SMS ("His Majesty's Ship ") was a German light cruiser built for the (Imperial Navy). The lead ship of her class, she was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1906, launched in October 1907, and completed in November 1908. Her entrance into service was delayed by accidents during sea trials, including a collision with another vessel which necessitated major repairs. Like the preceding cruisers upon which her design was based, was armed with ten SK L/40 guns and two torpedo tubes.
spent much of her career overseas. After commissioning, she visited the United States in 1909 during the Hudson–Fulton Celebration, before returning to Germany to serve in the reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet for three years. In 1913, she was assigned to the Mediterranean Division. She was then sent to the Caribbean to protect German nationals during the Mexican Revolution. In mid-1914, she carried the former dictator Victoriano Huerta to Jamaica, where the British had granted him asylum. She was due to return to Germany in July 1914, but was prevented from doing so by the outbreak of World War I. At the onset of hostilities, operated as a commerce raider in South American waters in the Atlantic, then moved to the Pacific Ocean in September and joined Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron.
saw action in the Battle of Coronel in November, where she engaged the British cruiser , and at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December, where she was the only German warship to escape destruction. She eluded her British pursuers for several more months, until she put into Robinson Crusoe Island in March 1915. Her engines were worn out and she had almost no coal left for her boilers, so the ship's captain contacted the local Chilean authorities to have interned. She was trapped by British cruisers, including her old opponent Glasgow. The British violated Chilean neutrality and opened fire on the ship in the Battle of Más a Tierra. The Germans scuttled and the majority of the crew escaped to be interned in Chile for the duration of the war. The wreck remains in the harbor; several artifacts, including her bell and compass, have been returned to Germany.
Design
The 1898 Naval Law authorized the construction of thirty new light cruisers; the program began with the , which was developed into the and es, both of which incorporated incremental improvements over the course of construction. The primary alteration for the two -class cruisers, assigned to the 1906 fiscal year, consisted of an additional boiler for the propulsion system to increase engine power.
was long overall with a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced as designed and up to at full load. The ship had a minimal superstructure, which consisted of a small conning tower and bridge structure. Her hull had a raised forecastle and quarterdeck, along with a pronounced ram bow. She was fitted with two pole masts. She had a crew of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men.
Her propulsion system consisted of two Parsons steam turbines, which drove a pair of screw propellers. Steam was provided by twelve coal-fired water-tube boilers that were vented through three funnels. The propulsion system was designed to give for a top speed of . carried up to of coal, which gave her a range of at .
The ship was armed with a main battery of ten SK L/40 guns in single pivot mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle; six were located on the broadside, three on either side; and two were placed side by side aft. The guns could engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. The secondary battery comprised eight SK L/55 guns, with 4,000 rounds of ammunition. She was also equipped with two torpedo tubes with four torpedoes, mounted on the deck.
The ship was protected by a curved armored deck that was up to thick. It sloped downward at the sides of the hull to provide defense against incoming fire; the sloped portion was thick. The conning tower had thick sides, and the guns were protected by thick gun shields.
Service history
was ordered under the contract name . She was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1906 and launched on 5 October 1907. The of her namesake city, Otto Beutler, christened the ship. Fitting-out work then commenced, and was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 14 November 1908. Following her commissioning, began her sea trials. On 28 November she accidentally collided with and sank the Swedish galeas outside Kiel. s starboard propeller shaft was shoved in , and she required six months of repair work. She resumed sea trials in 1909, but a turbine accident necessitated further repairs, which lasted until September.
Although had not completed the required testing, her trials were declared over on 7 September, as she had been ordered to visit the United States. The purpose of the voyage was to represent Germany at the Hudson–Fulton Celebration in New York; was joined by the protected cruisers and and the light cruiser . left Wilhelmshaven on 11 September and stopped in Newport, where she met the rest of the ships of the squadron. The ships arrived in New York on 24 September, remained there until 9 October, and arrived back in Germany on 22 October.
then joined the reconnaissance force for the High Seas Fleet; the following two years consisted of the peacetime routine of squadron exercises, training cruises, and annual fleet exercises. On 16 February 1910, she collided with the light cruiser . The collision caused significant damage to , though no one on either vessel was injured. She made it back to Kiel for repairs, which lasted eight days. visited Hamburg on 13–17 May that year. From 14 to 20 April 1912, she was temporarily transferred to the Training Squadron, along with the armored cruiser and the light cruiser . For the year 1911–12, won the Kaiser's (Shooting Prize) for excellent gunnery amongst the light cruisers of the High Seas Fleet. From September 1912 through September 1913, she was commanded by (Frigate Captain) Fritz Lüdecke, who would command the ship again during World War I.
On 6 April 1913, she and the cruiser were sent from Kiel to the Adriatic Sea, where she joined the (Mediterranean Division), centered on the battlecruiser and commanded by (Rear Admiral) Konrad Trummler. The ships cruised the eastern Mediterranean for several months, and in late August, was ordered to return to Germany. After arriving in Kiel on 23 September, she was taken into the (Imperial Shipyard) for an overhaul that lasted until the end of December. She was scheduled to return to the Mediterranean Division, but the (Admiralty Staff) reassigned to the North American station to protect German interests in the Mexican Revolution. The cruiser , then in North American waters, was also due to return to Germany, but her intended replacement, , had not yet entered service. On 27 December 1913, departed Germany and arrived off Vera Cruz on 21 January 1914, under the command of Erich Köhler. The United States had already sent a squadron of warships to the city, as had several other countries.
The ordered , which had been on a training cruise for naval cadets, to join off Mexico. was also recalled to reinforce the German naval contingent; after arriving, she was tasked with transferring European nationals to German HAPAG liners. and the British cruiser rescued 900 American citizens trapped in a hotel in Vera Cruz and transferred them to American warships. The German consul in Mexico City requested additional forces, and so provided a landing party of a (Junior Petty Officer) and ten sailors, armed with two MG 08 machine guns. On 15 April 1914, steamed to Tampico on Mexico's Gulf coast. That month, the German-flagged merchant ship arrived in Mexico, carrying a load of small arms for the regime of Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta. The United States had put an arms embargo into effect in an attempt to reduce the violence of the civil war. The US Navy intercepted Ypiranga on 21 April. arrived, confiscated the merchantman, and pressed her into naval service to transport German refugees out of Mexico. Despite the American embargo, the Germans delivered the weapons and ammunition to the Mexican government on 28 May.
On 20 July, after the Huerta regime was toppled, carried Huerta, his vice president, Aureliano Blanquet, and their families to Kingston, Jamaica, where Britain had granted them asylum. Upon arriving in Kingston on the 25th, Köhler learned of the rising political tensions in Europe during the July Crisis that followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. By this time, the ship was in need of a refit in Germany, and met with her replacement, , in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the following day. Lüdecke, who had arrived in command of , traded places with Köhler aboard . The initially ordered to return to Germany for overhaul, but the heightened threat of war by the 31st led the staff to countermand the order, instead instructing Lüdecke to prepare to conduct (trade war) in the Atlantic.
World War I
After receiving the order to remain in the Atlantic, Lüdecke turned his ship south while maintaining radio silence to prevent hostile warships from discovering his vessel. On the night of 4–5 August, he received a radio report informing him of Britain's declaration of war on Germany. He chose the South Atlantic as s operational area, and steamed to the Brazilian coast. Off the mouth of the Amazon River, he stopped a British merchant ship on 6 August. The ship, , whose captain professed to know nothing of Britain's entry into the war, was permitted to proceed unmolested in accordance with the rules set forth in the Hague Convention of 1907. rendezvoused with the German collier , a converted HSDG vessel. The cruiser moved to the Rocas Atoll on the 12th, along with the HAPAG steamships Prussia, , and . After leaving the atoll, en route to Trindade, caught the British steamship ; Lüdecke took off the ship's crew and then sank the merchantman. captured the British collier on 24 August and sank her after evacuating her crew. After arriving in Trindade, she rendezvoused with the gunboat and several steamships.
On 26 August, while steaming off the mouth of the Río de la Plata, she caught two more British steamships, but the poor condition of s engines curtailed further operations. On 5 September, put into Hoste Island for engine maintenance until the 16th. While the ship was there, the HAPAG steamship arrived from Punta Arenas with news of the war, and the heavy merchant traffic off the western coast of South America. Lüdecke decided to steam there, and on 18 September passed the Strait of Magellan. While en route, encountered the French steamship ; Lüdecke refrained from attacking the transport ship, since she had fled into neutral waters. After steaming up the Chilean coast, she stopped in the Juan Fernández Islands, where she made radio contact with the light cruiser , which was operating on the Pacific coast of South America. saw no further success against British shipping, and on 12 October, she joined (Vice Admiral) Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron, which had crossed the Pacific and was coaling at Easter Island. The following day, Lüdecke was promoted to (Captain at Sea).