Prinz Eitel Friedrich (ship, 1902)
 The Prinz Eitel Friedrich
as a troop transport Otsego |
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The Prinz Eitel Friedrich (1901) was built in 1901/1902 by the Reiherstieg shipyard for the South America services of the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag), Hamburg. It was named after Eitel Friedrich von Prussia .
The history of this ship and her sisters is sometimes mixed up with the lives of the ships of the same name belonging to the North German Lloyd, the Reichspostdampfer and auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich and the mail steamers of the Austral-Japan line Prinz Waldemar and Prinz Sigismund .
The Prince Eitel Friedrich served from 1906 in the Atlas service of Hapag from New York to Central America. It was confiscated by the USA in New York in 1917 and used as a transporter under the name Otsego until 1919. From 1924 to 1942 the ship served as a mother ship and transporter for catching salmon off Alaska . After being used again as a transporter in World War II, the Otsego was handed over to the allied Soviet Union at the beginning of 1945 , where it remained in service until 1955 under the names Ural and Dolinsk .
Use at Hapag
Maiden voyage
The Prinz Eitel Friedrich started her maiden voyage in Wilhelmshaven in April 1902 with a replacement transport from the Imperial Navy to the then Danish Caribbean island of Saint Thomas . On June 24, 1902, the first trip on their future route from Hamburg to Rio de Janeiro took place . She was used in this service together with her sister ships Prinz Waldemar (from September 1902) and Prinz Sigismund (from July 1903).
In service on the Atlas Lines from New York
In 1901, Hapag bought the English Atlas Line from Liverpool, which linked Hapag's two oldest destinations, New York and the West Indies. The "Atlas Service" had a weekly line from New York to Jamaica, Colombia, Costa Rica and Port au Prince (Haiti), as well as branch lines to Haitian ports and Central America. 1905/1906 developed, also because of the start of construction of the Panama Canal , increased competition with other lines. Among other things, this prompted Hapag to withdraw the three Prinzendampfer from service in Brazil.
The Prinz Eitel Friedrich arrived in New York on April 26, 1906 on her transfer voyage with 572 between deck passengers from Hamburg.
As early as February 10, 1906, Prince August Wilhelm , built in Flensburg and withdrawn from the Mexican service, was in the Atlas service as the first Prinzendampfer , followed by her sister ship Prinz Joachim .
From May onwards, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich also served the Atlas service to Jamaica, Costa Rica and Colombia, where a round trip lasted around 23 days. Her sister ships Prinz Waldemar and Prinz Sigismund (from January 1907) also followed in this mission.
In 1910, a new 14-day Cuba line was added to the main line. In 1913 she served with the sister ship Prinz Sigismund the line B of the Atlas-Dientes, which ran fortnightly from New York via Fortune Island , Santiago de Cuba , Kingston , Colon , Bocas del Toro , Port Limon to Pearl Lagoon and via Port Limon, Colon, Kingston, Santiago de Cuba, Fortune Island returned to New York.
In January 1914 she took the previous President of Haiti, Michel Oreste , who had sought asylum on the German school cruiser Vineta , on board and took him into exile in Colombia . At the beginning of the war, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich was in New York and was launched .
Sister ship Prinz Waldemar
The almost identical Prinz Waldemar (4,658 GRT) was launched on May 7, 1902 at the Reiherstieg shipyard (construction number 409) and was delivered to Hapag on August 23, 1902. On September 10th she started her maiden voyage to Brazil. In 1906 she also switched to the Atlas Service from New York to Central America.
On January 14, 1907, the Prince Waldemar ran up at Plum Point off Kingston (Jamaica) . The lighthouse had failed due to a seaquake. The crew and passengers were all saved. The ship was a total loss.
Sister ship Prinz Sigismund
The Prinz Sigismund (4,689 GRT) was launched on September 28, 1902 at AG Neptun (BauNr. 207) , Rostock. In February the ship caught fire at the shipyard and could therefore only be delivered to Hapag on July 6, 1903. She also made her maiden voyage to Brazil immediately.
In January 1907 she switched to the Atlas Service from New York to Central America. On August 24, 1910, the Prinz Sigismund opened a new fortnightly Cuba line. In 1913 she was in use with the Prinz Eitel Friedrich der Hapag on the so-called Line D of the Atlas Line between New York and Cartagena (Colombia) .
On August 3, 1914, the ship was in Colon , where it was laid up for the duration of the war.
American service of Prince Eitel Friedrich and Prince Sigismund
In 1917 the Prinz Eitel Friedrich was confiscated and renamed Otsego as a transporter.
The Prinz Sigismund was also confiscated by US authorities in Colon, renamed General WC Gorgas and used by the Panama Railroad.
From January to July 1919, both sister ships were in service with the US Navy as transporters across the Atlantic. Selling the confiscated German ships was difficult despite low prices in the USA, as the procurement of spare parts for the ships built according to metric dimensions often proved difficult. Otsego therefore received new American-made boilers in 1921.
In 1924 the company Libby, McNeill & Libby , one of the oldest producers of canned meat, bought the former Prinz Eitel Friedrich . The company's Seattle division processed salmon and maintained a small fleet of old sailors who drove to the canning factories in Alaska or the Aleutian Islands with supplies, packaging, and canning workers in the spring and did not return until the fall with the workers and canned fish.
On April 6, 1924, Otsego (formerly Prince Eitel Friedrich ) transferred from New York via Baltimore, Newport News, the Panama Canal and Los Angeles and San Francisco to Seattle . There it was prepared for use in the company's workshop, so it received 219 beds in cabins and 214 places in dormitories and was to be driven with a crew of 63.
On May 1st she started her first trip to Bristol Bay . During the season the ship was at sea about 50 miles from the canning factory with a guard. On August 20, 1926, she returned to Seattle from the “fishing season”, but then made two trips to pick up workers and canned goods from other locations. By August 1941, the Otsego 42 made such trips to the company's various factories.
It proved its worth, so that in 1926 the company also bought the sister ship General WC Gorgas ex Prinz Sigismund and used it until 1941. In 1941, both ships were handed over to the US Army to carry out troop transports from the USA to Alaska and there. To do this, they were also overhauled again and could transport around 800 men.
In 1945 both ships were handed over to the Russian allies in Vladivostok on a lend-lease basis .
Final fate
The Russians were quite taken with the old coal-burning steamers. The Otsego became the Ural , then Dolinsk in 1947 and demolished in 1955. General WC Gorgas was renamed Mikhail Lomonosov and only canceled in 1958.
literature
- Noel RP Bonsor: North Atlantic Seaway. vol. 2, Newton Abbey & Jersey, 1976.
- Arnold Kludas : The history of the German passenger shipping 1850 to 1990. Ernst Kabel Verlag, 1986.
- Claus Rothe: German ocean passenger ships 1896 to 1918. Steiger Verlag, 1986, ISBN 3-921564-80-8 .
- Lloyd M. Stadum: Otsego, the ´other´ PRINZ EITEL FRIEDRICH. In: The Sea Chest. Journal of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society. June 1983.
Web links
- Naval Historical Center: USS General WC Gorgas (ID # 1365) 1919, USAT General WC Gorgas 1941–1945
- Naval Historical Center: SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich
- Naval Historical Center: USS Otsego (ID # 1628), 1919, USAT Otsego (US Army Transport, 1941–1944)
Footnotes
- ↑ Color postcard of the sister ship Prinz Waldemar
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Kludas, Volume II, p. 124.
- ↑ Old postcard of Prince Waldemar
- ↑ a b c d e Rothe, p. 92.
- ↑ Naval Historical Center: Photo of the seized Prince Eitel Friedrich
- ^ Encyclopedia of Chicago
- ↑ Naval Historical Center: Prince Eitel Friedrich in World War II
- ↑ Naval Historical Center: Photo of Prinz Eitel Friedrich in World War II
