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North German Lloyd Founded Seventy-five Years Ago since the establishment of the North German Lloyd on Feb. 20, 1857, 12,268,113 passengers have been carried. The present-day BREMEN and Europa are the fastest liners afloat and hold the blue ribbon of the Atlan- tic. The first BREMEN was a little craft 334 feet long and 42 feet broad; and with the New York, set an average westward crossing of 12 days and 10 hours and an average eastward cross- ing of 12 days and 5 hours. Fifty-one years ago, June 26, 1881, the North German Lloyd S. S. ELBE, a steamer 420 feet long and of 4510 gross register tons, sailed from Brem- en for New York, beginning German transatlantic express service. The crossing was made in 8% days, as com- pared with the 14 days required by other Lloyd ships. The Ese devel- oped 18 knots and her fastest trip was made in 1882, from Southampton to New York, in 8 days and 1 hour. In 1883 the steamers WERRA and FULDA were built to operate together with the ELBe in the express service. In 1886 five additional ships were placed in operation to maintain a bi-weekly transatlantic express service. The five new ships, similar in type to the ELsr, but each incorporating successive im- provements, were named the Err, Ems, ALLER, TRAVE and SAALE. At its twenty-fifth anniversary, in I* THE three-quarters of a century 48. 1882, the company commanded the fourth. largest shipping fleet in the world, 98 ships with a registered ton- nage of 100,000. For the American service, from 1887 to 1890, four more express steamers of about 7000 gross register tons each were built: the LAHN, KAISER WILHELM II, SPREE, and HAVEL. Possession of the mythical “blue ribbon” became the cherished desire of every steamship company. With this objective in mind the KarserR WIL- HELM DER GROSSE was launched on March 4, 1897. Her gross tonnage was 14,000; her displacement 21,000; and in September on her maiden voyage at a speed of 22 knots, she made a rec- ord day’s run of 580 miles; the first time in history that such swiftness had been attained. At once a great rush of passengers crowded to cross the ocean in this holder of the record. Then followed in 1901 the KRONPRINZ WILHELM, which set a new record for speed. In 1902, the new KAISER WIL- HELM II surpassing previous accom- plishments attained a speed of 23.57 knots on her trip from New York to the English channel; and in 1907 the KRONPRINZESSIN CECILIE with a speed of 23.58 knots. A weekly crossing be- tween Bremen and New York was thus provided with two ships always ‘en route,” while one in Bremerhaven, and one in New York were loading and un- MARINE Review—March, 1932 loading. In addition, during the years 1902-1905, the Lloyd increased its fleet by the introduction of the new 10,000 ton steamers Prinz HITeL FRIEDRICH and Prinz Lupwic, to which were joined in 1909, a somewhat larger type of ship, such as the BULow and YorRCK. In 1914 the company’s tonnage reached 982,000 gross register tons, which was reduced to little more than 57,000 tons as a result of the war. In 1921, three new steamers were added; in 1922 came the first Lloyd steamer to re-enter transatlantic service, the SEYDLITz; in 1923 the fleet was in- creased by eight ships, including freight steamers; and in 1925 came the BERLIN which now heads the Lloyd cabin liners. The days of steerage were over. It is true that first class persisted in ever increasing luxuries and refine- ments; but cabin class was winning increasing favor, and an entirely new class—tourist——-came very suddenly into being and had to be considered. Year by year it became more and more popular; and its consideration played no small part in the reconstruction program of the company. Until 1929, the CoLtumBUS, of over 32,000 tons, led the Lloyd fleet. On July 22, 1929, the BREMEN en- tered New York harbor after a record crossing of 4 days, 17 hours, and 42 minutes, and thereby won back the blue ribbon for the North German Lloyd. Overnight the ship became popular as a symbol for speed wherein gaiety and luxury added prestige. On her eastward voyage she again broke the record; and was hailed as the queen of the seas. In March, 1930, the Europa entered New York harbor bettering the BRrem- EN’S record time by 12 minutes. The westward record is still held by the BREMEN in the time of 4 days, 14 hours and 30 minutes. Here once again, as at the turn of the century, the North German Lloyd possessed the world’s two fastest liners, and with the Co- LUMBUS, now maintains the fastest (Continued on Page 32) S. 8S. Bremen, first transatlan- tic steamer of North German Lloyd—1858, and S. 8. Hurope, sis- tership of S. S. Bremen—1932 19