Imperator, Vaterland, and Bismarck: Germany's First Superliners 

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I'm amazed that the concept of embedding lifeboats into the sides of the ship's superstructure was Germany's response to the Titanic disaster. I've always associated that particular design with cruise ships and modern ocean liners like the R.M.S Queen Mary II.

The Imperator class really was a big step forward. The idea of splitting the ducts to the funnels to allow for more space really made a huge difference. Even the Olympic class could seem claustrophobic by comparison. Placing the lifeboats in the superstructure is an innovation we still have today.

So, even after WW1 they were playing "our Germans are better than their Germans".... lol

I really wish that at least ONE of these beautiful ships from the era would have been saved and been used in service. I know that there would be at least enough people that would love to travel on one these days. So gorgeous. Now ships are literally just boxes. The dining rooms and common rooms are just so extravagant and beautiful!!

Somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic, there lay two bronze wings, probably miles apart. I can almost imagine them being found by some future archaeologist scouring the bottom of the ocean for artifacts, and later on trying to figure out what exactly they where and where the hell they had come from.

Wow, never knew the RMS Majestic was The German SS Bismarck, the whole story was very interesting, Thank You

Well, just a small detail, but technically the "Kaiser Wilhelm der Große" ist not named after Kaiser Wilhelm II. but rather after Kaiser Wilhelm I., who gained that attribute due to the unification of all German Nations and the German Empire. :) Just a minor detail, to be fair

In literally every single photo of the Imperator underway, you can tell how terribly she rolled. I recall reading about how one of the chief designers of the First Class spaces was just a little too fond of marble.

Fun fact: The day Majestic arrived into Southampton from Hamburg was April 10 1922. Exactly 10 years after Titanic left for her maiden voyage.

Sophisticated passengers: Sails on the SS Bismarck *True Men: Sails on the KMS Bismarck*

Imperator, Vaterland and Bismarck are some of the most bad ass ship names I've ever heard 😎

What a fantastic video, I’ve always found attractive German ocean liners. They were not only beautiful but revolutionary: the Kaiser Class and the Deutschland started a new standpoint for ocean liners, they were beautifully decorated and had a beautiful inside and outside design. The same happens with the Imperator Class and personally I think those truly super liners need more attention, people just talk about British liners but Germany had one of the most innovative ships in the first half of the 20th century. The split funnel uptakes work just fabulous, it helps interior spaces to be much more grander and decorated, giving much more space for furniture. Great video, keep the great work!

No one: Imperator: dey see me rollon’!

Man, I knew the fact they were scrapped was coming, that didn't make it any easier to here.

SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Der Große was actually named after Wilhelm I, who was the first German Emperor from 1871 to 1888.

Great video! The “Imperator” was actually considered a male ship, one of few ever to be considered a male. “Imperator” means Emperor which is commonly a male title. Fun fact!

@16.30: "We Want Beer!". Wise words, even a century later!

I wish you could make a video about the last Japanese ocean liner MV Hikawa Maru that's now a floating museum in Yokohama. Somewhat underrated ship to me, personally.

Great German ships include the ships from the River Class (North German Lloyd), which were some of the first speed Steamers, “Fürst Bismarck” (North German Lloyd), which almost took the Blue Riband in 1889, the Four Stack Speed Liners and the “Deutschland” (North German Lloyd), which were the first Four Stackers and took the Blue Riband for 10 years, the “Kaiserin Auguste Victoria” (HAPAG), which was the largest ship of its time until the Lusitania was built, the Superliners (HAPAG), which are the the theme of this video, the “Columbus” (North German Lloyd), which was the first real big ship after WW1, the “Cap Arcona” (Hamburg Süd), which was the largest liner on the South American Route and is considered one of the most beautiful ship of it’s time, the “Bremen” (North German Lloyd), which took the Blue Riband from the Mauritania, her sister ship the “Europa” and the Italian liner “Rex” and wasn’t beaten until the ”Normandie” came around (the “Bremen” is also my favorite ship) and finally the last ship by the name of “Bremen” (North German Lloyd), which is considered one of the most beautiful ships of her time. Here are some fun facts about German maritime history: - Germans had the first regular transatlantic service which started operating in 1836. - One of the top 10 worlds largest shipping companies today is the HAPAG-Lloyd, which emerged from the fission of the HAPAG and the North German Lloyd. -Hamburg Süd, also a German shipping company, is also one of the Top 10 largest shipping companies. -Germans invented cruise ships. The first cruise ship was the “Prinzessin Victoria Luise” (HAPAG). - In late 19th and early 20th century the HAPAG and the North German Lloyd were the two largest shipping companies. - In the early 20th the famous Flying P Liners could be compared to a steam ship. - One of the Flying P Liners, the “Peking”, was just finished restoring today. - In Hamburg one of the last surviving ocean liners is preserved, though it’s a mix between a cargo ship and a ocean liners. The ship is called “Cap Sandiego” and its 160 meters in length. - The three HAPAG Superliners are the only European ships, which are considered as male. Emperor Wilhelm 2. demanded it. - The HAPAG planned a “Vaterland 2” It was launched in 1939, just days before WW2 started. After the war the remains were scrapped. There were also plans for a “Imperator 2” and a “Bismarck 2”, but those ships were never started. - Germany had the largest tragedy in maritime history. The “Wilhelm Gustloff” sank on the 30th of January 1945 with 10,000 people aboard. Sadly only 1,000 survived. - The “North-Baltic sea channel” is the most travelled through channel in the world. Even more than the Suez- or Panama channel. - Hamburg Harbour is the third largest in Europa after Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Antwerpen (Belgium). - The Hanseatic League was the first European trading power and a maritime power in the Middle Ages. Everywhere throughout Europe you can find old warehouses which were part of that League. It even won a war against Denmark and Britain.

My great grandmother sailed from Hamburg to Ellis Island on this ship. She landed on July 15, 1914 - weeks before the start of the first world war. Presumably this was the ship's final crossing from Europe to America as a German liner.

I never knew that the name bismark was also a name of an ocean liner. Interesting history research, Nice job.

I love how as soon as they made good ships everybody just took em

I Always loved ships that has figureheads its makes them look so..good

You can see at the base of the eagle figurehead on board Imperator (which fell off during a storm on the North Atlantic) Albert Ballin's quote for the Hamburg American Lines, "My Field is the World" in German. He was known as "the Wunderkind" and treated all of his passengers with the upmost respect. He even created an entire village to take care of his 3rd class passengers to make sire they were all healthy and safe as an entire vessel of 3rd class passengers were rejected at Ellis Island and were forced to return to their port of embarkation at the expense of the shipping line, and it cost the line many thousands of dollars at the time. So his village not only helped to mitigate these potential problems, but it also showed an amazing care for the people who traveled on his ships. He was an amazing person who loved his ships, loved his country, and cared for his passengers. Rest in peace Albert Ballin...his dying words: "Better an end without dread, than dread without end."

I actually quite like Imperator's eagle. It's too bad that the Atlantic evidently did not.

7:22 Harry Houdini & Theodore Roosevelt

My Great Grandfather James W. lambert was transported on the SS Imperator from Brest, France to Hoboken, New Jersey July 7th, 1919 during World War 1. COMPANY K 813TH PIONEER INFANTRY (COLORED)

The interior designers of the Ballin trio also designed the interior of the Royal Automobile Club in London - the swimming pool there is almost identical...even down to the tiles on the columns

I'm my opinion, the figurehead makes the ship unique. I think its not ugly 🙂

Amazing video, I’ve always loved the look of the Imperator Class Liners. Thanks for making this video, very informative! 👍

one of my top 10 favorite ships Imperator i don’t know why something just draws me to the imperator. The interiors,design,her exteriors everything about it to me is just perfect.

I wish more of these ocean layers were still in existence as museums I would’ve really liked to been able to get a first person view of one

just found out this channel on my related videos feed when watching some history videos. What an underrated channel. Keep creating content like this!. *subscribed*

Never knew this there was another ship that drastically surpassed The Olympic Class. Great video as always!

Loving your documentaries! They’re filling in all the gaps for me, so thank you so much.

i just think this era in ship history is the most interesting. Glad to see you do too. Been obsessed with it since i was a kid. Keep it up with the vids.

I love how you characterize the companies

Imperator was such a hot ship.

Another brilliant video! I love how the different companies used to compete with each other.

Very informative, to the point doc. Congrats and thanks for sharing!

I always loved the look of these three liners, very nice video, thx

ImPERator. It's Latin for emperor.

Great writing, sir! Your delivery is quick and relevant. Subscribed!

I can tell this channel is gonna get big. Great video, and great channel!

I think that eagle sets the ship apart from any other. if anything it makes it more classy than less. It has its own personality

I love your channel. Literally one of the only things I binge-watch.

Great documentary. I have waited for a long time to learn more about German Ocean Liners. Thank you.

Great Video, very well researched! I've also generated a large amount of knowledge about the Imperator class over the past few years and I must say that your video really is a great summary of the fairly interesting story of these three ships. You even mentioned some things that I didn't even know until now, like for example the fact that there was a fire on the Imperator. But yes, Imperator and Bismarck were considered as male, since their names refered to Germany's Emperor Wilhelm II (Imperator means Emperor) and Otto von Bismarck.

Your work is of high quality. I really love your videos. Valuable information, enjoyable to watch. A great package. Can you do the CGT ships sometime ? (French lines) I actually think those, although coming late in the game, upstaged everything else the competition had to offer. Cheers and best regards.

Excellent video! Thank you for posting!

Wow - I'm almost speechless ! Thanks a lot for this wonderful info-Tsunami - it strikes me how little I would know about these ships... Clips with content like this should be on german TV if you ask me - but they clearly aren't ! Thanks for sorting out the fascinating stories behind these three gorgeous ocean-liners.

14:47 Olympic on the right

0:35 actually, Kaiser Wilhelm der Große (Emperor William the Great) was named after William I, German Emperor and King of Prussia, the grandfather of the then-German Emperor and King of Prussia, William II

Your videos really are so informative and fun to watch.. Great Job! Subbed instantly!

This is such an amazing channel! i had no idea any of these magnificent ships existed.

Great vlog as always!

The Imperator, one of my favourite ships!

Very interesting documentary, thank you for the wealth of information. I find it interesting that these ships have been lost to history despite their prominence.

I'd love it if the M.V oceanic was able to compete with the ss bremen, normandie and queen mary, I feel like that would be an interesting topic to talk about, the trio and their rivalries

Fun fact: Majestic( second one operated by White Star) has been the largest ship ever operated by White Star. Yes it surpassed Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic because when it was launched, it was considered “Largest Ship in the World.”

Very enjoyable and informative video, thank you very much!

Fantastic video! Thank you! :)

Amazing video!Like always!Your videos are amazing.Continue the great work!

I didn't even knew that we had ships like this back in the day :o

Very interesting.Really enjoyed this😎👍!

USA and UK: our ship is the biggest and fastest. Engineers: laugh in german.

I've never seen the photo of Titanic at 3:34 before. Her unfinished paint work and tugs being positioned to move her likely means it was taken sometime in March 1912, around the time Olympic returned to have her damaged screw replaced. Just some tidbits as well: - Imperator was actually a 'male' ship at the personal request of the Kaiser. - Cunard and White Star couldn't afford to purchase their respective vessels, so Imperator and Bismarck were purchased jointly in a business arrangement that lasted until 1932. - Majestic was actually sold for scrap in 1936, but a contract clause forbid Cunard-White Star from doing so because Majestic was a replacement for HMHS Britannic, which was under the ownership of the Royal Navy when she sank. This meant that Majestic technically belonged to the Admiralty, who compensated the scrapyard and took Majestic into their hands. - While Majestic was far and wide the largest of the trio, which was actually the fastest was contended since Majestic had the highest recorded top speed at 25 knots during a 1925 eastbound crossing, but Leviathan consistently recorded the highest average speed throughout the 1920s.

It’s sad the allies take our ships away

This was a great video I didn’t even know these ships were a thing

Interesting. I knew nothing of these three. Thank you.

Firstly, thank you for the video, it waa really informative and showed a rather unknown (at least for me) chapter of the ocean liners. While reading the comments, I've seen that you got quite a bit heat for your pronunciation of 'Imperator'. What people should notice, is that Latin is pronounced differently in different languages, despite us knowing a lot about the classical pronunciation. And being German myself, I can tell that Latin words are stressed differently in German than in English. Imperator for example, is stressed on the third syllable and pronounced a bit like [im-pear-AH-tor]. So don't sweat it, Latin is mainly written anyways. Even my teachers at university did not care a bit about pronunciation because there is no real need for it.

This was very informative for someone who only knew about the great British and French ships. Didn't know that the Germans made such revolutionary ocean liners.

Bravo Zulu sir 😎 At 14:25 you show a nice ass shot of the “would be Bismark” along with a service tug in the foreground. Even the service vessels had elegance and class back then 😎

Finally a video about them!

9:22 "And Imperator went on to earn the nickname Limperator" *MLG Horn Bass Boosted* (But the horn is of all the other liners of the era combined)

hi great video this is! Could you also make a video about the dutch liners, im really interested in the Holland - Amerika Lijn!

Reallyexcellent research and well told.

The parquet de Versailles in the lounge.... love that!

The former Vaterland (Fatherland) remains the biggest TA liner in German history with her gross tonnage of 54,282. All German fourstackers came from what is now Szczecin in Poland; their birthplace - AG Vulcan - was such too for the only German battleship LOST in action during WW 1.

Neat video. Never even realized Germany had their titanic class of ships

Love these. Great work!

How many of these magnificent behemoths came to a ignominious end? Another fascinating video. Well done.

The trio's electrical wiring was their Achilles heel.

3:33 I would love to learn about the transition from Triple Expansion reciprocating engines to turbines.

Great work.

Great video!

Heck Yeah another Video!

The imporater with the egel head in my opinionis just gorgeous

Hopefully the series continues and you also do one for Bremen, Europa and perhaps even Columbus. I find these ships while revolutionary for their time, are now pretty much forgotten compared to their more famous British rivals. The Italian greyhounds, Rex and Conte di Savoia suffer from the same fate. Though I disagree with lumping them all as a class of ship. Imperator was built in a different yard to that of Vaterland and Bismarck (being a slightly longer Vaterland). While they were running mates, Imperator and Vaterland were physically distinct and different. Vaterland was 43 feet longer than Imperator, featured split uptakes, did not have a two deck dining room found on Imperator and different superstructures in particularly the bridge. Comparatively, they were more similar to Lusitania and Mauretania who resembled a general design intent as outlined by Cunard but different as they had been designed built by different yards. Rather different then the Olympic "class" ships who built by one yard under one general blueprint.

Wow. Nice Video!!

This man needs to be recognized for his work. Him and Richlarrouse. Both of them have such great videos, yet don't receive that many subscribers.

It's pronounced Im PER a TOOR and there used to be a website designed by the grandson of one of the crew. It was my game name for years

I dont know why but the photo at 14:55 just warmed my heart

Imperator sounds so majestic

I didn't really know about these ones. Shame. As much as the First World War interests me, and as much as it needed to happen to make the world click into modern mode... part of me wishes it hadn't happened, so we could get rivalries like that again, and advance ocean technology again.

If I'm not mistaken it was the Leviathan that paved the way for the" United States " and there is a fascinating story about the Leviathan and its journey to the breakers.

Imagine what would have happened if the Imperator class had continued under German ownership, without World War I to interrupt it. Hamburg America probably would’ve been the most dominant shipping line for many years

Oh my GOD I love your vids!!!!

I was hoping for the KMS Bismarck but this is fine too