King Albert (ship, 1899)
.jpg) The sister ship Prinzess Irene as a US troop carrier Pocahontas
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The König Albert was built as a Reichspostdampfer of Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) for the line to East Asia operated jointly with Hapag . For this service, both shipping companies each ordered two new Barbarossa-class ships, after four ships had already been used in the Australia service. The East Asian ships had the same appearance as their sister ships with two funnels and two masts.
From 1903 the König Albert was mainly used between Italy and the USA. In 1915 she was confiscated in Italy, converted into a hospital ship and renamed Ferdinando Palasciano . After the World War, she briefly ran under the Italian flag in passenger service between Italy and the USA.
Use at the NDL
King Albert , which cost 5.384 million gold marks , was built at Vulcan in Szczecin and put into service on September 27, 1899 . On her maiden voyage from October 4, 1899, she ran from Hamburg through the Suez Canal to Yokohama , which thus became the new end point of the East Asia postal line. After her, Hapag's first Barbarossa liner, the Hamburg , came into service in 1899 . The following year, when the Boxer Rebellion in China led to a large demand for freight and passengers, Princess Irene followed for the NDL and the Kiautschou for Hapag.
The King Albert led during their service in the NDL by a total of eight round trips to East Asia, its sister ship USS Pocahontas seven. ( No values were found for the Hapag sisters Hamburg and Kiautschou .) Nevertheless, the Barbarossa steamers do not seem to have proven themselves on the East Asian route.
On March 3, 1903, it started for the first time from Bremerhaven via Cherbourg to New York . On April 16, 1903, the King Albert was then used for the first time from Genoa via Naples to New York, in order to remain mainly on this line afterwards. On April 30, 1903, the sister ship Prinzess Irene was used for the first time between Genoa and New York.
The two former East Asian ships were the main carriers of this line from 1903 to 1914. Initially used with the old Hohenzollern (last on May 21, 1906), the NDL immediately secured the largest share (24%) of traffic with Italian emigrants with this line.
At times, three other Barbarossa steamers of the NDL were used on this route, such as the Queen Luise (first on February 25, 1904, last on May 25, 1911), the Barbarossa (first on March 16, 1906, 18 voyages up to 6. November 1913) and Frederick the Great (first on March 22, 1907, 16 trips up to July 25, 1912). In addition, on May 15, 1909, the considerably larger Berlin was added .
Outside the North Atlantic line, the König Albert ran on March 12, 1904 under Captain Pollack with Kaiser Wilhelm II on board as an imperial yacht from Bremerhaven into the Mediterranean.
Your last tour for the NDL began on June 11, 1914.
Use in Italy
At the beginning of the war, the King Albert was in Genoa and was launched there. When the former ally Italy joined the war against Germany in May 1915, the ship was confiscated by the Italian government, converted into a hospital ship and named after an Italian doctor and politician Ferdinando Palasciano .
In 1920 the Navigazione Generale Italiana chartered the ship in Genoa and used it from June 15, 1920 on the Genoa – Naples – New York route. On April 13, 1921, the former King Albert began her sixth and final journey. The ship was then converted into an exhibition ship in 1923, renamed Italia and scrapped in 1926.
See also
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 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Vossische Zeitung (morning edition) March 1, 1904, pages 2 f.
- ↑ Ferdinando Palasciano in the English Wikipedia.