SS Kronprinz Wilhelm in the context of Norddeutscher Lloyd

⭐ Core Definition: SS Kronprinz Wilhelm

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 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.

The ship had a varied career, starting off as a world-record-holding passenger liner, then as 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, the US Government seized the ship and renamed USS Von Steuben, and served as a United States Navy troop transport until she was decommissioned. After the war, Von Steuben was turned over to the United States Shipping Board, where she remained in service until she was scrapped in 1923.

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SS Kronprinz Wilhelm in the context of SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse

Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse ("Emperor William the Great") was a German transatlantic ocean liner in service from 1897 to 1914, when she was scuttled in battle. She was the largest ship in the world for a time, and held the Blue Riband for the fastest passenger liner crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, until Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania entered service in 1907. The vessel’s career was relatively uneventful, despite a refit in 1913.

The liner was built in Stettin for Norddeutscher Lloyd, and entered service in 1897. She was the first liner to be a Four funnel liner and is considered to be the first "super liner." The first of four sister ships built between 1903 and 1907 for Norddeutscher Lloyd (the others being Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kronprinzessin Cecilie), she marked the beginning of a change in the way maritime supremacy was demonstrated in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century.

View the full Wikipedia page for SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse

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