USS Zeppelin

{{Short description|Passenger liner launched in 1914}} {{for|other ships named Dresden|SS Dresden}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=Uss Zeppelin 1919.jpg |image_caption=USS ''Zeppelin'' while underway }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=German Empire |flag={{shipboxflag|German Empire|civil}} |name=SS ''Zeppelin''<ref name=Plimsoll>{{cite web |url=http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/ship.php?ship_id=49988&name=Dresden |title=Details of the Ship Name: Dresden |work=Plimsoll ShipData |access-date=31 July 2010}}</ref> |namesake=Ferdinand von Zeppelin |ordered= |builder=Bremer Vulkan AG<ref name=Plimsoll/> |laid_down= |launched=9 June 1914<ref name=Titanic>{{cite web |url=http://www.titanic-titanic.com/zeppelin.shtml |title=Zeppelin |work=Titanic Titanic.com |access-date=31 July 2010 |archive-date=2 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100802033051/http://www.titanic-titanic.com/zeppelin.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> |completed=21 January 1915<ref name=Titanic/> |registry=Bremen |fate=Surrendered to United Kingdom 28 March 1919<ref name=Titanic/> |notes= }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=title |country=United Kingdom |flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}} |name=SS ''Zeppelin'' |namesake= |owner= |operator=25px White Star Line<ref name=Titanic/> |registry= |route= |acquired=1919<ref name=Titanic/> |commissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |struck= |reclassified= |fate=Transferred to US Navy |notes= }}

|section4={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=title |country=United States |flag={{USN flag|1919}} |name=USS ''Zeppelin'' |namesake=Ferdinand von Zeppelin |refit= |route=Europe - New York |commissioned=28 March 1919 |decommissioned=25 November 1919 |in_service= |out_of_service= |struck= |reclassified=Troop ship |homeport=New York |fate=Returned to British control, 27 December 1919 |notes= }}

|section5={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=title |country=United Kingdom |flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}} |name=RMS ''Ormuz''<ref name=Plimsoll/> |namesake= |refit= 1920-21 |owner= |operator=Orient Steam Navigation Company<ref name=Titanic/> |registry= |route=Great Britain - Australia<ref name=Titanic/> |acquired=from UK Government, 1920<ref name=Titanic/> |commissioned=12 November 1921<ref name=Titanic/> |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |struck= |reclassified=Passenger liner<ref name=Titanic/> |fate=Sold 1927<ref name=Titanic/> |notes= }}

|section6={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=title |country=Weimar Republic |flag={{shipboxflag|Weimar Republic|civil}} |name=SS ''Dresden''<ref name=Plimsoll/> |namesake= |refit= 1927<ref name=Titanic/> |owner= |operator= 25px Norddeutscher Lloyd<ref name=Plimsoll/> |registry=Bremen |identification=*Code Letters QMDS *{{ICS|Quebec}}{{ICS|Mike}}{{ICS|Delta}}{{ICS|Sierra}}<ref name=Plimsoll/> |route=Bremen - New York<ref name=Titanic/> |acquired=1927<ref name=Titanic/> |commissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |struck= |reclassified= |fate=Beached 21 June 1934 & broken up<ref name=Titanic/> |notes= }}

|section7={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |type=Passenger liner, troop transport |tonnage={{GRT|14,690}}<ref name=Plimsoll/> |displacement={{convert|21753|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} |length={{convert|550.3|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name=Plimsoll/> |beam={{convert|67.3|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name=Plimsoll/> |draught={{convert|35.1|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name=Plimsoll/> |hold_depth= |power=1850 NHP<ref name=Plimsoll/> |propulsion=2 quadruple-expansion steam engines; 2 screws<ref name=Plimsoll/> |speed={{convert|15.5|kn|lk=in}} |range= |troops= |capacity=*(1920-21 refit) 293 1st class, 882 3rd class<ref name=Titanic/> *(1927 refit) 399 1st class, 288 tourist class, 284 3rd class<ref name=Titanic/> |complement= |armament= |armor= |notes= }} }}

'''USS ''Zeppelin''''' was a passenger liner launched in 1914 as '''SS ''Zeppelin''''' by Bremer Vulkan, Bremen-Vegesack,<ref name=Plimsoll/> Germany, for Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL). Due to the First World War she never entered NDL service. She had a career after the war first under White Star Line control, then briefly as the troop ship USS ''Zeppelin'', next as the Orient SN Co liner '''SS ''Ormuz'''''<ref name=Plimsoll/> and finally back with NDL as '''SS ''Dresden'''''.<ref name=Plimsoll/>

==Troop ship== SS ''Zeppelin'' was launched on 9 June 1914, and on completion she was handed over to Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) on 21 January 1915.<ref name=Titanic/> By then the First Battle of the Atlantic of the First World War was under way so NDL laid her up at Bremen until the end of hostilities.<ref name=Titanic/>

On 28 March 1919 she was surrendered as war reparations to the UK Government, who placed her under the management of the White Star Line.<ref name=Titanic/> She was then handed over to the United States Navy, who commissioned her as USS ''Zeppelin'' and assigned to the New York Division of the Transport Force with Commander William W. Galbraith as her master.

USS ''Zeppelin'' made two round-trip voyages between the United States and Europe, returning 15,800 American soldiers back home. She then returned to Europe, was decommissioned on 25 November 1919 and returned to United Kingdom control on 27 December 1919.

==Civilian liner== The UK Government sold her to the Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1920, who renamed her SS ''Ormuz'' and had her refitted as a passenger liner.<ref name=Titanic/> The Orient Line placed her in service on the route between the United Kingdom and Australia, on which she began her first sailing from the UK on 12 November 1921.<ref name=Titanic/>

In 1927 NDL bought ''Ormuz'' back and had her refitted to upgrade much of the third class accommodation to first class or tourist class. NDL renamed her SS ''Dresden'' and placed her in service on the Bremen - New York route for which she had originally been built.

In April 1928, ''Dresden'' departed from New York carrying Soviet gold valued at £1,043,000. The gold was transferred to the cargo ship {{SS|Reiher|1909|2}} {{convert|12|nmi|km}} off Falmouth, Cornwall, United Kingdom to prevent it being seized by the French when she docked at Cherbourg, Manche, France.<ref name=Times160428>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Ships' Secret Meeting off Falmouth |date=16 April 1928 |page=11 |issue=44868 |column=C }}</ref><ref name=Times170428>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Trans-shipped Gold for Russia |date=17 April 1928 |page=18 |issue=44869 |column=C }}</ref> ''Reiher'' took the gold to Bremerhaven.<ref name=Times180428>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Soviet Gold |date=18 April 1928 |page=16 |issue=44870 |column=C }}</ref>

==KdF cruise and loss== [[File:SS-Dresden-sunk-in-Boknafjorden-1934-352033697062.jpg|thumb|left|SS ''Dresden'' sunk in Boknafjord, 1934.]] In 1934 the Nazi Kraft durch Freude organization started operating tourist cruises.<ref name=Titanic/> KdF chartered ''Dresden'' and she sailed on her first KdF cruise on 11 June 1934.<ref name=Titanic/> On 20 June she struck a rock off "Aregrunden" on the Norwegian island of Bokn.<ref name=Titanic/> She was refloated but as a precaution was beached near Blikshavn on the island of Karmøy.<ref name=Titanic/> In the early hours of 21 June she listed to port and the Norwegian "Hurtigrute" ship, DSD (Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap) 874 ton ''Kong Haakon'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/ship.php?ship_id=60356&name=Kong_Haakon |title=Details of the Ship Name: Kong Haakon |work=Plimsoll ShipData |access-date=31 July 2010}}</ref> was one of those which took off her passengers.<ref name=Titanic/> One life was lost in an accident during the transfer to the passenger ship. 4 people lost their lives in total.<ref name=Titanic/> Other ships involved in the rescue of the 323 crew and 975 passengers were the French inspection vessel ''Ardente'' and the Norwegian ships ''Kong Harald'', ''Kronprinsesse Martha'', ''Kvitsøy'' and ''Stavanger''.<ref name=Times21634>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Liner ashore off Norway |date=21 June 1934 |page=14 |issue=46786 |column=F }}</ref><ref name=Dive>{{cite web |url=http://home.online.no/~ge-joer/dresdene.htm |title=S/S DRESDEN |publisher=Home.online |access-date=9 June 2012 |archive-date=21 February 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050221031036/http://home.online.no/~ge-joer/dresdene.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A firm of shipbreakers from Stavanger broke up the ship where she lay.<ref name=Titanic/> Remnants of the wreck remain near the shore, between {{convert|4|and|50|m|ft|abbr=on}} depth.

==References== {{reflist}} {{NHHC}} {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/z/zeppelin.html}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Zeppelin (ship, 1915)}} *[http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~cacunithistories/uss_zeppelin.html ''USS Zeppelin''] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100609195409/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/nglloyd.html#zeppelin ''SS Dresden'']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeppelin}} Category:1914 ships Category:Ships built in Bremen (state) Category:Ships of the Orient Line Category:Ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd Category:World War I merchant ships of Germany Category:Steamships of Germany Category:Transports of the United States Navy Category:Steamships of the United States Navy Category:Merchant ships of Germany Category:Maritime incidents in 1934