 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2016) |
 SS Burdigala in 1912.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | Kaiser Friedrich III |
| Owner | Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique (Csa) |
| Port of registry | |
| Builder | Ferdinand Schichau Werft |
| Cost | £525,000 |
| Yard number | 587 |
| Launched | 5 October 1897 |
| Completed | 12 May 1898 |
| Maiden voyage | 7 June 1898 |
| In service | 7 June 1898 |
| Fate | Sunk by mine laid by SM U-73, 14 November 1916 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 12,480 GRT |
| Length | 183 metres (600 ft 5 in) |
| Beam | 19.4 metres (63 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power | Five cylinder reciprocating steam engines (with cylinder diameter of 109.22 cm, 162.56 cm, 233.68 cm, 2 x 236.22 cm), with quadruple expansion |
| Propulsion | Twin three-bladed bronze propellers, with a diameter of 6.19 meters |
| Speed | 20 knots |
| Capacity |
|
| Crew | 420 |
SS Burdigala was an ocean liner that sailed built for NDL before then serving under HAPAG and subsequently CGT.. The ship was built as the Kaiser Friedrich in 1898 for Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), a German shipping line. Designed to break the speed record for a transatlantic liner and thereby win the Blue Riband, the Kaiser Friedrich never achieved the necessary speeds. After a short career with NDL and an equally short period of service with NDL's main German competitor, the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (Hamburg America Line, or HAPAG), the ship was mothballed for a decade. After being sold to the French shipping line Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, it re-entered service as SS Burdigala. In 1916, while en route from Thessaloniki to Toulon, the liner struck a mine laid by the German U-boat U-73 in the Aegean Sea and sank near Kea, Greece.