Wartime Visitors in Hampton Roads

On Sunday morning April 11, 1915 residents of Hampton Roads in Virginia woke to find a familiar stranger in their midst.  Looming in the water near Fort Monroe and in the middle of U.S. fleet of battleships was the huge but graceful form of the German steamship Kronprinz Wilhelm. 

Kronprinz Wilhelm April 11, 1915.  Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

Ordinarily the ship would have appeared as one of the grandest passenger liners of its era, all sleek black and sparkling white. 



In its heyday, the Kronprinz Wilhelm had lavish accommodations and was especially popular among the wealthy.  Launched in 1901, the ship was advertised as part of the “Royal Family” of the North German Lloyd Steamship Line. 

Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

Indeed, the ship was one of a small, but prestigious, group of ships known as “four-stackers”; renowned for their size and the fact that they had four funnels or smoke stacks (the Titanic was part of this group, as well).  Known for its speed, the Kronprinz Wilhelm plied the trans-Atlantic routes, setting record times for crossings.  Prince Heinrich of Prussia even chose to sail on the Kronprinz Wilhelm on a state visit to the United States in 1902. 

Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

But this was no ordinary steamship anymore.  This morning the ship presented a naval appearance, painted dark gray and stained and scarred from months of hard service at sea.  Almost a year earlier, when World War I broke out in Europe, the ship was commissioned to serve in the German Navy as an auxiliary cruiser.  Its mission: hunt down and destroy enemy merchant shipping.  In this role, the Kronprinz Wilhelm was quite successful.  In a 255 day cruise, the former passenger liner-turned German commerce raider steamed over 37,000 miles, successfully evaded British ships sent to capture it, and destroyed over 60,000 tons of Allied shipping. 

Crew with prize from a destroyed merchant ship. Courtsey of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

However, the ship’s luck, and coal, ran out.  Forced to find refuge at a neutral port, the commander of the Kronprinz Wilhelm, chose Hampton Roads, specifically the shipyard at Newport News, where the ship could undergo needed repairs and refitting.

When word of the ship’s arrival spread, people in Hampton Roads must have had a major case of déjà vu. This was not the first time during the war that a German auxiliary cruiser made an unexpected visit to Hampton Roads.  A month earlier, another former passenger liner-turned commerce raider, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, steamed into Hampton Roads.  Just like the Kronprinz Wilhelm, low supplies of coal and provisions forced the commander of the Prinz Eitel Friedrich to seek a nearby neutral port where supplies and repair facilities could be found.  After staying beyond the deadline imposed by American authorities, commanders of both vessels decided upon internment rather than risk capture by the British Navy waiting just outside the Chesapeake Bay.  Upon internment, the German raiders were moved across Hampton Roads to the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, where they were interned until both were moved to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in March of 1917. 

Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

While interned, sailors from both ships, who numbered about 1000, constructed what has been described as “a miniature German city” on unoccupied land in the Navy Yard from scrap materials found around the shipyard and on their ships. 

German village at navy yard. The ships can be seen in the background.  Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

This little village included not only houses but other buildings and services a town of the time would have, including a church, school, gymnasium, other public buildings, and police and fire departments.

Courtsey of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

The village became quite the tourist attraction.  Sightseers were allowed entrance to the village for a fee, with the proceeds benefiting the German Red Cross. The German sailors also crafted toys and other souvenirs, along with baked goods, that were sold to visitors.  However, by August of 1916, with the United States increasing its preparations for war, it was becoming clear that the village would have to be destroyed to make room for increased war-time related work at the Norfolk Navy Yard.

Tourists visiting Prinz Eitel Friedrich.  Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

Tourists at German Village.  Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

German sailors with tourists.  Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA