[Illustration: In addition to transverse and longitudinal bulkheads, this ship has fire bulkheads in the passenger spaces. THE 26,000-TON, 23½-KNOT KRONPRINZESSIN CECILIE, A THOROUGHLY PROTECTED SHIP] In dealing with the question of safety, the German shipbuilders have shown that thorough study of the problem which characterises the German people in all their industrial work. Although German ships of the first class, such as the _Kronprinzessin Cecilie_ and the _Imperator_ are not built to naval requirements, they embody many of the same protective features as are to be found in the _Mauretania_ and _Lusitania_, and, indeed, in some safety features, and particularly in those built in the ship as a protection against fire, they excel them. The existence of side bunkers, small compartments, and bulkheads carried well up above the water-line, is due to the close supervision and strict requirements of the German Lloyd and the immigration authorities, and it takes but a glance at the hold plan of the _Kronprinzessin Cecilie_ to show how admirably this ship and her sister are protected against collision. There are 21 transverse bulkheads, 18 of which are shown in the hold plan, the other three being sub-bulkheads, worked in the after part of the ship abaft of the machinery spaces. The four engines are contained in four separate compartments, and the boiler-rooms are entirely surrounded by coal-bunkers. These, the largest compartments, are protected throughout their entire length by the inner skin of the coal-bunker bulkheads. The engine-rooms are further protected by extending the inner floor of the double bottom up the sides as shown on page 176. Altogether, the hold plan shows 33 separate, watertight compartments. The collision bulkhead is carried up to the shelter deck, and the other bulkheads terminate at the main deck, which is about 19 feet above the normal water-line. [Illustration: This well-protected ship has side coal bunkers, and inner skin in engine-rooms. There are thirty-three compartments below the water-line. HOLD PLAN OF KRONPRINZESSIN CECILIE] It is greatly to the credit of the Germans that they have given such careful attention to the question of fire protection. We have shown in a previous chapter that the long stretch of staterooms, with alleyways several hundred feet in length running through them, offer dangerous facilities for the rapid spread of a fire, should it once obtain a strong hold on the inflammable material of which the stateroom partitions and furnishings are composed. On the _Kaiser Wilhelm II_ and _Cecilie_ the passenger accommodations on the main deck are protected against the spread of fire by four steel bulkheads, which extend from side to side of the ship. Where the alleyways intersect these bulkheads, fire-doors are provided which are closed by hand and secured by strong clamps. [Illustration: Courtesy of _Engineering_