Seydlitz (ship, 1903)
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The combined cargo and passenger ship Seydlitz was the third ship of the Reichspostdampfer of the Feldherren class of the North German Lloyd (NDL). It was named after the Prussian cavalry general Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (1721–1773).
The ship was used on almost every line of the NDL and escaped from Sydney to Chile just before the outbreak of the First World War . There the Seydlitz joined the cruiser squadron as a supplier in autumn 1914 , with which it marched to the Falkland Islands . She was the only one of the supply ships to escape the destruction of the cruiser squadron and found refuge in Argentina until the end of the war.
As part of the Columbus Agreement, the Seydlitz did not need to be delivered to the victorious powers and came back into service at the end of 1921 as the first ocean-going passenger ship of the NDL and opened passenger services to South and North America. In 1933 the ship was then scrapped.
history
Reichspostdampfer
The Reichspostdampfer Seydlitz was the third ship in the Feldherren class and was built by the Danziger Schichau shipyard at a price of 3.89 million gold marks , which had already been built by the type ship Ziethen of this class. It is noteworthy that this shipyard manufactured five of the imperial mail steamers that are important for the NDL, while the shipyard and shipping company led a legal dispute through all instances because of the non-acceptance of the express steamer Kaiser Friedrich .
The Seydlitz drove from August 5, 1903 in the Reichspostdampfer service between Europe and East Asia (a total of six round trips) and from February 1905 also to Australia (18 round trips). There were also seven round trips between Europe and New York between March 1906 and April 1914, a trip to Philadelphia in October 1913 and the only trip to South America by a Reichspost steamer in March 1913.
In October 1913 she was on the way to Philadelphia with many other ships (u. A. The NDL Steamer big Elector ) in the Atlantic the fire got into the British emigrant ship Volturno help and rescue 46 shipwrecked.
On June 3, 1914, the Seydlitz sailed to Australia as planned. At the beginning of the First World War , the ship was in Sydney . However, it was still able to leave the port on August 3, 1914 and fled to Valparaíso ( Chile ) under Captain Leuss .
Until the beginning of the war, NDL and Hapag were negotiating a future cooperation on the East Asia line. The major German shipping companies planned a joint service from October 15, 1914, which was to be opened by Seydlitz , which had been handed over to Hapag .
War effort
When the German East Asia Squadron appeared off the South American coast under Vice Admiral Graf Spee , the Seydlitz ran to St. Quentin Bay with 4150 tons of coal on board after the sea battle at Coronel , to supply the squadron from November 21. She also took over coal from other German steamers and followed the squadron as one of three auxiliary ships into the Atlantic on November 26th.
On December 8, the squadron arrived in the Falkland Islands on a superior British squadron and was in the Battle of the Falkland Islands destroyed. Only the small cruiser Dresden and the Seydlitz managed to escape. The two fleeing ships did not meet. The Seydlitz hid in various Patagonian ports (San Antonio December 10, San Jose) and was finally interned on January 24, 1915 in Puerto Militaire , Bahía Blanca , Argentina . In 1917 the crew destroyed the ship's engine.
Interwar years
After the end of the war, due to the Columbus Agreement of August 1921 (like the sister ship Yorck and four other ships: Gotha , Göttingen , Holstein , Westphalia ), the ship did not need to be handed over to the victorious powers.
After repair and conversion with facilities for 666 passengers in a II. And III. Class, the Seydlitz sailed under Captain Rehm from November 12, 1921 as the first passenger ship of the NDL after the World War, via La Coruña , Villagarcía de Arosa , Vigo to Brazil and to the Río de la Plata . After this voyage, the Seydlitz also made the first voyage with passengers to the USA from February 11, 1922. In 1927 the Seydlitz (like the Yorck and the Hannover ) mainly carried freight on the Hamburg-Bremerhaven- Philadelphia - Baltimore route . In January 1928 the ship was rebuilt and received a passenger facility with a cabin, tourist and III. Class. It was now used on the line to Havana and Galveston . On June 27, 1931 the Seydlitz's last return voyage began in Galveston.
In July 1931, because of the global economic crisis , it had to be launched in Bremerhaven . In 1933 the Seydlitz was dismantled and demolished in the technical operations of the NDL.
literature
- Carl Herbert: War voyages of German merchant ships . Broschek & Co, Hamburg, 1934.
- Arnold Kludas: The ships of the North German Lloyd 1857 to 1919 . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1991, ISBN 3-7822-0524-3 .
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping 1850 to 1990 . Ernst Kabel Verlag, 1986.
- Christine Reinke-Kunze: History of the Reichspostdampfer. Connection between the continents 1886-1914 . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994, ISBN 3-7822-0618-5 (3782206185).
- Claus Rothe: German ocean passenger ships 1896 to 1918 . Steiger Verlag, 1986, ISBN 3-921564-80-8 .
- Reinhart Schmelzkopf: The German Merchant Shipping 1919–1939 . Stalling, Oldenburg-Hamburg, 1974, ISBN 3-7979-1847-X .
Footnotes
- ↑ Kludas, Passenger Shipping, Vol. III, p. 158
- ^ Kludas, Passenger Shipping, Vol. III, p. 215.
- ↑ a b Rothe, p. 93.
- ↑ Kludas, Passenger Shipping, Vol. III, p. 185
- ↑ Herbert, pp. 72, 185.
- ↑ Herbert, p. 72.
- ↑ These ships had spent the war in South America and were not returned to Germany until 1920 (the Seydlitz because of the destroyed machine in tow) and were therefore not delivered immediately. These six ships were more important to the NDL at the post-war start (the largest remaining ship was the Gruessgott tender with 725 GRT) than a 32,000 GRT Atlantic steamer ; the Columbus (I), commissioned in 1913 near Schichau in Danzig , came to the White Star Line as Homeric .
-
↑ Schmelzkopf, p. 41.
Kludas, Passenger Shipping, Vol. IV, p. 136, 139. -
↑ Schmelzkopf, p. 47.
Kludas, Passenger Shipping, Vol. IV, p. 77f. - ↑ Kludas, Passenger Shipping, Vol. IV, p. 84.