Hohenzollern (ship, 1893)
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
.svg){kind=small}
The Hohenzollern served the German Emperor Wilhelm II from 1893 to 1918 as a state yacht for representative purposes. The ship belonged to the Imperial Navy , which led it as an Aviso in the list of warships. The dispatch boat Sleipner served as the escort ship from 1900 .
Development and construction
After Wilhelm II ascended the throne in June 1888, he used the ship more frequently for state visits and trips. However, since the old Hohenzollern , which was still designed as a paddle steamer , was technically out of date and did not meet the requirements of the emperor, funds for a new building were requested for the budget 1889/90. Since this should also be used for military purposes in the event of war, the State Secretary of the newly created Reichsmarinamt , Rear Admiral Karl Eduard Heusner , applied for an “Aviso for larger command units”. In the Reichstag came as a result to discussions on this designation, the funds were but ultimately granted. The construction department of the Reichsmarinamt subsequently created the construction plans for the Aviso. These were not without controversy among contemporaries, for example Eduard von Knorr described the ship as "an omnibus that fell into the water."
The construction contract for the Aviso was awarded to the Stettiner Werft AG Vulcan , which in July 1891 stretched the keel for the ship. The new building was ready for launch on June 27, 1892. After the emperor's baptismal address and the christening in the name of Hohenzollern by Empress Auguste Viktoria , the new building was launched. The old imperial yacht of the same name was given the new name imperial eagle on the same day . The expansion of the ship was completed by the beginning of 1893.
technology
The Hohenzollern was designed as a transverse and longitudinal frame steel structure and had wooden decks. The hull was divided into 13 watertight compartments and had a double floor over 40% of its length. The construction displacement was 4,180 t , the maximum displacement of the operational ship was 4,460 t. The Aviso was 122.0 m long in total , with the construction waterline measuring 116.0 m. The greatest width of the ship was 14.0 m, the draft at maximum displacement 5.22 m forward and 6.21 m aft .
The electrical equipment of Hohenzollern was charged with a voltage of 67 V operate. The power supply was secured by three generators , which together produced an output of 72 kW . In 1907 the output was increased to 120 kW.
The crew of the yacht consisted of twelve officers and initially 301, after the conversion 342 crews .
The Hohenzollern wasn't a particularly good ship. The movements in the sea were not very pleasant, the ship began to lurch early and heavily . The loss of voyage towards the sea was only slight, and the yacht was also able to hang out . However, the maneuverability was only mediocre.
Propulsion system
The machine system of the Avisos consisted of two standing three-cylinder compound steam engines , which were housed in a common machine room and together produced an output of 9,588 PSi . The steam required was supplied by four simple cylinder boilers with 16 burners and 856 m² heating surface as well as four cylinder double boilers with 32 burners and 1,823 m² heating surface. The boilers were arranged in two boiler rooms one behind the other and generated a steam pressure of 12 atmospheres . During the renovation, the double boilers were replaced by nine marine boilers with 18 firings. The total heating surface of the boiler system grew to 3,360 m². The boiler rooms were further subdivided so that from 1907 the boilers were housed in four rooms one behind the other. As a result of the conversion, the performance of the machine system could be increased to 10,042 PSi.
The steam engines each acted on a four-winged screw with a diameter of 4.5 m. The drive system gave the Hohenzollern a top speed of originally 21.5 knots , after the conversion it was able to reach 21.8 knots. The carried fuel supply of 540 t of coal enabled the ship to have a range of 2,520 nm at a cruising speed of 14 kn or 1,260 nm at 20 kn.
Although steam-powered, the yacht was rigged for support purposes . She was rigged as a schooner and had a sail area of 436 m² on three masts.
Armament
In peacetime the Hohenzollern was equipped with eight rapid loading cannons of the caliber 5.0 cm L / 40 , which had a range of 6.2 km. A total of 1,270 rounds of ammunition were carried for the guns. During the reconstruction, the armament was also changed and reduced to two Sk 5.2 cm L / 55. The ammunition supply was 150 rounds per gun.
The Aviso was originally intended to be used as a warship in the event of mobilization . The construction plans therefore provided for the equipment with three cannons 10.5 cm L / 35, which had a range of 10.2 km and 100 rounds of ammunition each. In addition, the number of 5.0 cm guns was to be increased to twelve and their ammunition reserve to 3,000 rounds. When the First World War broke out , however, these plans were not implemented.
commitment
After completion, the Hohenzollern was transferred to Swinoujscie . The first commissioning took place there on April 8, 1893. During the test drives, which were completed by April 24, Kaiser Wilhelm II was on the ship on April 14 for a two-day voyage from Swinoujscie to Kiel . The summer trip led to Glücksburg , Gotland and the visit of the Swedish King Oskar II to Tullgarn . From there, the trip to Cowes followed in August . At the end of September Wilhelm II met again with the King of Sweden in Gothenburg and drove from Karlskrona to Neufahrwasser . The Aviso Blitz served as escort ship on these voyages under Corvette Captain Ludwig Borckenhagen . In the years that followed, the Hohenzollern was always accompanied by a warship and a dispatch boat. These ships were often given the paint used for the Hohenzollern and the foreign cruisers, with a white hull and gray superstructures, which were yellow from 1898 onwards. As in the five following years, the crew was reduced during the winter. Only a small part of the crews and two to three officers remained on the yacht in order to be able to quickly make them operational if necessary. Most of the officers were posted to courses at the Naval Academy , while the rest of the crew was accommodated on the Hulk Niobe .
The trip to the north following the Kiel Week led to Norway to Trondheim in 1894 , where numerous fjords were called. On this trip, as in the following years, several diplomats, representatives from business and science as well as members of the court accompanied the emperor, but also artists such as the sculptor Felix Görling . At the beginning of August the Hohenzollern returned to Cowes and in September Wilhelm II visited the autumn training fleet with Archduke Karl Stephan of Austria in front of Swinoujscie and on the march into the Danzig Bay . The Kaiser took part on board the yacht for the opening ceremony of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal on June 21, 1895 and the subsequent passage. In that year there were also trips to Sweden and England.
In 1896 the Hohenzollern was in the Mediterranean for the first time on a trip to Italy . For such voyages Wilhelm II did not board until Genoa or Venice and also left the ship again in one of the two ports. The summer trip led again to Trondheim. In addition, Nicholas II visited the yacht. The north country trip in 1897 led to Molde . This was followed by a visit to the Tsar in Kronstadt , during which Wilhelm II tried in vain to prevent an impending alliance between Russia and France. In the autumn, the Hohenzollern served the German prince delegation for the trip to the jubilee of Oscar II. The summer trip of 1898, which was to extend as far as the Lofoten , was canceled after the death of Otto von Bismarck became known . Later in the year another trip took him to Italy, Turkey and various ports of the Holy Land . Wilhelm II also visited Jerusalem , where he expressed his sympathy for the Mohammedans in a speech . The trip ended in Pola .
Trondheim was again the destination of the summer trip in 1899. In Bergen , the emperor visited the French training ship Iphigénie to express his efforts for a better relationship with France. In November Wilhelm II traveled with the Hohenzollern to visit his grandmother, Queen Victoria , to England. For the first time, the yacht remained in service with full crew during the following winter. In 1900 the ship was on its way to Bergen during a short voyage north of the country. In addition, the torpedo boat S 97, the SMS Sleipner , was assigned to her as a permanent dispatch boat.
In January 1901 the Hohenzollern brought the Kaiser and Crown Prince Wilhelm to England, where they took part in the funeral services for Queen Victoria. During the overhaul in spring, the yacht received a radio system . After the trip to Norway leading to Molde, there was a meeting with Tsar Nicholas II in the Bay of Danzig from September 11th to 13th.
At the beginning of 1902 Prince Heinrich made a trip to the United States on the occasion of the launch of the racing yacht Meteor . The Hohenzollern left for New York on January 18th . In order to be able to bunker the amount of fuel necessary for the crossing, the hammock rooms, wine stores and luggage rooms were also used as coal storage. The yacht reached New York on February 12th. Prince Heinrich used the express steamer Kronprinz Wilhelm for the crossing , with which he set out on February 15. Only in Tompkinsville did he go over to the Hohenzollern . After arriving a day late due to the storm on February 23, the prince took part in various receptions, the state yacht was opened for inspection and recorded up to 6,000 visitors every day. On February 25, the launch of the Meteor took place, which, at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm , was christened by Alice Roosevelt , the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt , who was also present . Two days later, Prince Heinrich began his nine-day journey through 13 states . On March 11th, the Prince of Hoboken left the United States on the Germany , and the Hohenzollern family started their journey home on the same day . The ship reached Kiel on March 27, and Prince Heinrich had already arrived in Cuxhaven on March 18 .
After the trip to the USA, the Hohenzollern underwent a necessary overhaul. The yacht was available again for the summer trip to Trondheim. Trips to Russia and England followed. In 1903 the emperor was visiting King Christian IX. in Copenhagen as well as on the Nordland voyage, which again led to Trondheim, on board the ship. Valletta and Italian ports as well as a meeting with the Italian King Victor Emanuel III. were the destination of a Mediterranean trip in March of the following year. During the Kiel Week in 1904, King Edward VII paid a visit , which was followed by a trip to Norway, again to Trondheim.
Another trip to the Mediterranean began in March 1905. The Hohenzollern drove ahead of the Kaiser, who followed on the HAPAG steamer Hamburg , to Naples . On the way to the Mediterranean, Wilhelm II paid a visit to the Moroccan Tangier on March 31st at the urging of Imperial Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow . This exacerbated the tense diplomatic situation in Morocco due to France's striving for supremacy . On April 5th, the Kaiser switched from Hamburg to Hohenzollern . During the further voyage, Corfu was also called , where Wilhelm visited the Achilleion built for Empress Elisabeth . In 1907 the emperor bought the castle and had it converted into a diplomatic center.
Since the Norwegian parliament decided on June 7th to dissolve the existing personal union with Sweden, Norwegian ports were not called during the summer voyage. Instead, Danish, Swedish and Russian cities were visited. On July 24, 1905, Wilhelm II and Nicholas II met with the aim of working out a German-Russian alliance. Since the German side did not like the restriction of validity to Europe and the Russian delegation was more interested in the alliance with France, only a non-binding agreement was reached at this meeting and the Björkö Treaty was not ratified.
On May 6, 1906, the Hohenzollern was decommissioned to modernize the ship. Mainly the boiler system was renewed and the armament changed. In addition, the edge caps of the chimneys fell away. During the almost one-year renovation, the Hamburg served the Kaiser for his travels.
The Hohenzollern was ready for commissioning again on April 15, 1907. The future chief of the deep sea fleet , Captain Friedrich Ingenohl , took over the command of the yacht, which he held a few months before it was decommissioned. The summer voyage led back to Norwegian waters, this time to the North Cape . In addition to a meeting between the emperor and Nicholas II in front of Swinoujscie, visits to King Friedrich VIII , Queen Wilhelmina and Edward VII took place. During his stay in England, Wilhelm II had lengthy conversations with Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley , which he published in the form of an interview on October 28 in The Daily Telegraph . Although the article was submitted to the German authorities for approval, it contained several undiplomatic statements and, with the Daily Telegraph affair , sparked one of the most serious domestic political crises in the German Reich up to the First World War.
During the Kiel Week in 1908, the emperor awarded the naval engineers the sash as an award and presented the chief engineer of the Hohenzollern with his own. This was associated with a significant increase in the engineering level, even if the naval officer corps continued to have the predominant influence on the development of the navy. The north country trip to Molde was followed by a trip to the Mediterranean, where, in addition to Italian ports, Corfu and Pola were called. Later in the year, Wilhelm II paid a visit to King Gustav V of Sweden, who had ruled Sweden since late 1907 . In addition to the now usual Mediterranean voyage, there was a meeting with Tsar Nicholas II in front of Reval in 1909, as well as with Gustav V and King Håkon VII of Norway, who had ruled since 1905, during the trip to the north .
In May 1910, the Hohenzollern family brought Kaiser Wilhelm II to England for the funeral of his uncle Edward VII. The summer trip this year took us back to Norway. During the Mediterranean voyage in 1911, Italian ports and Corfu were called. There was also a meeting with associations of the Austro-Hungarian Navy . The visit to King George V was followed by a trip to the north of the country to Balholmen and a naval parade in front of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Kiel. In 1912, in addition to the trip to the Mediterranean, a meeting with Tsar Nicholas II took place at Baltischport . The north country trip led again to Balholmen.
On the occasion of the silver jubilee of the throne, the officer corps of the Imperial Navy donated a silver eagle for the flagstick of the Hohenzollern in 1913 . As in previous years, the emperor's 25th trip to the north led to Balholmen. In the town of Vangsnes , also located on the Sognefjord , Wilhelm II handed over a statue of the legendary figure Frithjof to King Haakon VII on July 31, which had previously been brought to Norway by the Wittelsbach and erected by their crew . The statue called "King Frithjov the Brave" was named by Max Unger and was intended to express the Emperor's gratitude for the relaxation experienced in Norway.
The Mediterranean voyage in the spring of 1914 led to Italy and Greece. In addition, the Austrian Trieste was called. Before the start of the Kiel Week, the inauguration of the extended Kaiser Wilhelm Canal took place. During the Kiel Week itself, a British naval association under Sir George Warrender was in Kiel. However, the news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28 ended the German-British encounter. The Kaiser left Kiel on June 29, and the British squadron left the fjord the next day . Although there were numerous concerns, Reich Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann advised Hollweg to take the long-planned summer trip so as not to aggravate the tense situation . Accordingly, the Hohenzollern left on July 13th, accompanied by almost the entire ocean-going fleet, to sail into Norwegian waters to Balholmen. The trip was canceled prematurely after the crisis had come to a head due to the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia. The Hohenzollern reached Kiel on July 27th . The next day, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which started the First World War.
Although the Hohenzollern was also intended for military service, the war-like refurbishment of the meanwhile outdated and already weakly armed ship, for which a replacement was already about to be launched, was not carried out. Instead, the yacht was decommissioned on July 31st. In the ship's 20 years of service, the Kaiser had spent a total of 4 ½ years on board.
Whereabouts
The Hohenzollern was not used during the First World War. The yacht was removed from the list of warships on December 27, 1920. In 1923 the ship was sold and subsequently scrapped by the German works in Wilhelmshaven. The steering wheel of the imperial yacht has been preserved and is part of the permanent exhibition LIGHT AND SHADOW of the Christ and Garrison Church in Wilhelmshaven. The transport boxes of this ship are stored in the water pump tower at Hohenzollern Castle . How they got there is not known.
Commanders
| April 8 to September 1893 | Sea captain Volkmar von Arnim |
| October 1893 to April 1894 | Captain Reinhold Brussatis (reduced crew) |
| April to September 1894 | Sea captain Volkmar von Arnim |
| October 1894 to March 1895 | Lieutenant Captain / Corvette Captain Reinhold Brussatis (reduced crew) |
| March to September 1895 | Captain of the Sea / Rear Admiral Volkmar von Arnim |
| September 1895 to March 1896 | Corvette Captain Reinhold Brussatis (reduced crew) |
| March to September 1896 | Sea captain Conrad von Bodenhausen |
| September 1896 to March 1897 | Corvette Captain Hugo Emsmann |
| March to October 1897 | Sea captain Conrad von Bodenhausen |
| October 1897 to March 1898 | Corvette Captain Wilhelm Peters (reduced crew) |
| March to December 1898 | Sea captain Conrad von Bodenhausen |
| December 1898 to April 1899 | Corvette Captain Wilhelm Peters (reduced crew) |
| April 1899 to August 16, 1902 | Captain of the Sea / Rear Admiral Friedrich Graf von Baudissin |
| August 17, 1902 to October 4, 1904 | Sea captain Guido von Usedom |
| October 4, 1904 to May 5, 1906 | Sea captain Friedrich Ingenohl |
| April 15, 1907 to September 30, 1908 | Captain of the Sea / Rear Admiral Friedrich Ingenohl |
| October 1, 1908 to October 10, 1911 | Sea captain Oskar von Platen-Hallermund |
| October 11, 1911 to July 31, 1914 | Sea captain Johannes von Karpf |
literature
- Gröner, Erich : The German warships 1815–1945 . tape 2 : Special ships, auxiliary war ships, auxiliary ships, small ship formations . JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1968, p. 601 f .
- Hildebrand, Hans H. / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 4 : Ship biographies from Greif to Kaiser . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 173-178 .
- Mantey, Eberhard von : Our Navy . From the Great Elector to the present . Open words publishing house, Berlin 1926.
Footnotes
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz Vol. 4, p. 174.
- ↑ Gröner only states that the renovation will take place in 1910/11 (p. 600/601).
- ↑ World tour of Reclam's universe. Born in 1902, p. 48.
- ↑ World tour of Reclam's universe. Born in 1902, p. 97.
- ↑ World tour of Reclam's universe. Vol. 1902, p. 107f.
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz: Ship biographies from Elbe to Graudenz. Mundus Verlag, Ratingen or JS 117f. ( The German warships. Vol. 3)
Web links
Cricket | Hohenzollern (1880, later Imperial Eagle ) | Hohenzollern (1893) | Hohenzollern (1914, trunk not baptized)