&sq=&lang=&file=File:SS_Deutschland_(1900).jpg) SS Deutschland
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
  German Empire | |
| Name |
|
| Owner | Hamburg America Line |
| Port of registry | Hamburg, &sq=&lang=&file=File:Flag_of_Germany_(1867%E2%80%931918).svg){kind=small} Germany |
| Route | Transatlantic |
| Ordered | 1899 |
| Builder | AG Vulcan, Stettin |
| Cost | 12.500.000 Mark |
| Yard number | 244 |
| Laid down | 1899 |
| Launched | 10 January 1900 |
| Completed | June 1900 |
| Acquired | 25 June 1900 |
| Maiden voyage | 5 July 1900 |
| In service | 1900 |
| Out of service | 1925 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap in France 1925 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 16,502 GRT, 5,196 NRT (1900) 16,703 GRT, 8,127 NRT (1910, as Viktoria Luise) |
| Displacement | 23,200 metric tons (22,800 long tons; 25,600 short tons) |
| Length | 207.2 m (679 ft 9 in) o/a |
| Beam | 20.52 m (67 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 8.5 m (27 ft 11 in) |
| Decks | 6 |
| Installed power | 34.000 ihp (25.354 kW) |
| Propulsion | 2 × 4-bladed propellers |
| Speed | 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) |
| Capacity | 1.283 passengers in three classes |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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SS Deutschland was a passenger liner built in Stettin and launched on 10 January 1900 for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) of Germany. She was officially the second ocean liner to have four funnels on the transatlantic route, the first being Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse of 1897.
The Deutschland took away the Blue Riband from the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse on her maiden voyage and held the west-bound record for over seven years, until Cunard took it back to Britain with the RMS Lusitania in 1907. Despite holding the record she suffered from persistent vibrations,[2] especially in the stern area which gave her the nickname "The Cocktail Shaker"[3] and made her unpopular with 1st class passengers.
Although her vibration problems were finally fixed around 1907,[4] it was already too late, as she has lost the speed record to Cunard, and the direct competition had grander, larger and safer ships, so in 1910 she was pulled from the transatlantic route and refitted into the world's second fully dedicated cruise liner.[4] As Victoria Luise she was enormously popular with the travelling public, and as she was about to start her third around-the-world cruise World War I broke out and she was requisitioned as an auxiliary cruiser.
However, because of her conversion into a cruise ship, her engines were throttled to a maximum speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph).[3] And after a fire that broke out during her conversion into a cruiser, it was decided to abandon the preparations, and she was left standing at her pier till the end of World War I.[3]
After the war, she was in such a bad state that the Allies were not interested in seizing her as war reparations.[4] In 1920, HAPAG decided to convert her into an immigrant ship and she was once again put on the Atlantic under a new name: Hansa. By 1921, as the United States introduced new immigration laws, she steadily became unprofitable, and was ultimately sold for scrap in 1925.
- ^ Gröner, Erich (1985). Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945 | U-Boote, Hilfskreuzer, Minenschiffe, Netzleger, Sperrbrecher (in German). Vol. III. Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe. p. 158. ISBN 3-7637-4802-4.
- ^ Braynard, Frank Osborn; Westover, Robert Hudson (2002). S.S. United States. Turner Publishing Company. p. 80. ISBN 978-1563118241.
- ^ a b c "HISTORY - ss DEUTSCHLAND - The only HAPAG four stacker and Blue Riband winner". EARL OF CRUISE. April 6, 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
- ^ a b c Jürgen, Hans (1978). Nordatlantik-Renner (in German) (3rd ed.). Deutschland: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft MBH. pp. 8–11, 19–44, 45–55, 60–65.