SS Graf Waldersee

Graf Waldersee off Dover about 1922
History
NameGraf Waldersee
NamesakeAlfred von Waldersee
Owner
Operator
Port of registry
Route1899: Hamburg – CherbourgPlymouthNew York
BuilderBlohm & Voss, Hamburg
Yard number131
Launched10 December 1898
Completed18 March 1899
Commissionedinto US Navy, 28 March 1919
Decommissionedfrom US Navy, 25 November 1919
Maiden voyage2–15 April 1899
Reclassifiedtroop ship, 1919
Refit1910
Identification
FateScrapped 1922
General characteristics
Class & typeP-class ocean liner
Tonnageas built: 12,830 GRT, 8,157 NRT
Displacement25,000 tons
Length561.2 ft (171.1 m)
Beam62.2 ft (19.0 m)
Depth37.7 ft (11.5 m)
Installed power714 NHP
Propulsion
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)
Capacity
  • passengers:
  • 1899: 162 1st class, 184 2nd class, 2,200 3rd class
  • 1910: 408 2nd class, 2,310 3rd class
Troopsat least 1,526 troops
Complementin US Navy: 553
Crewin civilian service: 250
Sensors &
processing systems
submarine signalling
Notessister ships: Pennsylvania, Pretoria, Patricia

SS Graf Waldersee was a transatlantic liner that was launched in Germany in 1898 and spent most of her career with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). She was the third of a class of four HAPAG sister ships that were built in the United Kingdom and Germany between 1896 and 1899.

In 1919 HAPAG surrendered Graf Waldersee to the United States as part of Germany's World War I reparations to the Allies. She became the United States Navy troop ship USS Graf Waldersee (ID-4040) and was used to repatriate American Expeditionary Forces troops from Europe.

At the end of 1919 Graf Waldersee was transferred from the United States Shipping Board to the UK Shipping Controller. She was scrapped in Germany in 1922.