Statsraad Lehmkuhl

Type

Bark

Period

20th Century

Nation

Norway

Overview: Statsraad Lehmkuhl is a three-masted steel barque built as a sail training ship and still actively operated today, making her one of the oldest large tall ships still in regular service. She is owned and operated by the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation out of Bergen, Norway, and is a well-known participant in the Tall Ships Races. Specifications: The ship was built as a three-masted steel bark by Johann C. Tecklenborg AG in Bremerhaven-Geestemünde, Germany, launched in 1914. She has a sparred length of about 98 m, hull length of 84.6 m, waterline length of 73 m, a beam of 12.6 m, maximum height of 48 m, and draft of 5.2 m, with roughly 2,029 square meters of sail spread over 22 sails, and a diesel engine giving about 10 knots under power. Service History: Originally named Grossherzog Friedrich August, she served as a training ship for the German merchant marine from 1914, was handed to Britain as war reparations after WWI, and was purchased by Norwegian interests led by former cabinet minister Kristofer Lehmkuhl in 1921, entering Norwegian service in 1923 under her present name. During the German occupation of Norway in WWII she was seized, renamed Westwärts, and used to house German troops in very poor condition, before being restored and returning to training duties by 1946; she was later laid up during the 1970s oil/tanker crisis before being donated to the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation in 1978. Notable Facts: The ship is regularly used as a school ship for the Royal Norwegian Navy and for the general public, and undertook the multi-year "One Ocean Expedition" world circumnavigation beginning in 2021, during which she also served as a research platform collecting oceanographic and environmental data. She remains a popular and photogenic subject for scale modelers due to her elegant late-era steel barque rig and long, well-documented career spanning both World Wars. Three sister ships built to a similar design also survive, making comparative reference material available for modelers.