Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutscher 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 to form Hapag-Lloyd.
Establishment of the company
The company was founded by the Bremen merchants Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann on 20 February 1857, after the dissolution of the New York based Ocean Steam Navigation Company, a joint German-American enterprise. The new shipping company had no direct association with the British maritime classification society Lloyd's Register, but by the mid-19th century, "Lloyd" was commonly used to refer to NDL.H. H. Meier became NDL's first chairman of the supervisory board, and Crüsemann became the first director of the company. Crüsemann was in charge of both cargo services and passenger transport, which was growing significantly as a result of emigration. The company was also active in other areas, including tugboats, bathing, insurance, and ship repair. The first office of the company was located at 13 Martinistraße in Bremen.
The company started with establishing a route to England prior to starting a transatlantic service. In 1857, the first ship, Adler, began regular passenger service between the Weser region and England. On 28 October 1857, it made its maiden voyage from Nordenham to London.
Just one year later, regular, scheduled services were started between the new port in Bremerhaven and New York using two steamships, and. International economic crises made the first years of NDL extremely difficult, and the company took losses until 1859. In the following years, passenger connections to Baltimore and New Orleans were added to the schedule, and the company first rented facilities on the waterfront in Hoboken, New Jersey.
In 1867–1868, NDL began a partnership with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which initiated the Baltimore Line; until 1978, it had its own ships. In 1869, Crüsemann died at the age of 43 years. From 1877 to 1892, the director of NDL was Johann Georg Lohmann. He established a new policy for the company, emphasizing building fast liners. Eventually H. H. Meier and Lohmann fell out over the direction of the company. In 1892, a twin-screw steamship was christened H.H. Meier after the founder; this helped to heal the breach between them.
Foundation of the German Empire
During the Gründerzeit at the beginning of the German Empire, 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 it was replaced by a permanent route to the east coast of South America. On the transatlantic route, the HAPAG, the Holland-America Line, and the Red Star Line were by then all fierce rivals. Beginning in 1881 with, eleven fast steamships of from 4500 to of the so-called "", were introduced to serve the North Atlantic route.In 1885, NDL won an agreement to provide postal service between the German Empire, Australia, and the Far East. The associated subsidy underwrote further expansion, beginning with the first large-scale order placed with a German shipyard for three mail steamships for the major routes and three smaller steamships for branch service from AG Vulcan Stettin. It was a requirement of the agreement that the ships be constructed in Germany.
By 1890, with 66 ships totaling, NDL was the second largest shipping company in the world, after P&O, with 48 ships totaling, and dominated shipping to Germany with 31.6% of the traffic. NDL was also 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 Cunard and White Star Line. New York accounted for 42% of NDL's passenger traffic, and 15% to other US ports, but only 16.2% eastbound from New York. Its westbound South Atlantic service represented 17.3% of its passengers; eastbound from South America represented 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.
Expansion and competition
H. H. Meyer stepped 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 the chairman. The lawyer Heinrich Wiegand became Director; from 1899 onwards, his title was Director General. He held this position until 1909, and presided over significant expansion.In 1897, with the completion of, the NDL finally had a major ship for the North Atlantic route. It was the largest and fastest ship in the world at the time, and the company benefited from the reputation gained by the ship winning the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing with an average speed of 22.3 knots. Between 1897 and 1907, the company followed with three more ships of the same, with tonnage ranging from to :, and. With these ships the company offered a regular service across the Atlantic to its docks at Hoboken, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York. On 30 June 1900, over 300 dock workers and others were killed in a fire at the Hoboken docks.
During the first decade of the 20th century, NDL and HAPAG competed in the transatlantic routes with several record-breaking ships and vied with the British Cunard and White Star Line as the largest shipping companies in the world. In 1902 and 1904, two NDL ships again won the Blue Riband: Kronprinz Wilhelm with an average speed of for the westbound passage from Cherbourg to New York, and Kaiser Wilhelm II at on the eastbound passage. In 1907,, and then in 1909,, both of Cunard Line, won the Blue Riband back for the British. The Mauretania then retained it until 1929.
Between 1894 and 1908, NDL ordered many other freight and passenger ships from several German shipyards. These included the and the Generals class.
Early 20th century
Beginning in 1899, 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. There, it set up between 14 and 16 passenger and freight routes in conjunction with the postal service. In 1900, fourteen 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 infamous Hun speech, in which he compared the military of the German Empire to the Huns, at the departure ceremony for. In German, these ships were collectively named "Hunnendampfer".At the beginning of the 20th century, the U.S. banking magnate J. P. Morgan began to acquire a number of shipping companies, including White Star Line, Leyland Line, and Red Star Line, to build the trust International Mercantile Marine Company in order to monopolize transatlantic shipping. He succeeded in signing both HAPAG and NDL to a profit-sharing agreement, but was unable to acquire the British Cunard Line, or the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. 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. Damaging competition was prevented between them. In 1912, the agreement with Morgan was terminated.
In 1907, the Norddeutscher Lloyd's 50th anniversary, the company had 93 large ships, 51 small ships, two sail training ships and other river steamers. It had around 15,000 employees. Because of the high investment costs and an international economic crisis, the company celebrated at this time but also realized that it had considerable financial difficulties.
Despite the financial difficulties, between 1907 and 1910, the company built a new headquarters on Papenburgstrasse in Bremen. The building was designed 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 that 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.
The lucrative North Atlantic route was extremely competitive in this period, with new, attractive ships from other large shipping companies including,, and of the Cunard Line, and White Star Line's,, and. The HAPAG introduced three new ships of the Imperator class:,, and, each with a size of around 50,000 GRT. The NDL responded with smaller but prestigious ships such as and, and transferred Berlin from Mediterranean service to the New York run. Finally in 1914, the company ordered two liners of the. However, World War I prevented their completion.
In this era of "open borders" to transatlantic travel, the largest group making the transatlantic crossing were immigrants from Europe to the United States, and NDL carried more of them than any other company. During 1900–1914, the three NDL ships carried the most transatlantic migrants,, and, each brought over 100 thousand steerage passengers to New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia. 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. This was the main contributing factor to "one of the blackest years in the Company's history."
In 1914, NDL employed approximately 22,000 people. Its success thus directly influenced the rapid growth of the city of Bremerhaven, which had only been founded in 1827.
Director General Dr. Wiegand died in 1909, and was succeeded by Director Phillip Heineken, who served until 1920.
NDL's routes around 1907
This is a list of routes served by NDL in 1907.Europe – America
- Bremerhaven – New York
- Bremerhaven – Baltimore
- Bremerhaven – Savannah
- Bremerhaven – Galveston
- Bremerhaven – Cuba
- Bremerhaven – La Plata ports
- Bremerhaven – Brazil
- Genoa – New York
- Marseille – Alexandria
- Bremerhaven – East Asia
- Bremerhaven – Australia
- Hong Kong – Japan – New Guinea
- Hong Kong – Bangkok
- Hong Kong – Bangkok
- Hong Kong Straits
- Hong Kong – South Philippines
- Penang – Deli
- Deli – Singapore
- Singapore – Bangkok
- Singapore – South Philippines
- Singapore – Moluccas
- Singapore – Moluccas
- Shanghai – Hankow
- Australia – Japan – Manila – Hong Kong
- Daytrip service on the Baltic coast
- Tug service Bremen – Hamburg and Bremen – Bremerhaven
- Passenger shipping Bremen – Bremerhaven
World War I
The beginning of World War I was a logistical challenge for NDL as a shipping company 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. NDL owned a majority interest in the Deutsche Ozean-Reederei, which used U-boats for trade and made some successful Atlantic crossings.Post-war period
At the start of the war, the NDL's fleet totaled more than. Under the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the war, all ships over and half of all units from 100 GRT to were confiscated. In 1917, the United States had already confiscated the facilities in Hoboken and the NDL ships at the dock there. The prewar NDL fleet no longer existed. The company was left with some small ships totalling. With these, the company resumed passenger service, tug service, and freight service in 1919. The 'flagship' was the 781-ton Grüß Gott. 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, it combined with HAPAG's air transport subsidiary to form Deutscher Aero Lloyd, which merged with Junkers Luftverkehr AG on 6 January 1926 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.. 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. The unfinished Columbus had been awarded to Great Britain after the war and was purchased in 1920 by White Star Line, which had lost a significant amount of its ships in the war and wished to be compensated 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 mail ships Seydlitz and Yorck, the Gotha, and the cargo ships Göttingen, and Holstein. The company also began to build new freighters and passenger ships and to buy back other ships. In late 1921, services to South America was resumed with the Seydlitz, and in early 1922, the East Asian service resumed with the Westfalen. On 12 February 1922, service to New York with their own ships resumed with Seydlitz. The other ship of the Columbus-class, the former Hindenburg, was completed in 1924 and named Columbus. It was placed in scheduled transatlantic passenger service.
A brief post-war boom was followed by severe inflation in Germany, but despite this, NDL continued to expand its fleet. Twelve new ships of between 8,700 GRT and were placed in service for South and Central America and the Far East, and then, in addition to the Columbus, three new ships of between 13,000 GRT and were assigned to the North Atlantic. In 1927 the former was purchased back from Great Britain and placed in service as the Dresden.
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 three German shipping companies: HABAL, the Roland Line, and Argo. 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.
In 1929 and 1930, the company put its two largest ships into service, and . With an average speed of about, both were to win the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossings. In 1929, the Columbus was completely refitted.
From 1928 to 1939, the volume of passengers traveling between the U.S. 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 and, the French, and the British .
Great Depression and World War II
The 1929 economic crisis, which began in the U.S., affected 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. The first signs of a merger were visible. By 1932, the NDL was in an economic crisis, with about 5,000 employees laid off, salary cuts, and red ink. Glässel was dismissed. The government placed both NDL and HAPAG in trusteeship under Siegfried von Roedern. Following the death of Stimming, Heinrich F. Albert briefly became head of NDL, followed after some eighteen months by the National Socialist Rudolph Firle. Bremen State Councillor Karl Lindemann was chairman of the board from 1933 to 1945. A program of economic recovery by divestments and restructuring was initiated. HBAL and the Roland Line became independent companies once more, and other companies took over services to Africa and the Mediterranean. The Nazi regime ordered both NDL and HAPAG to relinquish ships to other companies 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.In 1935, the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Potsdam, each with about, were placed in service for the Far East. The modernization of the fleet continued and the company made modest profits in 1937.
In 1939, slipped out of Lyttelton Harbour on 28 August, on the eve of World War II, ostensibly for Port Kembla, New South Wales, where it was to have filled her coal bunkers for the homeward passage to Europe. It then headed for the subantarctic Auckland Islands, successfully evading the cruiser, 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. Erlangen then made her way into the South Atlantic where, on 24 July 1941, it was intercepted off Montevideo by and scuttled by her crew.
In 1939, NDL had 70 ships in service totaling, including the sail training ship Kommodore Johnsen, 3 daytrip ships, 19 tugs, and 125 small ships. It employed 12,255 people (8,811 on its ships. Nine more 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 war reparations. The Columbus was sunk in 1939; the Bremen burned in 1941; the Steuben was sunk in the Baltic Sea in 1945 with the loss of some 4,000 lives; the Europa was claimed by France in 1947, and was renamed the Liberté.
The German government was the primary stockholder in the company, but in 1941-1942, NDL was once more privatized and a cigarette manufacturer Philipp Reemtsma became its primary stockholder. 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 had been severely damaged by bombing and all its large ships had either been 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. 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 shipping companies were permitted to order and to build ships of up to. In 1950, NDL placed its first post-war orders at the Bremer Vulkan shipyard for the Rheinstein-class ships.After the limitations on German shipping imposed by the Allies were lifted in 1951, NDL commenced building a new fleet. First, it purchased older freighters and had new freighters built between 4,000 and and 5,000 and 13,000 DWT, all with names ending in -stein. The company had routes to Canada, New Orleans, the Canary Islands, and, beginning in 1953, the Far East.
In 1955, NDL resumed passenger service on the North Atlantic routes using a rebuilt 1924 Swedish ship, the . Renamed Berlin, it was the sixth German ship of that name, the fourth at NDL. In 1959, the company added the and, in 1965, the Europa, Gripsholms sister ship bought from the Swedish American Line. These ships were first placed in scheduled service to America but were soon transferred to cruising. In 1967, the express freighter Friesenstein 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 a container service to the USA with the Weser-Express; two more container ships were added soon afterward.
Around 1960, NDL had 47 ships, a number that remained almost unchanged until 1970. In 1968, its fleet totaled, and it was the 16th largest shipping company worldwide. HAPAG, with, was the 9th largest. In 1970, NDL had a turnover of 515 million DM and a share capital of 54 million DM, and employed 6,200 people.
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 carrying out three quarters of its freight business in association with HAPAG, a merger of the two largest German shipping companies was entirely logical.
On September 1, 1970, NDL merged with HAPAG to form Hapag-Lloyd AG, based in Hamburg with a secondary headquarter in Bremen.
On 20 February 2007, a small group of dedicated, former member of NDL organized a meeting at the Bremer Ratskeller for the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the company. This event was very popular, so it was decided that the meeting would be an annual event. They take place annually on the twentieth of February in Bremen in the former Lloyd's building – today Courtyard Marriott hotel.
Legacy
- 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.
- 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. Almost all company buildings are now in Hamburg and Hanover.
- The Lloyd Dynamowerke in Bremen
- Buildings in Bremen and Bremerhaven still bear the marks of former use by the NDL.
- The Bremer Bank, now absorbed by Commerzbank, was founded by Meier to provide financing.
Major individuals
- Hermann Henrich Meier, founder and 1857–1888 first Supervisory Board Chairman of the NDL
- Eduard Crüsemann; 1857–1869 founder and first director of NDL
- August Hermann Friedrich Neynaber alias HFA or HAF called Hermann Neynaber; captain of many liners from 1866 to 1881
- Johann Georg Lohmann, 1877–1892 Director of NDL
- 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
- Charles Polack, Captain in 1913 of the
- Dr. Philipp Heineken, Director-General in 1909–1920, 1920–1933 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NDL
- Carl Joachim Stimming, Director General, 1921–31
- Arnold Petzet; from 1906 to 1927 on NDL's board, responsible for transport within Germany, establishment of the cruise sector
- Ernst Glässel; 1926 member of the Lloyd Executive Board, 1931–1932 Chairman of the Board
- Dietrich Hogemann, commodore who retired in 1913
- Paul König, 1911 captain, 1916 captain of the U-boat, 1920–1932 Head of the marine department of the NDL
- Nikolaus Johnsen, captain in 1924 of Columbus, and in 1930 Europa, and commodore of the fleet
- Leopold Ziegenbein, captain and commodore of Bremen
- Oskar Scharf, captain on the Europa
- Adolf Ahrens, captain and commodore of Columbus and Bremen
- Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, 1932–1933 Director General of the NDL
- Friedrich Johann Gottfried Hubert Paffrath, 1929-1941 Superintendent
- Karl Lindemann, 1933–1945 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NDL
- Dr. Rudolph Firle, 1933–1944. Director General of the NDL
- Dr. Johnannes Kulenkampff; from 1932 Board Member, from 1942 Executive Board member
- Richard Bertram; from 1937 Board Member, from 1942 Executive Board member
- Paul Hampel, director of ship maintenance of the NDL of about 1950 to 1970
- Heinrich Lorenz, captain of the Berlin
- Günter Rössing, captain of the ''Bremen''
List of ships
This is a list of all ships in service of the NDL. Some of the ships were owned previously by other companies.| Year | Name | Tonnage | Shipyard | Fate/Status |
| 1858 | Bremen | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1874 sold to E.Bates, Liverpool, converted to sail | |
| 1858 | New York | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1874 sold to E.Bates, Liverpool, converted to sail; wrecked off Staten Island and sank in 1891 | |
| 1858 | Hudson | 1858 burned out at Bremen, rebuilt and in 1863 became Louisiana for National Line | ||
| 1858 | Weser | Palmer Bros. & Co. Ltd., Yarrow | 1859 sold to French Navy | |
| 1861 | Hansa | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1879 sold to shipbuilders in part exchange for Hansa | |
| 1863 | America | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1894 sold to Italy, renamed Orazio | |
| 1865 | Hermann | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1893 sold to shipbuilder in part exchange for H.H. Meier | |
| 1866 | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1875 wrecked in Thames Estuary; loss of 57 lives | ||
| 1867 | Union | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1870 wrecked on Rattray Head, Aberdeen; no loss of life | |
| 1867 | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1896 scrapped | ||
| 1868 | Rhein | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1891 sold to Gray, Liverpool | |
| 1868 | Main | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1891 sold to Anglo-American SS Co. | |
| 1868 | Baltimore | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1894 scrapped | |
| 1868 | Berlin | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1894 sold to Italy, renamed M. Bruzzo | |
| 1869 | Donau | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1889 sold to H. Bischoff, Bremen | |
| 1869 | Ohio | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1894 sold to shipbuilder in part exchange for new ships, resold to Italy and renamed Amazzone | |
| 1869 | Leipzig | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1894 sold to Hamburg owners | |
| 1869 | Frankfurt | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1894 sold to shipbuilder in part exchange for new ships | |
| 1869 | Hanover | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1894 scrapped | |
| 1870 | Cologne | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1895 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1870 | Koln | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1895 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1871 | König Wilhelm I | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1873 stranded at Holland; no life lost. | |
| 1871 | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1897 scrapped | ||
| 1871 | Graf Bismarck | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1898 scrapped | |
| 1872 | Strasburg | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1896 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1872 | Mosel | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1882 wrecked Cornwall; no life lost. | |
| 1873 | Braunschweig | R. Steele & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1896 scrapped | |
| 1873 | Feldmarschall Moltke | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1875 sold to P&O and renamed Assam | |
| 1873 | Minister Roon | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1875 sold to P&O and renamed Siam | |
| 1873 | Hohenzollern | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1899 sold to Hong Kong | |
| 1874 | Nürnberg | R. Steele & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1895 sold to F.Raben, Vegesack, scrapped | |
| 1874 | Hohenstaufen | Earle's Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Hull | 1897 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1874 | Oder | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1887 wrecked at Socotra Islands | |
| 1874 | Neckar | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1896 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1874 | General Werder | Caird & Co. Ltd., Greenock | 1892 given for new building in payment | |
| 1875 | Salier | Earle's Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Hull | 1896 wrecked on Spanish coast; loss of 279 lives | |
| 1876 | Habsburg | Earle's Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Hull | 1898 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1881 | John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1895 sank after collision in the English Channel | ||
| 1882 | Werra | John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1901 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1883 | Fulda | John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1899 rebuilding aborted after heavy damage and scrapped | |
| 1884 | Eider | John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1892 stranded at Isle of Wight, refloated and scrapped | |
| 1884 | Ems | John Elder & Co. Ltd., Glasgow | Sold to Elder Dempster Lines, renamed Lake Simcoe | |
| 1886 | Aller | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1904 scrapped | |
| 1886 | Stettin | AG Vulcan Stettin | 1931 scrapped | |
| 1886 | Trave | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1908 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1886 | Saale | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1901 sold | |
| 1886 | Preussen | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1909 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1887 | Lahn | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1904 sold | |
| 1887 | Bayern | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1909 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1887 | Sachsen | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1909 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1888 | Dresden | 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 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1900 rebuilt to, 1901 Renamed Hohenzollern, 1908 stranded at Sardinia, refloated and scrapped | |
| 1889 | München | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1902 scrapped | |
| 1889 | Karlsruhe | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1908 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1889 | Stuttgart | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1908 sold to be scrapped | |
| 1890 | Darmstadt | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1911 scrapped | |
| 1890 | Gera | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1909 scrapped | |
| 1890 | Spree | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1899: rebuilt and renamed to Kaiserin Maria Theresia. 1904 sold to Russian Navy, renamed Ural | |
| 1891 | Havel | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1898 scrapped | |
| 1891 | Oldenburg | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1911 scrapped | |
| 1891 | Weimar | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Eng. Co. Ltd., Glasgow | 1908 scrapped | |
| 1892 | H. H. Meier | Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd., Newcastle | 1901 scrapped | |
| 1893 | Pfalz | Wigham Richardson & Co. Ltd., Newcastle | 1904 sunk | |
| 1893 | Mark | Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd., Newcastle | 1915 Sunk by Royal Navy off Tanga, Tanzania | |
| 1894 | Prinzregent Luitpold | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1914 laid up in Messina; 1915 seized by Italy, renamed Pietro Calvi | |
| 1894 | Prinz Heinrich | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1914 laid up in Lisbon; 1916 seized by Portugal, renamed Porto | |
| 1894 | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1914 laid up in Boston; 1917 seized by United States Shipping Board, renamed Iroquois | ||
| 1894 | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1914 laid up in Boston; 1917 seized by US Shipping Board, renamed Wyandotte | ||
| 1896 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1914 laid up in New York City; 1917 seized by US Shipping Board, renamed Huron | ||
| 1897 | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1914 interned in Manila; 1917 seized by U.S. | ||
| 1897 | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1914 laid up in New York City; 1917 seized by US Shipping Board, renamed Mercury | ||
| 1897 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 to Orient Line, renamed Omar | ||
| 1897 | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 to Byron Line, renamed Constantinople | ||
| 1897 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1914 became German armed merchant cruiser, 1914 sunk by at Rio de Oro, Spanish Sahara | ||
| 1898 | Kaiser Friedrich | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1898 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 | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1917 seized by US, renamed Susquehanna | ||
| 1899 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1915 seized by Italy and renamed Ferdinando Palasciano | ||
| 1899 | Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde | 1917 seized by US, renamed Amphion | ||
| 1899 | Hanover | 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 | Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1922 renamed Sarvistan | |
| 1900 | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1917 seized by US, renamed Aeolus | ||
| 1900 | Prinzessin Irene | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1917 seized by US, renamed Pocahontas; 1922 re-purchased by NDL, renamed Bremen, 1928 renamed Karlsruhe ; 1932 scrapped | |
| 1900 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1904 purchased from Hamburg America Line asKiautschou and renamed Princess Alice. 1917 seized by US, renamed Princess Matoika | ||
| 1900 | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation | ||
| 1900 | Strassburg | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1904 transferred to Hamburg America Line, renamed Slavonia | |
| 1900 | Würzburg | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1916 seized by Portugal, renamed Sao Vicente | |
| 1901 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1914 became German commerce raider, 1915 interned in Newport News, Virginia, 1917 seized by US, renamed Von Steuben | ||
| 1901 | Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde | 1917 seized by US, renamed Antigone | ||
| 1901 | Cassel | Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde | 1919 ceded to France as war reparation, renamed Marechal Gallieni | |
| 1901 | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1917 seized by US, renamed Bridgeport | ||
| 1901 | Petchaburi | 2.191 GRT | Georg Seebeck, Bremerhaven | July 1917 Seized by the Siam Government, renamed Kaeo Samud; December 1920 sunk on trip from Bangkok to Swatow in Gulf of Siam |
| 1902 | Chemnitz | Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation | |
| 1902 | Brandenburg | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1922 renamed Hecuba and transferred to Alfred Holt & Co. | |
| 1902 | Schleswig | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1919 to France as war reparation, 1921 renamed General Duchesne, management was transferred to Messageries Maritimes | |
| 1902 | Erlangen | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1917 mined and sunk in North Sea, loss of 19 lives | |
| 1903 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1914 laid up in New York; 1917 seized by US, renamed Agamemnon | ||
| 1903 | Zieten | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1916 seized by Portugal, renamed Tungue | |
| 1903 | Roon | Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde | 1919 ceded to Britain, 1921 to Greece, renamed Constantinoupolis | |
| 1903 | Seydlitz | Schichau-Werke, Stettin | 1933 scrapped | |
| 1903 | Gneisenau | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1918 seized by Belgium, 1919 sold to Italy, 1921 renamed Citta di Genova | |
| 1904 | Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde | 1919 seized by France, 1920 transferred to French Line, renamed La Bourdonnais | ||
| 1904 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1914 became German commerce raider, 1915 interned in US, 1917 seized by US, renamed DeKalb | ||
| 1906 | Yorck | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1933 scrapped | |
| 1906 | Bülow | Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde | 1914 laid up in Lisbon / 1916 seized by Portugal, renamed Tras-os-Montes | |
| 1906 | Prinz Ludwig | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1920 transferred to Orient Line, renamed Orcades | |
| 1907 | 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 | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1933 scrapped | |
| 1907 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1914 laid up in Boston, 1917 seized by US, renamed Mount Vernon | ||
| 1907 | Kleist | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 to Japan, renamed Yoshino Maru | |
| 1907 | Goeben | AG Weser, Bremen | 1919 to France as war reparation, 1920 transferred to French Line and renamed Roussillon | |
| 1907 | Schlesien | Flensburger Schiffbau, Flensburg | 1914 captured by Royal Navy, 1915 renamed Maritime, then Waikawa | |
| 1908 | Derfflinger | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1914 seized by Britain, renamed Huntsgreen; 1923 repurchased by NDL, reverted to Derfflinger, 1932 scrapped | |
| 1908 | Lützow | AG Weser, Bremen | 1914 seized by Britain, renamed Huntsend; 1923 repurchased by NDL, reverted to Lutzow, 1933 scrapped | |
| 1908 | Giessen | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1921 transferred to Ellerman Lines, renamed City of Harvard | |
| 1909 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1917 seized by US | ||
| 1909 | Berlin | AG Weser, Bremen | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1920 transferred to White Star Line, renamed Arabic | |
| 1910 | Coburg | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1917 seized by Brazil, renamed Pocone | |
| 1910 | Eisenach | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1917 seized by Brazil, renamed Santarém | |
| 1912 | Sierra Nevada | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1917 seized by Brazil, renamed Bage | |
| 1912 | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1919 seized by France, management transferred to Cie. de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, renamed Alba | ||
| 1913 | AG Vulcan, Stettin | Supply ship for German raiders, seized by Peru 1917, renamed Callao, chartered by United States Shipping Board and transferred to U.S. Navy 26 April 1919 and commissioned USS Callao, decommissioned 20 September 1919. 1922 sold at auction by USSB, renamed Ruth Alexander by Dollar Steamship Lines | ||
| 1913 | Sierra Salvada | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1917 seized by Brazil, renamed Avare | |
| 1913 | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1914 captured by Britain, renamed Boorara | ||
| 1913 | Pommern | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1914 captured by Britain, renamed Boorara | |
| 1914 | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1919 ceded to Britain as war reparation, 1920 transferred to White Star Line, renamed Homeric | ||
| 1915 | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1920 ceded to Britain as war reparation, transferred to Orient Line, renamed Ormuz; 1927 repurchased by NDL, renamed Dresden ; 1934 wrecked on Norwegian coast, loss of 4 lives | ||
| 1922 | Köln | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1934 became cargo ship, 1940 wrecked on Swedish coast | |
| 1922 | Crefeld | Flensburger Schiffbau, Flensburg | 1934 became cargo ship, 1941 scuttled as blockship at Massawa | |
| 1922 | Sierra Nevada | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1925 renamed Madrid; 1935 sold to Hamburg South America Line | |
| 1922 | Weser | AG Weser, Bremen | 1926 Schwaben, passenger-cargo ship, 1931 laid up, 1933 scrapped | |
| 1922 | Werra | AG Weser, Bremen | 1935 sold to Italian Line, Genoa and renamed Calabria. 11 June 1940 seized by UK; 8 December 1940 sunk by | |
| 1923 | Sierra Ventana | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1935 sold to Italian Line, renamed Sardegna | |
| 1923 | München | 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 | 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 | 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 | AG Weser, Bremen | 1935 sold to Italian Line, renamed Toscana | |
| 1924 | Coblenz | AG Weser, Bremen | 1935 sold to Italian Line, renamed Sicilia | |
| 1924 | Trier | AG Weser, Bremen | 1936 wrecked off Spain, salvaged and sold to Turkey as submarine depot ship Erkin | |
| 1924 | Fulda | AG Weser, Bremen | 1940 sold to Japan, renamed Teikoko Maru | |
| 1924 | Stuttgart | AG Vulkan, Stettin | 1938 sold to Nazi Deutsche Arbeitsfront for Strength Through Joy cruising; 1943 bombed and sunk at Gdynia | |
| 1924 | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1939 scuttled in Atlantic Ocean to avoid capture by Royal Navy during World War II | ||
| 1925 | Berlin | 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 | Bremer Vulkan AG, Vegesack | 1940 seized by the Netherlands, renamed Wangi Wangi | |
| 1927 | Arucas | Flensburger Schiffbau, Flensburg | 1940 scuttled in North Atlantic to avoid capture by Royal Navy during World War II | |
| 1929 | AG Weser, Bremen | 1940 accommodation ship at Bremerhaven, 1941 burnt out in Bremerhaven, 1946 scrapped | ||
| 1929 | Erlangen | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1941 intercepted off Montevideo by and scuttled by her crew | |
| 1930 | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1945 taken over by US Navy, renamed, 1950 became French Line's Liberté | ||
| 1934 | AG Weser, Bremen | 1942 sold to Japan and converted to aircraft carrier | ||
| 1935 | Gneisenau | AG Weser, Bremen | 1943 mined and put ashore on Lolland Island, later scrapped | |
| 1935 | Potsdam | Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg | 1945 ceded for war reparations to Britain, 1946 became troopship Empire Fowey | |
| 1955 | Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Newcastle | 1954 acquired from Swedish American Line as Gripsholm by Bremen Amerika Line, jointly operated by Swedish America and NDL. 1955 renamed Berlin, 1959 fully owned by NDL, 1966 scrapped. | ||
| 1959 | Chantiers et Ateliers de St. Nazaire | 1959 purchased from Cie. de Navigation Sud-Atlantique as Pasteur, 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 in tow to Taiwanese ship breaker | ||
| 1965 | De Schelde N.V., Vlissingen | 1965 bought from Swedish America Line as, 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 | Steamship on the US–Japan–Australia route, along with Prinz Sigismund. In use by 1903. In about 1917, it became the Parr-McCormick Company steamship Wacouta. The ship again renamed Prinz Waldemar was wrecked near Kingston, Jamaica, by 1926. |