The 1870/71 united Germany is streching
its legs with German flagged Greyhounds.
by Earl of Cruise
1881;
ss ELBE; 127,46 m; 13,72 m; 4510 GT; 4 cyl. compound steam engine; John Elder
& Co. Ltd., Glasgow; sunk 1895 after the collision with CRATHIE in the Channel
with 332 dead
cutaway of ss ELBE - pictures source Wikipedia
1890; ss
SPREE; 140,83 m; 15,11 m; 6963 BRT; 10 Zyl. 3-fach-Exp. Dampfmaschine; AG
Vulcan, Stettin;
1899; conversion into a twin screw vessel, ss KAISERIN MARIA THERESIA; 160,33 m; 15,86 m; 8276
GT; 1904 sold as auxilliary cruiser to Russia - source Wikipedia
1891; ss
HAVEL; 140,83 m; 15,86 m; 6963 GT; 10 Zyl. triple-exp. steamengine; AG
Vulcan, Stettin; 1898 sold as auxiliary cruiser to Spain
ss AUGUSTA VICTORIA - source Wikipedia
ss FÜRST BISMARCK - source Wikipeadia
by Earl of Cruise
Johann G. Lohmann (1830-1892), source Wikipedia
It started back then when the NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD (in English) director Johann Georg Lohmann wished to create a weekly
transatlantic service from Bremen via the Channel ports to New York. Lohmann and
his engineer Overbeck developed a new vessel, based on the GUION LINE´s
ss
ARIZONA.
ss ARIZONA of GUION LINE, source Wikipedia
The shipbuilding and the steam
technology had improved over the years. From the very beginning with the
SAVANNAH, CUNARD´s rms BRITANNIA, the ss GREAT WESTERN and the first
transatlantic screw driven vessel ss GREAT BRITAIN, shipbuilders and engine
engineers have learned and implemented new technologies and developed new
anemities for the passengers.
But in principle, the steamships have
still been copies of sailing vessels - first with sidewheels, then screw driven
- passengers and cargo in the hull and the deck (main deck) for sailing the
vessel.
It changed dramatically, when GUION LINE
introduced 1879 its revolutionary design of the most powerful and luxurious
vessel of her time, the ss ARIZONA. She was the first to implement a
superstructure of substance above the main deck, building an entirely new
construction containing passenger anemities.
The new superstructure enabled a shelter
for passengers strolling on deck, without disturbing the crew, or breaking
their legs - the promenade, enabling too a new lighted atmosphere and fresh air
in salons. and to top it, new luxurious spacious cabins ... and besides, the ss
ARIZONA catched the Blue Riband for the fastest crossings of the pond with
16kts.
Director Lohmann and the NORDDEUTSCHER
LLYOD chief engineer took a deep inside look at this new vessel ss ARIZONA and
developed a vessel purpose built for the needs of the Bremen housed company and
its route to New York. With their own plans they went to John Elders in Glasgow
for building the first vessel of a series of eleven - the ss ELBE. The FlüsseKlasse (River Class) was for the next 110 years the biggest series a single
shipping company or group did order.
Up to 1881 the competition for
NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD was foremost its Hanseatic rival Hamburg and the HAMBURGAMERIKANISCHE PAKETFAHRT (HAPAG). With the introduction of the ss ELBE they went
international.
Elder, later Fairfield, constructed
these ships and each of them got bigger, stronger and technical more advenced
than the predessor. But all have been till the last ones, constructed in
Germany at the VULCAN in Stettin single screw vessels. ss HAVEL and ss SPREE
became the first German built transatlantic liners.
NDL still on the international stage of
transatlantic transport, went into something new - an international renowned competitor on the
continent. Besides COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE they offered on their new
ss ELBE and the following half sisters an international loved and much appreceated service and food.
While NDL was since its beginning even
with the international competition, HAPAG was till the employment of Alber
Ballin, allways one or two steps behind his Hanseatic rival and the
international competitors.
HAPAG did send with ss HAMONNIA, 1881, only a half hearted
rebuild but new vessel as competition after the inauguration of NDL´s ss ELBE.
Albert Ballin (15 August 1857 – 9 November 1918)
Director Ballin (in English) changed the policies at
HAPAG steady but dramatically. In the end he had the board on his side when he 1886 comissioned two new ships of the newest technology - twin srew vessels with the
latest steam engine technology. ss AUGUSTA VICORIA 1887 and ss COLUMBIA 1888.
While ss AUGUSTA VICTORIA had been built in Great Britain, the ss COLUMBIA was
built in Germany. A first for this technology. For this vessel building in
German there had been a special protegé, Kronprinz Wilhelm, the late Kaiser
Wilhelm II, who became a friend of Albert Ballin. Who had his problems in the
society of Hamburg. He was of Jewish belive, and he was not a "Hamburg
born" nor an owner of a shippling line, only the owner of migrant agency -
of rather a great success then.
The second set of these HAPAG greyhounds
have been built as well in Great Britain as again and Germany.
Both vessels have been large and
powerful and made the Flüsse Klasse vessels look old, even when the last two
vessels ss HAVEL and ss SPREE had, as a first on the Atlantic, a
triple-expansion steam engine, but still have been single screwed. They met the
competiors on the Atlantic on the same level as the standard has been.
Ballin did set too a new benchmark in
service standard with the four new HAPAG vessels. And started finally a new
race of competition. Not only with NDL but international.
Only eleven years after the German union
NDL became international recognized. And another five years later Ballin made
the step for more to come.
American shipbuilders have lost the
competition in late mid 19the century against Great Britain, as they did stick
to long to wooden hulls and older steam technology when it came to irion hulls
and further steel hulled vessels.
The British lines didn´t realize the new
competition from the new maritime rival Germany after its union and lacked the
interest in regarding what was emerging in France in Saint Nazaire.
For the German competition, and the
sudden exploding of shipbuilders they had in the end a question to themselves:
"Havn´t they been a state since ... how many years? And do they even have
an industry of their own?"
The invention of the black mailing
"Made in Germany" to excempt this new rival, lashed back. This "Made in Germany" became a synonym for high standard and quality ...
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