First of the German Grossbauten, Kaiser Wilhelm was a sleek, four funnelled steamship and took the westbound record in March 1898 at an average speed of 22.29 knots.

Ships in the late 1890s had begun to look more like modern day liners, with their accommodation above deck in cabins instead of down in the hull. These ships had just two or three of these decks and looked lower and racier than the later floating hotels. It was around this time that the phrase "Atlantic Greyhound" was introduced, which seems to sum up the look and style of the Kaiser Wilhelm. With her long, slim hull and raked, paired funnels the Kaiser was the pride of the German fleet and the forerunner of the North German Lloyd's four record-breaking liners.

She was 627 feet long with a tonnage of 14,4343 gross and had two, triple-expansion engines driving triple screws. At her record breaking speed of 22 knots she burnt an equal 22 tons of coal every hour.

launched early in 1897 she held the Blue Riband for three years until the Hamburg America Line launched the Deutschland.

in 1900 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was tied up at the Hobo ken pier in New York when fire broke out ashore and only in the nick of time did tugs manage to pull her clear of the raging flames.

During the Great War she became a naval cruiser and in 1914 was cornered off the coast of Africa by the British warship Highflyer which, after taking off the crew, destroyed the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse with gunfire.

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