Winter ships
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The Kempten , Augsburg and Ravensburg were three almost identical and commonly known as "Winter ships" designated passenger ships , by a large order of 1931 Deutsche Reichsbahn built and on the Bodensee were put into service.
Ship description
A new construction method was implemented with the three ships. During the normal course trips at the time, also in the winter months, the low water level of Lake Constance meant that the gangway led down very steeply onto the ships. With the new design used here, the front and rear saloons were built deeper into the fuselage, so that the entrance could be arranged higher above the engine room. This special suitability for low water in winter earned the ships the unofficial designation "winter ships", although they also proved themselves excellently in the summer months due to their optimal floor plan. To make it easier to get on at higher water levels, fold-out stairs were installed on both sides of the central entrance in 1932, which gave the ships their characteristic appearance. The double half salon construction proved to be disadvantageous in violent storms: Despite sea baffles to protect the lower salon windows, there were multiple indented panes when the waves were strong. If this danger was foreseeable, the passengers had to evacuate the saloon unless a safe reserve ship was deployed immediately. At Kempten in 1972, the hard glass panes in the front saloon were replaced by Sekurit safety glass panes.
After the experience with the Allgäu , the screw drive proved to be problematic and unfavorable for maneuverability. This is why all three new units on Lake Constance were equipped with Voith-Schneider drives for the first time . This cycloidal drive system enables extraordinary maneuvering properties in the tightest radius and immediately caught on in Lake Constance shipping, later the Allgäu was also converted to this system.
The Kempten and Augsburg were 47 m long and 9 m wide when they were put into service, while the Ravensburg was 25 cm wider with the same length. Initially, the passenger capacity was 400 people each, and then 500 people each after renovations.
| ship | Kempten | augsburg | Ravensburg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length in m | 47.00 | 47.00 | 47.00 |
| Width in m | 9.00 | 9.00 | 9.00 |
| Draft in m | 1.54 | 1.54 | 1.48 (1.50) |
| Tonnage in t | 223.0 (229.5) | 223.0 (229.5) | 215.3 (218.0) |
| Drive power in kW | 2 × 169 | 2 × 162 | 2 × 228 |
| Maximum speed in km / h | 24 | 24 | 23.2 |
Values in brackets = after conversion
History of the three ships
Kempten
The Kempten was built by Deggendorfer Werft und Eisenbau GmbH , its home port was Lindau . It was named after the southern German city of Kempten . Two years after commissioning, the Kempten was converted to diesel-electric drive. However, since this did not work, the two sister ships were not converted. In 1952, the Kempten was upgraded to a diesel-mechanical drive. Due to the Second World War , the Kempten timetable was heavily thinned out. Before the end of the war, the ship and her two sisters were moved to the Überlinger See and anchored off Überlingen . After the end of the war, line operations were resumed and maintained until 1960.
When the Konstanzer Zaehringen was retired in 1960 , the Kempten came to her new home port of Konstanz , where she was used in liner service until 1978 and then as a reserve on upper sea courses for another ten years. The only known accident occurred when a gangway slipped in Meersburg on July 15, 1976 and several passengers fell into the water. Several people were injured; one person was killed.
From 1988 Kempten was a floating economy and discotheque in the port of Constance. After this use was stopped in 1993, the ship fell into disrepair. In 2000 the Kempten was towed to Fußach and scrapped there the following year. The Voith Schneider propeller of the first passenger ship equipped with it, which is important for the history of technology, has been preserved and can be viewed in the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne .
augsburg
The Augsburg was also built by "Deggendorfer Werft und Eisenbau GmbH", and its home port was Lindau. The Augsburg was named after the city of Augsburg and was named successor to the paddle steamer Augsburg , which was replaced by the Allgäu in 1929 and then scrapped. Like the Kempten , the Augsburg received a conversion in 1934 that increased passenger capacities. And like her sister ships, she was moved to Überlingen towards the end of the war to protect against Allied bombing. After the end of the war, the Augsburg was back in full service until it was relieved by the Grünten in 1958 and from 1960 was only used in seasonal traffic. In 1959, the Augsburg served as a tug during the only accident in the city of Überlingen and pulled the unmanoeuvrable steamer from Bregenz to Constance.
In 1968 the Augsburg was retired and scrapped in Constance in the winter of 1969/1970. The wheelhouse that has been preserved is now a little off the beaten track on the grounds of Stadtwerke Konstanz at the Staad ferry port next to the stern of the Allgäu .
Ravensburg
The Ravensburg was built for the home port of Friedrichshafen by the Bodan shipyard in Kressbronn . It was named after the Upper Swabian city of Ravensburg . The Ravensburg was the first motor passenger ship in the home port of Friedrichshafen. After two years of parallel operation, it replaced the paddle steamer König Karl from 1890. The conversion for higher passenger numbers was not carried out as with the Lindau sister ships in 1934, but only three years later. After the war-related asylum with her sister ships in Überlingen, the Ravensburg was used all year round in liner service in Obersee longitudinal traffic until 1964. After three more years of occasional and seasonal traffic, the Ravensburg was retired in 1967. In 1968 the hull superstructure was torn down, and the hull itself went to an Austrian company as a gravel ship. The hull was only scrapped in Hard in July 2005 .
See also
literature
- Hans G. Brunner-Schwer, Karl F. Fritz: The history of the great Bodensee ships . Labhard-Verlag, Konstanz 2000, ISBN 3-935169-0-00 .
- Klaus v. Rudloff, Claude Jeanmaire: Shipping on Lake Constance , Volume 3: Beginning of Motor Shipping , Verlag Eisenbahn, Villigen AG 1987, ISBN 3-85649-072-8 .
- Michael Berg: Motor shipping on Lake Constance under the Deutsche Reichsbahn and in the post-war period. Planning, construction and use of the White Fleet from 1920 to 1952 . Verlag regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2011, ISBN 978-3-89735-614-6 , pp. 71–94 and pp. 134–140.