Description

HOHENTWIEL PADDLE STEAMSHIP

FULLY BUILT AND READY TO DISPLAY HIGH QUALITY SHIP MODEL

Dimension approx.: 30″ (long) x 7″ (wide) x 13″ (high)
The model is already built. THIS IS NOT A MODEL SHIP KIT

When the paddle steamer Hohentwiel slid into the cold January waters of Lake Constance on 11 January 1913, she represented the height of early 20th‑century lake travel. Built by Escher, Wyss & Cie. of Zurich for the Royal Württemberg State Railways, she was the seventh and finest of their steamships — a half‑saloon paddle steamer designed for the long, elegant routes that stitched together the ports of the Bodensee.

Named for the ancient fortress and volcanic hill near Singen, Hohentwiel was as much a cultural statement as a means of transport. Her interior, created by Stuttgart artist Bernhard Pankok, blended Jugendstil elegance with warm woodwork, etched glass, and refined saloons. She carried commuters, schoolchildren, traders, and eventually tourists along the Constance–Bregenz line, her twin paddle wheels churning steadily through calm summer mornings and winter fog alike.

Through the 1920s and 1930s, she evolved with the times. A higher wheelhouse, new small saloons, and a proper navigating bridge modernized her silhouette without sacrificing her original charm. She became a familiar sight on the lake — reliable, graceful, and unmistakably Swiss‑German in character.

World War II brought danger to the Bodensee. Friedrichshafen, one of the lake’s major ports, was bombed repeatedly. On 27 April 1944, two of Hohentwiel’s sister ships — Friedrichshafen and Württemberg — were destroyed in an air raid. Hohentwiel survived only because she happened to be in Constance that day. By then she had already logged 53,000 km in 1943 alone, a testament to her durability and the wartime demand for lake transport.

When the war ended, she was the last surviving paddle steamer on Lake Constance — a lone representative of a fading era.

By the early 1960s, steamships were disappearing from European lakes. In 1962, Hohentwiel was withdrawn from service and sold to the Bregenz Sailing Club, where she became a stationary clubhouse and restaurant. For nearly two decades she sat quietly at the lakeside, her machinery silent, her once‑proud decks weathering slowly.

By 1979, scrapping seemed inevitable. But a group of enthusiasts refused to let the last Bodensee paddle steamer vanish. In 1984, the International Lake Constance Navigation Museum Club acquired her, launching one of the most ambitious ship restorations in Central Europe.

From 1986 to 1989, shipwrights in Hard, Austria, rebuilt Hohentwiel from the keel up. Two new boilers were installed, her superstructure was restored to its 1913 appearance, and her original steam machinery — remarkably intact — was preserved and returned to working order. The project cost more than 4.3 million DM, funded entirely through donations, sponsorships, and volunteer dedication.

On 17 May 1990, after nearly three decades of silence, Hohentwiel steamed once more across Lake Constance. Her paddles beat rhythmically, her whistle echoed across the water, and crowds gathered at every port to welcome back a legend.

Today, she remains the only operating paddle steamer on the Bodensee, offering cultural cruises, private charters, and historical excursions. Her polished brass, gleaming woodwork, and restored saloons evoke the golden age of lake travel — a living museum that still carries passengers with the same grace she did in 1913.

The Hohentwiel is more than a ship; she is a survivor. She endured modernization, war, abandonment, and near destruction — and returned stronger than ever. Her continued operation is a tribute to the craftsmanship of her builders and the passion of the volunteers who saved her.

More than a century after her launch, she remains one of Europe’s most beautiful historic vessels, a floating reminder of the elegance and engineering of early 20th‑century steam navigation.