ATLANTIC MAMMOTHS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14885, 27 January 1914, Page 8

ATLANTIC MAMMOTHS.

TRANSFORMING A FAMOUS LINER. (By Cable.—Presa Association.—Copyright) BERLIN, January 25, The accommodation on the North. "- German Lloyd eteatner Kaiser Vflhelm/ der Crosse is to bo converted entirely into third-class and steerage. Jf Onco the "crack" German jnaJl.--' steamer in the trans-Atlantic service, the Kaiher Wilhelm der Grosse bs» '. fallen far from her former proud posi- -, tion as one of the .finest and fastest.'.passenger liners in the Western Ocean ;. trade. Twenty years ago the- "blue riband" of the North Atlantic was held, by the Cunard steamers Campania and Lucania, until the Norddeuttcher-Lloyd and the Hamburg-Amerika Line entered tho contest with the Kaiser Tvflhelm der Grosse and the Deutschland - - respectively. This famous quartette held all records for speed, and v.ero rt - th« front rank of trans-Atlantic linen until they were hopelessly outclassed in speed by tho mammoth Cunardert I.usitania and Mauretaniaj which lowered all pievious records for both the eastward and westward passsges. lo* sister Cuuard liners for a timo were not oniy the fastest, but the largest steamers in the trans-Atlantic sernce, but tliey v.-ero soon outclassed in «#» by tho'White Star liner Olympic, *>.«» tons. The ill-fated Titanic, a sister . ship to the Olympic, foundered on her maiden voyage in April, 1912, alter collision with an iceberg. The con- • test for supremacy on the North Atlantic then resolved itscif into one of ««*< and the Hamburg-Amerika Line built tho Imperator, 52,117 tons. This company has a still larger steamer, tw - Vaterland. building, and she vtil » •ready for service next year. Tho iirn* ish are replying with the Canard Iw* Afiuitania, 52,000 tons, and tho win* \ Star liner Britannic, 54,000 tons. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, V*** sixteen years old, is a comparatively small vessel in the North At'aß.ie trade, and is outclassed in size oven • by one or two steamers trading to xw tralia. She is a twin-screw steamer oi 14,343 tons gross, and 5-521 tons net registor, built in 1397 at the \v\&* fthiobuiidine Yards, Stettin, Germany. .. She is <3'.'«.7 feet in length, vrith a beam • of C 6 teat, and a, depth of 39 feet, & r '® „ is driven by two sets of quadrup.e pausion eiigines with c y' in ," crs /O v -1 inches, 80J inches, and W\ indies U> m diameter, with a stroke of GO incut* In her best days sho was capable or steaming over 23 knots. t , • - Tho cabin mesasge states tnat sne » tc be converted into a third-class steerage steamer, but a welHn| . formed shij>pin£c journal staled in * vember lust that a.contract had beon ~ iet to her builder for - into an ordinary passenger • g carrying only second and th . 1 J ra " c JX I passengers, and that she would p»»-—,| ablj be re-named Weser. ■ ,jg