Rhine (ship, 1899)
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Susquehanna ex Rhine
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The combined ship Rhine was built in 1899 by Blohm & Voss for the North German Lloyd (NDL) and its combined passenger and freight service to North America. She was the second ship of the NDL with this name and is therefore often referred to as the Rhine (II) .
Her sister ships Main and Neckar were delivered by Blohm & Voss and the Tecklenborg shipyard in Geestemünde . They were large single chimney ships with four masts.
history
Use at the NDL
The Rhine started her maiden voyage from Bremerhaven to New York on December 9, 1899 . On May 6, 1900 there was a first trip from Bremerhaven to Baltimore .
On August 2, 1900, the Rhine, the largest passenger ship used by the NDL, left Bremerhaven for China with troops from the East Asian Expeditionary Corps to fight the Boxer Rebellion together with the Hapag steamer Adria (5,472 GRT). A total of 18 passenger ships and 39 freighters were used for the transfer of troops and material. In later years the Rhine was also used as a troop transport to East Asia: In 1901, 1905 and 1908 the releasing contingents of the ship crews of the German East Asia Squadron were transferred.
On September 11, 1901, the Rhine made her first of four voyages on the Reichspostdampferlinie to Australia . As a rule, however, the ship was on its way to the USA . In 1906, their passenger facilities were changed to better meet the needs of emigrant traffic. The first class was abolished and the places in the second class increased to 302. In addition, there were now 2,774 tween deck spaces . The emigration traffic to the USA remained the main task of the ship. On May 18, 1911, the Rhine was first used to Philadelphia . In April 1914 she last called New York in service with the NDL. On July 16, 1914, she left Bremerhaven for the last time under the German flag and reached Baltimore on July 29.
There the ship was laid up at the start of the war and confiscated in April 1917 when the USA entered the war, as was her sister ship Neckar .
Under the American flag
As Susquehanna (identification ID-3016), the former Rhine was put into service by the US Navy on September 5, 1917 . Before a mission, damage caused by neglect during the three-year lay period but also by sabotage by the German crew had to be repaired. On eight trips to France, the Susquehanna transported 18,348 soldiers to Europe. After the armistice of November 1918, 15,537 people were returned to the USA on seven trips. On August 27, 1919, the ship was decommissioned and the US Shipping Board was looking for a new user.
Civilian users of the former Rhine became the new United States Mail Steamship Company , which started the Susquehanna from August 4, 1920 on a line from New York via Bremerhaven to Danzig with 500 cabin seats and 2,500 seats III. Class began. On April 6, 1921, she took this route for the sixth and last time. Like most ships on the US Mail Line, the Susquehanna was taken over by United States Lines in 1921 . She was used from March 4, 1922 to September 1922 for five trips to Plymouth , Cherbourg and Bremerhaven. Then the ship was launched and sold to Japan for demolition in November 1928.
literature
- Bonsor, Noel RP: North Atlantic Seaway , Vol. 2, Newton Abbey & Jersey, 1976.
- Herbert, Carl: War voyages of German merchant ships. Broschek & Co, Hamburg, 1934.
- Arnold Kludas : The history of the German passenger shipping 1850 to 1990. Ernst Kabel Verlag, 1986.
- Kludas, Arnold: The ships of the North German Lloyd 1857 to 1919. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1991, ISBN 3-7822-0524-3 .
- Reinke-Kunze, Christine: History of the Reichspostdampfer. Connection between the continents 1886-1914. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994, ISBN 3-7822-0618-5 .
- Rothe, Claus: German ocean passenger ships 1896 to 1918. Steiger Verlag, 1986, ISBN 3-921564-80-8 .