SS Kronprinz Wilhelm

In 1902,

passengers aboard. This state visit was also an early example of film reporting. This was also the ship's first voyage under Captain August Richter, who was the captain until August 1907.

On 9 May 1904, the Kronprinz Wilhelm anchored off Plymouth for passengers and mail to be put ashore by tender, sparking a race between the

City of Truro

was recorded at 102.3mph during the descent of Wellington Bank in Somerset. It was claimed by recorder Charles Rous-Marten that gold was transferred from the Kronprinz Wilhelm to the GWR train, as a payment to the French for the construction costs of the Panama canal. However this is doubtful as any gold bound for France would have been offloaded in France rather than England, and the Kronprinz Wilhelm was not moored off Plymouth long enough for this quantity of gold to have been unloaded.

German auxiliary cruiser (1914–1915)

When Germany entered

) Paul Thierfelder—formerly Karlsruhe's navigation officer—became her commander, and Grahn was made 1st Officer.

The close proximity of the British cruiser HMS Suffolk abbreviated the rendezvous, forcing the two German ships to cast off hastily and speed away in different directions. Kronprinz Wilhelm took a meandering course towards the Azores, arriving on 17 August and rendezvousing with the German steamship Walhalla off São Miguel Island.

Provisioning and training

Walhalla and Kronprinz Wilhelm headed south from the Azores, while transferring coal from Walhalla to Kronprinz Wilhelm.

coast, where he hoped to find sources of coal more friendly to Germany or at least a greater choice of neutral ports in which to intern his ship if she should find herself unable to replenish her supplies from captured ships.

On the voyage to the Azores and thence to the South American coast, Kronprinz Wilhelm had to avoid contact with all shipping since she was not ready to embark upon her mission raiding Allied commerce. The guns had to be emplaced and a target for gunnery practice constructed. The crew—mostly reservists and civilians—received a crash course in their duties in a warship and in general naval discipline. A "prize crew" was selected and trained in the techniques of boarding captured vessels (prizes), inspecting cargo and ship's papers, and using explosive charges to sink captured ships. Finally, all members of the crew were outfitted in some semblance of a naval uniform.

The crew worked at a feverish pace in order to be ready, and by the time Kronprinz Wilhelm met Karlsruhe's tender—SS Asuncion—near

. The merchantman stopped without the raider's firing a shot. Heavy seas, however, postponed the boarding until shortly after 06:00 the following morning. The prize crew found a cargo composed largely of contraband, but before sinking the ship, Commander Thierfelder wanted to salvage as much of her supplies and fuel as he could. Continued heavy seas precluded the transfer until the afternoon of 8 September. Indian Prince's crew and passengers were brought over to Kronprinz Wilhelm at around 14:00, and the two ships moved alongside each other immediately thereafter. Coaling started and continued throughout the night of 8/9 September. The following morning, the German prize crew detonated three explosive charges which sank Indian Prince. Kronprinz Wilhelm then headed south to rendezvous with several German supply ships.

Coal, more than any other factor, proved to be the key to the success of Kronprinz Wilhelm's cruise. The hope of finding that commodity had brought her to the coast of

For the next five months, Kronprinz Wilhelm cruised the waters off the coast of Brazil and Argentina. Allied newspapers often reported that Kronprinz Wilhelm had been sunk, torpedoed, or interned, but between 4 September 1914 and 28 March 1915, she was responsible for the capture (and often sinking) of 15 ships—10 British, four French, and one Norwegian—off the east coast of South America. Thirteen of them sank from direct actions of Kronprinz Wilhelm; another she damaged severely by ramming, and she probably sank later. The remaining ship served as a lumpensammler, transporting into port what had become an unbearable number of detainees aboard after her 12th capture.

Methods of capture

Ships were usually captured either by Kronprinz Wilhelm simply overtaking them with superior speed and size, ordering them to stop, and then sending over a boarding party, or by pretending to be a ship in distress or posing as a ship of a friendly nationality and luring unsuspecting prey to her in that way. The targeted ships were usually caught by surprise (some did not even yet know that war had been declared), and their captain had to make the quick decision of whether to run, fight, or surrender. Since the captured ships were no match in speed, and usually had few or no arms, the unpleasant but expedient choice was to surrender. Kronprinz Wilhelm would send over a boarding party to search the captured vessel. If it appeared to have nothing of value or military significance, it was released and sent on its way. If it did have valuable (or contraband) cargo, or was a warship or a ship that might someday be converted to military use, the crew of Kronprinz Wilhelm would then systematically (and quite politely) transfer all of the crew, passengers, and their baggage and other valuable cargo from the captured ship to their own, including coal and other supplies. Then they would usually scuttle the captured vessel by opening up the seacocks (valves in the hull below the waterline), thereby causing the captured ship to fill with water after small charges were detonated, and sink. Throughout the entire journey, not a single life was lost.^[24]

In this way she took the following:

• SS Highland Brae, United Kingdom
• Schooner Wilfred M., United Kingdom
• Barque Semantha, Norway
• Barque Anne de Bretagne, France
• SS Guadeloupe, France
• SS Tamar, United Kingdom
• SS Coleby, United Kingdom
• Schooner Pittan, Russia (released)
• SS Chasehill, United Kingdom
• SS Indian Prince, United Kingdom
• SS La Correntina, United Kingdom
• Four-mast Barque Union, France
• SS Bellevue, United Kingdom
• SS Mont Agel, France
• SS Hemisphere, United Kingdom
• SS Potaro, United Kingdom

She missed one potential success, when on 14 September 1914 she came across the British armed merchant cruiser RMS Carmania, already badly crippled following a battle with the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Cap Trafalgar, which had sunk shortly before Kronprinz Wilhelm's arrival. However, Kronprinz Wilhelm's commander chose to be cautious, and believing it to be a trap, steamed away without attacking the severely damaged Carmania.

Late in March 1915, the auxiliary cruiser headed north to rendezvous with another German supply ship at the equator. She arrived at the meeting point on the morning of 28 March and cruised in the neighborhood all day. That evening, she sighted a steamship in company with two British warships 20 mi (17 nmi; 32 km) distant. Though Kronprinz Wilhelm did not know it at the time, she had just witnessed the capture of her supply ship — Macedonia — by two British cruisers. The raider steamed around in the general vicinity for several days, but the passage of each succeeding day further diminished her hopes of a successful rendezvous.

1915–1917 internment

Finally, a dwindling coal supply and an alarming increase in the sick list forced Kronprinz Wilhelm to make for the nearest neutral port. The apparent cause of the illness was malnutrition from their diet consisting mainly of beef, white bread, boiled potatoes, canned vegetables, and oleomargarine. The few fresh vegetables they seized from the captured vessels were reserved for the officers' mess.

Dr. Perrenon—the ship's surgeon—is reported to have said, "We had many cases of pneumonia, pleurisy and rheumatism among the men. They seemed to lose all resistance long before the epidemic broke out. We had superficial wounds, cuts, to deal with. They usually refused to heal for a long time. We had much hemorrhage. There were a number of accidents aboard, fractures, and dislocations. The broken bones were slow to mend." Slow healing is an early symptom of scurvy.

Early in the morning of 11 April 1915, she stopped off

, and her crew lived in a camp nearby, as "guests". In their internment, the crews of these vessels — numbering about 1,000 officers and men — built in the yard — from scrap materials — a typical German village named "Eitel Wilhelm", which attracted many visitors.

USS Von Steuben (1917–1919)

On 6 April 1917, the United States declared war upon the German Empire. That same day, the Collector of the Port of Philadelphia seized the former German raider for the US on 22 May, President Woodrow Wilson issued the executive order which empowered the United States Navy to take possession of the ship and to begin to repair her. The internees became prisoners of war and were transferred to Fort McPherson, Georgia.

On 9 June, Kronprinz Wilhelm was renamed Von Steuben (ID-3017) in honor of Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the German hero of the American Revolution, and commissioned in the United States Navy at Philadelphia.

The name Kronprinz Wilhelm was reclaimed by the German navy in 1918 when it renamed its battleship SMS Kronprinz as SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm. This ship was scuttled in June 1919 with the remainder of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow.

Career as a US ship

The newly named Von Steuben began her American Navy career as an auxiliary cruiser. Through the summer of 1917, her crew and workers at the

, visiting Hampton Roads, Virginia and New York City in addition to Philadelphia.

On 31 October, she stood out of New York for her first transatlantic voyage under the American flag with 1,223 troops and passengers bound for

. Both ships lost men overboard, and a few received injuries. In addition, two of her 5 in (130 mm) guns and one of her 3 in (76 mm) guns were damaged. Though her bow was opened to the sea, Von Steuben maintained 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h) while the damage control party made repairs. The ship continued on with the convoy and arrived in Brest three days later. She disembarked passengers and unloaded cargo between 14 and 19 November, but she did not depart until 28 November.

Aftermath of the Halifax explosion

On her way back to the US, Von Steuben diverted to

(the largest man-made accidental explosion up to that time). The ship responded to the emergency by landing officers and men to patrol the city and assist in rescue efforts. The transport remained at Halifax until 10 December, and then continued her voyage back to Philadelphia where she arrived on 13 December.

Troop transport

After debarking her passengers, Von Steuben got underway from Philadelphia again on 15 December. She coaled at Newport News on 16 December and remained there until 20 December. On 20 December,

, she departed the Canal Zone and headed back to the east coast. From 28–31 January, Von Steuben stopped at Newport News where she took on two new 5-inch guns and a 3-inch gun to replace those damaged in the collision with Agamemnon. On 1 February, she returned to Philadelphia to resume duty transporting troops to France.

On 10 February, Von Steuben stood down the Delaware River with another convoy. She reached her destination, Brest, without incident on 24 February, unloaded her troops and cargo, and set out on the return voyage five days later. At about 16:20 on 5 March, a lookout spotted an object to port which resembled a submarine periscope. The alarm brought gun crews scurrying to their action stations, and they opened fire immediately. Before anyone realized that they were firing upon an innocuous piece of flotsam, a tragic accident occurred. The shell from one of her 5-inch guns exploded immediately upon leaving the barrel, and fragments struck three sailors. One died instantly, and the other two succumbed to their wounds later that night. Von Steuben coaled at Bermuda on 12–13 March and arrived at Norfolk on 16 March. After repairs and coaling, she moved on to Philadelphia to load troops and cargo for her third voyage to France.

Encounter with U-151

Her next two voyages to France and back were uneventful, as was the New York-to-Brest leg of the following one. However, on the return voyage, she encountered a

.

The real losers in that brief, but sharp, exchange were the survivors of the British steamship Dwinsk adrift in seven small boats. U-151 had sunk their ship earlier and remained in the area to use them as bait for other Allied ships such as Von Steuben. The possibility that they were simply decoys and that other submarines might be lurking about forced the ship to continue on without further investigation. That decision was further reinforced by the fact that the boats appeared empty. Credit for this must go to Dwinsk's master, who ordered his people to lie low in their craft so that other Allied ships would not be drawn into the waiting U-boat's trap. Fortunately, he and his men were saved eventually.

Von Steuben arrived in New York on 20 June and began preparations for another voyage to France. On 29 June, she embarked troops for passage to Europe, and the next day formed up with a convoy for the Atlantic crossing. At about noon on the third day out, a fire broke out in the forward cargo hold of USS Henderson. As the blaze grew in intensity, the transfer of the troops embarked became a necessary precaution, and Von Steuben approached the burning ship. Silhouetted by the flames, she would have made a perfect target for any U-boat in the vicinity, but she worked throughout the night and, by morning, had succeeded in embarking Henderson's more than 2,000 troops. Henderson came about and made it safely back to the US, while Von Steuben completed a somewhat cramped voyage at Brest on 9 July. Three days later, she headed back across the Atlantic with civilians and wounded soldiers returning to the US after service in Europe. After a peaceful voyage, the transport reached New York on 21 July.

After a short repair period in late July and early August, the ship resumed duty transporting troops to Europe. On 8 September 1918, Captain

on 11 November, Von Steuben made three more round-trip voyages carrying troops to France and returning the sick and wounded to the US. Though all three were peaceful passages by wartime standards, they were not uneventful. On the return voyage from the first of the three, she weathered a severe hurricane in which three of her complement were washed overboard and lost at sea, while several others received injuries. On the New York-to-Brest leg of the second, the influenza epidemic of 1918 struck the 2,700 troops she had embarked and resulted in 400 stretcher cases and 34 deaths.

Von Steuben returned to New York from her ninth wartime voyage on 8 November. On 10 November, she began repairs at the

(USSB).

1919–1923 commercial service

Although her name was struck from the Navy List on 14 October 1919, for almost five years the ship continued to serve the United States under the auspices of the USSB, first as Baron Von Steuben and after 1921 simply as Von Steuben again. Her name disappeared from mercantile records after 1923 and she was scrapped by Boston Iron & Metals Co.

See also

• List of German Imperial Navy ships
• List of naval ships of Germany

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

Further reading

• Bonsor, NRP (1975) [1955]. North Atlantic Seaway. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.
  ISBN 978-0-7153-6401-7
  .
• Hoyt, Edwin Palmer (1974). Ghost of the Atlantic: the Kronprinz Wilhelm, 1914–19. London:
  ISBN 978-0213165116
  .
• Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Vol. I–Steamers. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1914.
• The Marconi Press Agency Ltd (1913). The Year Book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony. London: The St Katherine Press.
• Ruggles, Logan E; Norton, Owen W (1919). The Part the U.S.S. Von Steuben Played in the Great War. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Eagle Press.
  OCLC 10551594
  .
• Schmalenbach, Paul (1979). German raiders: A history of auxiliary cruisers of the German Navy, 1895–1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
  ISBN 0-87021-824-7
  .

External links

• NavSource gallery of Kronprinz Wilhelm and USS Von Steuben
• Several pictures and drawings of Kronprinz Wilhelm, at greatships.net
• Dokumentation „Kronprinz Wilhelm“ with Prince Henry (of Prussia) on Board Arriving in New York, filmed in 1902
• The Covington Sun (pdf), 15 April 1915 front page article about Kronprinz Wilhelm successfully reaching port after many of her crew had taken sick
• history.navy.mil: USS Von Steuben
• Page at US Navy's Historical Center
• Photos of the German Village constructed by the crew while interned in Virginia Archived 19 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• The Great Ocean Liners: Kronprinz Wilhelm
• Listing at MaritimeQuest.com

Records
Preceded by Deutschland	Holder of the Blue Riband (Westbound) 1902–1903	Succeeded by Deutschland