SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse ( Ger . orth . " Kaiser Wilhelm der Große " ) was a German transatlantic ocean liner named after Wilhelm I , German Emperor , the first ruler of united Germany . Constructed in Stettin for the North German Lloyd ( NDL ) , she entered service in 1897 and was the first liner to have four funnels . The first of four " sister ships " built between 1903 and 1907 by NDL ( the others being , the and the ) she marked the beginning of a huge change in the way maritime supremacy was demonstrated in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century . The ship began a new era in ocean travel and the novelty of having four funnels was quickly associated with size , strength , speed and above all luxury . Quickly established on the Atlantic , she gained the Blue Riband for Germany , a notable prize for the quickest trip from Europe to America which had been previously dominated by the British . In 1900 , she was involved in a fire in the port of New York which resulted in several deaths . She was also the victim of a naval ram in the French port of Cherbourg in 1906 . With the advent of her sister ships , she was then converted to an all third class ship to take advantage of the lucrative immigrant market travelling to the United States . Converted into an auxiliary cruiser during World War I , she was given orders to capture and destroy enemy ships within the first months of the war . Relatively successful , she destroyed several enemy ships before eventually being destroyed in the Battle of Río de Oro in August 1914 , the first month of the war , by the British cruiser . Her wreck was rediscovered in 1952 and then dismantled . A once popular ship , she has largely been forgotten , having been overshadowed by her British counterparts . History . Origins , conception and construction . At the end of the 19th century , the United Kingdom dominated maritime trade with the ocean liners of the principal maritime companies such as the Cunard and the White Star Line . Having gained more influence in Europe after William I , German Emperor , his grandfather , had created the German Empire in 1870 , Emperor Wilhelm II wished to consolidate German influence on the waves and thus decrease that of the British . In 1889 , the Emperor himself had attended a naval review in honour of the jubilee of his grandmother Queen Victoria . There he saw the strength and size of these British ships , notably the latest and then largest liner owned by White Star , the . He particularly admired that these ships could easily be converted to auxiliary cruisers in time of conflict . Leaving a lasting impression , the emperor was heard to say that " We must have some of these . . . " clearly showing they had had a lasting effect . The " Norddeutscher Lloyd " , commonly known as NDL or North German Lloyd , was one of only two German maritime companies which had any influence in the hugely profitable transatlantic shipping market . Neither of these lines had up until now shown any interest in operating large liners . NDL , however , was the first company to name any of their liners in honour of members of the Imperial family , purely to flatter the emperor . The company also had important links with the naval architects AG Vulkan of Stettin . NDL then approached Vulkan and commissioned them to construct a new " superliner " , which was to be named the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse . The new ship would set a new style for ocean liners . She was the largest and longest liner afloat and would have been the largest ever had it not been for the of 1860 . The launching of the ship took place on 4 May 1897 in the presence of the Imperial family ; it was the emperor who baptised the ship whose name honoured his grandfather Emperor William I , " " the Great " " . Construction and the internal decoration of the liner took place in Bremerhaven and before long she was ready to begin her regular crossings , her maiden voyage being scheduled for September the same year . The most striking feature of the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " was her four funnels , the first ship ever to sport such a quartet , which for the next two decades , would be a symbol of size and safety . Career . The " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " set out on her maiden voyage on 19 September 1897 , travelling from Bremerhaven to Southampton and thence to New York . With a capacity of 800 third class passengers , the NDL had ensured that they would profit greatly from the immigrants wishing to leave the continent for a better standard of living in the United States . From her maiden voyage , she was the only superliner to cross the Atlantic with such speed and such media attention . In March 1898 , she successfully gained the Blue Riband with an average crossing speed of 22 . 3 knots , thus establishing the new German competitiveness . The Blue Riband , an award given for the fastest crossing of the North Atlantic , east and westbound , had previously been held by the Cunard liner . This turn of events was closely watched by the maritime world of the era , who were eager to see how the British would retaliate . However , the NDL soon lost the riband in 1900 to the new German superliner , the aptly named " Deutschland " of the Hamburg America Line . This change in events was acceptable to Germans , who were able to relax in the knowledge that they were still the owners of the fastest liner ; however , NDL promptly ordered that the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " undergo a refit to ensure that they were the dominant German company . This refit included the installation of wireless communication , then new technology which allowed the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " to transmit telegraphic messages to a port , emphasising her image of security . The NDL took the battle even further . 1901 saw the addition to their fleet of another four - funnel liner , named the in honour of Crown Prince William , heir to the German throne , and they subsequently commissioned another two superliners , the and the of 1903 and 1907 respectively . From 1903 to 1907 the Blue Riband was held by the SS " Kaiser Wilhelm II " . The company stated that the four liners were of the renowned " Kaiser class " and decided to market them as the " Four Flyers " , a reference to their speed and associations with the Blue Riband . The career of the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " , despite its prestige , was not without incident . In June 1900 at her quay in Hoboken , New Jersey , she was the victim of a fire which killed one hundred staff who were trying to remove the threat . Six years later , on 21 November 1906 , she was the victim of a naval ram inflicted by the " Orinoco " , a British ship of the Royal Mail , in Cherbourg . Five passengers lost their lives in the incident and the liner was found to have an 8 metre rip in her hull . To make matters worse , ever growing technological evolution of steamships soon made NDL ' s express steamers outdated . Cunard ' s and her sister the outmatched their German rivals on all fields , and when the future White Star ' s entered service in 1911 , luxury on the high seas was taken one step further . As a result , the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " was rebuilt in 1913 to carry Third Class passengers only . It seemed that her glory was fading regardless of her career as the first " four stacker " . From 26 January 1907 , she was charged with carrying passengers between the Mediterranean Sea and New York , effectively ending the public career of the first of the " four flyers " . First World War . From 1908 , German naval captains had been receiving orders to make preparations in the event of a sudden war . In fact , the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " was soon fitted with cannons and thus transformed into an auxiliary cruiser . Across the world , supply ships carrying weapons and provisions were ready to convert merchant vessels into armed auxiliary cruisers . In August 1914 , international relations reached crisis point . Germany declared war on the British as well as the French . The " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " was requisitioned and turned into an armed cruiser , painted in grey and black . Her commander at the time , Captain Reymann , operated not only under the rules of war , but also the rules of mercy . Reymann soon sank three ships , the " Tubal Cain " , the " Kaipara " and the " Nyanza " , but only after taking their occupants on board . Further south in the Atlantic , the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " encountered two passenger liners : the " Galician " and the " Arlanza " . Reymann ' s first intention was to sink both vessels , but , discovering that they had many women and children on board , he let them go . In this early stage of the war , it was thought that it could be fought in a chivalrous fashion . However , soon it was to become a total war and ships would no longer be warned before being fired upon . As the " Kaiser " approached the west coast of Africa , her coal bunkers were almost empty and needed refilling . She stopped at Río de Oro , ( Villa Cisneros , former Spanish Sahara ) where German and Austrian colliers started the task of refuelling her . The task of coaling was still going on on 26 August , when suddenly the British cruiser appeared . Reymann quickly prepared his ship and crew for battle and steamed out to engage the enemy after disembarking his prisoners of war . A fierce battle took place , but came to a dramatic end when the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " ran out of ammunition . According to the Germans , rather than let the enemy capture the onetime pride of Germany , Reymann ordered the ship to be scuttled using dynamite , which was already in position should this situation ever arise . On detonation , the explosives tore a massive hole in the ship , causing her to capsize . This version of events was disputed by the British , who stated that the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " had been badly damaged and sinking when Reymann ordered it to be abandoned . The British firmly believed that it was gunfire from HMS " Highflyer " which sank the German ship . Reymann managed to swim to shore , and he made his way back to Germany by working as a stoker on a neutral vessel . ( Most of the crew were taken prisoner and held in the Amherst Internment Camp in Nova Scotia for the remainder of the war . ) The downfall of such great liners in the event of war was their huge fuel consumption . Most liners were subsequently converted from cruisers to hospital ship s or troopships . Characteristics . Technical aspects . The " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " measured 200 meters long and had a width of 20 meters . Her overall weight was 14 , 349 gross tonnes . In fact , her dimensions were similar to those of the 1860 " Great Eastern " , which was the largest ship of its time . As already noted , her four funnels were her most unique feature . People associated the safety of an ocean liner with the number of " stacks " or funnels they had . Some passengers would in fact refuse to board ships if they did not have four funnels . In an age when ocean travel was not as safe as today , it was important to ensure that passengers felt at ease . The special improvement in the arrangement of this steamer , as compared with other express steamers previously built by the NDL or other companies , consisted in the entire upper deck . Like many four - funnelled liners , " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " did not actually require that many . She had only two uptake shafts from the boiler rooms , which then each branched into two to connect to the four funnels — this design is the reason for the funnels being unequally spaced . " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " became the first liner to have a commercial wireless telegraphy system when the Marconi Company installed one in February 1900 . Communications were demonstrated with systems installed at the Borkum Island lighthouse and Borkum Riff lightship 30 km ( 18 . 6 mi ; 16 . 2 nmi ) northwest of the island , as well as with British stations . The ship was powered by with two triple expansion reciprocating engines as well as and had two 22 ' 3 - 3 / 4 " propellers , allowing her to reach speeds of over 20 knots . The engines were noted for their stability . The engines were balanced on the Schlick system , which prevented movement being transferred to the body of the ship , thus reducing unpleasant vibration . Interiors . As a large passenger ship , the " Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse " was built to carry a maximum of 1 , 506 passengers : 206 first class ; 226 second class ; 1 , 074 third class . At the time of her construction , she had a crew numbering a mere 488 . However following her refit of 1913 , her crew space was increased to 800 . The décor of ship was in the style of Baroque revival , overseen by Johann Poppe , who carried out all of the interior decoration . This was unique as usually a ship would have several interior designers . The interiors were graced with statues , mirrors , tapestries , gilding and various portraits of the Imperial family . The interiors of her sister ships were also placed in the hands of Poppe . The first class salon was noted for its tapestries and its blue seating . The smoking room , a traditionally male preserve , was made to look like a typical German inn . The dining room , capable of holding all passengers in one sitting , rose several decks and was crowned with a dome . The room also had columns and had its chairs fixed to the deck , a typical feature of ocean liners of the era .