@@anonblikret6240 Anyone EVER noticed, that it's SMS Imperator/Vaterland/Bismarck and so on. And NOT SS Imperator? SMS for "Seine Majestäts Schiff" or "His Majesty Ship" in english...
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.
And, ironically, the British removed them and moved all boats to the boat deck again. Apparently they really wanted a mass panic on boat deck if the ship had ever sunk :P
It strikes me as a good idea even though it was a matter of necessity in this case. Listing would be less of an issue if you're launching lifeboats from a few decks lower.
@@TheGreatBigMove Well listing would still be an issue. It will give you only a few extra degree, until life boats will be unable to launch. But on the other hand, you got less time to launch life boats.
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.
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!!
i also want to include that the S.S Bismarck looks like it was going to get a second chance as a troop ship but nope all of that got taken away after a fire sank the ship (it was scrapped later on)
Agreed. While not in service. There is the queen mary now docked in longbeach, CA as a hotel? So you can atleast see it.. and stay on it. Sadly that may be as close as one gets to sailing on one of these beauts so to speak.. the H.M.S Titanic II is still in production.. curious how that will go...
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.
@@King.TeeJayy of course it wouldn't be common knowledge, she was never used on an official voyage as the Bismarck, upon completion, she was immediately given to GB as war reparations
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
Another small detail: the attribute "Der Große" (The Great) of Wilhelm I. was only popular during the reign of his grandson Wilhelm II. The name never really stuck though which is why he's not generally called that today.
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!
Thank you for your kind words! I agree that the German ocean liners were beautiful and interesting in their own right. Some of them really exude their German heritage which I appreciate.
The Great Big Move Yes, they exude their German heritage all right, in a very prescient and sinister way. With names like “Vaterland” and “Imperator”, and bombastic ornamentation such as an eagle holding the world in it’s talons, they practically announced the coming German Nazi menace and conflagration of Europe.
Le Visionarium I don’t liked the eagle either but this was the only German ship which looked like this. Besides there are a lot more beautiful German ships like the “Bremen” from 1929 or the “Vaterland”, which looked much nicer.
@@Toast0808 The eagle was truly gaudy. But the names are not far from names like Titanic, Gigantic, Britannic… And by the time WWI ended, not even the germans were thinking there's gonna be an even more devastating war on the horizon. History is a complex bitch.
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.
What! That’s suicidal! Why would a ship arrived 10 years after the most famous ship being released? Isn’t that gonna scare the passengers because of the titanic disaster?
The Great Big Move, however, the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II, the third ship in the class, was named after the Kaiser in question, perhaps you’re confusing the two?
@@TheGreatBigMove Your source is wrong. Wilhelm der Grosse refers to Wilhelm I. - grandfather of Wilhelm II. and "Reichsgründer" (hence "The Great"). There is really no need for a source - that's basic German history knowledge.
@@OliverJWeber You've just stated "Wilhelm der Grosse refers to Wilhelm I. - grandfather of Wilhelm II." This exactly corresponds to what Evuengi Mlodik mentioned in her original post: "SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Der Große was actually named after Wilhelm I, who was the first German Emperor from 1871 to 1888." As you wrote: "there is really no need for a source - that's basic German history knowledge." Consequently, how can you justify suggesting that an issue of doubt even exists (in actual historicity) with what the lady wrote?
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.
Wow, I had never head of the ship before. It's fantastic that she is still around! I would probably want to visit her before I did a video on the subject but am certainly open to it. Thanks for the suggestion.
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.
“North-Baltic sea channel”^^ It's just called "Kiel Canal" in English. After the Allies renamed the Canal back in 1946 this abomination of a name somehow found its way into the German language. Well, us residents usually refer to it as "der Kanal" or "NOK".
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!
'The' in German is three words - der (male), die (female), das (neutrum). Ships and space crafts are always female in German, no exceptions. The only exceptions are planes: All makes except Airbus are female. Airbus, literally meaning air-bus is male because bus is a male noun in German.
@@historylife7394 The Ship is named simply "Imperator", which is a male noun, but when referring to the ship by its name, it is "die Imperator" as nouns are used with gender-specific pronouns, as can be seen at the beginning of the very first sentence in this wikipedia article about said ship: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperator_(Schiff,_1913)
@@historylife7394 The ship itself was called "Imperator", but when referred to in a sentence, like "I saw the Imperator", then it is "Ich sah die Imperator" - female gender. The only way that Imperatror would be used without the pronoun 'die' would be if it is used as part of a list, like "Imperator, Vaterland and Bismark were the largest German liners". Funny side fact: Emperor Wilhelm II requested the owners Hapag to use the male pronoun 'der' instead when referring to tthe ship, but the German public refused as it simply sounds wrong. When treferring to ships by name in German, you always use the female pronoun. Why do I know this? Well, I am German.
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.
There were two previous ocean liners named Furst Bismark, one built in 1890 and the second in 1905, both for Hamburg-Amerika. (The German "Furst" referred to the first person to hold a princely title in a noble family. )
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."
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.
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
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.
I knew I would be getting some comments about that! They were considered to be masculine when in German hands, but they're so often referred to as feminine in books and primary sources that it is tough to keep that in mind. It's also a habit at this point to say "she" or "her," so I would have had a hard time getting through the recording if I held myself to that. Thanks for watching and commenting!
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*
@@JacobA6464 Pfff...just ask the german government...Queen Mary is(was?) estimated to cost 23 million dollars to repair properly...germany paid 135million euros to repair an utterly useless sailing vessel of the Navy...cause its needed due to traditions(which the german navy does not have)...and because a navy needs a sailing vessel for training...something which basically no other navy has or really uses anymore
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.
@@TheGreatBigMove Thanks for replying!It is quite the honor to have you reply to me!Just keep the great work!Have a nice day! Sincerly,a Montenegrin viewer.
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.
Yeah, I realized that after looking at the photo again and seeing the short bridge wings flush with the edge of the ship that were unique to Olympic. D'oh!
Paul, great points. I believe that these are all correct. I actively chose to 'forget' that the ships were considered to be masculine while under the German flag for my own sanity while recording (knowing full well that I would get a good amount of flack for it). Worth it!
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
It's very interesting to see who would have come to challenge them. White Star and Cunard had just built their own trio. Perhaps their German rivals Norddeutsche Lloyd would have stepped up as they had been fairly quiet since the Kaiser class. The French Line may have also made some earlier steps forward.
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 😎
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)
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
The three ships of the Imperator class were build im Hamburg, Germany. The Imperator at the German subsidiary of Vulcan in Hamburg, the Vaterland and Bismarck at Blohm & Voss.
@@WojciechWachniewski-st1zm ...which was a German town called Stettin at the time. But even then that doesen't matter because Stettin wasn't involved in building the Imperator, the Hamburg subsidiary got the contract. So not all Fourstackers were built at Stettin, there was also Vulcan and Blohm & Voss Hamburg.
Fun fact: each one liner of the HAPAG Ballin's trio was bigger alone, than all four Polish 'new' liners from Italy, Britain and Denmark put together. 'New', means - ordered by Polish Messrs. PTTO and Messrs. GAL. The Polish quartet put in line (one behind another) would have been almost twice as long, as an average 'Nimitz'-class carrier is.
4:23 , has anyone else noticed that the Imperator started placing the additional lifeboats in their structure, which is what modern day Cruise ships do with their main lifeboats.
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.”
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.
The Germans had the best ships! Some of my German ancestors came to America and Canada on the Imperator. Again I must say... Such beautiful ships the Germans had!
Well, quite frankly this was one of the great frustrations of Germany. In general she could out manufacture superior quality to GB at nearly every turn. She had better composers, better philosophers, (some would say better authors once Shakespeare was well in the past) often better scientists and Berlin was actually culturally ahead of both London and Paris right up until Hitler! Yet Britannia ruled the waves with the greatest Empire the world had ever seen and Germany was kind of landlocked and struggling for Empire. It just didn't seem FAIR.
@@NashmanNash No, I didn't "forget" either of those points. I don't happen to hold either conviction so neither is something I could "forget". It's probably good for you as a German (you said we) that you hold them. I wouldn't try to convince you otherwise. And yes! I see the humor in your response and actually do appreciate it. We have all too little of that in the Chaos we've constructed around ourselves.
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.
Drenhol Appreciate that! There seems to be a lack of consensus on this particular issue. As you alluded to, I’ve only read the name of the ship. Thanks for watching.
I would have expected the Germans to place a bomb or something in the SS Bismarck to sink it while beeing transported because they needed to give it up to an former enemy as war reperations who didn't even fought with troops inside German territory (except the colonies).
Very nice and rare photos, well researched with something new to me. One question is left to me: At 4:40, Isn’t it a legend that the eagle should made Imperator longer than Aquitania? Aquitania overall length: 901 feet, approx. 274,6 Meter (source: Edwardian Superliners, J. Kent Layton, 2012). Imperator overall length, without eagle (sources): 268,22 m (Ballins Dicke Dampfer, Hans Jürgen Witthöft, 1974), 269.1 m (Germanischer Lloyd Register, 1914), 272.7 m (German Wikipedia), 276 m (Luxus-Liner, Ulrich Blumenschein, 1975), 277,06 m (Die Geschichte der Deutschen Passagierschiffahrt, Band IV, Arnold Kludas, 1989), 277,1 m (Die großen deutschen Passagierschiffe Imperator -Vaterland - Bismarck, Peter Zerbe, 1999). According to the last book 280,3 m with eagle, which is approx. 919 ft (909 ft without eagle). The 268,22 to 272,7 m seems not to be the overall length, than the length between perpendiculars ...
Yes! Imperator would have been longer than Aquitania either way. Maybe it's a myth that the figurehead's purpose was to out-do Aquitania, but my understanding is that they weren't necessarily sure of Aquitania's designed length when Imperator was nearing completion. Maybe this information had not yet been publicized. Great point and thanks for watching.
The Great Big Move: Good argument, they installed the figurehead to be prepared if Aquitania could be longer during construction and building process. And HAPAG and Blohm & Voss shipyard could not guarantee, that Vaterland will be launched before Aquitania, just make it sure. I‘ve never thought this way, thank you for this point of view.
Still debated today as to whether it could be considered a war crime. Moot, really, as it was well over a century ago. Even as a Brit I really don't give it too much consideration.
@@pocketmarcy6990 well, they suspected that the usa was doing this sort of things and they were right.I wouldnt call this a war crime. And lets be real here, why does the Lusitania in wartime transport civilian passengers?If i were that u boat captain i would torpedo the lusitania aswell.
As far as I can tell, it is a subjective threshold. I have often seen some quite small liners (in the 10-20,000 GRT range) referred to as superliners. Unless someone is able to offer up a concrete definition, I personally disagree. I would probably consider either Celtic or Lusitania to be the first super liners having surpassed the 20,000 and 30,000 GRT mark respectively.
@@augustosolari7721 Any liner over 10,000 GRT was classed as a "superliner". (Not very big, but this was written up in the mid 19th century when ships were barely etching over 5,000 tons)
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.
The egos of some of these companies and men may have been silly in many ways, but the silver lining is that it was a motivator for technological development. Thanks for watching!
'Twas a more civilised time, when innovation was still a race of great scientists and entrepreneurs, not the crude advances spurred on by military technology that we got for the rest of the 20th century...
@@rubadubmedia Oh, but I do. If the First World War had never happened, then the "glory" and "greatness" of empire would never have vanished, and we'd still be living the lives of colonizers and unrestrained capitalists. The knock-on effects of the First World War, including the Second World War, are absolutely necessary to shaping the modern world we live in. Remove them, and who knows what you'd end up with?
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Imperator is a boy!!!
Just so you know the 'V' in 'Vaterland is pronounced 'F' as in 'Fatherland'...
Instablaster.
anyone EVER like EVER notice the S.S Imperator/Vaterland/Bismarck 3rd funnel is fake?
@@anonblikret6240 Anyone EVER noticed, that it's SMS Imperator/Vaterland/Bismarck and so on. And NOT SS Imperator? SMS for "Seine Majestäts Schiff" or "His Majesty Ship" in english...
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.
And, ironically, the British removed them and moved all boats to the boat deck again. Apparently they really wanted a mass panic on boat deck if the ship had ever sunk :P
It strikes me as a good idea even though it was a matter of necessity in this case. Listing would be less of an issue if you're launching lifeboats from a few decks lower.
@@TheGreatBigMove Well listing would still be an issue. It will give you only a few extra degree, until life boats will be unable to launch. But on the other hand, you got less time to launch life boats.
@@leDespicable I think it was a case of "not invented here!"
Deutsche Qualität 😉
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.
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!!
i also want to include that the S.S Bismarck looks like it was going to get a second chance as a troop ship
but nope all of that got taken away after a fire sank the ship (it was scrapped later on)
Pinwheel Galaxy: If only they knew how we would have floating boxes in the future…
i mean at least there was one Good cruise ship
the Prinzessin Victoria Luise
except it had a short career
Pinwheel Galaxy ☹️ it really does suck
Agreed. While not in service. There is the queen mary now docked in longbeach, CA as a hotel? So you can atleast see it.. and stay on it. Sadly that may be as close as one gets to sailing on one of these beauts so to speak.. the H.M.S Titanic II is still in production.. curious how that will go...
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.
Pretty sure they have already rotten away. Just look at the current state of the Titanic - which happens to be a far larger hunk of Metal.
@@Exodon2020 Steel rusts. Brass and bronze do not.
@@TheNotverysocial Copper alloys corrode in saltwater
@@odeiomine Still takes a reaaaalllly long time
@@odeiomine Ancient bronze statues from Greece have been recovered from the sea.
Wow, never knew the RMS Majestic was The German SS Bismarck, the whole story was very interesting, Thank You
@Christian and Jade P your stupid he said German SS ( Your dumb)
It’s quite amazing how this isn’t common knowledge. Unless you’ve done your research🤞🏽but it’s still fascinating!
@@King.TeeJayy i thought I did my research, apparently not, but its always good to learn new stuff
@@King.TeeJayy of course it wouldn't be common knowledge, she was never used on an official voyage as the Bismarck, upon completion, she was immediately given to GB as war reparations
Marc Aldovino absolutely.
So, even after WW1 they were playing "our Germans are better than their Germans".... lol
two people got that reference lol
Lol
Do not Torpedo the Ship you Made Deutschland / Germany
@@ibxgameryt9449 haha torpedo go BRRRR
yes
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
Someone else said that too, I'll have to go back and check my source on that one. Thanks for watching!
@@TheGreatBigMove Thank you for making such videos :)
The third of the Kaiser Class was named Kaiser Wilhelm II, being the exact name
Another small detail: the attribute "Der Große" (The Great) of Wilhelm I. was only popular during the reign of his grandson Wilhelm II. The name never really stuck though which is why he's not generally called that today.
@@TheGreatBigMove I mean Willy was boastful no doubt but even he wouldn't be bold enough to call himself "the Great" during his lifetime
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!
Thank you for your kind words! I agree that the German ocean liners were beautiful and interesting in their own right. Some of them really exude their German heritage which I appreciate.
The Great Big Move Yes, they exude their German heritage all right, in a very prescient and sinister way. With names like “Vaterland” and “Imperator”, and bombastic ornamentation such as an eagle holding the world in it’s talons, they practically announced the coming German Nazi menace and conflagration of Europe.
Le Visionarium
I don’t liked the eagle either but this was the only German ship which looked like this. Besides there are a lot more beautiful German ships like the “Bremen” from 1929 or the “Vaterland”, which looked much nicer.
Le Visionarium a German company naming its ship Vaterland is the same as a French company naming it la Patrie...
@@Toast0808 The eagle was truly gaudy. But the names are not far from names like Titanic, Gigantic, Britannic… And by the time WWI ended, not even the germans were thinking there's gonna be an even more devastating war on the horizon. History is a complex bitch.
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.
That explains the song "Rolling home , Rolling home across the Sea "Ha ha , I couldn't resist
Fun fact: The day Majestic arrived into Southampton from Hamburg was April 10 1922. Exactly 10 years after Titanic left for her maiden voyage.
😳
What! That’s suicidal! Why would a ship arrived 10 years after the most famous ship being released? Isn’t that gonna scare the passengers because of the titanic disaster?
James Padre Juan true. If the ship was leaving for New York.
@@Boypogikami132 people kinda forgot about titanic by then and it wouldn’t blow up again during that era
SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Der Große was actually named after Wilhelm I, who was the first German Emperor from 1871 to 1888.
Hm, that's not what I have read but I suppose that could be true. Do you have a source to direct me to?
The Great Big Move, however, the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II, the third ship in the class, was named after the Kaiser in question, perhaps you’re confusing the two?
@@TheGreatBigMove Your source is wrong. Wilhelm der Grosse refers to Wilhelm I. - grandfather of Wilhelm II. and "Reichsgründer" (hence "The Great"). There is really no need for a source - that's basic German history knowledge.
@@OliverJWeber You've just stated "Wilhelm der Grosse refers to Wilhelm I. - grandfather of Wilhelm II." This exactly corresponds to what Evuengi Mlodik mentioned in her original post: "SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Der Große was actually named after Wilhelm I, who was the first German Emperor from 1871 to 1888." As you wrote: "there is really no need for a source - that's basic German history knowledge." Consequently, how can you justify suggesting that an issue of doubt even exists (in actual historicity) with what the lady wrote?
@@elrjames7799 I can't follow you. But I'm sure you have a point. Somewhere. Somehow.
Sophisticated passengers: Sails on the SS Bismarck
*True Men: Sails on the KMS Bismarck*
Congrats You found my Channel the “Kill Myself” Bismarck
Bro what
@RomanJC yes I am
Lol
Why is life nuggin and Georgenotfound your friends
No one:
Imperator: dey see me rollon’!
LOL😂
LOL
They like it anyway
They see me Cruising *
They hating
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.
Wow, I had never head of the ship before. It's fantastic that she is still around! I would probably want to visit her before I did a video on the subject but am certainly open to it. Thanks for the suggestion.
It would be great to see a video on the Hikawa Maru. I was able to go aboard while in Yokohama
last year. She’s a beautiful ship.
Imperator, Vaterland and Bismarck are some of the most bad ass ship names I've ever heard 😎
Amazing video, I’ve always loved the look of the Imperator Class Liners. Thanks for making this video, very informative! 👍
They were great and interesting ships. Thanks for watching!
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.
“North-Baltic sea channel”^^
It's just called "Kiel Canal" in English. After the Allies renamed the Canal back in 1946 this abomination of a name somehow found its way into the German language. Well, us residents usually refer to it as "der Kanal" or "NOK".
Wernher von Kerman
Ohh, I don’t knew this! Thanks! I just translated it like it is in German.
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!
Not exactly, like all Ships, Imperator was called "Die Imperator" in German, and 'die' is female.
'The' in German is three words - der (male), die (female), das (neutrum). Ships and space crafts are always female in German, no exceptions. The only exceptions are planes: All makes except Airbus are female. Airbus, literally meaning air-bus is male because bus is a male noun in German.
@@historylife7394 The Ship is named simply "Imperator", which is a male noun, but when referring to the ship by its name, it is "die Imperator" as nouns are used with gender-specific pronouns, as can be seen at the beginning of the very first sentence in this wikipedia article about said ship: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperator_(Schiff,_1913)
@@historylife7394 The ship itself was called "Imperator", but when referred to in a sentence, like "I saw the Imperator", then it is "Ich sah die Imperator" - female gender. The only way that Imperatror would be used without the pronoun 'die' would be if it is used as part of a list, like "Imperator, Vaterland and Bismark were the largest German liners".
Funny side fact: Emperor Wilhelm II requested the owners Hapag to use the male pronoun 'der' instead when referring to tthe ship, but the German public refused as it simply sounds wrong. When treferring to ships by name in German, you always use the female pronoun. Why do I know this? Well, I am German.
But The ship in German is still called Das Schiff but because of the the name its Der Imperator well then yes its male
I Always loved ships that has figureheads its makes them look so..good
Looked a bit out of place here, not the right bow for such a figurehead, something more vertical would've looked better. Maybe thats just me though...
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 love your channel. Literally one of the only things I binge-watch.
I never knew that the name bismark was also a name of an ocean liner. Interesting history research, Nice job.
It's easy to miss since she never made a true voyage under that name. Thanks for watching!
There were two previous ocean liners named Furst Bismark, one built in 1890 and the second in 1905, both for Hamburg-Amerika. (The German "Furst" referred to the first person to hold a princely title in a noble family. )
Even in every 2nd German town a watchtower is named by this _"Otto". . ._
@@jec1ny In fact the German title "Fürst/Fuerst"---either U with dieresis or UE---does be a bit more complicated. . .
@@jec1ny hamburger america name still gets me LOL
I always loved the look of these three liners, very nice video, thx
They're unique in a lot of ways. Thanks for watching!
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."
Very informative, to the point doc. Congrats and thanks for sharing!
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.
Loving your documentaries! They’re filling in all the gaps for me, so thank you so much.
I love how you characterize the companies
You do a great job in keeping maritime and economic history in mind! Thanks a lot
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
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.
I knew I would be getting some comments about that! They were considered to be masculine when in German hands, but they're so often referred to as feminine in books and primary sources that it is tough to keep that in mind. It's also a habit at this point to say "she" or "her," so I would have had a hard time getting through the recording if I held myself to that. Thanks for watching and commenting!
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*
Man, I knew the fact they were scrapped was coming, that didn't make it any easier to here.
yeah and even including that 1 sank (and was scrapped) if you already know what im talking about (the S.S Bismarck)
I like the fact that you spelled scrapped correctly instead of using scraped instead
7:22 Harry Houdini & Theodore Roosevelt
I can tell this channel is gonna get big. Great video, and great channel!
I love how as soon as they made good ships everybody just took em
Great vlog as always!
@16.30: "We Want Beer!". Wise words, even a century later!
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
It would be very costly, sadly. Look at the SS United States, it was almost completely gutted, and it STILL costs a metric fuckton to keep docked.
@@JacobA6464 Pfff...just ask the german government...Queen Mary is(was?) estimated to cost 23 million dollars to repair properly...germany paid 135million euros to repair an utterly useless sailing vessel of the Navy...cause its needed due to traditions(which the german navy does not have)...and because a navy needs a sailing vessel for training...something which basically no other navy has or really uses anymore
Never knew this there was another ship that drastically surpassed The Olympic Class. Great video as always!
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.
Amazing video!Like always!Your videos are amazing.Continue the great work!
Thank you, I really appreciate that!
@@TheGreatBigMove Thanks for replying!It is quite the honor to have you reply to me!Just keep the great work!Have a nice day!
Sincerly,a Montenegrin viewer.
Great writing, sir! Your delivery is quick and relevant. Subscribed!
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 a photo of Olympic. If you look close enough you can see "OLYMP"
Yeah, I realized that after looking at the photo again and seeing the short bridge wings flush with the edge of the ship that were unique to Olympic. D'oh!
@@paulheenan9098 h
Paul, great points. I believe that these are all correct. I actively chose to 'forget' that the ships were considered to be masculine while under the German flag for my own sanity while recording (knowing full well that I would get a good amount of flack for it). Worth it!
Another brilliant video! I love how the different companies used to compete with each other.
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
It's very interesting to see who would have come to challenge them. White Star and Cunard had just built their own trio. Perhaps their German rivals Norddeutsche Lloyd would have stepped up as they had been fairly quiet since the Kaiser class. The French Line may have also made some earlier steps forward.
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 😎
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)
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.
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
Great documentary. I have waited for a long time to learn more about German Ocean Liners. Thank you.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed!
I'm my opinion, the figurehead makes the ship unique. I think its not ugly 🙂
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.
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
Excellent video! Thank you for posting!
I actually quite like Imperator's eagle. It's too bad that the Atlantic evidently did not.
Finally a video about them!
USA and UK: our ship is the biggest and fastest.
Engineers: laugh in german.
I dont know why but the photo at 14:55 just warmed my heart
The Imperator, one of my favourite ships!
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.
It wasn't the last time Germany built ships that changed the game so-to-speak! I'll have a video about the Bremen and Europa up at some point.
@@TheGreatBigMove those ships have unusually short funnels compared to the normandie and queens
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
This is such an amazing channel! i had no idea any of these magnificent ships existed.
Now you do! They really were great ships for a lot of reasons. Thanks for watching
8:54 How exactly do you make a crossing on schedule, after having a serious fire and pumping a ship full of water?!
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.
3:33 I would love to learn about the transition from Triple Expansion reciprocating engines to turbines.
Great suggestion!
Do It
JUST DO IT
Fantastic video! Thank you! :)
Heck Yeah another Video!
Paris Smith that’s what I was thinking😂
@@cedits_.s2824 Lol
Interesting.
I knew nothing of these three.
Thank you.
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.
The three ships of the Imperator class were build im Hamburg, Germany. The Imperator at the German subsidiary of Vulcan in Hamburg, the Vaterland and Bismarck at Blohm & Voss.
...and the headquarters of Vulcan were at what is now Szczecin in Poland.
@@WojciechWachniewski-st1zm ...which was a German town called Stettin at the time. But even then that doesen't matter because Stettin wasn't involved in building the Imperator, the Hamburg subsidiary got the contract. So not all Fourstackers were built at Stettin, there was also Vulcan and Blohm & Voss Hamburg.
Fun fact: each one liner of the HAPAG Ballin's trio was bigger alone, than all four Polish 'new' liners from Italy, Britain and Denmark put together. 'New', means - ordered by Polish Messrs. PTTO and Messrs. GAL. The Polish quartet put in line (one behind another) would have been almost twice as long, as an average 'Nimitz'-class carrier is.
4:23 , has anyone else noticed that the Imperator started placing the additional lifeboats in their structure, which is what modern day Cruise ships do with their main lifeboats.
Yes
The History Conisseur , yes
Yes German engineering is best yes yes
A rather poor choice for modern cruise ships in my opinion. Why? Well...
@@FellowManofAggieland why?
ImPERator. It's Latin for emperor.
The Germans pronounced it ImperAtor. Check some videos of it.
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)
Lmao, best roast ever
*”Oooohhh!”*
*”Roasted!”*
@Railfan 765 they where steam whistles
Neat video. Never even realized Germany had their titanic class of ships
In a few ways, that's actually a good comparison.
You mean the olympic class of ships*
Well now germany had there big three :)
Very enjoyable and informative video, thank you very much!
Thank you, I appreciate that!
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.”
Imperator was such a hot ship.
I agree
The hottest
I didn't even knew that we had ships like this back in the day :o
In a way, they didn't. If you look back 10 years prior to this, ships of this kind were nowhere to be seen.
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.
The Germans had the best ships! Some of my German ancestors came to America and Canada on the Imperator. Again I must say... Such beautiful ships the Germans had!
Well, quite frankly this was one of the great frustrations of Germany. In general she could out manufacture superior quality to GB at nearly every turn. She had better composers, better philosophers, (some would say better authors once Shakespeare was well in the past) often better scientists and Berlin was actually culturally ahead of both London and Paris right up until Hitler! Yet Britannia ruled the waves with the greatest Empire the world had ever seen and Germany was kind of landlocked and struggling for Empire. It just didn't seem FAIR.
@@paulb47NYC You forgot the most important thing...we(the germans) had and still have better food and more attractive women^^
@@NashmanNash No, I didn't "forget" either of those points. I don't happen to hold either conviction so neither is something I could "forget".
It's probably good for you as a German (you said we) that you hold them. I wouldn't try to convince you otherwise.
And yes! I see the humor in your response and actually do appreciate it. We have all too little of that in the Chaos we've constructed around ourselves.
Imperator sounds so majestic
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.
Drenhol Appreciate that! There seems to be a lack of consensus on this particular issue. As you alluded to, I’ve only read the name of the ship. Thanks for watching.
It’s sad the allies take our ships away
I would have expected the Germans to place a bomb or something in the SS Bismarck to sink it while beeing transported because they needed to give it up to an former enemy as war reperations who didn't even fought with troops inside German territory (except the colonies).
Very good I am an allie
Woah man I not a Nazi it’s just a joke chill
14:47 Olympic on the right
Very nice and rare photos, well researched with something new to me. One question is left to me: At 4:40, Isn’t it a legend that the eagle should made Imperator longer than Aquitania? Aquitania overall length: 901 feet, approx. 274,6 Meter (source: Edwardian Superliners, J. Kent Layton, 2012).
Imperator overall length, without eagle (sources): 268,22 m (Ballins Dicke Dampfer, Hans Jürgen Witthöft, 1974), 269.1 m (Germanischer Lloyd Register, 1914), 272.7 m (German Wikipedia), 276 m (Luxus-Liner, Ulrich Blumenschein, 1975), 277,06 m (Die Geschichte der Deutschen Passagierschiffahrt, Band IV, Arnold Kludas, 1989), 277,1 m (Die großen deutschen Passagierschiffe Imperator -Vaterland - Bismarck, Peter Zerbe, 1999). According to the last book 280,3 m with eagle, which is approx. 919 ft (909 ft without eagle). The 268,22 to 272,7 m seems not to be the overall length, than the length between perpendiculars ...
Yes! Imperator would have been longer than Aquitania either way. Maybe it's a myth that the figurehead's purpose was to out-do Aquitania, but my understanding is that they weren't necessarily sure of Aquitania's designed length when Imperator was nearing completion. Maybe this information had not yet been publicized. Great point and thanks for watching.
The Great Big Move: Good argument, they installed the figurehead to be prepared if Aquitania could be longer during construction and building process. And HAPAG and Blohm & Voss shipyard could not guarantee, that Vaterland will be launched before Aquitania, just make it sure. I‘ve never thought this way, thank you for this point of view.
Lusitania: *Breaks record*
Germany: *Torpedoes it*
Still debated today as to whether it could be considered a war crime. Moot, really, as it was well over a century ago. Even as a Brit I really don't give it too much consideration.
@@owenshebbeare2999 it wasnt since there were military equipment on board.Totally justified.
@@psycho4207 but the Germans didn’t know for sure if it did, so the man who ordered the torpedoing was committing a war crime until proven otherwise
@@pocketmarcy6990 well, they suspected that the usa was doing this sort of things and they were right.I wouldnt call this a war crime.
And lets be real here, why does the Lusitania in wartime transport civilian passengers?If i were that u boat captain i would torpedo the lusitania aswell.
Love these. Great work!
Thank you, Wes!
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
And it means Emperor in Latin
Yeah, American pronunciations are odd, be they Canadian or US.
Wow. Nice Video!!
hi great video this is! Could you also make a video about the dutch liners, im really interested in the Holland - Amerika Lijn!
Oh my GOD I love your vids!!!!
What Is the difference between a liner AND a superliner? What Is the Threshold that has to be crossed?
Augusto Solari I don’t know maybe have to be bigger than the imperium
Which makes titanic Olympic and Britannic not
As far as I can tell, it is a subjective threshold. I have often seen some quite small liners (in the 10-20,000 GRT range) referred to as superliners. Unless someone is able to offer up a concrete definition, I personally disagree. I would probably consider either Celtic or Lusitania to be the first super liners having surpassed the 20,000 and 30,000 GRT mark respectively.
@@TheGreatBigMove maybe has to do the inclusion of certain features and not only size? For example turbine engines?
@@augustosolari7721 Any liner over 10,000 GRT was classed as a "superliner". (Not very big, but this was written up in the mid 19th century when ships were barely etching over 5,000 tons)
This was a great video I didn’t even know these ships were a thing
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.
The egos of some of these companies and men may have been silly in many ways, but the silver lining is that it was a motivator for technological development. Thanks for watching!
'Twas a more civilised time, when innovation was still a race of great scientists and entrepreneurs, not the crude advances spurred on by military technology that we got for the rest of the 20th century...
Wish we still were on 'medieval mode' of pre WW1. How fall have we fallen from there...
you have much to learn about history if you think that these wars were ever "needed"
@@rubadubmedia Oh, but I do.
If the First World War had never happened, then the "glory" and "greatness" of empire would never have vanished, and we'd still be living the lives of colonizers and unrestrained capitalists.
The knock-on effects of the First World War, including the Second World War, are absolutely necessary to shaping the modern world we live in. Remove them, and who knows what you'd end up with?
Great work.
The trio's electrical wiring was their Achilles heel.
YAAAAAY
ships=good
video=good
ships+video=VERY GOOD
I was hoping for the KMS Bismarck but this is fine too
I will most likely be doing a video on the warship in the future. Just not sure when. Thanks for watching!
Your videos really are so informative and fun to watch.. Great Job! Subbed instantly!