SS Deutschland (1900)

SS Deutschland
Career
Name:	1900—1910: SS Deutschland 1910—1921: SS Viktoria Luise 1921—1925: SS Hansa
Owner:	Hamburg America Line
Port of registry:	Hamburg, Germany
Route:	Transatlantic
Launched:	1900
Fate:	Sold for scrap in 1925
General characteristics
Tonnage:	16,502 gross tons
Length:	684 ft (208 m)
Beam:	67 ft (20 m)
Speed:	22 kn (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Capacity:	2,050 passengers in three classes

For other ships of the same name, see SS Deutschland.

SS Deutschland was a passenger liner owned by the Hamburg America Line of Germany. She sailed for over 25 years under three different names. The second ship to have been built as a four funnel liner, she was built by Hamburg America as a response to the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. She was the second of five German liners to have four funnels. Though she was very successful at capturing the Blue Riband from the British, she sufferd from terrible vibrations.

As the transatlantic liner Deutschland

First Class Dining Saloon of the Deutschland.

When it became clear that the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was a success, Hamburg America Line decided to join the battle for supremacy on the Atlantic. North German Lloyd retaliated to the Deutschland by ordering three more liners, the Kaiser class.

Launched in 1900, she won the Blue Riband from the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse of the North German Lloyd line, crossing the Atlantic Ocean in just a little over five days. She was the first and only four-stacker built for Hamburg-Amerika. She was 684 ft (208 m) long, 67 ft (20 m) wide and measured 16,502 gross tons. Her service speed was 22 kn (41 km/h; 25 mph) and she carried 2,050 passengers in first, second and third class.

Deutschland was indeed a fast ship, but this came at the expense of passenger comfort—her engines were so powerful that they caused severe vibrations in her passenger accommodations (thus the sobriquet The Cocktail Shaker). Despite the amusing name, this made her unpopular with passengers.

In March 1902, she played a role in the Deutschland incident. When she was carrying Prince Henry, the brother of the Kaiser back to Europe from a highly publicized visit to the United States, she was prevented from using her Slaby-d'Arco system of wireless telegraphy as the Marconi radio stations refused its radio traffic through their nets and blocked the rival system. Prince Henry—who tried to send wireless messages to both the U.S. and Germany—was outraged. During a later conference, the Marconi company was forced to give access to their stations to other companies. This incident turned out to be one of the important moments in the early history of wireless transmission.

Second career as cruise ship Viktoria Luise

In 1910, Hamburg-Amerika withdrew Deutschland from transatlantic service and converted her to a dedicated cruise ship — one of the first liners of the 20th century to operate as such. Her original engines were derated as a high service speed was no longer needed. At the same time, the exterior of the ship was repainted in all white and her passenger capacity was also reduced to only 500 first-class passengers. She was also given a new name, Viktoria Luise. She replaced their first purpose-built cruise ship of similar name (Prinzessin Victoria Luise) that ran aground and was destroyed off the coast of Jamaica in 1906.

As the emigrant carrier Hansa

SS Hansa

Because of her still-troublesome engines, Viktoria Luise was not used by the German government in World War I. In 1921, she was pressed into emigrant carrier service and renamed Hansa. But since the United States had recently passed laws restricting immigration, this service was less than successful and Hansa was sold for scrap in 1925.

External links

• The Great Ocean Liners: Deutschland

Records
Preceded by Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse	Holder of the Blue Riband (Westbound) 1900–1902	Succeeded by Kronprinz Wilhelm
	Atlantic Eastbound Record 1900–1904	Succeeded by Kaiser Wilhelm II
Preceded by Kronprinz Wilhelm	Holder of the Blue Riband (Westbound) 1903–1907	Succeeded by Lusitania