SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
6,668 gross tons; 449 (bp) feet long; 51 feet wide. Steam triple expansion engine, single screw. Service speed 16 knots. 1,200 passengers (120 first class, 80 second class, 1,000 third class).
Career
She was built by Vulcan of Stettin. Launched on May 4 1897, she made her maiden voyage on September 19 of that year, from Bremerhaven to New York. In November 1897, she set an eastbound crossing record from Sandy Hook to the Needles and four months later she captured the westbound Blue Riband, taking it from Cunard's Lucania. She held these records until Hapag's SS Deutschland took the eastbound record in July 1900 and the westbound one in September 1903. The fact that German ships took over this famed prize eventually led the British to build their Mauretania and Lusitania duo.
She became the first liner to have a commercial wireless telegraphy system when the Marconi Company installed one in February 1900. Communications were demonstrated with systems installed at the Borkum Island lighthouse and Borkum Riff lightship, as well as with British stations. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Große was also the first liner to have four funnels, which would become a symbol of safety and prestige.
The ship escaped a massive fire at NDL's Hoboken, New Jersey, piers in June 1900, which badly damaged her running mates, Main, Bremen and Saale and killed 161 crewmen on those ships. Six years later, in November 1906, she was struck broadside while trying to cross in front of the Royal Mail's Orinoco; five passengers on Kaiser Wilhelm der Große were killed by the impact and a hole 21 meters (70 ft) wide by 8 meters (26 ft) high was made in her hull. An Admiralty Court found the accident to be entirely attributable to Kaiser Wilhelm der Große.
In 1914 she was modified to take 3rd and 4th class fares only to make the most of the emigrant passage demand from Europe to North America.
Fate
In August 1914 the ship was requisitioned by the Kaiserliche Marine and converted into an auxiliary cruiser, assigned to commerce raiding off the Canary Islands. She was fitted with six 10.5 cm (4 inch) guns and two 37 mm guns. After sparing two passenger ships because they were carrying women passengers, she sank two freighters before she herself sank on August 26. She was caught refuelling by the British 6-inch gunned cruiser HMS Highflyer. British sources at the time insisted that Kaiser Wilhelm der Große sank because of the damage inflicted by Highflyer. German authorities claimed her crew had scuttled her after she exhausted her munitions, to avoid capture. Whatever the cause, she was the first passenger ship sunk during World War I.
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