SMS was the lead ship of her class of light cruisers. She had one sister ship, . The ship was built by the German (Imperial Navy) in the shipyard in Kiel, laid down in 1912 and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in August 1914, days after the outbreak of World War I. She was named for the then-German town of Graudenz (now Grudziądz, Poland). The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 10.5 cm SK L/45 guns and had a top speed of .
saw extensive service during World War I, including serving as part of the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group during the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914. The ship also took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, and the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915. She had been damaged by a mine and was unable to participate in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. She was assigned to the planned final operation of the High Seas Fleet in October 1918, weeks before the end of the war, but a major mutiny forced the cancellation of the plan. After the end of the war, the ship was ceded to Italy as a war prize and commissioned into the Italian Navy as ; she remained in service until 1937 when she was stricken and broken up for scrap.
Design
The two s were designed during the negotiations over the 1912 amendment to the Naval Law, which forced compromises to keep costs down. They were largely repeats of the preceding , with several minor changes. These included removing a pair of boilers (but retaining the same top speed), taller masts (to allow the ships to serve as flotilla leaders), and the introduction of a superfiring arrangement of the aft guns.
was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced at full load. The ship had a fairly small superstructure that consisted of a conning tower. Her hull had a long forecastle that extended for the first third of the ship, stepping down to main deck level just aft of the conning tower. She was fitted with a pair of pole masts that were taller than standard masts, which allowed them to be used to send wireless telegraph signals, a requirement of their use as flotilla leaders. The ship had a crew of 21 officers and 364 enlisted men.
Her propulsion system consisted of two sets of Marine steam turbines driving two propellers. They were rated to provide . These were powered by ten coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers and two oil-fired double-ended boilers, which were vented through three funnels located amidships. These gave the ship a top speed of . carried of coal, and an additional of oil that gave her a range of approximately at .
The ship was armed with twelve SK L/45 guns in single pedestal mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, eight were located amidships, four on either side, and two in a superfiring pair aft. The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees, which allowed them to engage targets out to . These were later replaced with seven SK L/45 guns and two SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns. She was also equipped with a pair of torpedo tubes with five torpedoes submerged in the hull on the broadside. Two deck-mounted launchers were added when the gun armament was upgraded. She could also carry 120 mines.
The ship was protected by a waterline armor belt that was thick amidships. Protection for the ship's internals was reinforced with a curved armor deck that was 60 mm thick; the deck sloped downward at the sides and connected to the bottom edge of the belt armor. The conning tower had thick sides.
Service history was ordered in April 1912 under the contract name " ", and was laid down at the shipyard in Kiel on 23 October 1912. She was launched on 25 October 1913. At her launching, the mayor of Graudenz, Dr. Kühnast, christened the ship. The navy planned to commission the ship in the fall of 1914, but the outbreak of World War I at the end of July 1914 led to a rushed completion. She was commissioned on 10 August 1914, and (KzS—Captain at Sea) Karl von Restorff temporarily left his position in the Naval Cabinet to oversee sea trials of the new cruiser.
Completion of the trials were delayed by faulty engine components that had to be replaced, and the heavy workload of the shipyard, owing to the start of the war. Restorff rushed the ship through initial testing, completing only the bare minimum requirements, including speed tests that were carried out haphazardly, using dead reckoning and in very shallow water. According to the historians Dodson and Nottelmann, due to these conditions, the results of the trials, during which the ship reached a top speed of , "cannot be regarded as of any great significance". Nevertheless, on 6 September, the ship was pronounced ready for active service. Two days later, (FK—Frigate Captain) Theodor Püllen took command of the ship. Restorff became the II Commander of Torpedo Boats, and he used as his flagship for the first three months of his command.
World War I 1914 On 10 September, was stationed in the German Bight for local defensive patrols. From 20 to 26 September, she moved to the Baltic Sea for a sweep into the eastern Baltic in an unsuccessful attempt to locate Russian forces. She thereafter returned to the North Sea and saw no major action through the following month. s first operation in the North Sea was the raid on Yarmouth on 3 November 1914. She formed part of the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruisers of (Rear Admiral) Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group, along with the cruisers and . During the operation, briefly engaged the British torpedo gunboat , but neither vessel was hit. The bombardment was conducted without incident, but on the return, the armored cruiser struck a German mine outside Wilhelmshaven and sank. and several other vessels from the High Seas Fleet were transferred temporarily to the Baltic again, from 7 to 17 November. They were to carry out a bombardment of Russian positions at Libau, but it was cancelled and the ships returned to the North Sea. Restorff transferred his flag to the cruiser on 27 November.
She was also present for the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 15–16 December 1914, which was again led by the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group. The main body of the High Seas Fleet again steamed at a distance to provide support, but after briefly clashing with the British 2nd Battle Squadron in the night, the German fleet commander (Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl) withdrew without inform Hipper. After completing the bombardment of the towns, the Germans began to withdraw, though British forces moved to intercept them. , , , and two flotillas of torpedo boats steamed between two British squadrons. In the heavy mist, which reduced visibility to less than , only was spotted, though the two sides engaged each other only briefly. The Germans were able to use the bad weather to cover their withdrawal. was not damaged in the short action.
On 25 December, British seaplanes raided the zeppelin base at Nordholz. The aircraft also passed over the mouth of the Weser, where and several other vessels were anchored. The planes attempted to bomb and , but none of their attacks succeeded; the closest was a bomb that fell some away from . At around the same time, the command structure of the fleet's scouting forces was reorganized, and became the flagship of KAdm Georg Hebbinghaus on 26 December. Hebbinghaus was the commander of II Scouting Group, where was now assigned. The cruiser took over her previous duties as the flagship of the I Commander of Torpedo-boats. At that time, the unit also included , , , and .
1915
and three of the cruisers— was under repair at the time—sortied on 3 January 1915 for a sweep to the west of Amrun Bank that failed to locate any British forces by the time they returned to port the following day. again screened for I Scouting Group for the sortie out to the Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915. In the ensuing Battle of Dogger Bank, the large armored cruiser was sunk. was not engaged in the battle. The ship was dry docked from 17 February to 2 March for periodic maintenance. The ship moved to the Baltic again for a short operation from 17 to 28 March, during which she bombarded Russian positions at Polangen, north of Memel in East Prussia. After returning to the North Sea, participated in the first major fleet operation under its new commander, Admiral Hugo von Pohl, on 29 March. thereafter moved back to the Baltic for training exercises from 30 March to 8 April. After returning to the German Bight, took part in a minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank on 17–18 April. The cruisers and laid the minefield, while , , the cruiser , and several torpedo-boats provided cover.
On 21 April, joined the High Seas Fleet for a sweep into the North Sea that concluded the following day without encountering enemy forces. The ships of II Scouting Group laid another minefield on 17–18 May off the Dogger Bank; and again laid the mines, while and the rest of the unit escorted them. The High Seas Fleet also sortied during the operation to provide distant support, but no British ships intervened. and the rest of the group covered several sperrbrecher minesweepers as they cleared a minefield laid by British vessels north of Borkum on 25–26 May. Another fleet operation took place on 29–30 May, again without encountering British ships. In June, II Scouting Group moved to the Baltic for training, and at the end of the month, they carried out a patrol to inspect fishing boats off Terschelling. Another such patrol took place in early July off Horns Rev.
In August 1915, went into the Baltic for a major operation to clear the Gulf of Riga of Russian naval forces; the operation lasted from 2 to 29 August. Eight dreadnoughts and three battlecruisers from the High Seas Fleet were detached for the operation. During the first attempt to penetrate the Gulf of Riga, and the rest of I Scouting Group formed part of the covering group that was to prevent any Russian attempt to counter-attack from further east in the Baltic. directly participated in the second attack on 16 August, led by the dreadnoughts and . The minesweepers cleared the Russian minefields by the 20th, allowing the German squadron to enter the Gulf. That day, covered the sinking of three blockships in the harbor at Pernau. The Russians had by this time withdrawn to Moon Sound, and the threat of Russian submarines and mines in the Gulf prompted the Germans to retreat. The major units of the High Seas Fleet were back in the North Sea before the end of August. Shortly after arriving in Kiel on 28 August, took KAdm Friedrich Boedicker aboard; he replaced Hebbinghaus as the group commander.
and were sent out on 8 September to aid the torpedo-boats and , which had accidentally collided off Horns Rev. The latter vessel had exploded and sank, killing forty-seven of her crew. On 11–12 September, the ships of II Scouting Group carried out another minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank. As in previous such operations, and laid the mines while the other ships provided cover. For this operation, I Scouting Group and the main body of the High Seas Fleet also sortied to cover the ships. In October, was scheduled to go into dock to be rearmed, so on 14 October, Boedicker transferred his flag to . But a major fleet operation on 23–24 October delayed the plans, and went to sea with the fleet, which sailed in the direction of Esbjerg, Denmark. On the way back, was detached to proceed to Kiel, where the rearmament work was carried out from 26 October until 18 February 1916.
1916–1918