Norddeutscher Lloyd

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.

Norddeutscher Lloyd

Type	Joint-stock company
Industry	Shipping, transportation
Genre	Shipping
Predecessor	Ocean Steam Navigation Company
Founded	1857 in Bremen, Germany
Founder	Hermann Henrich Meier
Defunct	1 September 1970
Fate	Merged with Hamburg America Line in 1970
Successor	Hapag-Lloyd
Area served	Transatlantic, Mediterranean, Asia, and Australia
Key people	Co-founder and Executive Chairman Eduard Crüsemann

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 association with the British maritime classification society Lloyd's Register; in 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).

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 the 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

•  

  SS Kronprinz Wilhelm

•  

  SS Kaiser wilhelm II

•  

  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 "Schrecklichkeit" 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". 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 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 Arbeitsfront for Strength Through Joy cruising. 1945 captured by Britain, 1948 sank under tow
1924	Sierra Morena	11,430 GRT	Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack	1935 sold to Nazi Deutsche Arbeitsfront for Strength Through Joy cruising, renamed Der Deutsche. 1946 became Russian-owned Asia
1924	Saarbrücken	9,429 GRT	AG Weser, Bremen	1935 sold to Italian Line, renamed Toscana
1924	Coblenz (II)	9,449 GRT	AG Weser, Bremen	1935 sold to Italian Line, renamed Sicilia
1924	Trier (II)	9,415 GRT	AG Weser, Bremen	1936 wrecked off Spain, salvaged and sold to Turkey as submarine depot ship Erkin
1924	Fulda (II)	9,492 GRT	AG Weser, Bremen	1940 sold to Japan, renamed Teikoko Maru
1924	Stuttgart (II)	13,367 GRT	AG Vulkan, Stettin	1938 sold to Nazi Deutsche Arbeitsfront for Strength Through Joy cruising. 1943 bombed and sunk at Gdynia
1924	Columbus (II)	32,354 GRT	Schichau-Werke, Danzig	1939 scuttled in Atlantic Ocean to avoid capture by Royal Navy during World War II
1925	Berlin (III)	15,286 GRT	Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack	1945 mined and sunk off Swinemunde, 1948 refloated, repaired, and renamed Admiral Nakhimov for USSR. 1986 sank in Black Sea after collision.
1926	Franken	7,789 GRT	Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack	1940 seized by the Netherlands, renamed Wangi Wangi^[87]
1927	Arucas	3,359 GRT	Flensburger Schiffbau, Flensburg	1940 scuttled in North Atlantic to avoid capture by Royal Navy during World War II
1929	Bremen (IV)	51,656 GRT	AG Weser, Bremen	1940 accommodation ship at Bremerhaven, 1941 burnt out in Bremerhaven, 1946 scrapped
1929	Erlangen (II)	6,101 GRT	Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg	Intercepted off Montevideo by HMS Newcastle and scuttled by her crew.
1930	Europa (II)	49,746 GRT	Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg	1945 taken over by US Navy, renamed USS Europa, 1950 became French Line's SS Liberté
1934	Scharnhorst (II)	18,184 GRT	AG Weser, Bremen	1942 sold to Japan and converted to aircraft carrier Shinyo.
1935	Gneisenau (II)	18,160 GRT	AG Weser, Bremen	1943 mined and put ashore on Lolland Island, later scrapped
1935	Potsdam (II)	17,528 GRT	Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg	1945 ceded for war reparations to Britain, 1946 became troopship Empire Fowey
1955	Berlin (IV)	18,600 GRT	Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Newcastle	ex-Gripsholm, acquired from Swedish American Line by Bremen Amerika Line, jointly operated by Swedish America and NDL. 1955 renamed Berlin (IV), 1959 fully owned by NDL, 1966 scrapped.
1959	Bremen (V)	32,336 GRT	Chantiers et Ateliers de St. Nazaire	ex-Pasteur, purchased from Cie. de Navigation Sud-Atlantique in 1959, renamed Bremen, 1970 owned by Hapag-Lloyd after the merger of NDL and HAPAG, 1972 sold to Chandris Lines, Piraeus, renamed Regina Magna, 1977 sold to Philippine Singapore Ports Corporation and renamed Saudiphil I as a floating hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1980 sold as Filipinas Saudi I to Philsimport International in Hong Kong, 1980 sunk in Indian Ocean while towing to Taiwanese ship breaker.
1965	Europa (IV)	21,514 GRT	De Schelde N.V., Vlissingen	ex-Kungsholm, purchased from Swedish America Line in 1965, renamed Europa, 1970 owned by Hapag-Lloyd after the merger of NDL and HAPAG, 1981 sold to Panama, renamed Columbus C.
Unknown	Prinz Waldemar		Unknown	Steamer on the USA–Japan–Australia route, along with the Prinz Sigismund. In use by 1903. In ca. 1917, it became the Parr-McCormick Company steamer Wacouta.^[88] The vessel again renamed Prinz Waldemar was wrecked near Kingston, Jamaica, by 1926.^[89]

References

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2. Edwin Drechsel, Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, 1857–1970: History, Fleet, Ship Mails, volume 1 Vancouver, British Columbia: Cordillera, 1994, ISBN 978-1-895590-14-2, p. 7.
3. NDL's history and house flag
4. Georg Bessell, Norddeutscher Lloyd, 1857–1957: Geschichte einer bremischen Reederei, Bremen: Schünemann, [1957], OCLC 3187889, pp. 18–20 (in German)
5. Rolf Böttcher: Ankunft des Raddampfers „Washington“ in Bremerhaven 1847. Bremerhaven 1997
6. Bessell, p. 24.
7. Norway-Heritage
8. Bessell, pp. 35, 36.
9. "GERMAN STEAMER ON FIRE.; The H.H. Meier Forced to Put Back by the Flames" (pdf). The New York Times. 9 March 1897. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-01-23.
10. Bessell, p. 70.
11. The Ships List 2010-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
12. Bessell, pp. 50, 53.
13. Bessell, p. 80.
14. Bessell, p. 78.
15. "HISTORIC SHIPS TO PLY AGAIN". Los Angeles Times. 1922-08-21. p. II8.
16. Robert K. Massie (1992). Dreadnought. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-03260-7.
17. See our German article de:Hunnendampfer.
18. Lamar Cecil, Albert Ballin: Business and Politics in Imperial Germany, 1888–1918, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, 1967, OCLC 900428, pp. 52–53, 56–57.
19. Krass, Peter (May 2001). "He Did It!(creation of U.S. Steel by J.P. Morgan)". Across the Board (Professional Collection).
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21. Lloyd Passage, Bremen
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23. Keeling, Drew (2014), business-of-migration.com "North Atlantic migration flows"
24. Keeling, Drew (2014), "Voyage Database"
25. NRP Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway, p. 532, Mark Wyman, Round-Trip to America (1993), p. 74
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31. Bessell, p. 135.
32. Bessell, pp. 141, 143.
33. Bessell, p. 141.
34. The Classic Liners of Long Ago: Columbus 2008-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
35. Bessell, p. 143.
36. USS Zeppelin
37. . Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
38. Bessell, p. 151.
39. Gibbs, Charles Robert Vernon (1957). Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean: A Record of Atlantic Steam and Motor Passenger Vessels from 1838 to the Present Day. John De Graff.
40. Bessell, pp. 162, 171–73.
41. Bessell, pp. 165, 174.
42. Hartmut Rübner: Konzentration und Krise der deutschen Schiffahrt. Maritime Wirtschaft und Politik im Kaiserreich, in der Weimarer Republik und im Nationalsozialismus. Bremen 2005, ISBN 3-89757-238-9
43. Reinhold Thiel, Die Geschichte des Norddeutschen Lloyd 1857–1970, volume 4 1920–1945 Bremen: Hauschild, 2006, ISBN 978-3-89757-230-0, p. 123 (in German)
44. Bessell, pp. 170–71.
45. Andrew Geer^[who?] adapted the Erlangen's story as a novel, which in turn was adapted as the 1955 film The Sea Chase.
46. Erik, Lindner: Die Reemtsmas. Geschichte einer deutschen Unternehmerfamilie, Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-455-09563-1
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48. Behling, Helmut; Thiel, Reinhold (1997). Bremer Vulkan: Ende einer Ära (in German). Bremen: Hauschild. ISBN 978-3-931785-68-0. OCLC 40363156.
49. Bessell, p. 183.
50. "Year by Year 1951" – History Channel International
51. Bessell, p. 185.
52. "List of Ship owners," Fischer Weltalmanach 1971.
53. Gardiner, Robert (1994). The golden age of shipping: the classic merchant ship, 1900–1960. University of Michigan: Conway Maritime Press. p. 20. ISBN 0-85177-567-5.
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55. Drechsel, p. xii.
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61. Hapag-Lloyd: The Early Years 2009-05-07 at the Wayback Machine
62. Nautical magazine and journal of the naval reserve, Volume 53. New York Public Library: Brown, Son and Ferguson. 1884. p. 58. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
63. Paul Neubaur: Der Norddeutsche Lloyd. 50 Jahre der Entwicklung 1857–1907. Band I, Fr. Wilh. Grunow, Leipzig 1907. Page 44
64. "HEINRICH WIEGAND DEAD.; General Director of North German Lloyd Dies in Homburg Sanitarium" (pdf). The New York Times. 30 March 1909. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
65. "DINNER TO HONOR NOTED SEA CAPTAIN; Friends of Capt. Polack to Welcome Him When He Completes 100 Round Trips to Europe. MANY MEDALS FOR BRAVERY German Emperor, Queen Victoria, and King of Spain Have Decorated North German Lloyd Skipper" (pdf). The New York Times. 15 March 1909. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
66. "SAYS ENGLAND CAN'T STARVE GERMANY; Philipp Heineken, North German Lloyd Director, Asserts Britain's Plan Is Impossible. STATE BEING REMODELED Success Already Attained in Self-Maintenance, He Says, Proves Her Ability to Win" (pdf). The New York Times. 16 February 1915. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
67. "Carl Joachim Stimming Baruthiae-Erlangen", Deutsche Corps-Zeitung 48 (1931–1932) pp. 291–93
68. Schwarzwälder, Herbert: Das Große Bremen-Lexikon. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X.
69. Karl Heinz Schwebel: "Haus Seefahrt" Bremen: seine Kaufleute und Kapitäne. Krohn, Bremen 1947, P. 76.
70. "Capt. Hogemann Makes His Last Voyage After 44 Years Spent at Sea" (PDF). New York Times. May 7, 1913. Retrieved 2009-08-06. After the North German Lloyd liner Kronprinzessin Cecilie, arriving from Bremen yesterday, had been made fast to her pier in Hoboken Capt. Dietrich Hogemann, Commodore of the fleet, announced that it was his last voyage, and that Capt. Charles Polack of the George Washington would succeed him.
71. Hartmut Schwerdfeger & Erik Herlyn: Die Handels-U-Boote Deutschland und Bremen. Kurze-Schönholtz & Ziesener Verlag, Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-931148-99-8
72. Picture from Commons (used on German Wikipedia in the article ''Columbus (1924)'' and ''Europa (1928)'')
73. Deutsche Post AG: Geschichten um das Blaue Band: Rekorde, Legenden, Katastrophen
74. Luxury Liner Row: Norddeutscher Lloyd
75. Koch, Eric (1985). Deemed Suspect: A Wartime Blunder. Formac Publishing Company. p. 58. ISBN 0-88780-138-2. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
76. Herbert Schwarzwälder: Das Große Bremen-Lexikon. Edition Temmen [de], 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X
77. Picture from Commons (the description itself tells about NDL)
78. Wala, Michael; Reinhard R. Doerries (1999). Gesellschaft und Diplomatie im transatlantischen Kontext: Festschrift für Reinhard R. Doerries zum 65. Geburtstag. Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 151. ISBN 3-515-07529-1. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
79. Reinhold Thiel: Die Geschichte des Norddeutschen Lloyd 1857–1970, Volume 5, 1945–1970. Bremen, 2006. p. 123
80. Harald Focke: Im Liniendienst auf dem Atlantik. Neue Erinnerungen an die Passagierschiffe BERLIN, BREMEN und EUROPA des Norddeutschen Lloyd. Hauschild Verlag, Bremen, 2006. ISBN 978-3-89757-339-0
81. Focke, Harald: Bremens letzte Liner. Die großen Passagierschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd nach 1945. Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 2002, ISBN 3-89757-148-X
82. (PDF). Plimsoll Ship Data. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
83. "Extracts From the Log of the Dresden With Comments". The Naval Review, Volume 3. 1915.
84. Naval History And Heritage Command. "Callao (No. 4036) ii". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
85. USSB (1921). "Invites Offers on S.S. Callao (ex-Sierra Cardoba". Retrieved 25 February 2015.
86. Lloyds. (PDF). Lloyd's Register (through PlimsollShipData). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
87. "Wangi Wangi". uboat.net. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
88. "25 years ago". Daily Commercial News And Shipping List. No. 16, 790. New South Wales, Australia. 11 November 1942. p. 2. Retrieved 26 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
89. "When his ship goes down". The Port Macquarie News and Hastings River Advocate. New South Wales, Australia. 26 June 1926. p. 8. Retrieved 26 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.

Further reading

• Buchholz, Jörn/Focke, Harald: Auf Lloyd-Frachtern. Erinnerungen 1957 bis 1964. Hauschild, Bremen, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89757-374-1
• Focke, Harald: Bremens letzte Liner. Die großen Passagierschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd nach 1945. Hauschild, Bremen, 2002, ISBN 3-89757-148-X
• Focke, Harald: Mit dem Lloyd nach New York. Erinnerungen an die Passagierschiffe BERLIN, BREMEN und EUROPA. Hauschild, Bremen, 2004, ISBN 3-89757-251-6
• Focke, Harald: Im Liniendienst auf dem Atlantik. Neue Erinnerungen an die Passagierschiffe BERLIN, BREMEN und EUROPA des Norddeutschen Lloyd. Hauschild, Bremen, 2006, ISBN 978-3-89757-339-0
• Kludas, Arnold: Die Seeschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd: 1857–1970 (2 vols). Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herford, 1991 / 1992
• Reinke-Kunze, Christiane: Die Geschichte der Reichs-Post-Dampfer-Verbindung zwischen den Kontinenten 1886-11914, Herford 1994, ISBN 3-7822-0618-5.
• Wiborg, Susanne, und Klaus Wiborg: 1847–1997, Mein Feld ist die Welt – 150 Jahre Hapag-Lloyd, Hapag-Lloyd AG, Hamburg 1997.
• Rübner, Hartmut: Konzentration und Krise der deutschen Schiffahrt. Maritime Wirtschaft im Kaiserreich, in der Weimarer Republik und im Nationalsozialismus. Hauschild, Bremen 2005
• Thiel, Reinhold: Die Geschichte des Norddeutschen Lloyd: 1857–1970 (5 vols). Hauschild, Bremen 2001
• Witthöft, Hans Jürgen: Norddeutscher Lloyd. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herford, 1973, ISBN 3-7822-0088-8
• Dirk J. Peters (Hrsg.): Der Norddeutsche Lloyd – Von Bremen in die Welt – „Global Player“ der Schifffahrtsgeschichte. Hauschild, Bremen, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89757-360-4

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Norddeutscher Lloyd.

• Fleet information (in German)
• Gallery of NDL's fleets at Norway-Heritage
• Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen Passenger Lists 1881-1938 GG Archives
• Postcards of NDL
• The Last Ocean Liners – North German Lloyd – trade routes and ships of North German Lloyd in the 1950s and 60s
• Documents and clippings about Norddeutscher Lloyd in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
• North German Lloyd History and Ephemera GG Archives 1881-1927 1928-1935 1936-1995