Of the four-stacker liners:
KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE became a raider, sinking three ships for total
of 10,500 GRT. She was caught bunkering off Rio del oro, Spanish West
Africa, by British cruiser HMS HIGHFLYER. When the German captain
refused to surrenderm, HIGHFLYER opened fire. After a duel of 90
minutes the HIGHFLYER, was scarcely damaged but out of ammo. KAISER W.
then abandoned ship, and scuttled via exposive charges.
DEUTSCHLAND, renamed VICTORIA LUISE in 1913, was in German waters when
WWI began. She was fited for auxiliary cruiser service but her boilers
were in bad shape; she remained in Germany. The allies waived their
demand for her surrender because of her bad shape. She was overhauled
in 1920-21 and sailed in late 1921 under the name HANSA. Her passenger
accommodation was altered again in 1924, but she was laid up in Oct
1924, and scrapped in 1925.
KRONRPRINZ WILHELM was seized by the US on April 6 1917& entered US
service in as USN Transport VON STEUBEN. She was laid up in 1919 and
sold for scrap in 1923.
KAISER WILHELM II was seized by the US on 6 Apr 1917 and served as USN
Transport AGAMEMNON. She was also laid up in 1919. In 1929 she was
renamed MONTICELLO. She survived until 1940 and was offered to the
British goverment, but despite the need for ships was considered in
too bad shape and was refused. She was then scapped by Boston Iron
and Metal Co.
KRONPRINZESSIN CECILIE. also interned in the US, was likewise seized on
6 APr 1917. She became the transport MOUNT VERNON. She was damaged by
a U-boat torpedo 200 nmi off Brest w/36 dead (hit in boiler room) on 5
Sept 1918. She was laid up in 1919, and then her fate was as KAISER
WILHELM II.
PRINZ EITEL FRIDRICH was a smaller, 10,000 grt two-funnel vessel. As
such she just misses the size criterion for Kludas GREAT PASSENGER
SHIPS OF THE WORLD (from which I extracted the above). However,
acording to Paul Schmalenbach*, GERMAN RAIDERS, P.E.F. became the U S
Transport DEKALB, in 1921 named MOUNT CLAY. She was broken up in 1927.
Conversely Schmalenbach says KAISER W.D.G. >was< badly damaged, and was
sunk by her own crew after fires aboard from hits, went out of control.
her guns and crew had come from the two old gunboats PATNERH and LUCHS
at Tsingtao.
The crews of the Auxiliary cruisers at least were consisdered internees
until the entry of the US into the war and after that prisoners of war.
I don't know about the crews of the vessels that were in the US at the
beginning of the war interned as liners without ever being raiders.
402 crew from P.E.F. and 503 from KRONPR. W. were interned. In
addition, the raider CORMORAN interned at Guam and was sunk by her own
crew at the US entry into the war, 7 crew dying in the scuttling,
leaving 346 to become POW's. CORMORAN had been a prize seized by the
EMDEN and sent into Tsingtao.
KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE lost no crew killed; 81 escaped ashore and
were interned in Spanish custody; 503 wre taken as British POW's.
K.W.D.G. had been armed from the crusier KARLSRUHE.
A not-too-hard to find book if one frequents used bookstores & book
shows is THE CRUISE OF THE KRONPRINZ WILHELM, which is further
apparently almost always found autographed by the author, Count Alfred
von Niezychowski, who had been a Lt. aboard. The book was published by
Doubleday in 1928 and reissued in 1931. When KRONPRINZ WILHELM arrived
at Newport news, she had onlly 25 tons of coal, sufficient for only
another two hours steaming, only 10 tons of fresh water, and 86 cases
of scurvy (Schmalenbach) or beriberi (Count von Niezychowski)
*Schamlenbach, a noted postwar chronicler of German Naval activities,
had been gunnery officfer of WWII cruiser PRINZ EUGEN.
-Brooks