Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; lit. North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic development of Bremen and Bremerhaven. On 1 September 1970, the company merged with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.

History

Establishment of the NDL

1857 NDL prospectus announcing formation of the company and offering stock for sale

The German shipping company North German Lloyd (NDL) was founded by the Bremen merchants Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann on 20 February 1857, after the dissolution of the Ocean Steam Navigation Company, a joint German-American enterprise.[1][2][3][4][5] The new shipping company had no direct association with the British maritime classification society Lloyd's Register; by the mid-19th century, "Lloyd" was used as a term for a shipping company[6] (an earlier user of the term in the same context was the Trieste-based Österreichischer Lloyd, originally intended to be modelled on Lloyd's of London).

H. H. Meier became NDL's first chairman of the supervisory board, and Crüsemann became the first director of the company (German Aktiengesellschaft – AG). Crüsemann was in charge of both cargo services and passenger transport, which, as a result of emigration, was growing significantly. The company was also active in other areas, including tugboats, bathing, insurance, and ship repair (the last of which it still provides). The first office of the shipping company was located at number 13 Martinistraße in Bremen.

The company started with a route to England prior to starting a transatlantic service. In 1857, the first ship, the Adler (Eagle), began regular passenger service between the Weser region (where Bremen is located) and England. On 28 October 1857, it made its maiden voyage from Nordenham to London.[7]

Just one year later, regular, scheduled services were started between the new port in Bremerhaven and New York using two 2,674 GRT steamships, the Bremen and the New York. International economic crises made the start of the NDL extremely difficult, and the company took losses until 1859.[7] During the succeeding years, passenger connections to Baltimore and New Orleans were added to the schedule, and the company first rented and then in 1869 bought facilities on the waterfront in Hoboken, New Jersey.[8]

In 1867–1868, NDL began a partnership with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which initiated the Baltimore Line; until 1978, this had its own ships. In 1869, Crüsemann died at only 43 years old. From 1877 to 1892, the director of NDL was Johann Georg Lohmann. He established a new policy for the company, emphasizing fast liners. Eventually H. H. Meier and Lohmann fell out over the direction of the company. In 1892, a 5,481 GRT twin-screw steamer, the company's first, was christened the H.H. Meier after the founder;[9] this helped to heal the breach between them.[10]

Foundation of the German Empire

Headquarters of North German Lloyd in Bremerhaven in 1870

During the Gründerzeit at the beginning of the German Empire, the NDL expanded greatly. Thirteen new ships of the "Strassburg class" were ordered. A route to the West Indies offered from 1871 to 1874 proved unprofitable, but was followed by a permanent line to the east coast of South America. On the transatlantic route, the HAPAG, the Holland-America Line, and the Red Star Line were now all fierce rivals. Beginning in 1881 with the Elbe, eleven fast steamships of from 4500 to 6,900 GRT of the so-called "Rivers class" (all named for German rivers), were introduced to serve the North Atlantic trade.[11]

In 1885, the NDL won the commission to provide postal service between the German Empire and Australia and the Far East.[12] The associated subsidy underwrote further expansion, beginning with the first large-scale order placed with a German shipyard, for three postal steamers for the major routes and three smaller steamers for branch service from AG Vulcan Stettin. It was in fact a requirement of the commission that the ships be built in Germany.

By 1890, with 66 ships of a total 251,602 GRT, NDL was the second largest shipping company in the world, after the British Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, with 48 ships of a total 251,603 GRT, and dominated shipping to Germany, with 31.6% of the traffic. NDL was also carrying more transatlantic passengers to New York than any other company, due to its dominance in steerage, which consisted mostly of immigrants. In cabin class, it carried only slightly more passengers than the British Cunard Line and White Star Line. 42% of NDL's passenger traffic was to New York, and 15% to other US ports, but only 16.2% eastward-bound from New York. Its westbound South Atlantic service represented 17.3% of its passengers; eastbound from South America, only 1.7%.

In 1887, the NDL withdrew from the route to England in favor of Argo Reederei, but continued to provide tug services through participation beginning in 1899 in the Schleppschifffahrtsgesellschaft Unterweser (Unterweser Tug Association, now Unterweser Reederei).[13]

One of the four-stackers of the NDL, SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse

One of the four-stackers of the NDL, SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse

SS Kronprinz Wilhelm

SS Kronprinz Wilhelm

SS Kaiser wilhelm II

SS Kaiser wilhelm II

SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie

SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie

Expansion and dominance

Bond of the Norddeutscher Lloyd, issued 1 March 1908

H. H. Meyer stood down from the board in 1888; he was succeeded by Friedrich Reck. Johann Georg Lohmann became director of the company; following his death in 1892, Reck stepped down and Georg Plate became chairman. The lawyer Heinrich Wiegand became Director; from 1899 onwards, his title was Director General. He held this position until 1909,[7] and presided over appreciable expansion.

In 1897, with the commissioning of SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große, the NDL finally had a major ship for the North Atlantic. This was the largest and fastest ship in the world, and the company benefited from the reputation advantage of the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing, with an average speed of 22.3 knots. Between 1897 and 1907, the line followed with three further twin-screw and four-funnel steamers of the Kaiser class, of 14,000–19,000 GRT: the SS Kronprinz Wilhelm, the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II and the SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie. With these the company offered a regular service across the Atlantic to its docks at Hoboken, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York. On June 30, 1900 over 300 Dock workers and people were killed in a fire at the Hoboken docks.

North Germany Lloyd's docks in Hoboken, 1909

So began the "decade of Germans" in transatlantic shipping, in which the NDL and the HAPAG dominated the routes with several record-breaking ships and vied with the British Cunard Line and the White Star Line as the largest shipping companies in the world. In 1902 and 1904, two NDL ships again won the Blue Riband: SS Kronprinz Wilhelm, now with an average speed of 23.09 kn (26.57 mph; 42.76 km/h) for the westbound passage from Cherbourg to New York and Kaiser Wilhelm II at 23.58 kn (27.14 mph; 43.67 km/h) on the eastbound passage. In 1907, RMS Lusitania, and then in 1909, RMS Mauretania, both of the British Cunard Line, won the Blue Riband back for the British, and Mauretania then retained it until 1929.[7]

Between 1894 and 1908, NDL ordered many other freight and passenger steamers from several German yards. These included the Barbarossa class (over 10,000 GRT, for Australia, the Far East, and the North Atlantic) and the Generals class (approximately 8,500 BRT, for the Far East and Australia).

NDL in the 20th century

Kaiser Wilhelm II speaking at the departure of SS Friedrich Der Grosse with German troops to put down the Boxer Rebellion in China

Beginning in 1899, the NDL expanded into the Pacific, acquiring the entire fleets of two small British lines, the Scottish Oriental Steamship Company and the Holt East Indian Ocean Steamship Company, and setting up between 14 and 16 passenger and freight routes in conjunction with the postal service.[14] In 1900, 14 of NDL's passenger ships were requisitioned as troop transports due to the Boxer Rebellion in China; on 27 July, Kaiser Wilhelm II delivered his infamous Hun speech, in which he compared the military of the German Empire to the Huns, at the departure ceremony for Friedrich Der Grosse.[15][16] This inspired Britain later, when they seized a number of German ships, to rename them to names beginning with "Hun", such as "Huntsgreen" and "Huntsend".[citation needed] In German, these ships were collectively named "Hunnendampfer" (Huns' steamers).[17]

At the beginning of the 20th century, the U.S. banking magnate J. P. Morgan began to acquire a number of shipping companies, including the White Star Line, the Leyland Line, and the Red Star Line, to build a transatlantic monopoly. He succeeded in signing both HAPAG and NDL to an alliance, but was unable to acquire the British Cunard Line, and the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT).[18] HAPAG and NDL gave Morgan the largest U.S. rail company, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and so Morgan offered to divide the market. The Holland-America Line and the Red Star Line together divided a contract for the passengers of the four companies. Ruinous competition was prevented. In 1912, the Morgan Agreement was terminated.[19]

In 1907, the Norddeutscher Lloyd's fiftieth anniversary, it had 93 vessels, 51 smaller vessels, two sail training vessels and other river steamers. NDL had around 15,000 employees. Because of the high investment costs and an international economic crisis, the shipping company celebrated at this time but also had considerable financial difficulties.[20]

NDL Headquarters Building built in 1907–10

Despite the financial difficulties, between 1907 and 1910 the company built a new headquarters on Papenburgstrasse in Bremen, the prestigious NDL Building to plans by architect Johann Poppe, who was also the lead interior designer for the company's liners. The building, the largest in the city at the time, was in eclectic Renaissance Revival style with a tower. It was sold in 1942 to Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau and when the company was broken up into its constituent parts after World War II, passed to AG Weser. The building had been severely damaged by bombing and was demolished and a Horten department store built on the site in 1969. The adjacent new shopping mall bears the name Lloyd Passage.[21]

The lucrative North Atlantic route was extremely competitive in this period, with new, attractive ships from other large companies including the RMS Lusitania, RMS Mauretania, and RMS Aquitania, of the Cunard Line, and the RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic, and RMS Britannic of the White Star Line. The HAPAG introduced three new vessels of the Imperator class, SS Imperator, SS Vaterland, and SS Bismarck, with a size of 50,000 GRT. The NDL responded with smaller but prestigious vessels such as the SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm and the SS George Washington, and transferred the SS Berlin from Mediterranean service to the New York run. Finally in 1914 the company ordered two 33,000 GRT liners of the Columbus class; World War I prevented their completion.[22]

In this era of "open borders" to transatlantic travel, the largest passenger group making the transatlantic crossing were immigrants from Europe to the United States, and NDL carried more than any other steamship line.[23] During 1900–1914, the three NDL vessels carrying the most transatlantic migrants, Rhein, Main and Neckar, each brought over 100 thousand steerage passengers to New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia.[24] The economic downturn following the Panic of 1907 led to a sharp fall-off of migrant traffic to America, only partially offset by increased steerage flows back to Europe, and this was the main contributing factor to "one of the blackest years in the Company's history."[25]

In 1914, NDL employed approximately 22,000 people. Its success thus directly influenced the rapid growth of the city of Bremerhaven, which had been founded only in 1827.

Director General Dr. Wiegand died in 1909, and was succeeded by Director Phillip Heineken until 1920.[26][27]

NDL's routes around 1907

SS Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm of 1907

SS Columbus of 1914

SS Zeppelin of 1915

This is a list of routes served by NDL in 1907.[28]

Europe – America

Bremerhaven – New York

Bremerhaven – Baltimore

Bremerhaven – Savannah

Bremerhaven – Galveston

Bremerhaven – Cuba

Bremerhaven – La Plata ports

Bremerhaven – Brazil

Genoa – New York

Mediterranean

Marseilles – Alexandria

Europe – Asia/Australia

Bremerhaven – East Asia

Bremerhaven – Australia

Asia / Australia (including coastal routes)

Hong Kong – Japan – New Guinea

Hong Kong – Bangkok

Hong Kong – Bangkok (via Singapore)

Hong Kong Straits

Hong Kong – South Philippines

Penang – Deli

Deli – Singapore

Singapore – Bangkok

Singapore – South Philippines

Singapore – Moluccas (on Borneo)

Singapore – Moluccas (on Celebes)

Shanghai – Hankow

Australia – Japan – Manila – Hong Kong

German coast

Daytrip service on the Baltic coast

Tug service Bremen – Hamburg and Bremen – Bremerhaven

Passenger shipping Bremen – Bremerhaven

World War I

The second Columbus of 1924

For NDL as a civilian shipping line, the beginning of World War I was a trial, as well as a logistical challenge because a large part of the fleet was at sea around the World. However, most ships were able to reach neutral ports. The logistical operations of NDL in Bremerhaven were placed almost exclusively at the service of the German Navy.[29] NDL owned a majority interest in the Deutsche Ozean-Reederei ("German Ocean Shipping Service"), which used U-boats for trade and made some successful Atlantic crossings.

Post war

At the start of the war, the NDL's fleet totaled more than 900,000 GRT. Under the Treaty of Versailles at war's end, all ships over 1,600 GRT and half of all units from 100 to 1,600 GRT were confiscated.[30] The United States had already confiscated in 1917 the facilities in Hoboken and the NDL ships at the dock there. The prewar NDL fleet no longer existed.[29] The company was left with some small ships totalling 57,000 GRT. With these the company restarted daytrip passenger service, tug service, and freight service in 1919. The 'flagship' was the 781-ton Grüß Gott.[31] From 1920 to 1939, NDL participated in the Seedienst Ostpreußen passenger and goods service to East Prussia.

In 1920, an air transport subsidiary was founded and soon merged with Sablatnig Flugzeugbau GmbH to form Lloyd Luftverkehr Sablatnig. In 1923 this combined with HAPAG's air transport subsidiary to form Deutscher Aero Lloyd, which on 6 January 1926 merged with Junkers Luftverkehr AG to become Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G., the predecessor of Lufthansa.

In August 1920, the NDL made an agency agreement with the U.S. Mail Steamship Co. (beginning in 1921, United States Lines). This made it possible to resume transatlantic service from Bremerhaven to New York with the former Rhein, now sailing under the US flag as the Susquehanna.[32] The unfinished Columbus had been awarded to Great Britain after the war and was bought in 1920 by White Star, which had lost significant tonnage in the war and also wished to make up for the pre-war loss of the Titanic. Work at Danzig proceeded very slowly. Finally in autumn 1921 the so-called Columbus Agreement was reached, under which the German government and NDL undertook to facilitate rapid completion of the Columbus in exchange for the British government returning ownership to the NDL of six smaller ships which had spent the war years in South America: the postal steamers Seydlitz and Yorck, the Gotha, and the freighters Göttingen, Westfalen and Holstein.[33] The company also began to build new freighters and passenger ships and to buy back other ships.[34] In late 1921, service to South America was resumed with the Seydlitz, and in early 1922, East Asian service with the Westfalen. On 12 February 1922, service to New York with NDL's own ships resumed with Seydlitz.[35] The other ship of the Columbus class, the 32,354 GRT former Hindenburg, was completed in 1924 and named Columbus; she was placed in scheduled transatlantic passenger service.

Flagships of North German Lloyd in 1930 – Bremen and Europa, the biggest German liners

A brief post-war boom was followed by severe inflation in Germany, despite which NDL continued to expand their fleet. Twelve new ships of between 8,700 and 11,400 GRT were placed in service for South and Central America and the Far East, then in addition to Columbus three new ships of between 13,000 and 15,000 GRT for the North Atlantic (the München, Stuttgart and Berlin), and in 1927 the former Zeppelin was bought back from Great Britain and placed in service as the Dresden.[36]

In 1920, Carl Stimming became director general of NDL, while his predecessor Heineken became chairman of the board. Between 1925 and 1928, the company acquired a number of German shipping companies: HABAL, the Roland Line, and Argo.[37][38] The acquisition of the Roland Line brought Ernst Glässel onto the board of directors, where he was to have increasing influence. In 1926, the company were once more able to pay a dividend. American credit financed continuing expansion and orders for new ships.

SS Bremen depicted on a German postage stamp

In 1929 and 1930, the company placed its two largest ships in service, SS Bremen (51,656 GRT) and SS Europa (49,746 GRT). With an average speed of about 27.9 knots, both were to take the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossings.[29] In 1929, Columbus was completely refitted.

From 1928 to 1939, the volume of passengers travelling between the US and Europe declined sharply. In 1928, the NDL transported about 8% of a passenger volume of 1,168,414 passengers; in 1932, 16.2% of the 751,592 passengers transported; in 1938, around 11% of 685,655 passengers. In addition, there was significant new competition from new Italian, French and British superliners: the Italian SS Rex (51,062 GRT) and SS Conte di Savoia (48,502 GRT), the French SS Normandie (79,280 GRT), and the British RMS Queen Mary (80,744 GRT).[39]

SS General von Steuben of 1923

The 1929 economic crisis which began in the US affected the German shipping companies. The NDL and the HAPAG therefore entered into a cooperation agreement in 1930, and beginning in 1935, instituted joint operations in the North Atlantic.[40] The first signs of a merger were visible. By 1932, the NDL was in an economic crisis, with about 5,000 employees let go, salary cuts, and red ink. Glässel was dismissed. The government placed both NDL and HAPAG in trusteeship under Siegfried von Roedern, and following the death of Stimming, Heinrich F. Albert briefly became head of the NDL, followed after some eighteen months by the National Socialist Rudolph Firle.[41][42] Bremen State Councillor Karl Lindemann was chairman of the board from 1933 to 1945.[43] A programme of economic recovery by divestments and restructuring was initiated. HBAL and the Roland Line became independent companies once more, and other lines took over services to Africa and the Mediterranean. The Nazi regime ordered both NDL and HAPAG to relinquish ships to other lines which were to operate in their regions without competition from other German companies, in particular to Hamburg Süd, the Deutsche Afrika-Linien and the Deutsche Levante Linie.[44]

In 1935, the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Potsdam, each with about 18,000 GRT, were placed in service for the Far East. The modernization of the fleet continued and in 1937 the line made modest profits.

In 1939 the Erlangen slipped out of Lyttelton Harbour (New Zealand) on 28 August, on the eve of World War II, ostensibly for Port Kembla, New South Wales, where she was to have filled her coal bunkers for the homeward passage to Europe. She then headed for the subantarctic Auckland Islands, where she successfully evaded the cruiser HMNZS Leander, and re-stocked with food and wood. The freighter then made a desperate and successful escape, using jury-rigged sails, to Valparaíso, Chile, in South America. She then made her way into the South Atlantic where, on 24 July 1941, she was intercepted off Montevideo by HMS Newcastle and scuttled by her crew.[45]

In 1939 NDL had in service 70 vessels with a total of 562,371 GRT, including the sail training vessel Kommodore Johnsen (now the Russian STS Sedov), 3 daytrip ships, 19 tugs and 125 small ships, and employed 12,255, 8,811 on vessels. Nine further freighters were completed after the outbreak of World War II. This entire fleet was either lost during the war or awarded to the Allies as reparations. Columbus had to be sunk in 1939; Bremen burned in 1941; Steuben was sunk in the Baltic in 1945 with the loss of some 4,000 lives; Europa, claimed by France, became the Liberté in 1947.[29]

The Reich was the primary stockholder in the company, but in 1941/42, NDL was once more privatized and cigarette manufacturer Philipp Reemtsma became primary stockholder.[46] Dr. Johannes Kulenkampff, a board member since 1932, and Richard Bertram, a board member since 1937, became Chairman in 1942.

After World War II

At the end of World War II the company's headquarters (which had in any case been sold in 1942[47]) had been severely damaged by bombing and all its large vessels either destroyed or seized. It was left with only the freighter Bogotá, which was in Japan. Relicensed by the American military administration on November 29, 1945 as a "coastal shipping and stevedoring company," it started again, as after World War I, practically from zero, offering tugboat and daytripper services.

The MS Gripsholm, later the NDL's MS Berlin

Two NDL cargo ships in Antofagasta – 1963

Participants of the fourth large Bremer NDL meeting on 20 February 2013

Kulenkampff and Bertram constituted the Board and there were at first only 350 employees. In 1948, the first Hapag-Lloyd travel agency opened. Business initially consisted of emigration and a limited amount of tourism. Beginning in 1949, German companies were permitted to order and to build ships of up to 7,200 GRT. In 1950, the NDL placed its first post-war orders at the Bremer Vulkan shipyard, the Rheinstein class (2,791 GRT, 13 knots).[48]

After the limitations on German shipping imposed by the Allies were lifted in 1951,[49][50] the NDL commenced building a new fleet. First it bought older freighters (for example the Nabob, a former American auxiliary aircraft carrier) and had new freighters built between 4,000 and 9,000 GRT and 5,000 and 13,000 DWT, all with names ending in -stein. The line had routes to Canada, New Orleans, the Canary Islands, and beginning in 1953 to the Far East.

Passenger service resumed in 1955 using a rebuilt 1924 Swedish ship, the 17,993 GRT MS Gripsholm.[51] Renamed Berlin, she was the sixth German ship of that name, the fourth at NDL, and sailed North Atlantic routes. In 1959, the company added the 32,336 GRT Bremen (formerly Pasteur), and in 1965, the 21,514 GRT Europa (formerly Kungsholm), Gripsholm's sister ship bought from the Swedish American Line, with a capacity of 843 passengers.[29] These vessels were first placed in scheduled service to America but soon transferred to cruising. In 1967, the 10,481 GRT express freighter Friesenstein (21.5 knots) inaugurated the Friesenstein class and replaced Nabob and Schwabenstein. Passenger service was running at an increasing deficit, and the rapidly growing container traffic required cost-intensive retooling in the freight business. In 1968 NDL inaugurated container service to the USA with the 13,384 GRT Weser-Express; two more container ships were soon added.

Around 1960, NDL had 47 ships, a number that remained almost unchanged until 1970. In 1968, the fleet totaled 343,355 GRT (in 1970, 391,313 GRT) and was the 16th largest shipping company worldwide; HAPAG, with 410,786 GRT, was the 9th largest.[52] In 1970, NDL had a turnover of 515 million DM and share capital of 54 million DM, and employed 6,200 people, 3,500 of them at sea.[53]

In 1967, Claus Wätjen and Dr. Horst Willner, and in 1969 Karl-Heinz Sager, joined the Board. Kulenkampff served on the Board until 1968 and Bertram until 1970. Since the NDL was already executing three quarters of its freight business in association with HAPAG, a merger of the two largest German shipping companies was entirely logical.[54]

On September 1, 1970, the North German Lloyd merged with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) to form Hapag-Lloyd AG, based in Hamburg with secondary headquarters in Bremen.[29][55]

On 20 February 2007, a small group of dedicated, former member of the North German Lloyd organized for the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the shipping company a meeting at the Bremer Ratskeller. This event was very popular, so it was decided to carry out in the following years further meetings. – Meanwhile, the meetings take place annually on the twentieth of February in Bremen in the former Lloyd's building – today Courtyard Marriott hotel.

Legacy

NDL's emblem on the wall of the former company headquarters at the Bremen main station

The new company has Lloyd as part of its name.

The Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, with its headquarters in the former laundry facility, continues the memory of the NDL.

The former company headquarters on Papenstraße was demolished and replaced by a department store in 1969, but the Große Hundestraße on one side of the site was the first street in Bremen to be privatized, and has been roofed with glass to become a pedestrian mall. It is called Lloyd Passage.[21]

The Lloyd baggage department building or Lloyd station on Gustav Deetjen Allee at the main station in Bremen, built in 1913 to Rudolph Jacobs' design, became Hapag-Lloyd's secondary headquarters. The NDL's company emblem adorns the main entrance.[56] Almost all company buildings are now in Hamburg and Hanover.[57]

The Lloyd Dynamowerke (LDW) in Bremen[58]

Buildings in Bremen and Bremerhaven still bear the marks of former use by the NDL.[59]

The Bremer Bank, now absorbed by Commerzbank, was founded by Meier to provide financing.

Major people

H.H. Meier

Eduard Crüsemann

Johann Georg Lohmann

Dietrich Hogemann

Hermann Henrich Meier, founder and 1857–1888 first Supervisory Board Chairman of the NDL[60]

Eduard Crüsemann; 1857–1869 founder and first director of NDL[61]

August Hermann Friedrich Neynaber alias HFA or HAF called Hermann Neynaber; (1822–1899) captain of many liners from 1866 to 1881 (Bremen, Deutschland, Donau, Mosel, Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm, Rhein)[62]

Johann Georg Lohmann, 1877–1892 Director of NDL[30][63]

Hermann Friedrich Bremermann; 1868–1892 Director of the NDL

Willy Christoffers; Captain from 1886 to 1900

Georg Plate, from 1887 to the Supervisory Board of the NDL, 1892–1911 Chairman of the NDL

Dr. Heinrich Wiegand; 1892–1899 Director and 1899–1909 Director-General of NDL[64]

Charles Polack, captain in 1913 of the SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie[65]

Dr. Philipp Heineken, Director-General in 1909–1920, 1920–1933 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NDL[66]

Carl Joachim Stimming, Director General, 1921–31[67]

Arnold Petzet; from 1906 to 1927 on NDL's board, responsible for transport within Germany, establishment of the cruise sector[68]

Ernst Glässel; 1926 member of the Lloyd Executive Board, 1931–1932 Chairman of the Board[69]

Dietrich Hogemann, commodore who retired in 1913[70]

Paul König, 1911 captain, 1916 captain of the U-boat, 1920–1932 Head of the marine department of the NDL[71]

Nikolaus Johnsen, captain and commodore in 1924 of the Columbus, and in 1930 Europe (III)[72]

Leopold Ziegenbein, captain and commodore of Bremen (IV)[73]

Oskar Scharf, captain on the Europa (III)[74][75]

Adolf Ahrens, captain and commodore of Columbus and Bremen (IV)[76]

Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, 1932–1933 Director General of the NDL[77][78]

Friedrich Johann Gottfried Hubert Paffrath, 1929-1941 Superintendent

Karl Lindemann (ex State Council), 1933–1945 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NDL[79]

Dr. Rudolph Firle, 1933–1944. Director General of the NDL[76]

Dr. Johnannes Kulenkampff; from 1932 Board Member, from 1942 Executive Board member[54]

Richard Bertram; from 1937 Board Member, from 1942 Executive Board member[54]

Paul Hampel, director of ship maintenance of the NDL of about 1950 to 1970

Heinrich Lorenz, captain of the Berlin (IV)[80]

Günter Rössing, captain of the Bremen (V)[81]

Fleet

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2008)

This is a list of all ships in service of the NDL. Some of the ships were owned previously by other companies.[11]

Year Name Tonnage Shipyard Fate/Status

1858 Bremen (I) 2,674 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1874 sold to E.Bates, Liverpool converted to sail.

1858 New York 2,674 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1874 sold to E.Bates, Liverpool, converted to sail; wrecked off Staten Island and sank in 1891

1858 Hudson 2,266 GRT Palmer Bros. & Co. Ltd., Yarrow 1858 burned out at Bremen, rebuilt and in 1863 became Louisiana for National Line

1858 Weser (I) 2,266 GRT Palmer Bros. & Co. Ltd., Yarrow 1859 sold to French Navy

1861 Hansa (I) 2,992 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1879 1879 sold to shipbuilders in part exchange for Hansa (II)

1863 America (I) 2,752 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1894 sold to Italy, renamed Orazio

1865 Hermann 2,713 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1893 sold to shipbuilder in part exchange for H.H. Meier

1866 Deutschland 2,947 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1875 wrecked in Thames Estuary; loss of 57 lives

1867 Union 2,880 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1870 wrecked on Rattray Head, Aberdeen; no loss of life

1867 Weser (II) 2,823 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1896 scrapped

1868 Rhein (I) 2,901 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1891 sold to Gray, Liverpool

1868 Main (I) 2,899 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1891 sold to Anglo-American SS Co.

1868 Baltimore 2,316 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1894 scrapped

1868 Berlin (I) 2,334 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1894 sold to Italy, renamed M. Bruzzo

1869 Donau (I) 2,896 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1889 sold to H. Bischoff, Bremen

1869 Ohio 2,393 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1894 sold to shipbuilder in part exchange for new ships, resold to Italy renamed Amazzone.

1869 Leipzig (I) 2,384 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1894 sold to Hamburg owners.

1869 Frankfurt (I) 2,582 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1894 sold to shipbuilder in part exchange for new ships.

1869 Hanover (I) 2,571 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1894 scrapped

1870 Cologne (I) 2,556 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1895 sold to be scrapped

1870 Koln (I) 2,555 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1895 sold to be scrapped

1871 König Wilhelm I 2,400 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1873 stranded at Holland; no life lost.

1871 Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm 2,387 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1897 scrapped

1871 Graf Bismarck 2,393 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1898 scrapped

1872 Strasburg (I) 3,025 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1896 sold to be scrapped

1872 Mosel (I) 3,114 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1882 wrecked Cornwall; no life lost.

1873 Braunschweig 3,079 GRT R. Steele & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1896 scrapped

1873 Feldmarschall Moltke 3,060 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1875 sold to P&O and renamed Assam

1873 Minister Roon 3,066 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1875 sold to P&O and renamed Siam

1873 Hohenzollern (I) 3,092 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1899 sold to Hong Kong.

1874 Nürnberg (I) 3,116 GRT R. Steele & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1895 sold to F.Raben, Vegesack, scrapped.

1874 Hohenstaufen 3,090 GRT Earle's Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Hull 1897 sold to be scrapped

1874 Oder (I) 3,158 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1887 wrecked at Socotra Islands

1874 Neckar (I) 3,120 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1896 sold to be scrapped

1874 General Werder 3,020 GRT Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock 1892 given for new building in payment

1875 Salier 3,083 GRT Earle's Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Hull 1896 wrecked on Spanish coast; loss of 279 lives.

1876 Habsburg 3,094 GRT Earle's Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Hull 1898 sold to be scrapped

1881 Elbe (I) 4,510 GRT John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1895 Sunk after collision in the English Channel (332 Dead)

1882 Werra (I) 4,815 GRT John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1901 sold to be scrapped

1883 Fulda (I) 4,814 GRT John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1899 rebuilding abort after heavy damage and scrap

1884 Eider (I) 5,129 GRT John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1892 stranded at Isle of Wight, refloated and scrapped.

1884 Ems (I) 5,129 GRT John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow Sold to Elder Dempster Lines, renamed Lake Simcoe.

1886 Aller (I) 4,964 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1904 scrapped

1886 Stettin 2,178 GRT AG Vulcan Stettin 1931 scrapped[82]

1886 Trave (I) 4,996 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1908 sold to be scrapped

1886 Saale (I) 4,967 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1901 sold

1886 Preussen 4,577 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1909 sold to be scrapped

1887 Lahn (I) 5,097 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1904 sold

1887 Bayern 4,574 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1909 sold to be scrapped

1887 Sachsen 4,571 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1909 sold to be scrapped

1888 Dresden (I) 4,802 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1903 renamed Helius, 1906 sold to Turkish Government and renamed BEZMI-I ALEM, 1914 sunk Black Sea

1889 Kaiser Wilhelm II (I) 6,990 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1900: Rebuilt to 6,668 GRT, 1901: Renamed Hohenzollern (II), 1908: stranded at Sardinia, refloated and scrapped.

1889 München (I) 4,803 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1902 scrapped

1889 Karlsruhe (I) 5,347 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1908 sold to be scrapped

1889 Stuttgart (I) 5,349 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1908 sold to be scrapped

1890 Darmstadt 5,316 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1911 scrapped

1890 Gera (I) 5,319 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1909 scrapped

1890 Spree (I) 6,963 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1899: Rebuilt and renamed to 7,840 GRT Kaiserin Maria Theresia. 1904 sold to Russian Navy, renamed Ural.

1891 Havel (I) 6,963 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1898 scrapped

1891 Oldenburg 5,317 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1911 scrapped

1891 Weimar 5,316 GRT Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow 1908 scrapped

1892 H. H. Meier 5,481 GRT Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd., Newcastle 1901 scrapped

1893 Pfalz (I) 3,874 GRT Wigham Richardson & Co. Ltd., Newcastle 1904 sunk

1893 Mark (I) 3,936 GRT Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd., Newcastle 1915 Sunk by Royal Navy off Tanga, Tanzania

1894 Prinzregent Luitpold 6,288 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1914 laid up in Messina; 1915 seized by Italy, renamed Pietro Calvi

1894 Prinz Heinrich 6,263 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1914 laid up in Lisbon; 1916 seized by Portugal, renamed Porto

1894 Wittekind 5,001 GRT Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg 1914 laid up in Boston; 1917 seized by United States Shipping Board, renamed Iroquois

1894 Willehad 5,003 GRT Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg 1914 laid up in Boston; 1917 seized by US Shipping Board, renamed Wyandotte

1896 Friedrich der Große 10,531 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1914 laid up in New York City; 1917 seized by US Shipping Board, renamed Huron

1897 Coblenz (I) 3,169 GRT Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg Interned in Manila, August 1914

seized by U.S., 6 April 1917

1897 Barbarossa 10,769 GRT Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg 1914 laid up in New York City; 1917 seized by US Shipping Board, renamed Mercury

1897 Königin Luise 10,566 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 to Orient Line, renamed Omar.

1897 Bremen (II) 10,522 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 to Byron Line, renamed Constantinople.

1897 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse 14,349 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1914 became German armed merchant cruiser, 1914 sunk by HMS Highflyer at Rio de Oro, Spanish Sahara.

1898 Kaiser Friedrich 12,481 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig Could not reach specified speed, 1899 chartered to HAPAG, 1900–1912 laid up, 1912 sold to Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, Paris, renamed Burdigala.

1899 Rhein (II) 10,058 GRT Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg 1917 seized by USA, renamed Susquehanna

1899 König Albert 10,643 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1915 seized by Italy and renamed Ferdinando Palasciano.

1899 Köln (II) 7,409 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1917 seized by USA, renamed Amphion

1899 Hanover (II) 7,305 GRT Wigham Richardson & Co. Ltd., Newcastle 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 repurchased by NDL, rebuilt to 7,438 tons, 1933 scrapped.

1900 Frankfurt (II) 7,431 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1922 renamed Sarvistan.

1900 Großer Kurfürst 13,183 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1914 1917 seized by USA renamed Aeolus.

1900 Prinzessin Irene 10,881 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1917 seized by USA renamed Pocahontas, 1922 re-purchased by NDL renamed Bremen (III), 1928 renamed Karlsruhe (II), 1932 scrapped.

1900 Princess Alice 10,911 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin ex-Kiautschou, 1904 purchased from Hamburg America Line and renamed Princess Alice, 1917 seized by USA, renamed Princess Matoika.

1900 Main (II) 10,067 GRT Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation

1900 Strassburg (II) 5,057 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1904 transferred to Hamburg America Line, renamed Slavonia.

1900 Würzburg 5,085 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1916 seized by Portugal, renamed Sao Vicente

1901 Kronprinz Wilhelm 14,908 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1914 became German commerce raider, 1915 interned in Newport News, Virginia, 1917 seized by USA, renamed Von Steuben.

1901 Neckar (II) 9,835 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1917 seized by USA, renamed Antigone

1901 Cassel 7,543 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1919 ceded to France as war reparation, renamed Marechal Gallieni

1901 Breslau 7,524 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1917 seized by USA, renamed Bridgeport

1901 Petchaburi 2.191 GRT Georg Seebeck  Bremerhaven July 1917 Confiscated by the Siam Government, re-named Kaeo Samud.

December 1920 sunk on trip from Bangkok to Swatow in Gulf of Siam

1902 Chemnitz (I) 7,542 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation

1902 Brandenburg 7,532 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1919 ceded by Britain as war reparation, 1922 renamed Hecuba and transferred to Alfred Holt & Co. (Blue Funnel Line)

1902 Schleswig 6,955 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1919 to France as war reparation, 1921 renamed General Duchesne, management was transferred to Messageries Maritimes

1902 Erlangen (I) 5,285 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1917 mined and sunk in North Sea; loss of 19 lives

1903 Kaiser Wilhelm II (II) 19,361 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1914 laid up in New York; 1917 seized by USA, renamed Agamemnon

1903 Zieten 8,066 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1916 seized by Portugal, renamed Tungue

1903 Roon 8,022 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1919 ceded to Britain, 1921 to Greece, renamed Constantinoupolis

1903 Seydlitz 7,942 GRT Schichau-Werke, Stettin 1933 scrapped

1903 Gneisenau (I) 8,081 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1918 seized by Belgium, 1919 sold to Italy, 1921 renamed Citta di Genova

1904 Scharnhorst (I) 8,131 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1919 seized by France, 1920 transferred to French Line, renamed La Bourdonnais

1904 Prinz Eitel Friedrich 8,865 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1914 became German commerce raider, 1915 interned in USA, 1917 seized by USA, renamed DeKalb

1906 Yorck 8,901 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1933 scrapped

1906 Bülow 9,028 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1914 laid up in Lisbon / 1916 seized by Portugal, renamed Tras-os-Montes

1906 Prinz Ludwig 9,630 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1920 transferred to Orient Line, renamed Orcades

1907 Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm 17,082 GRT Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde 1920 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 transferred to Canadian Pacific Steamship Co., renamed Empress of China then Empress of India

1907 Gotha 6,653 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1933 scrapped

1907 Kronprinzessin Cecilie 19,360 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1914 laid up in Boston / 1917 seized by USA, renamed Mount Vernon

1907 Kleist 8,950 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 to Japan, renamed Yoshino Maru

1907 Goeben 8,792 GRT AG Weser, Bremen 1919 to France as war reparation, 1920 transferred to French Line and renamed Roussillon

1907 Schlesien 5,526 GRT Flensburger Schiffbau, Flensburg 1914 captured by Royal Navy, 1915 renamed Maritime, then Waikawa

1908 Derfflinger 9,060 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1914 seized by Britain, renamed Huntsgreen, 1923 repurchased by NDL, reverted to Derfflinger, 1932 scrapped

1908 Lützow 8,818 GRT AG Weser, Bremen 1914 seized by Britain, renamed Huntsend, 1923 repurchased by NDL, reverted to Lutzow, 1933 scrapped

1908 Giessen 6,583 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 transferred to Ellerman Lines, renamed City of Harvard

1909 George Washington 25,570 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1917 seized by USA

1909 Berlin (II) 17,324 GRT AG Weser, Bremen 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1920 transferred to White Star Line, renamed Arabic

1910 Coburg (I) 6,750 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1917 seized by Brazil, renamed Pocone

1910 Eisenach (I) 6,757 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1917 seized by Brazil, renamed Santarém

1912 Sierra Nevada (I) 8,235 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1917 seized by Brazil, renamed Bage

1912 Sierra Ventana (I) 8,262 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1919 seized by France, management transferred to Cie. de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, renamed Alba.

1913 Sierra Cordoba (I) 8,226 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin Supply ship for German raiders,[83] seized by Peru 1917, renamed Callao, chartered by United States Shipping Board (USSB) and transferred to U.S. Navy 26 April 1919 and commissioned USS Callao (ID-4036), decommissioned 20 September 1919.[84] Sold at auction by USSB, renamed Ruth Alexander by Dollar Steamship Lines.[85][86]

1913 Sierra Salvada 8,227 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1917 seized by Brazil, renamed Avare

1913 Pfalz (II) 6,557 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1914 captured by Britain, renamed Boorara.

1914 Columbus (I) 33,526 GRT Schichau-Werke, Danzig 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1920 transferred to White Star Line, renamed Homeric

1915 Zeppelin 14,167 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1920 ceded to Britain as war reparation, transferred to Orient Line, renamed Ormuz, 1927 repurchased by NDL, renamed Dresden (II), 1934 wrecked on Norwegian coast; loss of 4 lives

1922 Köln (III) 9,265 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1934 became cargo ship, 1940 wrecked on Swedish coast

1922 Crefeld (II) 9,573 GRT Flensburger Schiffbau, Flensburg 1934 became cargo ship, 1941 scuttled as blockship at Massawa

1922 Sierra Nevada (II) 8,736 GRT AG Vulcan, Stettin 1925 renamed Madrid, 1935 sold to Hamburg South America Line

1922 Weser (III) 9,450 GRT AG Weser, Bremen

1926 ss SCHWABEN, passenger-cargo ship,

1931 laid up, 1933 scrapped

1922 Werra (II) 9,475 GRT AG Weser, Bremen 1935 sold to Italian Line, Genoa and renamed Calabria. Seized by UK 11 June 1940; sunk by U-103 8 December 1940.

1923 Sierra Ventana (II) 11,392 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1935 sold to Italian Line, renamed Sardegna

1923 München (II) 13,325 GRT AG Vulkan, Stettin 1931 renamed General Von Steuben, 1938 renamed Steuben, 1945 torpedoed and sunk by Russian submarine in Baltic Sea; loss of over 2,700 lives.

1924 Sierra Córdoba (II) 11,469 GRT Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack 1935 sold to Nazi Deutsche Arbeitsf