Wilhelm II, German Emperor after his consent had been gained that major changes to the high command could be effected. Wilhelm was in favour of the dismissal of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger in September 1914 and his replacement by Erich von Falkenhayn. In 1917, Hindenburg and Ludendorff decided that Bethman-Hollweg was no longer acceptable to them as Chancellor and called upon the Kaiser to appoint somebody else. When asked whom they would accept, Ludendorff recommended Georg Michaelis, a nonentity whom he barely knew. The Kaiser did not know Michaelis, but accepted the suggestion. Upon hearing in July 1917 that his cousin George V
SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (Ger. orth. "Kaiser Wilhelm der Große") was a German transatlantic ocean liner named after Wilhelm I, German Emperor, the first monarch of the (second) German Empire. The liner was constructed in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) for the North German Lloyd (NDL), and entered service in 1897. It was the first liner to have four funnels and is considered to be the first "superliner." The first of four sister ships built between 1903 and 1907 by NDL (the others being , and SS "Kronprinzessin Cecilie", she marked the beginning of a change