Barbarossa class
 The Bremen
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The Barbarossa class was a series of large passenger ships with a lot of cargo space that Norddeutsche Lloyd (NDL) had built in Germany for the Reichspostdampferdienst . The first four ships were intended for the Australian service and the first ships built in Germany over 10,000 GRT. Another four ships were ordered for the East Asia service. There was also an enlarged version for the Australian service of the NDL and two improved ships for the HAPAG , neither of which were ever used on a Reichspoststampfer line. All ships were twin-screw steamers with two funnels and two masts.
Use of NDL
Australia line
The first four steamers of the Barbarossa class, Frederick the Great , Barbarossa , Queen Luise and Bremen , were used on the Reichspostdampferlinie to Australia from 1896/97. On November 11, 1896, the Friedrich der Große started as a Reichspostdampfer from Bremerhaven on her maiden voyage via Suez to Sydney . She made 14 round trips on this main route; the last one began on January 21, 1914. This made the Friedrich der Große the first and the last ship of this class of the NDL on the Australian route. The ships of this class went to Australia mainly in autumn and winter. The other departures were served by older imperial mail steamers and the ships of the city class , later the general class .
From 1900 the enlarged half-sister ship Grosser Kurfürst was added. which until the end of its service life on this route was the largest ship used there. Between November 1900 and January 1912, however , the Grand Elector only made nine tours to Australia. She was the largest passenger ship to Australia during this period and remained so until 1913 when the Blue Funnel Liner Ulysses (14,449 GRT) was used.
| to Australia | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick the Great | 14 round trips | from November 11, 1896 | last January 21, 1914 |
| Barbarossa | 12 round trips | from January 8, 1897 | last October 21, 1910 |
| Queen Luise | 10 round trips | from November 17, 1897 | last October 25, 1911 |
| Bremen | 16 round trips | from October 20, 1897 | last September 27, 1911 |
| Great Elector | 9 round trips | from November 7, 1900 | last January 7, 1912 |
East Asia Line
A second series of four steamers came into service in 1899/1901 for the Reichpostdampferlinie to East Asia, which at the time was not only operated by NDL but also by HAPAG . The NDL deployed King Albert and Princess Irene and HAPAG Hamburg and Kiautschou . At the end of 1903 the joint service was given up again. The Kiautschou remained in 1904 as Princess Alice with the NDL. From May 1910 the Princess Alice was only used in East Asia. When the war broke out, she was on her way to Hong Kong.
In 1913, Queen Luise is said to have carried out the replacement transport for the soldiers deployed in Tsingtau.
Two other very similar ships were the sister ships Moltke and Blücher of HAPAG, built in 1901 , which were commissioned to East Asia with a view to participating in the Reichpostdampferlinie, but were never used there.
| to East Asia | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| King Albert | 8 round trips | from October 4, 1899 | last ? |
| Hamburg | ? Round trips | from March 21, 1900 | last in 1914 as a hospital ship SS Red Cross announced |
| Princess Irene | 7 tours | from October 30, 1900 | last ? |
| Kiautschou | ? Round trips | from December 25, 1900 | last ??. 1903 |
| Princess Alice | ?? Round trips | from August 31, 1904 | last ?. June 1914 |
North Atlantic Service
The Queen Louise began her maiden voyage to New York, she started off as the first ship of the Barbarossa class on 26 March 1897th Over the years she made eleven trips from Bremerhaven to New York. On April 4, 1897, the Frederick the Great , and on May 24, the Barbarossa , went to New York for the first time. On June 5, 1897, the Bremen started from Bremerhaven on her maiden voyage via Southampton to New York City.
All sister ships (including the East Asian ships) were regularly used on this route, especially in the summer months, as few passengers went to Australia during this time. On June 30, 1900, the Bremen was badly damaged together with two other Lloyd steamers in a major fire at the Hoboken pier in New York.
After repairs and renovations at AG Vulcan Stettin, Bremen resumed its Bremen-New York trips on October 12, 1901. It had been extended in the course of the repairs and had enlarged passenger facilities. Norddeutsche Lloyd used the term Bremen class , to which all of its twin-screw saloon mail steamers of different designs belonged: This class stood for a luxurious, comfortable crossing that was not based on the speed of the two to three days faster Atlantic liners of the NDL "four chimney quartet" oriented.
From March 1912, the ships were also used to other US ports, so Queen Luise made three trips to Baltimore. The Barbarossa ran to Galveston and at least three times to Baltimore and the Frederick the Great made her last peace voyage there.
Mediterranean - USA service
From 1903 to 1914, the NDL gradually used five ships of the Barbarossa class on this line. On April 16, 1903, the King Albert was first used from Genoa via Naples to New York and then remained mainly on this line until her last round trip, which began on June 11, 1914. On April 30, 1903, the sister ship Prinzess Irene was used for the first time between Genoa and New York. The two original East Asian ships König Albert and Prinzess Irene were the main porters of this line from 1903 to 1914. Initially used with the old Hohenzollern (last on May 21, 1906), the NDL was able to secure the largest share (24%) of traffic with Italian emigrants with this line.
Three more of the Barbarossa steamers of the NDL were also temporarily used on this route, so the Queen Luise for the first time on February 25, 1904 (last on May 25, 1911), the Barbarossa for the first time on March 16, 1906 (18 voyages up to 6. November 1913) and Frederick the Great for the first time on March 22, 1907 (16 trips up to July 25, 1912) and probably in 1911 also the Great Elector .
Then on May 15, 1909, there was the considerably larger Berlin .
In the service of HAPAG
In 1900 the Hamburg was the first ship of this class in service with HAPAG on the East Asia Post Line in cooperation with the North German Lloyd (NDL). The Hamburg remained with HAPAG as a single ship, while the sister ship Kiautschou was handed over to the NDL.
The Hamburg was used from 1904 to New York, from 1905 also between Genoa and New York and for cruises . It operated in the winter of 1910/1911 between New York and Havana in Cuba. zb took place on June 2, 1904. In the winter of 1904/1905 the Hamburg was rebuilt at the Reiherstieg shipyard and adapted to the changed shipping area.
The modified sister ships Moltke and Blücher were used in the same way. The Moltke made 34 round trips to New York and 77 round trips on the route from the Mediterranean to the United States.
The Blücher carried out more cruises, u. a. an 81-day trip to Tierra del Fuego. In 1912 the ship was rebuilt and was now to be used for the Río de la Plata in conjunction with the HSDG steamer Cap Finisterre (14,503 GRT). On June 26, 1912, the Blücher started this service.
Assignments in American services
When the USA entered the war in 1917, the German ships under US control were confiscated. Six Barbarossa-class ships came into service with the US Navy and transported troops to Europe and, after the armistice, back to the USA.
| Troop transports | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | US name | Number of round trips | Troops to Europe | return |
| Frederick the Great | USS Huron | 15th | 21,871 soldiers | 22,128 men |
| Barbarossa | USS Mercury | 15th | > 18,000 soldiers | > 20,000 men |
| Hamburg | USS Powhatan | 12+ | 15,274 soldiers | 11,803 men |
| Princess Irene | USS Pocahontas | 18th | 24,573 soldiers | 23,296 men |
| Princess Alice | USS Princess Matoika | 14th | 21,216 soldiers | 30,110 men |
| Great Elector | USS Aeolus | 15th | 24,770 soldiers | 27,098 men |
The whereabouts of the Barbarossa-class ships
| in service | Surname | tonnage | shipyard | Status / fate |
| 11/11/1896 | Frederick the Great | 10531 GRT | AG Vulcan Szczecin | Launched in New York in 1914/1917 Huron , 1922 City of Honolulu , October 12, 1922 400 nm off Los Angeles on fire and sunk |
| 01/03/1897 | Barbarossa | 10,769 GRT | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | Launched in New York in 1914 / Mercury in 1917 , scrapped in 1924 |
| March 16, 1897 | Queen Luise | 10,566 GRT | AG Vulcan, Szczecin | Delivered to Shipping Controller, London in 1919, Omar in 1921 , Edison in 1924 , scrapped in 1935 |
| 05/26/1897 | Bremen | 10522 GRT 11540 GRT |
F. Schichau , Danzig | Delivered to Shipping Controller, London in 1919, ran as Constantinople for the Byron Line, King Alexander in 1924 , broken up in 1929 |
| 08/27/1899 | King Albert | 10643 GRT | AG Vulcan, Szczecin | Laid up in Genoa in August 1914 / confiscated by Italy in 1915, Ferdinando Palasciano , 1923 Italia , scrapped in 1926 |
| 03/12/1900 | Hamburg | 10532 GRT | AG Vulcan, Szczecin | Interned in New York in 1914, Powhatan , New Rochelle , Hudson , President Fillmore in 1917 , scrapped in 1928 |
| 04/26/1900 | Great Elector | 13,183 GRT | F. Schichau, Danzig | Launched in New York / 1917 Aeolus , City of Los Angeles , broken up in 1937 |
| 09/06/1900 | Princess Irene | 10,881 GRT | AG Vulcan, Szczecin | Launched in New York / 1917 Pocahontas , 1923 to 1932 back in service with the NDL, 1923: Bremen (III) / 1928: Karlsruhe (II) / 1932 demolished |
| December 14, 1900 |
Kiautschou from 1904: Princess Alice |
10911 GRT | AG Vulcan, Szczecin | Interned in Cebu / Philippines in 1914 , Princess Matoika in 1917 , President Arthur in 1922 , City of Honolulu in 1927 , burned out in 1930, broken up in 1933 |
| 02/22/1902 | Moltke | 12335 GRT | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg | Launched in Genoa in August 1914, confiscated in May 1915, renamed Pesaro , in 1919 in the service of Lloyd Sabaudo, Genoa, demolished in 1925 |
| 05/31/1902 | Blucher | 12334 GRT | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg | Laid up in Pernambuco on August 3, 1914, confiscated on June 1, 1917, renamed Leopoldina , chartered to CGT, France, in February 1918, renamed Suffren , Genoa in 1923 , demolished in 1929 |
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The History of German Passenger Shipping. Volume 2: Expansion on all seas 1890 to 1900. Ernst Kabel Verlag, Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-8225-0038-0 ( writings of the German Maritime Museum 19).
- Arnold Kludas: The ships of the North German Lloyd. Volume 1: 1857 to 1919. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1991, ISBN 3-7822-0524-3 .
- Christine Reinke-Kunze: History of the Reichs-Post-Steamers. Connection between the continents 1886–1914. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1994, ISBN 3-7822-0618-5 .
- Claus Rothe: German ocean passenger ships. 1896 to 1918 . Steiger Verlag, Moers 1986, ISBN 3-921564-80-8 .