Auxiliary cruiser Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse sails for the Atlantic

On 4 August 1914 the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse sailed from Bremerhaven on a war cruise. Until recently she had been a luxury passenger liner of the Norddeutscher Lloyd company, built in 1897 and for a time the fastest ship on the Atlantic. At the start of the war the German navy took her over and armed her with guns, turning her into an auxiliary cruiser.

The task of such ships was commerce warfare, that is, attacking enemy merchant ships on the ocean routes. Large, fast liners were well suited to it: they had a long range, could carry stocks of coal and could overtake most merchant ships. Germany hoped that raids in the Atlantic would disrupt British trade and force the Royal Navy to disperse its forces.

The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse made her way through the North Sea into the Atlantic and sank or captured several British ships. Her captain also became known for his chivalrous conduct: he let two passenger liners he encountered go, because there were women and children on board and sinking them would have endangered civilian lives.

The ship’s career lasted only three weeks. On 26 August 1914, while coaling off the coast of the Spanish colony of Río de Oro in Western Sahara, she was attacked by the British cruiser HMS Highflyer. After an exchange of fire the crew scuttled the damaged ship. She was one of the first German raiders lost in this war.