The Visit to the US by the German Battlecruiser Moltke

The visit to the US by the German battlecruiser Moltke in 1912 had a great influence on US planning, and should not be seen as a simple visit by a foreign warship to US ports. It opened the eyes of many Americans to the fact that changing technology had made the world a smaller place, and that the oceans alone no longer offered protection from foreign powers. This article will provide some background to the visit, and will attempt to put the visit in its proper context as well as provide the ships' itineraries.

Visits to foreign ports were seen as a way to show off a nation's naval power, and receiving foreign warships was considered a status symbol, indicating that you were a power worthy of a visit, so aspiring naval powers like the US and Germany sought to join the UK and France on the world stage. By 1903 the US Navy was regularly sending its cruisers to visit ports in France and the UK, and vice-versa, and Germany asked for similar visits, ostensibly to ease the tensions. The US at first refused, instead using its summer maneuvers to practice an attack on the Azores, which the US felt Germany would occupy at the start of any war between the two powers.

Germany insisted, and to avoid a diplomatic incident the newest US battleship, the USS Kearsarge, was sent to Kiel along with some cruisers. They were received with great honors and inspected by Kaiser Wilhelm III, but many in the US accused the Germans of forcing a visit only to inspect the state of US naval technology.

So further US visits were put on hold. In 1904 the US fleet visited the Mediterranean, and in 1905 Gibraltar to support the Anglo-French Entente interests in Morocco. In 1910 the US Atlantic Fleet visited British and French ports, and those nation's fleets were invited to the US, but again Germany was snubbed. Germany publicly took offense, so the 1911 Naval Academy cruise included a stop in Kiel, the first US naval vessel to visit Germany in almost 8 years. But this visit insulted the Germans even more: they felt that the decrepit old vessels sent to their nation showed disrespect toward Germany. So to sooth things over the US sent along four pre-dreadnought battleships of the Atlantic Fleet, and the German Navy, Government, and Kaiser Wilhelm III pull out all the stops to honor the visiting US squadron.

A reciprocal visit was in order. The Germans, for their part, has sent cruisers around the world to 'show the flag', and the battlecruiser Von der Tann had visited ports in Africa and South America during the spring and summer of 1911. During this cruise the ship claimed to have traveled 2000 miles at an average speed of 24 knots without coaling. American war planners were concerned: clearly heavy units of the German High Seas Fleet could cross the Atlantic to occupy a base in the Caribbean, and wage war against the US's eastern seaboard. The US had seen Germany as a likely foe for many years, starting during the Spanish-American War in 1898, and such feelings escalated on both sides following the Venezuelan Crisis of 1903-04, and the US support of the Anglo-French Entente during the 1906 Algeciras Conference.

With these thoughts on the minds of war planner on both sides of the Atlantic, it was announced that a German squadron would visit the US in 1912. Under the command of Rear Admiral Rebeur von Paschwitz, the battlecruiser Moltke and the light cruiser Stettin left Kiel on May 11, sailing without stop directly to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where they arrived on May 30. The light cruiser Bremen also arrived that day, having sailed up from South America.

The implications to the US were clear: the Atlantic Ocean was no longer protection from Germany. And with fast, powerful battlecruisers, Germany could strike the US coast of seize a base in the Caribbean almost without fear of intervention by the slow US battlefleet. US Naval Intelligence officers inspected the German ship and were most impressed by her size, speed, and armament, and felt they needed to reduce the time estimates they had placed on how quickly Germany could attack the Western Hemisphere, though they noted that Moltke could only cross the Atlantic by filling the casemate gun positions with coal. The German scout cruisers were found to be most impressive, with long range, excellent firepower, and tremendous speed, making them a very real threat to commerce as well as excellent fleet scouts.

The press downplayed the goodwill nature of the visit, and US publications were soon filled with calls for the US to build battlecruisers and faster battleships to enforce the Monroe Doctrine and protect the planned Panama Canal from European threats. The old fears surfaced, of US cities being destroyed or ransomed by a strong naval force, as had happened in the War of 1812 and was feared during the Spanish American War, so the call went up for coastal fortifications to protect them. US commentators soon challenged the US Government to build a force strong enough to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. Critics pointed out the shortcomings in US Army Coast Artillery, and the US Navy reliance on foreign coal and colliers, and asked if the British base in Bermuda and the German ability to project power across the Atlantic did not make the Panama Canal an indefensible position, and leave South American open to breaches of the Monroe Doctrine by European powers. Clearly, changes would have to be made.

The start of WWI, and the blockade of the German High Seas Fleet by the British Grand Fleet, made the threat (be it real or imagined) of German battlecruiser and cruiser raids on the US, or of Germany seizing a base in the Caribbean, moot. But US coastal defenses were strengthened, and the US Navy General Board soon developed designs for fast scout cruisers and battlecruisers. While the Moltke visit was not the only reason, it certainly was not without influence.


May 7: Visit of German squadron to US ports announced

May 11: Moltke and Stettin departed Kiel

May 30 (Thursday): Moltke and Stettin arrived Hampton Roads. VA, and are joined by Bremen

May 31 & June 1: German ships coaled

June 1 & 2: Germans painted their ships in preparation of formal review.

June 3 (Monday): Formal review. The U.S. Navy receiving squadron of eight battleships joined the Germans at Lynn Haven Bay at 0700. At 0800 all ships weighed anchor, and were reviewed by President Taft and Navy Secretary Meyer aboard the yacht Mayflower. Salutes exchanged while passing Fort Monroe, and all ships anchored in Hampton Roads.

June 3 (Monday): Evening reception at Chamberlain Hotel, sailors begin visiting each other's ships

June 4 (Tuesday): German officers had lunch at Fort Monroe, and visited Washington DC that evening. Sailors continued shipboard visits.

June 5 (Wednesday): German officer again visited Fort Monroe as guest of the garrison, sailors continued visits from ship to ship

June 6 (Thursday): German officers visited US Naval Academy at Annapolis, then attended a theater party in Norfolk.

June 7 (Friday): German ships weighed anchor at 1530 hours and sailed for New York, with the US dreadnought South Carolina, and the pre-dreads New Hampshire, Kansas, and Louisiana.

June 9 (Sunday): Ships arrived at New York in the afternoon, exchanging salutes with Fort Jay and dropping anchor in the Hudson River. Many thousands of new Yorkers turned out to greet the visitors: the German officers were lavishly entertained, and the German sailors were given complete freedom of the city.

June 14 (Friday): Liberty ended, and Moltke and Stettin set sail for Germany. Bremen sailed for Baltimore, where she met the German steamer Main. Bremen was to return to the South American station, and a new crew was sent on the Main to allow for the other to rotate home. President Taft telegrams Kaiser Wilhelm III in appreciation of the visit.