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After
World War One, the HAPAG fleet was essentially gone,
either destroyed or taken for reparations. Albert Ballin, the visionary
behind HAPAG, was so devastated by the destruction of all he had
worked for, that he took his own life in 1918.
By
1926, HAPAG once again had 116 ships totalling 670,000 GRT.
As a result, the first ship built for HAPAG after
the war was named Albert Ballin. She was completed in 1923
and sailed for HAPAG until 1934.
The
Albert Ballin
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The
President Lincoln
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How often do you see a British-built ship named
after an American president flying the German flag? Twice! The President
Lincoln and President Grant were ordered in 1903 from
Harland and Wolff of Belfast for British lines but the orders were
cancelled. HAPAG bought them, and they began sailing in 1907. These
were mainly immigrant ships with small cabin populations and 1,000
steerage berths.
They were seized by the US Navy in 1914, and
the Lincoln was sunk in 1917. The Grant survived the
war and remained in American hands until she was scrapped in 1951.
HAPAG turned out three grand liners in the years
just before World War One in an effort to compete with the British
for transatlantic dominancy, and all three were seized by the Allies
as reparations for tonnage lost.
The first was the Imperator, completed
by Vulkan in 1913. At 909 feet and 52,117 GRT, she was the
largest ship the world had ever seen. And, if she was not impressive
enough, she had at her bow an enormous gilt eagle, clutching the
earth in its talons with the HAPAG motto "Mein Felt ist die
Welt" (the world is my scope) on a scroll beneath. King Neptune,
however, apparently thought differently, because large waves swatted
the wings right off the eagle on an early crossing. It was removed
and never replaced.
Under the visionary guidance of Albert Ballin,
the prewar HAPAG trio had splendid Teutonic interiors, at least
for the first class. The social rooms featured large arched windows,
potted palms and enormous, elaborate skylights.
In typical German fashion, there was heavy emphasis
on sport and exercise on board, and the Imperator featured
an enormous indoor swimming pool in Roman style, modelled after
the Royal Auto Club in London.
A year later, she was laid up in Hamburg to wait
out World War 1, and was taken by the allies in 1919. In 1921, she
was sold to Cunard, converted to burn oil, and renamed Berengaria,
where she served out her career until she burned in 1938 and was
scrapped.
The
Imperator
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The second of this grand trio was the Vaterland,
built by Blohm & Voss. When delivered in 1914, she took over
from the Imperator the title of largest ship, at 54,282 GRT
and 948 feet long. She carried a whopping 3,900 passengers (of whom
1,700 were steerage), and her first-class public spaces were again
lavish. The dining room was two decks high, with cieling vaults
and false balconies around its perimeter, and capped with an oval
cieling mural ringed with lamps.
Her commercial career under the German flag lasted
only a few months, as she was interred in New York in 1914. She
joined the war in 1917 as the Navy transport USS Leviathan.
After the war, she was given to United States
Lines, commencing transatlantic crossings in 1923. She remained
in this duty until 1934, when she was laid up again until she was
scrapped in 1938.
The
Vaterland
This
and literally hundreds of other high-quality prints
are available for purchase from www.kinshipsprints.com.
© kinshipsprints.com - used with permission
The Bismark, also built at Blohm &
Voss, was bigger yet (56,550 tons, 956 feet), and her career under
the German flag was even shorter (as in... none). She was not yet
complete when World War 1 erupted, and thus awaited the war in the
docks at Hamburg.
In 1919, she was given to Britain for reparations,
and joined the White Star Line as their Majestic.
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