SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich (1904)

SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich (1904)
Career
Name:	Prinz Eitel Friedrich
Builder:	Vulcan. Stettin
Launched:	1904
Commissioned:	5 August 1914
Fate:	Interned 1915, seized 1917
General characteristics
Displacement:	16,000 tons (8,797 GRT)
Length:	153.3 m
Beam:	16.9 m
Draught:	7.1 m
Propulsion:	2x4cyl Exp
Speed:	15 kn
Range:	10,000 nm
Complement:	402
Armament:	4x 10.5 cm SK L/40 naval guns 6x 8.8 cm SK L/40 guns 4x 3.7 cm quick-firing cannon

SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich was a German passenger liner which saw service in the First World War as an auxiliary cruiser of the Imperial German Navy. Though largely overlooked, Prinz Eitel Friedrich was, after SS Kronprinz Wilhelm, the most successful of Germany’s first wave of auxiliary cruisers. She was able to remain at large for seven months, from August 1914 to March 1915, and sank 11 ships, for a total tonnage of 33,000 GRT.

Early career

Prinz Eitel Friedrich was built for the Norddeutscher Lloyd, a former shipping company of the Hapag-Lloyd, by the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, in 1904. For the ten years prior to the First World War she served on NDL routes in the Far East. On the eve of war in August 1914 she was at Shanghai, with orders to proceed to the German naval base at Tsingtao for conversion as an auxiliary cruiser (hilfkreuzer).

Service history

At Tsingtao Prinz Eitel Friedrich was equipped for her role as a commerce raider, transferring the armaments and crews of the aging gunboats Luchs, and Tiger. KK Max Therichens, of Luchs, took command.

She was commissioned on 5 August 1914 and sailed from Tsingtao the same day to join company with Adm Graf von Spee and the German Far East squadron. These were at Pagan in the Caroline Islands, and Prinz Eitel Friedrich arrived there on 12 August.

On 13 August she was detached for independent operations and a remit to attack and destroy allied commerce. She sailed south to start this mission along the coast of Australia.

In the following seven months she operated in the Pacific and South Atlantic, sinking 11 vessels, mostly sailing ships, for a total of 33,423 gross register tons (GRT).

In march 1915, her bunkers nearly empty and her engines worn out, Prinz Eitel Friedrich headed for the neutral United states, and on 11 March 1915 sailed into Newport News harbour, to be interned.

Later career

In April 1917, on US entry into the war, Prinz Eitel Friedrich was seized by the US Navy and put in hand for conversion as a troopship. She was commissioned on 7 April 1917. as USS DeKalb (ID-3010) and served for the remainder of the war as a troopship on the trans Atlantic route. After the war she was returned to civilian service, as Mount Clay, before being scrapped and broken up in 1927.

A 10.5 cm SK L/40 naval gun from the Prinz can be seen at the Memorial Park by the Cambridge NY library. Google maps type in Cambridge Library, Cambridge, NY United States. or view using this link http://navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_41-40_skc00_pics.htm

Table

Date	Ship	Type	Nationality	Tonnage GRT	Fate
5.12.1914	Charcas	Freighter	British	5,067	Sunk
11.12.1914	Jean	Sailing ship	French	2,207	Retained as collier Scuttled 31.12.14
12.12.1914	Kidalton	Sailing ship	British	1,784	Sunk
26.1.1915	Isabel Browne	Sailing ship	Russian	1,315	Sunk
27.1.1915	Pierre Lott	Sailing ship	French	2,196	Sunk
27.1.1915	William P Frye *	Sailing ship	American	3,374	Sunk
28.1.1915	Jacobsen	Sailing ship	French	2,195	Sunk
12.2.1915	Invercoe	Sailing ship	British	1,421	Sunk
18.2.1915	Mary Ada Short	Sailing ship	British	3,605	Sunk
19.2.1915	Floride	Freighter	French	6,629	Sunk
20.2.1915	Willerby	Freighter	British	3,630	Sunk

• The William P Frye was the first U.S. ship sunk during WWI. It's sinking urged the neutral U.S. to enter the war.

References

• Halpern, Paul (1994) A Naval History of World War I ISBN 1-85728-295-7 HB
• Schmalenbach, Paul (1977) German Raiders ISBN 0-85059-351-4