SCHNELLDAMPFER "KRONPRINZESSIN CECILIE"
Between 1880 - 1890 German shipbuilding had made an unprecedented mark in the Global shipbuilding industry showing off it's capabilities with the built of the first series of "Reichspostdampfers" , or Royal Mail Steamships , coupled with the built of a number of "Schnelldampfers" by the Norddeutscher Lloyd. From this onwards it became of National Prestige to have these ships built on German Shipyards, as , until then , all important vessels had been built by foreign shipyards. This principle became of extreme importance especially for the Norddeutscher Lloyd, which never awarded the built of their ships to foreign shipyards. All their Passenger steamships , as well as Cargo ships were built at a German shipyard. German spirit, German ivory and German technology resulted in modern ships, all of which were marvels of their own. The 4 giant Schnelldampfers "Kaiser Wilhelm der grosse" , "Kronprinz Wilhelm" , "Kaiser Wilhelm II" and "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" were by far the best ever representatives of the modern German Shipbuilding industry, not only by their indisputed looks and size, but as well for their revolutionairy high speeds, their omnipresent reliability and their beautiful ornamental interiors.
Forging and rolling the steel plates for the " Kronprinzessin Cecilie" at Vulcan Shipyard.
Stettiner Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft "Vulcan" , the Norhern part of the Shipyard.
When in 1897 the Norddeutscher Lloyd put the first of their four Schnelldampfers , the "Kaiser Wilhelm der grosse" into service, they were celebrating triumph after triumph, as this ship , with its huge displacement, and 28.000 horse-powers, completely outclassed the "Campania" and "Lucania" in speed . The evolution of the interior decoration of this ship as compared to that of any other Norddeutscher Lloyd schnelldampfer, as well as to any other liner of any other other shipping company was huge. The complete upper deck of the ship, generally the best part of the ship, now was destined exclusively for the accomodation of the passengers, whereas the crew quarters now were lowered one deck below to the main deck.
The upperdeck now spanned the total width of the ship, from Port to Starboard, creating sufficient more space as compared to that on other ships, which set the bar for other steamships to follow after the "Kaiser Wilhelm der grosse". As the Norddeutscher Lloyd now was the first to apply this lay-out over their ships, it showed the world the development as well as the capabilities of the German shipbuilding and pushed the Norddeutscher Lloyd forward into the leading position in Trans-Atlantic passenger service. The Norddeutscher Lloyd had awarded the built of the schnelldampfer "Kaiser Wilhelm der grosse" to the Vulcan Shipyard in Stettin, a relationship that set forth with the built of the "Kronprinz Wilhelm" , the "Kaiser Wilhelm II" and now with the newest schnelldampfer "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" , which ensured these beautiful ships to become the travellers' favorites. As a result of this the rooms on board these "Kaiser Class" ships were already fully booked prior to the start of the season.One of the reasons for their popularity was the steady weekly express-service from Bremen to New-York the Norddeutscher Lloyd offered with these ships, but mainly for their stunningly decorated interiors , in combination with the silent performance of their engines, free of any vibrations, anywhere in the ships , not to forget their reliability and safety they offered the public, The constuction of the four "Kaiser Class" ships were generally the same, making them very recognisable, even though with every new ship the dimensions grew, as well as their engine power output. Where the "Kaiser Wilhelm der grosse" started off with 28.000 horse- powers, the "Kronprinz Wilhelm" already sported 35.000 horse-powers, the "Kaiser Wilhelm II" boosted 45.000 horse-powers, and finally the latest "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" performed at 46.000 - 48-000 horse-powers. The engines of the Kaiser Class steamships were extremely smooth and stable
The Keel of the Norddeutscher Lloyd Schnelldampfer "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" is laid.
"Kronprinzessin Cecilie , double bottom under construction at Vulcan Shipyard, Stettin
and the "Kaiser Wilhelm II" performed at her continuous peak of 23.58 knots, this making her one of the fastest passenger steamships in the world for a long period of years. The fourth Kaiser Class steamship , the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" was designed to do one thing only: To equal the performance of her predecessor , "Kaiser Wilhelm II". On her first trip in Januari on the return from New-York back to Bremen, the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" reached a speed of 24 knots for three days in a row. But on the 26th Januari, the fourth day, a heavy fog came up and her Captain had no other option as to slow down the speed of the brand new liner, so that what was destined to become a new German record, unfortunately was prevented from happening by the bad weather. As a result of this she reached Plymouth averaging 23.20 knots. On her Februari return trip from New-York to Bremen she reached an average of 23.35 knots, with on the third day a record speed of 24.14 knots.
The "Kronrinzessin Cecilie" was launched the first of December, 1906 at the Vulcan Shipyard, Stettin ,the same shipyard at which al her sisters had been built , under the watchfull eyes of the Kronprinzzessin Cecilie von Mecklenburgh herself. The Vulcan Shipyard accomplished building the immense liner, equal in size to the "Kaiser Wihelm II" , in only 22 months . Her keel was laid October 1905 and the 30th of Juli 1906 the proud liner ran her trials satisfactorily and her Captain Hogemanns commandered the liner on her maiden voyage on the 6th of August 1907 over the Atlantic Ocean to New-York.
During this first voyage "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" not only proved to be an extremely smooth and silent ship, but as well exceeded every expectation with her fabulous interior decorations. Her length from stem to stern was 215.34 meters , which was 122 meters longer than the Statue of Liberty in New-York. The beam of the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" was 21.94 meters, her height from the top of her keel to the bottom of her main deck 13.46 meters, the height from the top of her keel to her lower promenade deck 16 meters, and till the top of her funnels 41 meters. When fully loaded the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" had a
draft of 9.15 meters and a displacement of 27.000 tons, which corresponded with 20.000 gros register tons. The weight of the enormous hull when launched at her builders, Vucan Shipyard, Stettin, was 11.200 tons, a total weight of 11.200.000 kg. The ship was built on top of her keel and double bottom which formed the foundation of the floating palace, which rose 7 stories , of each between - 2.49 - 4.29 meters high. This double bottom spanned the total length of the ship and was divided into twenty-six watertight compartments. The ship itself had sixteen watertight bulkheads, as well a watertight bulkhead in between her port-and-left side Engine Room, dividing the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" in a total of 20 watertight compartments. As a result of this, when two corresponding compartments would be flooded, the ship would keep her buoyancy. The passengers were well cared after on board the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" , just like on any other ship of the Norddeutscher Lloyd. As a result of this the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" had become a real floating palace , which not even palaces on land could compete with. The American public was impressed by her amazing beauty so much
"Kronprinzessin Cecilie": double bottom and side framing underway amidships at the Vulcan Shipyard 1905.
that they nick-named the ship the "Queen of the seas" already at her first visit to New York. While everything had been done to make this ship the dream of
her passengers, with her immense luxury throughout the entire First Class and Second Class, yet Third Class however, eventhough still more luxurious as compared to on other ships ,was dressed in a morefunctional way, somewhat spartanic even. The "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" had 297 First Class bedrooms, and 109 Second Class bedrooms, totaling a capacity of 742 First Class passengers , 327 Second Class passengers and 740 in her Third Class accomodation. It was a Norddeutscher Lloyd tradition to bath their ships in luxury, but with the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" this was even brought up to a new standard. The public rooms in the First Class, like the Dining Room, Social Rooms, Smoke Rooms, Reading-and-Writing Room, as well as the two Wiener Cafe's , one for smokers and a second one for non-smokers, were designed by the renowned Norddeutscher Lloyd's "Spitzen" -Architect Johann G. Poppe. But where these rooms were generally painted relatively dark on other existing liners, on board the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" they were painted in bright colours exclusively. The light shaft over the First Class Dining Room rose four stories high and was executed in the Florentine Renessaince style. The complete architecture of these rooms was dressed in a marble cream white finish and decorated with many periodic ornaments.
The walls of the First Class Childrens Room were dressed in a darkblue fabric, reaching two-third of the height of the room. On top of this blue fabric , serveral paintings were applied, with a decor of children scenes , with in-between bronze reliefs, depicting several well known fairytale scenes to stimulate the mood and spirits of the youngest ocean-going passengers.
The summum of luxury was found in the First Class Smoke Room, which judged by it's decoration, could hardly be rivaled. This high Room, with its giant vaulted dome ceiling was richly decorated in a modern Roman style. The seats and sofa's were dressed in greenish blue leather which gave the room a very exclusive and warm atmosphere. The artistic impressions in this Smoke Room showed motives refering exclusively to Mecklenburg , Schwerin, the birthplace of the Kronprinzessin, mainly the old cities Rostock, Wismar Doberan etc. The Vienna non-smokers Cafe was decorated in the Louis XVI style , with an arbor in an East Frisian style, the Social Room in a strict Empire style, the Reading and Writing Room in old mahogany, with blue carpets and upholstery with cornflower accents , while in the Kaiser Suites , and the Luxury Suites the modern art dictated.
These Luxury Suites each had either two, or three seperate rooms, plus a private bathroom, and were of such luxury , that even the most spoiled travelers would forget they were on a ship at sea. On board the Cecilie there were 10 of these suites, together totaling 30 rooms, located on either sides of the ship , located on her Main Deck as well as on her Promenade deck, the two best decks of the 6 decks the hull of the liner consisted of.
This time the Norddeutscher Lloyd did not award the interior design of the
"Kronprinzessin Cecilie" , installation of the framing underway,
The two holes for the propeller shafts are already in place ..
"Kronprinzessin Cecilie" to just one Architect, but General Director Heinrich Wiegand had dicided to write out a competition between three famous German Master Interior Designer Companies, four prestigeous Bremen based Architects , and two fitting-out companies, one from Koln , the other from Berlin, Germany. Abbehusen & Blendermann, Wellerman & Frolich , Runge & Scotland and Eeg & Runge were the Bremer Architects, Bruno Paul the Director of the Berlin Arts and Craftschool , J. Olbrich, the reknowned leader of the Darmstad Arts and Craftschool , and Richard Riemerschmidt from Munchen were the others that were invited to join the prestigious competition. The German Art Society anxiously watched the competition with high expectations. The Bremer art writer Dr. Karl Schaefer, conservator of the Bremer Museum of Trade, wrote about this groundbreaking Norddeutscher Lloyd event in several Bremer newspapers; Since the Dresden Exhibition proved the entire German nation that Modern Art no longer existed of lively fantasies, experiments and expressions, the road was open for the young generation of designers , that did not use the Castles and Town hall as an example for their expressions any more. He wrote: We are extremely fond to see that a company like the Norddeutscher Lloyd understands this movement in the German Arts and Craft, and being so convinced about their decision to entrust the interior design to these modern artists.
The first step to this succes was to be found in the interior decoration on board the brand new "Kronprinzessin Cecilie". This turned out to be very succesfull and much more succes followed after the Norddeutscher Loyd had established its commercial connection with these modern Arts and Craft workshops and their artists. As a result of this a new style of interior decoration was introduced and it would not be long before other shipping companies followed in these footsteps and the well known retro looking interior style would soon be outdated. Multiple times the designs of Olbrich ,Riemerschmidt ,und Bruno Paul were awarded as the winning.
The cabins of the second class were comfortable and homely, the rooms, which were used for the common socializing of the passengers, were of dignified, pleasing simplicity.
"Kronprinzessin Cecilie" at Vulcan , Stettin, framing of the immense hull is well under way for the Lloyd's fourth schnelldampfer.
Travelers crossing the ocean in Second Class on board a Norddeutscher Lloyd schnelldampfer would fell nothing short, and instead would experience a sea crossing on such a floating palace like traveling First Class on any other ship. On board the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" the Norddeutscher Lloyd completely changed the style of catering , that had otherwise been usual on her steamers. The passengers on board the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" were expected at fixed times in the First Class Dining Room ,just like in a luxury restaurant, where they could choose whatever they wished for, from a menu so versatile, even the most pampered gourmets were able to enjoy a state of the art meal. And all this was not extra charged for. This exclusive system of catering immediately became immensely popular among her passengers, and especially the American passengers were seeing this haute cuisine as a huge step forward, so that it left the Norddeutscher Lloyd no other choiche than to introduce this type of catering on the other three Schnelldampfers as well. The state of the art comfort on board the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie , equalled that of a luxury hotel on land , and was designed for one thing only: To fullfill the needs and wishes of even the most "High Maintenance" passengers. During dinner, the lively stewards cheered the ears of music lovers, who also had a luxurious piano at their disposal in the Social Room for their own musical confirmation. For the passengers with the desire to read, an extensive Library was found in the Reading and Writing Room of the luxury ship, and for the others there was an on board bookstore , supplying al the latest news , as it's content was continuously updated in Bremerhaven, Southampton and New York. From a hygienic point of view the bathing facilities on board the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" were of special interest. For the First Class and Second Class passengers , there were 28 private bathrooms available, the bathrooms on the luxury suites not included. These baths could be booked in advance so that the passengers could enjoy either a warm , or a fresh cold bath if they had the desire to withdraw themselves for a luxury treat on board the ship.
With regards to the huge machinery, it should first be noted that the steamers of Norddeutscher Lloyd all were equipped with reciprocating engines. The choiche for Turbine machinery was , for now, still postponed, as the Lloyd had the wish to copy the enormous engines that were installed on board her older sister "Kaiser Wilhelm II " , as these engines had proved to be hugely succesfull in relation to the quest for speed. No less than 72 steam engines were installed on the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" , the vibrations of which were minimized by an ingenious way of balancing.
The 2 enormous four-bladed screws had a diameter of 42 feet and had a combined weight of 40.100 kilograms.
Five huge dynamo's were installed in the Dynamo Room
The enormous hull seen from the front with the the ingenious central tunnel which was designed to feed to house the water piping throughout the immense liner.
of the ship to feed 3.100 electric lights, as well as other facilities which were needed for the comfort of the passengers, such as electric lighters for the cigars and cigarettes, as well the electrical fans, needed to ventilate the saloons on board the ship.
The "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" was equipped with a wireless telegraph system, which made it possible to stay in an constant contact with the land throughout the whole voyage. The first wireless telegram ever to be transmitted by the on board Marconi apparatus , was a telegram directed to the ship's Captain Hogemann, stating: "Commander Hogemann of the Norddeutscher Lloyd Schnelldampfer "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" , the warmest wishes for a pleasant Maiden Voyage on this beautiful ship wearing my name" --- Cecilie, Kronprinzessin --- . Captain Hogemann replied the Dispatch with the following words: Allow me, your Imperial and Royal Highness, to thank you for the warm wishes for the first voyage of this beautifull ship, bearing your name,--Captain Hogemann.
"Kronprinzessin Cecilie", Vulcan Shipyard, Stettin Germany: The installation of the forward funnel of the Norddeutscher Lloyd Schnelldampfer.
The brand new Schnelldampfer "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" was of an enormous size, thus her boiler plants needed to be of an equally enormous size. Nineteen giant boilers were needed for the propulsion of this ocean-going giant, twelve of which were double-ended ,and 7 single-ended . These boilers contained 124 burners, with a combined surface of 290 square meters, in which each twenty-four hours 720 tons of coal was burnt, needed to keep the enormous ship at the constant top-speed which she was designed for. The heating surface of these boilers was no less than 10.000 square meters, which was determined by the 15.438 heating-pipes which were mounted in these boilers. A firemen crew of 81 was needed to feed the daily 720 tons of coal, working in four hour shifts, followed by eight hours of rest before starting the nex shift. The fresh air needed to keep these fires burning was provided by giant vent-pipes, which were supported by a system of huge electrical ventilators. Ventilation in these boiler-rooms was of an extreme essence. The steel built boilers for such a schnelldampfer, were of a size which could not easily be surpassed. The dead weight of these boilers was more than one-hundred tons, and needed to be filled with 50 tons of water for operation, so when operational , the total weight would be an amazing one-hundred and fifty tons per boiler. The complete crew of the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" consisted of 650 persons. Besides the Captain an his twenty-four Officers, Doctors, pursers, mail-and postal workers, there were 61 Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Boiler Engineers, 231 coalworkers, 229 Stewards, Stewardesses, and Tween-Deck Attendants, 33 Cooks, Bakers, Butchers, 9 Barbers and Hairdressers, Bookshop-employees, Storage Workers, Marconi Room operators, 33 Dishwassers-and Pantry Employees, 59 Housekeeping Employees, Carpenters, Deckhands, Sailors and Light Keepers. So this number of crew equalled that of a complete bataillon. A special amenity for the passengers on board the Norddeutscher Lloyd's Schnelldampfer were the patented "Windschutzvorrichtungen", or windscreens. This was a convenient invention by the Bremen housed "Helmolt" , which made the time on deck on windy conditions much more pleasant, as anyone who has ever crossed the Atlantic would easily confirm. The three requirements for the built of the Schnelldampfer "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" were: The highest degree of safety possible for the ship, the highest degree of comfort possible for the passengers , as well as crew, and the highest degree of luxury in the fittings of her public rooms, were all perfectly accomplished. It could not be denied that this brand new Schnelldampfer in fact was the perfect way to cross the ocean, and that she would easily be the world-wide summit of ocean travelling.......
KRONPRINZESSIN CECILIE: A PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
Opulence and beauty at sea
Kronprinzessin Cecilie seen early in her career , 1908 at Cherbourgh waiting for her tender to arrive. In fact this photograph was taken from that tender. The mighty liner was built for speed, razor-sharp and fast like an arrow. The differences between her and her direct sistership the Kaiser Wilhelm II were substantial, but nevertheless for the untrained eye practical invisble. But once you know these differences you will blame yourself for not having noticed them ever before. But that is the magic of the Kaiser Class!!
The left photograph shows the Kronprinzessin Cecilie a few seconds later than the first photograph and the tender has arrived and lies next to the liner. Her gracious lines are eminent and omnipresent. The center photograph shows the Kronprinzessin Cecilie leaving Cherbough again and her engines are fired up. The photograph right shows the Kronprinzessin Cecilie in New York. This splendid three-quarter view was taken by the famous Byron Company from New York and was the first of a series of beautiful photographs of the ship, outside as wel as inside.
On the left we see a brand new Kronprinzessin Cecilie arriving in Bremerhaven for the first time. This was a special occasion as her namesake, Cecilie von Mecklenburg herself was present to visit the ship that was named after her. The Crown princess was so impressed and proud of this immaculate liner that she sent the Captain a personal telegram when the ship departured in which she wished the Captain a pleasant voyage wishing the liner a long and prosporous life. The photograph on the right shows the Kronprinzessin Cecilie leaving Bremen outbound for New York, looking as prisitine as she could be, majestic, proud and inviting, which led her to become the publics' favorite as soon as she hit the water.
