At the start of the war, the NDL's fleet totaled more than . Under the Treaty of Versailles at war's end, all ships over and half of all units from 100 to were confiscated. The United States had already confiscated in 1917 the facilities in Hoboken and the NDL ships at the dock there. The prewar NDL fleet no longer existed. The company was left with some small ships totalling . With these the company restarted daytrip passenger service, tug service, and freight service in 1919. The 'flagship' was the 781-ton "Grüß Gott". From 1920 to 1939, NDL participated in the Seedienst Ostpreußen passenger and goods service to East Prussia.