The tour ship Preussen was built in 1885 by the Maschinenbau-Anstalt und Schiffsbauwerft-Actien-Gesellschaft for the Kaiserliche Rheinstrom-Bauverwaltung.
The Prussians were based in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein, the seat of the Rhine construction administration. In addition to its function as a tour ship, it was also used for representation purposes and there were many high-ranking personalities, such as Kaiser Wilhelm II and Reich President Paul von Hindenburg on board. During the First World War , the ship was used for journeys for the wounded on the Middle Rhine . Until 1945 the ship was used again as a tour ship and at the end of the war sank in Wiesbaden-Schierstein itself on orders . As a replacement, the Mainz tour ship was put into service in 1954 .
Passenger ship
In 1947, the tugboat operator Franz Vogel from Beuel bought the wreck and repaired it after it had been salvaged. It went under the name of Bonn as a passenger ship on the Middle Rhine. In 1959 the ship broker Erich Albrecht acquired the Bonn and had it converted into a motor ship at the Luwen Brothers shipyard in Ruhrort . The entire drive system and the paddle wheels were removed and two six-cylinder diesel engines with 300 HP each were installed in the stern. The former engine room was converted into a bar and the boiler room became storage rooms. From 1960 the ship, now renamed in Europe , sailed the entire Middle Rhine route. In winter the ship was used as a restaurant ship and as student accommodation in Bonn . For reasons that were not clear, the Europa capsized in April 1963. After the salvage and repair, she was used as a cabin ship in Cologne . In 1968 it was renamed Olympia and 1970 Regina . At the end of October 1973 the ship sank in Cologne and was scrapped after the salvage, which was only carried out in January 1976.
literature
Contributions to the Rhine customer, Rhein-Museum Koblenz, issue 58/2006, pp. 17-21
