SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie (1905)
Kronprinzessin Cecilie in Vera Cruz | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Namesake | Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry | |
| Route | 1906: Hamburg – Vera Cruz |
| Builder | F Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Yard number | 108 |
| Laid down | 1 January 1905 |
| Launched | 14 October 1905 |
| Completed | 20 February 1906 |
| Maiden voyage | 14 March 1906 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | scrapped May 1923 |
| Commissioned | as dummy Ajax, March 1915 |
| Decommissioned | as dummy Ajax, October 1915 |
| Recommissioned | as AMC, 6 May 1916 |
| Decommissioned | as AMC, 10 September 1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 8,689 GRT, 5,053 NRT, 7,380 DWT |
| Displacement | 14,350 tons |
| Length | 471.4 ft (143.7 m) |
| Beam | 55.3 ft (16.9 m) |
| Draught | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Depth | 30.0 ft (9.1 m) |
| Decks | 2 |
| Installed power | 800 NHP; 6,070 ihp |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 14+1⁄2 knots (27 km/h) |
| Capacity | passengers: 326 × 1st class; 44 × 2nd class; 915 × 3rd class |
| Crew | 200 |
| Sensors & processing systems | by 1910: submarine signalling |
| Armament |
|
| Notes | sister ship: Fürst Bismarck |
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Kronprinzessin Cecilie was a Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) ocean liner. She was launched in Schleswig-Holstein in 1905. Her scheduled route was between Hamburg and Mexico.
The United Kingdom captured her in 1914, and converted her in 1915 into a dummy of the battleship HMS Ajax, as which she operated from northwest Scotland. In 1916 she was converted into HMS Princess, a real Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser, as which she took part in the East African campaign.
In 1919 she returned to merchant service as Princess. Ellerman & Bucknall managed her for the UK Shipping Controller. She was scrapped in 1923.
The ship is sometimes confused with the Norddeutscher Lloyd transatlantic liner Kronprinzessin Cecilie, which was launched only a year later. The NDL ship was a four-funnel liner, far larger than the HAPAG ship.