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The North German Lloyd Line designed
Kronprinz Wilhelm to be faster
than the Hamburg America Line’s
16,502-ton Deutschland. This ships
interior had few luxuries as she was
intended to provide an inexpensive
service for emigrants traveling from
Europe - America. Her maiden voyage from
Bremen - New York began September 17th
1901. Although that crossing showed
Kronprinz Wilhelm lacked the speed
her designers intended, she did succeed
in taking the Blue Riband from
Deutschland for a short time in
1902 with an average crossing of 23.09
knots. Also in 1902, Kronprinz
Wilhelm was involved in two
accidents, the first when she ploughed
over and sunk the cargo ship Robert
Ingham killing two of its crew and
the second being a minor collision with
the British Navy’s torpedo boat
Wizard.
At the outbreak of World War One, the
German Navy requisitioned Kronprinz
Wilhelm to serve as an armed merchant
cruiser. She spent the first eight months
of the war operating in the North
Atlantic raiding Allied merchant ships,
this seeing her credited with the capture
of 14 ships. Before these ships were
sunk, their cargo and crews were
transferred to German support ships. Wear
and tear from the eight months at sea
forced her to be put into New York for
repairs. Although America was still
neutral in the war at that time, US
Authorities took the decision to intern
Kronprinz Wilhelm at New
York until the conflict had come to an
end. America entering the war in 1917 led
to her serving as a troopship for the US
Navy under the name Von Steuben.
Although the US Shipping Board took
control of Von Steuben on her
return from the war in October 1919, they
failed to find an American shipping
company prepared to invest in such a run
down ship. Von Steuben was
eventually sold for scrap to the Boston
Metal Company in 1923.
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