SS ''Prinz Eitel Friedrich'' was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

passenger liner which saw service in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as an

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

of the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...

. Though largely overlooked, ''Prinz Eitel Friedrich'' was, after , 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 .

Early career

''Prinz Eitel Friedrich'' was built for the

Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; 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 th ...

, a former shipping company of the

Hapag-Lloyd Hapag-Lloyd AG is a German international shipping and container transportation company. Hapag-Lloyd was formed in 1970 through a merger of Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG) and North German Lloyd. History The company was formed on September 1, 1 ...

, by the

AG Vulcan Aktien-Gesellschaft Vulcan Stettin (short AG Vulcan Stettin) was a German shipbuilding and locomotive building company. Founded in 1851, it was located near the former eastern German city of Stettin, today Polish Szczecin. Because of the limited ...

shipyard in

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

, 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 Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, with orders to proceed to the German naval base at

Tsingtao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

for conversion as an auxiliary cruiser (''Hilfskreuzer'').

Service history

At Tsingtao ''Prinz Eitel Friedrich'' was equipped for her role as a

commerce raider Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than enga ...

, receiving 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 Admiral Graf von Spee and the

German East Asia Squadron The German East Asia Squadron (german: Kreuzergeschwader / Ostasiengeschwader) was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the Fa ...

. These were at

Pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

in the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the centra ...

, and ''Prinz Eitel Friedrich'' arrived there on 12 August. On 13 August she was detached for independent operations with
remit
to attack and destroy allied commerce. She sailed south to start this mission along the coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In the following seven months she operated in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, sinking 11 vessels, mostly sailing ships, for a total of . In March 1915, with her

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. ...

s 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 Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

harbour.

Armament

Four 10.5 cm SK L/40 cannons. Two each mounted fore and aft. The port aft gun pictured at right. An original 10.5 cm SK L/40 naval gun from ''Prinz Eitel Friedrich'' can be seen at Memorial Park in Cambridge, New York.

Table

3 ships sunk by Prinz Eitel Friedrich Jacobsen - Mary Ada Scott - William P Frye

* '' William P Frye'' was the first U.S. ship sunk during World War I. Its sinking contributed to the neutral U.S. entering the war.

Internment and United States flag

''Prinz Eitel Friedrich'' failed to leave the neutral port in the time prescribed by international law and was interned on 9 April 1915. The ship, still under the German flag, moved, was moved to the

Philadelphia Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the cit ...

where, upon the United States declaration of war with Germany on 6 April 1917, she was seized by U.S. Customs officials and then transferred to the Navy.

U.S. Naval service

Reconditioned and refitted as a troop transport and given the identification number (Id.No.) 3010, she was renamed and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 12 May 1917. ''DeKalb'' served for the remainder of the war as a troopship on the trans Atlantic route.

Immigrant ship

The ship was acquired by W. Averell Harriman and included with ten previous ships acquired from the Kerr Navigation Company in a name change so that all were prefixed with an American mountain and thus renamed ''Mount Clay''. The ship was specially modified to be a steerage only immigrant ship for the United American Line of New York. ''Mount Clay'' made the initial voyage as an immigrant ship on Christmas Day 1920 (Marine Review) or 26 December (DANFS). ''Mount Clay'' made the last westbound voyage from Hamburg to New York on 15 October 1925 and was laid up until scrapped in 1934.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prinz Eitel Friedrich (1904) Ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd World War I commerce raiders 1904 ships Auxiliary cruisers of the Imperial German Navy