Kronprinz Wilhelm
1901
(Carlo Marquardt CM-140)
- Type: Passenger
- Displacement: 14,908 tons
- Dimensions: 664 x 66 ft.
- Machinery: Steam quadruple expansion, twin screws, 36,000 ihp = 22 knots
- Passengers: 1761 (367 first class, 340 second class, 1054 steerage)
- Crew: 527
- Builder: Vulkan Shipyards, Stettin, Germany
- Launched: 30 Mar 1901, Yard No.249
- Service: Kronprinz Wilhelm was uilt for North German Lloyd Line. Second of four in their series four-stackers, named for the son of the reigning Kaiser. Maiden voyage 17 Sep 1901 Bremenhaven-Southampton-Cherbourg-New York. Briefly took the westbound crossing record from the Hamburg-America liner Deutschland but then lost it back. Involved in a number of collisions during her career, including running down and sinking the cargo ship
Robert Ingham and severely damaging the British destroyer HMS Wizard in 1902. Also hit a small iceberg in 1907, but with minor damage. In America at the outbreak of World War I, she sailed 3 Aug 1914 and rendezvoused three days later with the German cruiser Karlsruhe, converting to a merchant cruiser by taking on two 88mm guns. During an eight month cruise she captured or sank 15 ships of 60,522 tons, before accepting internment in the United States at Newport News 28 Mar 1915. When the U.S. declared war in 1917, she was confiscated for use as a troopship and renamed USS Von Steuben. After the war, she was laid up in Oct 1919 and finally sold for scrapping in 1923.
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