Back Kronprinz Wilhelm (Schiff, 1901) German SS Kronprinz Wilhelm Spanish Kronprinz Wilhelm Estonian SS Kronprinz Wilhelm French Kronprinz Wilhelm Hungarian SS Kronprinz Wilhelm ID Kronprinz Wilhelm Italian Kronprinz Wilhelm (schip, 1901) Dutch SS «Kronprinz Wilhelm» NB SS Kronprinz Wilhelm Portuguese

SS Kronprinz Wilhelm

For other ships with the same name, see SMS Kronprinz and USS Von Steuben.

SS Kronprinz Wilhelm
History
German Empire
NameKronprinz Wilhelm
NamesakeCrown Prince William
OperatorNorddeutscher Lloyd
Port of registryGerman Empire Bremen, Germany
BuilderAG Vulcan, Stettin, Germany
Yard number522
Launched30 March 1901
Maiden voyage17 September 1901
Identification
FateCommissioned into the Imperial German Navy, August 1914
German Empire
NameSMS Kronprinz Wilhelm
CommissionedAugust 1914
Fate
United States
NameUSS Von Steuben
NamesakeFriedrich Wilhelm von Steuben
AcquiredSeized, 6 April 1917
Decommissioned13 October 1919
RenamedVon Steuben, 9 June 1917
Stricken14 October 1919
IdentificationID-3017
FateScrapped, 1923
General characteristics
Class and typeKaiser-class ocean liner
Tonnage14,908 GRT, 6,162 NRT
Displacement24,900 tons[1]
Length
  • registered: 637.3 ft (194.2 m)
  • o/a: 663.30 ft (202.17 m)[2]
Beam66.3 ft (20.2 m)
Draft28 ft (8.5 m)
Depth39.3 ft (12.0 m)
Installed power
  • 3,534 NHP
  • 33,000 ihp (25,000 kW)
Propulsion
Speed23.09 kn (26.57 mph; 42.76 km/h)
Capacity
  • Passenger liner: 367 first class, 340 second class, and 1,054 third class
  • Troopship: once carried 1,223 passengers, and 2,000+ in an emergency
Complement
  • Passenger liner: 526
  • Auxiliary cruiser: 420
  • Troopship: 975
Armament
  • German auxiliary cruiser:
  • 2 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns
  • 2 × 88 mm (3.5 in) guns
  • 1 × machine gun
  • US troopship:
  • 8 × 5 in (130 mm) guns
  • 4 × 3 in (76 mm) guns
  • 2 × 3 in (76 mm) anti-aircraft guns
  • 4 × 1-pounder guns
  • 8 × machine guns
A poster advertising Norddeutscher Lloyd's four express sisters

Kronprinz Wilhelm was a German ocean liner built for Norddeutscher Lloyd, a shipping company now part of Hapag-Lloyd, by the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland), in 1901. She was named after Crown Prince Wilhelm, son of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, and was a sister ship of SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.

She had a varied career, starting off as a world-record-holding passenger liner, then becoming an auxiliary warship from 1914–1915 for the Imperial German Navy, sailing as a commerce raider for a year, and then interned in the United States when she ran out of supplies. When the US entered World War I, she was seized and renamed USS Von Steuben, and served as a United States Navy troop transport until she was decommissioned. She was then turned over to the United States Shipping Board, where she remained in service until she was scrapped in 1923.

  1. ^ Schmalenbach, 1979, p, 48
  2. ^ Flamm, Oswald, ed. (1901). "'". Schiffbau, Schiffahrt und Hafenbau (in German) (2). Berlin: 509.
  3. ^ Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, Jahrbuch, (year book) Verlag H.M. Hauschild, Bremen 1910, p. 64

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