16,703 GRT, 8,127 NRT (1910, as Viktoria Luise) SS Deutschland was a passenger liner built in Stettin and launched on 10 January 1900 for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) of Germany.

The Deutschland took away the Blue Riband from the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse on her maiden voyage and held the west-bound record for over seven years, until Cunard took it back to Britain with the RMS Lusitania in 1907.

Despite holding the record she suffered from persistent vibrations,[2] especially in the stern area which gave her the nickname "The Cocktail Shaker"[3] and made her unpopular with 1st class passengers.

Although her vibration problems were finally fixed around 1907,[4] it was already too late, as she has lost the speed record to Cunard, and the direct competition had grander, larger and safer ships, so in 1910 she was pulled from the transatlantic route and refitted into the world's second fully dedicated cruise liner.

[4] As Victoria Luise she was enormously popular with the travelling public, and as she was about to start her third around-the-world cruise World War I broke out and she was requisitioned as an auxiliary cruiser.

[3] And after a fire that broke out during her conversion into a cruiser, it was decided to abandon the preparations, and she was left standing at her pier till the end of World War I.

After the introduction of Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse by the Norddeutscher Lloyd and its enormous success with the travelling public, in 1899 the HAPAG board of directors has voted for once again building a greyhound for the transatlantic route despite the clear protests from the general director Albert Ballin,[4] who argued that "the race for speed is futile, the line should focus on constructing big, safe and comfortable ocean liners".

[4] As the Shipyard of choice, the line approached the Stettiner Vulcan Werft, the same yard that constructed their direct competition, the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.

[4] On the boat-deck, in the center of the ship was the first class entrance, with a couple of staterooms, a printers office for onboard newspaper (A technology that also the Deutschland introduced to ocean liners for the first time[4]) and a nursery.

The woodwork was out of mahogany and in the center of the room except for the skylight and a bar was big green ceramic tiled oven,[4] that was used to grill/prepare the dishes in front of the customers table.

On A deck was the music room/lounge kept in white colors with a golden wallpaper,[3] smoking room with a big central skylight, a painting showing Hamburg harbor and a statue on either side representing trade and the market.

Also in 1902, during a rough storm returning from New York, Deutschland's whole rudder along with a part of her keel were ripped off her stern, the ship had to be maneuvered to Europe and the dock using only her propellers.

This exhausted Captain Albers to such an extent that during her docking in Bremerhaven he collapsed in the chart room in the hands of his first officer and died of a heart attack.

On 17 July 1906, Deutschland collided with a stone pier when departing the Port of Dover for New York, her engines having been put into forward rather than reverse.

In 1907, the ship's vibration problems were finally solved by adjusting the angle of the propeller blades and a partial rebuild of her stern,[5] mainly the keel and rudder area.

Her interiors were mainly left intact except for the removal of service rooms behind the third funnel, and the construction of a ballroom with a parquet dance floor.