Kaiser-class ocean liner

{{main|SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse}}

{{main|SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse}}

''Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse'' was laid down in 1896. Launched in 4 May 1897 by the emperor himself, she was a tribute to [[Wilhelm I, German Emperor]]. By September the same year, she had her maiden voyage and proved an instant success. Her size was to prove a great sense of security when travelling at sea and soon, people would be refusing to travel by liners if they did not have the "customary" four funnels. In March 1898, she gained the [[Blue Riband]] for Germany however this prize was snatched away in 1900 by HAPAG's {{SS|Deutschland|1900|6}}. Undergoing a refit in 1900, she became one of the first ships to install [[wireless communication]]. Months after, when docked in [[New York City]], she was damaged in a fire which resulted in several deaths. She was also the victim of a [[naval ram]] in [[Cherbourg]] in 1906 killing another five people. With the advent of her sister ships, she was converted to an all third class ship in 1913. Remaining in this capacity until [[World War I]], she was quickly transformed into an [[auxiliary cruiser]] before being involved in the [[Battle of Río de Oro]] where her captain scuttled her to avoid enemy capture. Her remains were only scrapped in 1952.{{cite web |url= http://www.allatsea.co.za/fourfunnel.htm |title= ''The four funnel liners'' |date= |work= Maritimequest |accessdate= 15 July 2010 |url-status= dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110927173929/http://www.allatsea.co.za/fourfunnel.htm |archivedate= 27 September 2011 }}

''Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse'' was laid down in 1896. Launched on 4 May 1897 by the emperor himself, she was a tribute to [[Wilhelm I, German Emperor]]. By September the same year, she had her maiden voyage and proved an instant success. Her size was to prove a great sense of security when travelling at sea and soon, people would be refusing to travel by liners if they did not have the "customary" four funnels. In March 1898, she gained the [[Blue Riband]] for Germany however this prize was snatched away in 1900 by HAPAG's {{SS|Deutschland|1900|6}}. Undergoing a refit in 1900, she became one of the first ships to install [[wireless communication]]. Months after, when docked in [[New York City]], she was damaged in a fire which resulted in several deaths. She was also the victim of a [[naval ram]] in [[Cherbourg]] in 1906 killing another five people. With the advent of her sister ships, she was converted to an all third class ship in 1913. Remaining in this capacity until [[World War I]], she was quickly transformed into an [[auxiliary cruiser]] before being involved in the [[Battle of Río de Oro]] where her captain scuttled her to avoid enemy capture. Her remains were only scrapped in 1952.{{cite web |url= http://www.allatsea.co.za/fourfunnel.htm |title= ''The four funnel liners'' |date= |work= Maritimequest |accessdate= 15 July 2010 |url-status= dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110927173929/http://www.allatsea.co.za/fourfunnel.htm |archivedate= 27 September 2011 }}

===''Kronprinz Wilhelm''===

===''Kronprinz Wilhelm''===

{{main|SS Kronprinz Wilhelm}}

{{main|SS Kronprinz Wilhelm}}

[[File:The SS Kronprinz Wilhelm of NDL with a tender.jpg|thumb|''Kronprinz Wilhelm'']]

[[File:The SS Kronprinz Wilhelm of NDL with a tender.jpg|thumb|''Kronprinz Wilhelm'']]

Responding to the success of ''Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse'' and their rival ''Deutschland'', a sister to the former was ordered.{{cite web|url= http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|title= SS ''Kronprinz Wilhelm '', ''The Great Ocean Liners''|date= |work= The Great Ocean Liners|accessdate= 15 July 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120918025540/http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|archive-date= 18 September 2012|url-status= dead}} Launched in 30 March 1901, named in the honour of [[Wilhelm, German Crown Prince|Crown Prince Wilhelm]], she would have a varied career. Her transatlantic maiden voyage on 17 September 1901 was from [[Bremerhaven]], via [[Southampton]] and Cherbourg, to [[New York City]]. In 1902, she transported [[Prince Henry of Prussia (1862–1929)|Prince Henry of Prussia]] to America and was also visited by her namesake. In September the same year, she won the Blue Riband, as her sister had done in 1898. This, however, was quickly taken by ''Deutschland''. From 1914 she was an [[auxiliary cruiser]] for the [[Imperial German Navy]], operating as a [[commerce raider]] for a year. Highly successful in this role, when the [[United States]] entered the war, she was seized in April 1917 and served as a [[United States Navy|Navy troop transport]] until 1919. Renamed USS ''Von Steuben'' (ID-3017) at capture, she was decommissioned and turned over to the [[United States Shipping Board]], where she remained in service until she was scrapped in 1923.

Responding to the success of ''Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse'' and their rival ''Deutschland'', a sister to the former was ordered.{{cite web|url= http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|title= SS ''Kronprinz Wilhelm '', ''The Great Ocean Liners''|date= |work= The Great Ocean Liners|accessdate= 15 July 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120918025540/http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|archive-date= 18 September 2012|url-status= dead}} Launched on 30 March 1901, named in the honour of [[Wilhelm, German Crown Prince|Crown Prince Wilhelm]], she would have a varied career. Her transatlantic maiden voyage on 17 September 1901 was from [[Bremerhaven]], via [[Southampton]] and Cherbourg, to [[New York City]]. In 1902, she transported [[Prince Henry of Prussia (1862–1929)|Prince Henry of Prussia]] to America and was also visited by her namesake. In September the same year, she won the Blue Riband, as her sister had done in 1898. This, however, was quickly taken by ''Deutschland''. From 1914 she was an [[auxiliary cruiser]] for the [[Imperial German Navy]], operating as a [[commerce raider]] for a year. Highly successful in this role, when the [[United States]] entered the war, she was seized in April 1917 and served as a [[United States Navy|Navy troop transport]] until 1919. Renamed USS ''Von Steuben'' (ID-3017) at capture, she was decommissioned and turned over to the [[United States Shipping Board]], where she remained in service until she was scrapped in 1923.

===''Kaiser Wilhelm II''===

===''Kaiser Wilhelm II''===

{{main|SS Kaiser Wilhelm II}}

{{main|SS Kaiser Wilhelm II}}

[[File:Kaiser wilhelm 2.jpg|thumb|right|''Kaiser Wilhelm II'']]

[[File:Kaiser wilhelm 2.jpg|thumb|right|''Kaiser Wilhelm II'']]

Named after the [[Kaiser Wilhelm II|reigning emperor]], ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' was the third of the four flyers under [[North German Lloyd]].{{cite web|url= http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|title= SS ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'', ''The Great Ocean Liners''|date= |work= The Great Ocean Liners|accessdate= 15 July 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120918025540/http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|archive-date= 18 September 2012|url-status= dead}} She was launched in 12 August 1902, sailing her maiden voyage on the 14 April 1903, she was the holder of the [[east]]bound Blue Riband prize between 1904 and 1907. The first two sisters had been quite similar in appearance, length and tonnage, but the new ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' would be considerably larger than her older siblings. In fact, she was the first German ship to exceed the size of the famous {{SS|Great Eastern}}. But, although some 50 feet longer and 5,000 tons larger, her overall look was very similar to her future running mates. Her interior however, was criticised by some as being too flamboyant. Her other problem was her [[vibration]]s, which caused passengers to become nervous. The ship was taken in to be given a new set of propellers in 1904. In comparison with a $2,500 first class suite ticket, a third class passenger travel for a mere $25, one hundred times cheaper. Captured in [[New York City]] on 6 April 1917, the same day as her siblings, she was then renamed USS ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' (ID-3004) then ''Agamemnon'' and became a troop transport. As ''Agamemnon'', she made nine voyages between September and August 1919, carrying nearly 42,000 service personnel. [[Ship decommissioning|Decommissioned]] in late August she was turned over to the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] for further use as a US Army Transport. Laid up after the middle 1920s, she was renamed ''Monticello'' in 1927 but had no further active service. Considered too old for use in the [[Second World War]], the ship was sold for scrapping in 1940 with her sister ''Kronprinzessin Cecilie'', with which she had remained for twenty one years.

Named after the [[Kaiser Wilhelm II|reigning emperor]], ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' was the third of the four flyers under [[North German Lloyd]].{{cite web|url= http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|title= SS ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'', ''The Great Ocean Liners''|date= |work= The Great Ocean Liners|accessdate= 15 July 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120918025540/http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|archive-date= 18 September 2012|url-status= dead}} She was launched on 12 August 1902, sailing her maiden voyage on the 14 April 1903, she was the holder of the [[east]]bound Blue Riband prize between 1904 and 1907. The first two sisters had been quite similar in appearance, length and tonnage, but the new ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' would be considerably larger than her older siblings. In fact, she was the first German ship to exceed the size of the famous {{SS|Great Eastern}}. But, although some 50 feet longer and 5,000 tons larger, her overall look was very similar to her future running mates. Her interior however, was criticised by some as being too flamboyant. Her other problem was her [[vibration]]s, which caused passengers to become nervous. The ship was taken in to be given a new set of propellers in 1904. In comparison with a $2,500 first class suite ticket, a third class passenger travel for a mere $25, one hundred times cheaper. Captured in [[New York City]] on 6 April 1917, the same day as her siblings, she was then renamed USS ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' (ID-3004) then ''Agamemnon'' and became a troop transport. As ''Agamemnon'', she made nine voyages between September and August 1919, carrying nearly 42,000 service personnel. [[Ship decommissioning|Decommissioned]] in late August she was turned over to the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] for further use as a US Army Transport. Laid up after the middle 1920s, she was renamed ''Monticello'' in 1927 but had no further active service. Considered too old for use in the [[Second World War]], the ship was sold for scrapping in 1940 with her sister ''Kronprinzessin Cecilie'', with which she had remained for twenty one years.

===''Kronprinzessin Cecilie''===

===''Kronprinzessin Cecilie''===

{{main|SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie (1906)}}

{{main|SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie (1906)}}

''Kronprinzessin Cecilie'', built at [[Stettin]], in 1906 by [[AG Vulcan Stettin|AG Vulcan]], was the last of the four liners built for North German Loyd.{{cite web|url= http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|title= SS ''Kronprinzessin Cecilie '', ''The Great Ocean Liners''|date= |work= The Great Ocean Liners|accessdate= 15 July 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120918025540/http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|archive-date= 18 September 2012|url-status= dead}} She was named after [[Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin|Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin]]. She was launched in 1 December 1906. In July 1907, she was planned to leave [[Bremerhaven]] on her maiden voyage. However, before the maiden voyage could take place, she sank in her harbour and did not leave until 14 July. The only one of her sisters not to win the Blue Riband, she was, however, deemed to have had the most beautiful interiors; Poppe was lead designer, but following a design competition, many of the first class cabins were designed by a group of more modern architects.Anne Wealleans, ''Designing Liners: A History of Interior Design Afloat'', Routledge, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-415-37468-2}}, p. 58. She was also the largest of the four. At the outbreak of World War I, she was carrying some $10,000,000 in gold and $3,400,000 in silver. Heading back to the neutral United States to avoid capture by the [[British Navy]] she was interned at [[Bar Harbor]], [[Maine]], then moved to [[Boston]]. Commandeered by the [[United States Navy]] on 3 February 1917, she was renamed USS ''Mount Vernon''. She remained under American authority after the armistice of 1918. She made one voyage to [[Vladivostok]] through the [[Panama Canal]] in order to evacuate refugees and soldiers. Laid up in 1919 with her sister, SS ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'', she was a suggested troop transport for the British in [[World War II]]. Deemed too old, she and SS ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' were sold for scrap in 1940 at [[Baltimore]]. She was to be the last German liner to have four funnels.

''Kronprinzessin Cecilie'', built at [[Stettin]], in 1906 by [[AG Vulcan Stettin|AG Vulcan]], was the last of the four liners built for North German Loyd.{{cite web|url= http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|title= SS ''Kronprinzessin Cecilie '', ''The Great Ocean Liners''|date= |work= The Great Ocean Liners|accessdate= 15 July 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120918025540/http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/index2.html|archive-date= 18 September 2012|url-status= dead}} She was named after [[Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin|Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin]]. She was launched on 1 December 1906. In July 1907, she was planned to leave [[Bremerhaven]] on her maiden voyage. However, before the maiden voyage could take place, she sank in her harbour and did not leave until 14 July. The only one of her sisters not to win the Blue Riband, she was, however, deemed to have had the most beautiful interiors; Poppe was lead designer, but following a design competition, many of the first class cabins were designed by a group of more modern architects.Anne Wealleans, ''Designing Liners: A History of Interior Design Afloat'', Routledge, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-415-37468-2}}, p. 58. She was also the largest of the four. At the outbreak of World War I, she was carrying some $10,000,000 in gold and $3,400,000 in silver. Heading back to the neutral United States to avoid capture by the [[British Navy]] she was interned at [[Bar Harbor]], [[Maine]], then moved to [[Boston]]. Commandeered by the [[United States Navy]] on 3 February 1917, she was renamed USS ''Mount Vernon''. She remained under American authority after the armistice of 1918. She made one voyage to [[Vladivostok]] through the [[Panama Canal]] in order to evacuate refugees and soldiers. Laid up in 1919 with her sister, SS ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'', she was a suggested troop transport for the British in [[World War II]]. Deemed too old, she and SS ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' were sold for scrap in 1940 at [[Baltimore]]. She was to be the last German liner to have four funnels.

==See also==

==See also==

==External links==

==External links==

{{commonscat-inline|Kaiser class ocean liners}}

{{commons category-inline|Kaiser class ocean liners}}

{{Kaiser class ocean liners}}

{{Kaiser class ocean liners}}