German Kaiser (ship)

German emperor

Ship data flag  German Empire other ship names Hamburg (1912 to 1924) Ship type Paddle steamer home port Cologne Owner PRDG Cologne Shipping company Prussian-Rhenish Steamship Company Shipyard L. Smit & Zoon, Kinderdijk, NL Build number 95 Order December 1869 Keel laying 1870 Launch March 1871 Commissioning April 1871 Whereabouts scrapped in 1924

Ship dimensions and crew length 79.39 m ( Lüa ) width 7.32 m above wheel arches: 13.85 m Draft Max. 1.02 to 1.57 m

Machine system machine 2-cylinder low pressure steam engine Machine performance 420, after 1897 975 hp propeller 2 side wheels ∅ 4.21 m, 12 blades

Transport capacities Permitted number of passengers 600

The paddle steamer Deutscher Kaiser was built in 1871 for the Preußisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft (PRDG) in Cologne by the L. Smit & Zoon shipyard, Kinderdijk in the Netherlands. Sister ship was the steamer Wilhelm, Kaiser und König . The ship was a double-deck saloon express steamer with two funnels and was used on the Cologne – Mainz route.

Hull and equipment

The hull was made of steel and riveted to frames. The sailors' apartment was on the lower deck of the fore ship, followed by a hold, both with stairs to the main deck. Behind this were two cabins each for the restaurateur, the cook, the helmsman and the cleaning lady on port and starboard. In front of the engine and boiler room amidships was a large cabin for eight stokers and a cabin for ten waiters. These accommodations were accessible from the main deck via a companionway. In the aft part of the ship were the toilets, a large lounge and a ladies' salon.

On the main deck was the saloon in front, in the middle of the ship the entrance area with kitchen and behind it the engine room shaft. In the port wheel locker were a storage room, the captain's cabin and toilets. On the starboard side there was the captain's office and toilets in front and the machinist's cabin and the purser's office in the back. In the aft ship there was also an entrance hall with a companionway to the lower deck on the right and a counter on the left, which was followed by the dining room for 150 people.

The upper deck, front and aft, covered with awnings, could be reached via stairs that led over the wheel arches. Between the two chimneys was the open oar chair. The exterior was painted in light and dark brown.

Drive and technology

It was driven by an inclined two-cylinder low-pressure steam engine from Ravenhill, Hodgson & Cie. London . The two suitcase boilers with a total heating surface of 358 m² generated a steam pressure of 2.5 kp / cm², the engine output was 420 hp. The two eccentric paddle wheels each had twelve paddle blades made of wood. The rudder was operated by chains.

German Emperor in 1906 near Sankt Goarshausen

Paddle steamer German Kaiser around 1910

history

After the successful test drive from Cologne to Bonn on April 22nd, 1871 , the festive maiden voyage took place on April 24th with representatives of the PRDG, employees of the English machine manufacturer and other guests of honor from Cologne to Mainz . In Koblenz , other guests of honor, including the director of the electricity management, Nobiling, got on. The official commissioning took place on April 27th on the Cologne – Mainz route in high-speed travel.

For the inauguration of Niederwald monument in Rüdesheim on 26 September 1883, the steamer took part in a naval parade in the presence of I. Kaiser Wilhelm part.

On May 5, 1891, participation in a ship parade from Cologne to Bonn with 50 ships and with Kaiser Wilhelm II and a large entourage on board. On August 7, 1886 she was used as a festival ship for the imperial couple with Prince Heinrich and his entourage from Wesel to Duisburg for the harbor festival.

Repairs and accidents

On August 18, 1878, the ship was in a shipyard in Sankt Goar for two days due to an engine failure . In February 1879 a paddle wheel was replaced. In an accident with a raft on May 20, 1881 near Braubach , the starboard paddle wheel was damaged. However, the steamer was able to reach the shipyard in Cologne on its own.

On June 26, 1886, on the descent near Bad Honnef, when encountering a tugboat driving uphill, the steamer and a barge were damaged.

From September 1886 to May 1887, the shipyard in Kinderdijk carried out a general overhaul and modernization of the entire ship. In the winter of 1889/1890 the machinery was overhauled and the paddle wheels were equipped with iron paddles. In addition, the ship received a new paint job in white with a yellow hull band.

On June 2, 1894, on the ascent above Koblenz, engine damage occurred and the ship was then towed to Cologne.

In the spring of 1897, a new two-cylinder compound steam engine from the Sachsenberg brothers with 975 hp and two new steam boilers with a total of 426 m² heating surface and 9.0 kp / cm² steam pressure were installed. After a test drive from Cologne to Bonn, the ship was used again on the Mainz – Cologne route.

In the winter of 1901/1902, the deck planks were partially renewed, the machine and boiler system and the paddle wheels were overhauled and the salons were renovated during the shipyard layover.

On September 28, 1902, shortly after the departure from Königswinter zu Berg, the machine axis broke. This was renewed during the winter of 1902 and at the same time the boiler and the paddle wheels were repaired.

In the winter of 1903/1904 the ship's bottom was repaired and reinforcements were installed in the hull. Two years later the machine foundations and the boiler brackets had to be repaired. On April 25, the official investigation by the Ship Investigation Commission (SUK) Cologne took place and a new ship certificate was issued.

At the end of 1911 the Deutscher Kaiser was decommissioned and in 1912 sold to the Hamburg-Stade-Altländer Dampfschiffahrt- und Reederei-Gesellschaft . The transfer to Brunshausen took place from March 19 to 24, 1912 via the North Sea. There the bow was raised, the rowing chair was placed in front of the forward chimney and round portholes were installed in the lower deck. Under the name Hamburg , the steamer ran on the Lower Elbe until 1919. Because of the high consumption of coal, the ship was decommissioned and scrapped in 1924.

literature

• Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, ISBN 3-00-016046-9