDERKRUIS were managed by Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd and the GROOTE BEER was managed by Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland.

They were used on the route Holland-Netherlands East India (NEI) to carry troops to the Dutch colony to restore the peace after the Japanese surrender when the Archipelago was in a turmoil. After the independence of the Republic Indonesia in 1948 all the Dutch troops were repatriated and a repatriation started of Dutch civilians who left Indonesia for Holland. In 1951 after this was completed, the three ships were rebuilt into emigrant carriers because many Dutch people decided to build a new life in countries like Australia, Canada and New Zealand and after the rebuilding the ZUIDERKRUIS was also managed by Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland. After negotiations between the Dutch Government, Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd and Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland the shipping company Scheepvaart Maatschappij Trans Oceaan at s’-Gravenhage was founded in 1960 and the three ships were taken over by the new company.

In 1963 the emigrant transportation nearly came to an end and the GROOTE BEER and WATERMAN were sold to J. Latsis, Greece and used for cruises in the Mediterranean and the ZUIDERKRUIS went to the Dutch Navy as an accommodation ship. The shipping company Scheepvaart Maatschappij Trans Oceaan was later sometimes used by the Holland America Line to make student travel cruises with passenger ships under the flag of the Scheepvaart Maatschappij Trans Oceaan.

Many thanks to Henk Jungerius and Ted Finch for their assistance in collecting this data. The following list was extracted from various sources. This is not an all inclusive list but should only be used as a guide. If you would like to know more about a vessel, visit the Ship Descriptions (onsite) or Immigrant Ship web site.

• Routes:
  • Rotterdam-Harbours Great Lakes
• Abbreviations:
  • KJCPL :   Koninklijke Java China Paketvaart Lijnen
  • KPM :      Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij
  • HAL :       Holland Amerika Lijn
  • OL :          Oranje Lijn
• Note:
• * : cargo ships with limited passenger accommodation
• + : cargo-passenger ships

Funnel & Flag:
Fleet:		1947-1960	1960-1963

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Last updated: February 19, 2006 and maintained by and M. Kohli