The first SS Fürst Bismarck was an ocean liner

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

 built in 1890 by AG Vulcan for the Hamburg America Line

Hamburg America Line

The Hamburg Amerikanische Packetfahrt Actien Gesellschaft was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, Germany during...

. A steamship of 8,430 gross tons, it was assigned to transatlantic crossings between Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 Germany and New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, USA. Fürst Bismarck and the sister ships were part of an express fleet that usually made the trip in five to six days.

HAPAG's Express Fleet

The fleet of twin-screw express steamships operated between New York to Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, Cherbourg and Hamburg, and from Hamburg, Southampton, and Cherbourg to New York. The fleet consisted of the SS Augusta Victoria

Augusta Victoria (ship)

Augusta Victoria, later Auguste Victoria, placed in service in 1889 and named for Empress Augusta Victoria, wife of Emperor Wilhelm II, was the name ship of the Augusta Victoria series and the first of a new generation of luxury Hamburg America Line ocean liners...

 and the SS Fürst Bismarck, built by the Vulcan Shipbuilding Company at Stettin, the SS Columbia

Spanish cruiser Rapido (1889)

Rapido was a merchant ship requisitioned for use as an auxiliary cruiser by the Spanish Navy in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.Rapido was built in 1889 as a passenger ship and was in commercial service as SS Columbia with the Hamburg-Amerika Line when the Spanish Navy purchased her for...

, built by Laird

Cammell Laird

Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...

 Brothers, in Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, near Liverpool, and the SS Normannia, built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the...

, in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. With these vessels the company maintained a weekly Transatlantic express service, offering the public the convenience of safe and comfortable travel between America and the European Continent.

Design

The SS Fürst Bismarck was designed with five decks constructed of steel and teak. The three funnels rose above the hurricane deck. The ship also had two masts, but without yards. Each side of the ship was subdivided into numerous watertight compartments. The hull

Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

 of the ship had a double bottom

Double bottom

A double bottom is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom of the ship has two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is somewhat higher in the ship, perhaps a few feet, which forms a...

, the space between divided into chambers, which could be filled with water or emptied by means of automatic pumps, thus increasing or decreasing the draught

Draft (hull)

The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...

 at will, and guarding the ship from grounding. The enormous engines [were] of 6000 to 8000 horsepower

Horsepower

Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

 each. The screws are of manganese bronze

Manganese Bronze

Manganese Bronze Holdings PLC is an engineering company based in Coventry, England. Since the sale of its components division in 2003 the company has only one operating division—LTI Limited, trading as The London Taxi Company—which manufactures and retails London Black Taxis.The London...

, with three or four blades.

First class

First class travel

First class is the most luxurious class of accommodation on a train, passenger ship, airplane, or other conveyance. It is usually much more expensive than business class and economy class, and offers the best amenities.-Aviation:...

 deck state rooms, located mid-ship, were 7 to 9 feet in width, with elaborate furnishings. Separate saloons for men and women allowed for privacy, smoking (gentlemen only), and conversation. The Second class

Second class

Second class generally indicates a secondary level of service or importance. Specific uses of the term include:Travel* Economy class or travel class in rail transport, depending on era* Second Class Scout, see ranks in the Boy Scouts of America...

 rooms were on the same level as first class, but with most rooms located fore and aft, with smaller rooms and their own saloons. The steerage

Steerage

Steerage is the act of steering a ship. "Steerage" also refers to the lowest decks of a ship.-Steerage and steerage way:The rudder of a vessel can only steer the ship when water is passing over it...

 was directly below the Second Cabin; separate compartments housed single men, women, and families.

Dimensions

The ship was 502.6 feet long, and 57.6 feet in breadth, and measured 8,430 gross tons.

Machinery

The vessels's machinery was duplicated, with two distinct sets of boilers, engines, shafts and screws

Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

, both sets working independently of each other. A longitudinal bulkhead divided the vessel into two non-communicating halves, each of which was fully equipped to propel the ship. Contemporary advertising promoted this design as safer than a single boiler compartment because of its numerous watertight compartments, and the ability of the ship to propel itself even if one side was disabled.

Service

Launched on November 29, 1890, the ship made its maiden run from Hamburg to New York, via Southampton (England), on May 8, 1891. In the service of Hamburg America line (HAPAG) on September 27, 1894, 5 days, 18 hours, 10 minutes, with Captain Adolph Albers (1843–1902) at the helm. Albers, later Commodore of the Hamburg America fleet, held several speed records for trans Atlantic crossings before his death at the helm of the SS Deutschland

SS Deutschland (1900)

SS Deutschland was a passenger liner owned by the Hamburg America Line of Germany. She sailed for over 25 years under three different names. The second ship to have been built as a four funnel liner, she was built by Hamburg America as a response to the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. She was the...

 in 1902. Between its maiden journey and 1894, the ship made 14&nspb;crossings, predominantly as an immigrant ship, and carrying American travelers to Europe on the return journey. On July 4, 1894, in honor of its many crossings and "in memory of Muhlenberg, Herkimer

Nicholas Herkimer

Nicholas Herkimer was a militia general in the American Revolutionary War, who died of wounds after the Battle of Oriskany.-Career:...

, Steuben

Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben , also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, was a Prussian-born military officer who served as inspector general and Major General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...

 and Dekalb

Johann de Kalb

Johann von Robais, Baron de Kalb , born Johann Kalb, was a German soldier who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.-Early life:...

," the Daughters of the American Revolution

Daughters of the American Revolution

The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....

 and the Columbia Liberty Bell Company presented the ship, and its Captain, with a replica of the Liberty Bell, requesting that the ship's captain ordered it to be rung when the ship came in sight of the Navesink Highlands

Navesink Highlands

The Navesink Highlands, sometimes referred to as the Highlands of Navesink and also known as the Atlantic Highlands, are a range of low hills and upland areas located along the United States Atlantic coast in New Jersey...

 (by day) or Navesink Twin Lights (by night). After 1894, it was occasionally in use as a luxury cruise ship. HAPAG commissioned a second SS Fürst Bismarck (1905)

SS Fürst Bismarck (1905)

The second Fürst Bismarck was an ocean liner of 8,332 gross tons built in Glasgow by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company for the Hamburg America Line. Launched on 22 March 1905, the vessel made her maiden voyage between Hamburg and New York, on 19 August of the same year...

 in 1905.

In 1904, the ship became the auxiliary cruiser the Don in the Russian Navy. In 1906, she was assigned to the Russian Volunteer Fleet with the name Moskva. In 1913, she became a depot ship in the Austrian Navy, the "Gaea." The vessel was seized by Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 during the First World War, rebuilt and renamed San Guisto. She was scrapped in Italy in 1924.