Barbarossa class ocean liner

The "Barbarossa" class was a class of ocean liners of North German Lloyd and the Hamburg America Line of the German Empire. Of the ten ships built between 1896 and 1902, six were built by AG Vulcan Stettin, three were built by Blohm and Voss, and one was built by F. Schichau; all were built in Germany. They averaged , and larger than the other "Barbarossa"-class ships and a full liners, two, and NDL shared. [Bonsor, Vol. 1, p. 408, 410.] Displeased with the Far East service, and , launched in August and November 1901. "Moltke" spent time on North Atlantic and Mediterranean routes; "Blücher" on North Atlantic and South American routes.Bonsor, Vol. 1, p. 410.]

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I, rather than face capture or destruction at the hands of the British Royal Navy, most of the "Barbarossa"-class ships were interned in neutral ports. "König Albert" and "Moltke" were interned at Genoa,Bonsor, Vol. 2, p. 566.] while "Blücher" was interned at Pernambuco, Brazil. Five ships were interned at U.S.-controlled ports: four—"Barbarossa", "Friedrich der Grosse", "Prinzess Irene", and "Hamburg"—were interned at Hoboken, New Jersey and "Princess Alice" was interned at Cebu, Philippine Islands. Only "Königin Luise" and "Bremen" were in German ports, where they remained throughout the war.Bonsor, Vol. 2, p. 559–60.] In September 1914, "Hamburg" was briefly renamed and chartered to the American Red Cross. Sailing under the name "Red Cross", she made one roundtrip voyage to Europe before returning to New York, and her previous name.Bonsor, Vol. 1, p. 410.]

As Italy, the United States, and Brazil successively joined the war, each seized the interned "Barbarossa" ships (along with all other German and Austro-Hungarian ships) and renamed them. In Italy, "Moltke" became "Pesaro", while "König Albert" became hospital ship "Ferdinando Palasciano"; in Brazil, "Blücher" became "Leopoldina". The five ships interned under U.S. control all became United States Navy transport ships, and were renamed as follows:
* "Barbarossa" became USS "Mercury" (ID-3012)
* "Friedrich der Grosse" became USS "Huron" (ID-1408)
* "Prinzess Irene" became USS "Pocahontas" (ID-3044)Drechsel, p. 231–32.]
* "Hamburg" became USS "Powhatan" (ID-3013)
* "Princess Alice" became USS "Princess Matoika" (ID-2290)Drechsel, p. 338–39.] These five ex-German transports carried over 95,000 American troops to France before the Armistice. [Gleaves, p. 246, 248.]

Postwar service

At the conclusion of World War I, war reparations permanently assigned the eight seized ships to the nations that held them. Further, "Königin Luise" and "Bremen", safely laid up in Germany during the war, were assigned to the UK. Apart from those two, only two other "Barbarossa"-class ships changed national registry after the war. Brazil sold "Leopoldina" (the ex-"Blücher") to the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique which operated her under the name "Suffren". "Pocahontas" (the ex-"Prinzess Irene") was laid up in Gibraltar after mechanical failures and was purchased by NDL in 1923. She became the only member of the "Barbarossa" class to resume sailing under the German flag. First renamed "Bremen" and later "Karlsruhe" (to free the name "Bremen" for a newer ship), she sailed primarily on the Bremen–New York route.

In 1922, "City of Honolulu" (the ex-"Friedrich der Grosse"), sailing on her first roundtrip on the Los Angeles–Honolulu route for the Los Angeles Steamship Company, caught fire and burned in a calm sea. No one on board was killed or injured when the lifeboats were launched, and when towing the burned hulk proved unsuccessful, the ship was sunk by gunfire from a United States Coast Guard Cutter; she was the only member of the "Barbarossa" class to sink. By the end of the 1920s, six more "Barbarossa" ships had met their ends at the hands of shipbreakers, and none of the remaining three ships would survive the next decade. All were scrapped by 1935, bringing an end to the career of the "Barbarossa" class.

The ships

Notes

References

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