Berlin Passenger Ship “Kaiser Friedrich”

The steamship “Kaiser Friedrich” was built in Stettin in 1886. Together with five other steamships, it belonged to the so-called Kaiser class and was used by the Spree-Havel Steamship Company Stern. From 1920 onwards, the ship changed hands several times. In 1929 it received its new name “Siegfried”.

From 1944, the ship “Siegfried” sailed as a passenger ship for the Berlin Transport Authority. It was used for special trips and taken out of service in 1967. For an anniversary celebration of the shipping company, it was used to entertain guests at a jetty on the Wannsee. The idea of using the steamer as an event ship was not realised. Apart from a new coat of paint, there was no further renovation work until the ship became the property of the Museum of Transport and Technology in 1986. It was not until 1993 that further restoration work was carried out. This included a new deck structure and two high-pressure engines with oil firing. After that, the steamer was used under its former name “Kaiser Friedrich” for city tours on Berlin waterways.

Since 2013, the “Kaiser Friedrich” has been moored at the lock island in Berlin-Tiergarten and is no longer in use. The last buoyancy test took place in 2017. In 2021, following an enquiry from a member of the Berlin Senate, it emerged that the steamer was still owned by the Berlin Museum of Technology, but was not qualified for permanent exhibition at the time.