Fast steamer of the NDL
Norddeutsche Lloyd , founded in 1857 , began using express steamers in 1881 and was able to offer most of the departures in the North Atlantic service until 1890.
introduction
On February 20, 1857, the North German Lloyd (NDL) was founded in Bremen by Hermann Heinrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen with the aim of establishing a regular North Atlantic service. The service with 14-daily departures from Bremerhaven began in 1858 with two new steamers each built at the shipyards of Caird & Company (Greenock, Scotland) and Palmers (Jarrow, England). These ships had riveted trunk boilers and were equipped with low-pressure steam engines for propulsion; the steam pressure was below 2 bar. However , the difficulties caused by two ship accidents ( Hudson , Weser ) in 1858 made a new start necessary as early as 1861.
Hansa class
From August 1861 Caird & Company delivered the next new ship, the Hansa, for the NDL, and eight more were added by 1868 from this shipyard. These steamers, known as the Hansa class , with 2700 to 3000 GRT had an indicated output of 1500 to 2000 PSi, which ran 11 to 13 knots. In addition to general cargo, there were cabins for 160 to 180 passengers, and there was also space for 480 to 700 between deck passengers. From 1863 the fortnightly service from Bremerhaven to New York could be offered again, which was condensed into weekly departures with the delivery of all ships.
Strasbourg class
The Strasbourg- class ships (of similar dimensions) to the Salier were built by Caird & Company in Greenock (7 ships), Earle's Shipbuilding and Engine Company in Hull (4 ships) and R. Steele & Co. in Greenock ( 2 ships) built and delivered to the NDL from 1872 to 1875. Some of the ships were also used in the Baltimore Line founded in 1867, in the West India Service started in 1871, and the Oder was used in 1886 as the first NDL mail steamer to East Asia.
Technology of the express steamers in the North Atlantic service
Great Britain was at the forefront of shipbuilding and engineering, and at the time great strides were being made here in building ships and steam engines. The steam pressure rose around 1850 to 1865 from 0.5 over 2 to 4 bar. By installing superheaters, the saturated steam could be superheated and surface condensers replaced the injection condensers. The higher pressure could be reduced in the new compound machines with two cylinders of different diameters by the double expansion and resulted in a 30% better steam utilization. The considerable increase in output led to higher speeds for the ships.
- Triple expansion machine
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The steam pressure was increased through the transition to cylinder boilers. The increase to 8 to 10 bar required triple expansion machines to convert the steam pressure in the three expansion steps in the high-pressure, medium-pressure and low-pressure cylinders into mechanical work. The volume of steam increased enormously as a result of the expansion, and the cylinder diameter became larger in each stage. At the low pressure stage, the diameters became too large, so at least two low pressure cylinders were necessary.
English shipowners implemented these advances quickly and increased the speed in the North Atlantic service to 14 to 16 knots around 1880 with the use of triple expansion engines. Overall, the specific coal consumption in the 30 years from 1860 to 1890 decreased from around 2 kg / PSih to 0.7 kg / PSih by a factor of 3.
Express steamer of the Elbe class
This prompted the NDL, headed by Johann Georg Lohmann , to build express steamers of the Elbe class , which were ordered from John Elder & Company (Glasgow) in 1880.
- John Elder & Company
The Elbe , which was put into service in 1881, had 4 cylinder boilers for a nominal pressure of 5.6 bar, a compound machine (double expansion) with 3 cylinders and ran the 16 knots required in the construction contract with 5200 PSi. It had a measurement of around 4500 GRT. The maiden voyage took place in June 1881 and the journey from Southampton to New York lasted 8.5 days.
The five express steamers built by Elder offered space for almost 330 cabin passengers and around 150 between deck passengers. The Ems , which Elder delivered as the 5th ship in 1884, was measured at around 4700 GRT and already had 6 cylinder boilers for a nominal pressure of 6.7 bar.
The following 4 express steamers for the NDL came from the Fairfield SB & Eng shipyard. Co. Ltd Glasgow and had a measurement of almost 5000 GRT. The 6 cylinder boilers had a nominal pressure increased to 10.5 bar. The Aller (1886) was the first high-speed steamer with a triple expansion engine and ran 17 knots with an output of 7000 PSi and the Lahn with 8700 PSi even 18 knots.
From the Stettiner Maschinenbau Actien-Gesellschaft Vulcan came the Havel and Spree in 1890 with a measurement of almost 7000 GRT. The five-cylinder triple expansion engines were built at the Vulcan, developed 12,500 PSi and gave the ships a speed of 18.5 knots. The Spree was converted into a twin-screw ship with two triple expansion engines with 4 cylinders at the Vulcan in 1899. The total output was now 17,000 PSi, so the ship, renamed Empress Maria Theresia , ran 20 knots.
The Kaiserschleuse limits the size of the ship
The dimensions of the express steamer were limited by the width (17 m) and water depth (7.93) of the Kaiserschleuse in Bremerhaven. The NDL has therefore been demanding the construction of a larger lock since 1884 in order to be able to keep up with the English and French competition in North Atlantic traffic in terms of ship size. It was not until 1890 that ship handling was relocated to Nordenham that the necessary pressure was brought about. In 1892 the construction of the new 223 m long and 45 m wide Kaiserschleuse was finally started, the passage width of the lock gates was 28 m. When it was completed in 1896, the Kaiserschleuse was by far the largest lock in the world.
Larger express steamer from AG Vulcan Stettin
The NDL handled the North Atlantic voyage at times with three weekly departures, had the largest fleet of express steamers with 11 express steamers and set a world record in 1891 with 214,000 passengers. No shipping company carried more passengers at that time. With the commissioning of the new Kaiserschleuse larger ships were ordered from AG Vulcan Stettin and in 1897 the express steamer won the Blue Ribbon with two screws from Kaiser Wilhelm the Great .
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The History of German Passenger Shipping. Volume 1: The pioneering years from 1850-1890 . Ernst Kabel Verlag, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-8225-0037-2 , ( publications of the German Maritime Museum 18).
- Arnold Kludas: The ships of the North German Lloyd. 1857-1970. 2 volumes. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herford 1991–1992.
- Vol. 1: 1857 to 1919 . ISBN 3-7822-0524-3 .
- Vol. 2: 1920 to 1970 . ISBN 3-7822-0534-0 .
- Susanne Wiborg, Klaus Wiborg: Our field is the world - 150 years of Hapag-Lloyd. Festschrift published by Hapag-Lloyd AG, Hamburg 1997.