{"product_id":"imperial-german-navy-postcard-sms-kaiser-wilhelm-der-grosse-pre-dreadnought","title":"Imperial German Navy Postcard SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse Pre-Dreadnought","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eOriginal color-lithographed postcard depicting the Imperial German Navy pre-dreadnought battleship SMS \u003cem\u003eKaiser Wilhelm der Große\u003c\/em\u003e, one of the five Kaiser Friedrich III-class capital ships of the Imperial High Seas Fleet, with an inset bust portrait of the ship's namesake Kaiser Wilhelm I (Wilhelm \u003cem\u003eder Große\u003c\/em\u003e, 1797–1888) at the upper right. Issued around 1900 to 1905, the card was printed for Dutch postal use as evidenced by the \u003cem\u003eBRIEFKAART\u003c\/em\u003e reverse — the Netherlands counterpart to the German \u003cem\u003ePostkarte\u003c\/em\u003e — and belongs to the substantial body of German naval imagery that circulated across northern Europe during the Tirpitz building era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe face presents the battleship under low steam in calm anchorage water, rendered in three-quarter starboard view with a small jack flag flying at the bow. The vessel is depicted in the white-and-buff peacetime livery characteristic of the High Seas Fleet before 1914: light hull, dark superstructure, and natural-finished funnels. The two military masts with fighting tops, two close-set funnels, prominent forward and aft barbette turrets carrying the 24 cm (9.4-inch) main armament, and the casemate-mounted 15 cm (5.9-inch) secondary battery along the hull are all clearly rendered. A small steam pinnace and two boats lie alongside the hull. To the upper right is an octagonal inset photograph of Kaiser Wilhelm I in field-marshal's undress uniform, with the Iron Cross First Class on the breast, his ribbon array across the chest, and the \u003cem\u003ePour le Mérite\u003c\/em\u003e visible at the neck. The image is executed in delicate hand-tinted chromolithography with soft pastel coloration in sky and water, characteristic of the better continental postcard publishers of the early 1900s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eSMS \u003cem\u003eKaiser Wilhelm der Große\u003c\/em\u003e was the second ship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class of pre-dreadnought battleships and the second Imperial capital ship to bear the name of the founding Emperor. She was laid down at the \u003cem\u003eKaiserliche Werft\u003c\/em\u003e (Imperial Shipyard) Wilhelmshaven in January 1898, launched on 1 June 1899 in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 5 May 1901. Displacing approximately 11,800 tons at standard load and capable of seventeen and a half knots, she joined I Squadron and served as squadron flagship before progressing through reserve, training, and harbor-ship roles. In the years immediately following her commissioning she was among the most modern capital ships in Imperial service, a public symbol of the Tirpitz program and a frequent presence in fleet reviews and propaganda imagery. By 1914 the rapid advance of dreadnought design had rendered her obsolete as a fleet unit, and she served thereafter as a coastal-defense vessel and later as an accommodation hulk. She was struck from the navy list on 6 December 1919 and broken up at Rönnebeck in 1920.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe Kaiser shown in the inset is Wilhelm I (1797–1888), German Emperor from 1871 and King of Prussia from 1861, granted the epithet \u003cem\u003eder Große\u003c\/em\u003e (the Great) by imperial decree of his grandson Wilhelm II in 1897. The pairing of ship and namesake portrait was a standard convention of Imperial naval postcards, intended to underscore that the building of the High Seas Fleet was framed as a continuation of the unifying dynastic project of the elder Kaiser.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe reverse follows the Dutch \u003cem\u003eBRIEFKAART\u003c\/em\u003e (postcard) layout, with \u003cem\u003eAAN\u003c\/em\u003e (To) and address lines printed in green ink and a stamp box at the upper right corner. The format is the older undivided-back style without a separate message panel, consistent with continental postcard production prior to the divided-back reforms of 1905 and after. A modern penciled collector annotation at the top of the reverse reads \u003cem\u003eKSR WILHELM DER GROSSE\u003c\/em\u003e, identifying the ship for the cataloger; this is a later notation and not period to the card. The card is unaddressed, unwritten in ink, and was never sent through the post.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eCondition is very good. The face retains bright color and full image clarity, with no fading and no soiling across the central scene. The edges show minor handling bumps and very light corner softening; there are no creases through the image, no tears, no postal cancellations, and no stains on the printed face. The reverse is clean apart from the pencil notation noted above. The card is structurally sound and presents well for display or for housing in an archival sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eImperial German Navy pre-dreadnought postcards have a consistent and active collector market, particularly for named capital ships of the Kaiser Friedrich III and Wittelsbach classes — the foundational units of Tirpitz's battle fleet, all of which were obsolete by 1914 but each of which was extensively photographed and propagandized in the years immediately following commissioning. \u003cem\u003eKaiser Wilhelm der Große\u003c\/em\u003e examples are sought by collectors of Hohenzollern dynastic material (for the Wilhelm I association), by Imperial naval specialists (for the ship herself), and by ephemera collectors of the Tirpitz propaganda apparatus. The Dutch \u003cem\u003eBriefkaart\u003c\/em\u003e reverse adds modest additional interest, documenting the export distribution of German naval imagery into the Netherlands at a period when the Imperial Navy actively cultivated international visibility.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49521799102703,"sku":"44-60","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/9169\/5855\/files\/44-60_1.jpg?v=1778791525","url":"https:\/\/derrittmeister.com\/products\/imperial-german-navy-postcard-sms-kaiser-wilhelm-der-grosse-pre-dreadnought","provider":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}