SMS Stettin

SMS in 1912

SMS ("His Majesty's Ship ")Template:Efn was a light cruiser of the (Imperial Navy). She had three sister ships: , , and . Laid down at AG Vulcan Stettin shipyard in 1906, was launched in March 1907 and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet seven months later in October. Like her sisters, was armed with a main battery of ten guns and a pair of torpedo tubes, and was capable of a top speed in excess of .

In 1912, joined the battlecruiser and cruiser for a goodwill visit to the United States. After the outbreak of World War I, served in the reconnaissance forces of the German fleet. She saw heavy service for the first three years of the war, including at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914 and the Battle of Jutland in May – June 1916, along with other smaller operations in the North and Baltic Seas. In 1917, she was withdrawn from frontline service and used as a training ship until the end of the war. In the aftermath of Germany's defeat, was surrendered to the Allies and broke up for scrap in 1921–1923.

Design

The -class ships were designed to serve both as fleet scouts in home waters and in Germany's colonial empire. This was a result of budgetary constraints that prevented the (Imperial Navy) from building more specialized cruisers suitable for both roles.Template:Sfn The class was an iterative development of the preceding . All four members of the class were intended to be identical, but after the initial vessel was begun, the design staff incorporated lessons from the Russo-Japanese War. These included internal rearrangements and a lengthening of the hull. Stettin was fitted with steam turbines on an experimental basis; she was the second cruiser of the German fleet so equipped.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

File:Königsberg class cruiser diagrams Janes 1914.jpg

Plan and profile drawing of the classTemplate:Efn

was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced Template:Cvt normally and up to Template:Cvt 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. had a crew of 14 officers and 308 enlisted men.Template:Sfn

Her propulsion system consisted of a pair of Parsons steam turbines that drove a pair of screw propellers. Steam was provided by eleven coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers that were vented through three funnels. The ship's propulsion system was rated to produce for a top speed of , though she exceeded these figures in service. Normal coal storage amounted to Template:Cvt. At a more economical pace of , the ship had a range of approximately .Template:Sfn

The ship was armed with a main battery of ten [[10.5 cm SK L/40 naval gun|Template:Cvt SK L/40 guns]] in single pedestal mounts. Two were placed side-by-side forward on the forecastle; six were located on the broadside, three on either side; and two were side by side aft. The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees, which allowed them to engage targets out to .Template:Sfn They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, amounting to 150 shells per gun. The ship was also equipped with eight SK guns with 4,000 rounds of ammunition. She was also equipped with a pair of Template:Cvt torpedo tubes with five torpedoes submerged in the hull on the broadside.Template:Sfn

The ship was protected by a curved armor deck that was thick amidships. The deck sloped downward at the sides, with a thickness of Template:Cvt, to provide protection against enemy fire. The conning tower sides were thick. Her main battery guns were fitted with Template:Cvt thick gun shields.Template:Sfn

Service history

File:SMS Bremen Stettin Moltke HamptonRoads 1912.jpg

(center), with (L) and (R) in Hampton Roads

was ordered under the contract name " "Template:Efn on 20 December 1905. She was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in her namesake city on 22 March 1906. She was launched on 7 March 1907, and the mayor of Stettin gave a speech at the launching ceremony. Fitting-out work thereafter commenced, which was completed by September 1907. Because of her experimental turbines, the German Navy examined the ship thoroughly before accepting her. She was commissioned into active service on 29 October to begin sea trials. Following her initial testing, she was assigned to the Scouting Unit on 20 January 1908, replacing the cruiser . At that time (FK—Frigate Captain) Friedrich Boedicker took command of the ship. In February, she and the rest of the scouting unit visited Vigo, Spain, during a cruise with the High Seas Fleet. Template:'s normal peacetime routine of training exercises was interrupted from 17 June to 8 August, when she was ordered to escort , the yacht of Kaiser Wilhelm II. During this period, the ships sailed to Stockholm, Sweden, where the Swedish king, Gustav V visited . Later in August, Boedicker was replaced by FK Curt von Rössing.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In early 1909, civil unrest broke out in the Ottoman Empire against Christians living in the country. At the time, was cruising in the Mediterranean Sea with the cruiser as the escort. was detached to intervene in southern Anatolia in the Ottoman Empire, and was sent to replace her as the escort for . On 9 April, she departed Kiel in company with the light cruiser , which was to support in operations off the coast of Anatolia. The ships arrived in Corfu, an island off Greece, on 1 May. While the ships were in Pola, Austria-Hungary, on 15 May, received orders to return to Germany. She reached Kiel on 26 May. In October, FK Wilhelm Höpfner relieved Rössing as the ship's captain. once again served as the escort for in 1910, from 7 to 30 July. This year, the ships cruised in Scandinavian waters. The ship's commander rotated again in September, with FK Johannes Hartog taking command. The year 1911 passed uneventfully for , beyond the normal peacetime routine of training exercises and fleet maneuvers. In October, FK Wilhelm von Krosigk became the ship's next captain.Template:Sfn

In March 1912, was assigned to the East American Cruiser Division, which also included the battlecruiser and the light cruiser , and was commanded by (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz. The ships were sent to make a goodwill cruise to the United States; was the only German capital ship to ever visit the US. On 11 May 1912 the ships left Kiel and arrived off Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 30 May. There, they met the US Atlantic Fleet and were greeted by then-President William Howard Taft aboard the presidential yacht . After touring the East Coast for two weeks, they returned to Germany. On the way back, they stopped in Vigo from 22 to 26 June, before continuing on to Kiel, arriving there three days later. thereafter returned to the reconnaissance unit.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In July 1913, was sent to Pillau for a ceremony for the dedication of a monument for Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. Later that year, she was involved in a minor collision with the steam ship , and had one of her spotting tops torn off a mast. The ship took part in her last peacetime training exercise with the High Seas Fleet in November 1913. She was thereafter replaced in the reconnaissance unit by the new cruiser , and on 4 February 1914, had her crew reduced. On 1 July, the ship was reactivated and received a full crew; she was now to join the U-boat force as a submarine flotilla flagship. became the flagship of II U-boat Flotilla. At that time, (Corvette Captain) Karl August Nerger took command of the ship; he served aboard the ship until March 1916.Template:Sfn By that time, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary had been assassinated, which sparked the July Crisis and led to the outbreak of World War I in late July, starting with the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia on the 28th.Template:Sfn

Actions in the North Sea

continued in her role as a U-boat flotilla flagship after the start of hostilities. On 6 August, she and the cruiser escorted a flotilla of U-boats into the North Sea in an attempt to draw out the British fleet, which could then be attacked by the U-boats. The force sailed about to the northwest of Helgoland and then returned to port without having encountered any British warships. They made a second sweep into the North Sea on 8 August, again without successfully locating any British ships.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Battle of Helgoland Bight

File:Battle of Heligoland Bight (1914) First Phase Map.png

Map showing the first phase of the battle, including Template:'s actions against the destroyers

Some two weeks later, on 28 August, was involved in the Battle of Helgoland Bight. At the start of the engagement, , , and stood in support of the line of torpedo boats patrolling the Helgoland Bight; was at anchor to the northeast of Helgoland, and the other two ships were on either side. The German screen was under the command of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper, the commander of reconnaissance forces for the High Seas Fleet.Template:Sfn When the British first attacked the German torpedo boats, Hipper immediately dispatched and , and several other cruisers that were in distant support, to come to their aid. At 08:32, received the report of German torpedo boats in contact with the British, and immediately weighed anchor and steamed off to support them. Twenty-six minutes later, she encountered the British destroyers and opened fire, at a range of . The attack forced the British ships to break off and turn back west. During the engagement, lookouts aboard spotted a British cruiser in the distance, but it did not join the battle. By 9:10, the British had withdrawn out of range, and fell back to get steam in all of her boilers. During this portion of the battle, the ship was hit once, on the starboard No. 4 gun, which killed two men and badly injured another. Her intervention prevented the British from sinking the torpedo boats and .Template:Sfn

By 10:00, had steam in all of her boilers, and was capable of her top speed. She therefore returned to the battle, and at 10:06, she encountered eight British destroyers and immediately attacked them, opening fire at 10:08. Several hits were observed in the British formation, which dispersed and fled. By 10:13, the visibility had decreased, and could no longer see the fleeing destroyers, and so broke off the chase. The ship had been hit several times in return, without causing significant damage, but killing another two and wounding another four men. At around 13:40, reached with the cruiser , which was just coming under attack from several British battlecruisers. Template:'s crew could see the large muzzle flashes in the haze, which after having disabled , turned on at 14:05. The haze saved the ship, which was able to escape after ten salvos missed her. At 14:20, she encountered . The German battlecruisers and reached the scene by 15:25, by which time the British had already disengaged and withdrawn. Hipper, in , followed closely behind, and ordered the light cruisers to fall back on his ships. After conducting a short reconnaissance further west, the Germans returned to port, arriving in Wilhelmshaven by 21:30.Template:Sfn In total, had two men killed and nine wounded.Template:Sfn

Fleet operations

was removed from her role as flotilla flagship on 25 November, and two days later, she was assigned to IV Scouting Group, part of the reconnaissance screen for the battleships of the High Seas Fleet. She became the group flagship, under the command of (Commodore) Karl von Restorff. At that time, Restorff was also the commander of II Torpedo-boat Flotilla. In this new role, became involved in the raids on the British coast that were carried out by the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group.Template:Sfn The first that involved began on 15 December, when I Scouting Group, led by Hipper, conducted a bombardment of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby on the English coast. The main body of the High Seas Fleet, commanded by Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, stood by in distant support; and two flotillas of torpedo boats screened the rear of the formation.Template:Sfn That evening, the German battle fleet of some twelve dreadnoughts and eight pre-dreadnoughts came to within of an isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival screens in the darkness convinced Ingenohl that he was faced with the entire Grand Fleet. Under orders from Kaiser Wilhelm II to avoid risking the fleet unnecessarily, Ingenohl broke off the engagement and turned the battle fleet back toward Germany.Template:Sfn

On 26 January 1915, Restorff's commands were divided; he retained control over II Torpedo-boat Flotilla and shifted his flag to the cruiser , while KzS Georg Scheidt replaced him as commander of IV Scouting Group. Scheidt, who was promoted to on 23 February, kept as the group flagship. At that time, the unit consisted of and the cruisers , , , , and . next went to sea for a fleet operation on 29 March, though IV Scouting Group was missing and ; they were instead reinforced with . The operation concluded the following day, and failed to locate British vessels. On 11 April, , , and sortied to cover a patrol by the 2nd and 13th Torpedo-Half-Flotillas to the area south of Horns Rev to inspect fishing boats in the area. Two further fleet operations into the North Sea followed on 17–18 and 21–22 April, again without resulting in action with British forces.Template:Sfn

Operations in the Baltic

On 4 May 1915, IV Scouting Group, which by then consisted of , , , and , and twenty-one torpedo boats was sent into the Baltic Sea to support a major operation against Russian positions at Libau. The operation was commanded by Rear Admiral Hopman, the commander of the reconnaissance forces in the Baltic. IV Scouting Group was tasked with screening to the north to prevent any Russian naval forces from moving out of the Gulf of Finland undetected, while several armored cruisers and other warships bombarded the port. The ships of IV Scouting Group were ordered to patrol the line between Huvudskär, Gotska Sandön, and Ösel.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The Russians did attempt to intervene with a force of four cruisers: , , , and . The Russian ships briefly engaged , and Scheidt recalled his other cruisers to join to come to Template:'s aid. The Russian forces were significantly stronger than the German light cruisers, but they believed more powerful German forces would intervene, and so they disengaged; indeed, when reports of the action arrived at German headquarters, the pre-dreadnought battleships of IV Battle Squadron were detached to reinforce Scheidt's cruisers. Shortly after the bombardment, Libau was captured by the advancing German army, and and the rest of IV Scouting Group were recalled to the High Seas Fleet, arriving back in the North Sea on 12 May.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Return to the North Sea

Soon after arriving back with the High Seas Fleet, and the rest of IV Scouting Group sortied for another sweep into the North Sea on 17–18 May. Another attempt to catch British vessels in the southern North Sea took place on 29–30 May. Neither operation located hostile ships. The pace of operations slowed somewhat, and on 2 July, again served in the covering force for a torpedo-boat patrol among the fishing ships south of Horns Rev. On 10 August, the fleet went to sea again, this time to cover the return of the auxiliary cruiser , which was returning from a commerce raiding cruise. Ludwig von Reuter replaced Scheidt as the group commander on 3 September. covered a minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank on 11–12 September. The final fleet operation of the war took place on 23–24 October in the direction of Horns Rev; like its predecessors, the ships did not encounter British vessels.Template:Sfn

The German fleet saw little activity over the winter of 1915–1916. The first major operation carried out by and the rest of IV Scouting Group took place on 4 March, and it was a patrol to cover the return of the commerce raider . The following day, the ships joined the main body of the High Seas Fleet for a sweep into the Hoofden that concluded on 7 March, again without result. was dry docked for periodic maintenance from 8 to 25 March. Reuter temporarily left the ship on 28 March, as he was briefly transferred to command II Scouting Group. Paul Heinrich, the commander of II Torpedo-boat Flotilla, was given command of IV Scouting Group in Reuter's absence, which lasted until 13 May, when Reuter returned to . By this time, the unit consisted of , , , and ; in addition, , which was the flagship of the fleet's torpedo boat flotillas, was tactically assigned to IV Scouting Group. While Heinrich flew his flag aboard , the ships took part in another fleet operation that resulted in the bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft by the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group on 24–25 April.Template:Sfn

Battle of Jutland

File:Map of the Battle of Jutland, 1916.svg

Maps showing the maneuvers of the British (blue) and German (red) fleets on 30–31 May 1916

In May 1916, the German fleet commander, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, planned a major operation to cut off and destroy an isolated squadron of the British fleet. The operation resulted in the battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916.Template:Sfn IV Scouting Group was tasked with screening for the main German battlefleet. As the German fleet approached the scene of the unfolding engagement between the British and German battlecruiser squadrons, steamed ahead of the leading German battleship, , with the rest of the Group dispersed to screen for submarines. and IV Scouting Group were not heavily engaged during the early phases of the battle, since they were stationed close to the main body of the fleet and their guns could not hit targets at the long ranges at which the battle was primarily fought; through the daylight portion of the battle, they only managed to fire a few salvoes intermittently as British ships briefly came into range. But around 21:30, they encountered the British cruiser . and briefly fired on the British ship, but poor visibility forced the ships to cease fire. Reuter turned his ships 90 degrees away and disappeared in the haze.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

During the withdrawal from the battle on the night of 31 May at around 23:30, the battlecruisers and passed ahead of too closely, forcing her to slow down. The rest of IV Scouting Group did not notice the reduction in speed, and so the ships became disorganized. Shortly thereafter, the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron came upon the German cruisers, which were joined by , , and . A ferocious firefight at very close range ensued; was hit twice early in the engagement and was set on fire. One of these hits knocked out one of her port 10.5 cm guns. A shell fragment punctured the steam pipe for the ship's siren, and the escaping steam impaired visibility and forced the ship to abandon an attempt to launch torpedoes. In the melee, was hit by approximately eighteen 10.5 cm shells, including some from . German observers aboard reported seeing fires aboard the British cruiser. In the meantime, was set on fire and sunk; as the German cruisers turned to avoid colliding with the sinking wreck, IV Scouting Group became dispersed. Only remained with . The two ships accidentally attacked the German destroyers , V1, and at 23:55.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

By 04:00 on 1 June, the German fleet had evaded the British fleet and reached Horns Reef; the Germans then returned to port.Template:Sfn In the course of the battle, had suffered eight men killed and another 28 wounded. She had fired a total of 81 rounds of ammunition from her 10.5 cm guns.Template:Sfn

Subsequent operations

After the battle, was docked at the Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte & Maschinenfabrik shipyard in Hamburg for repairs that lasted from 7 to 22 June. She was then moved to the (Imperial Shipyard) in Wilhelmshaven for additional work from 6 to 19 July. By the time repairs to the ships of IV Scouting Group were completed in July, the unit consisted of , , , , , and . From 18 to 20 August, the ships participated in a fleet operation into the southern North Sea, which resulted in the action of 19 August. Reuter was transferred back to II Scouting Group on 11 September, and he was replaced by Karl Seiferling. Another fleet sortie took place on 18–20 October, as far as east of the Dogger Bank. During the operation, was torpedoed by a British submarine and had to be towed back to port by . evaded one torpedo but another hit the ship. The warhead failed to detonate, but the impact nevertheless dented the hull and tore some of the plating. On 3 December, was replaced as the group flagship by the cruiser .Template:Sfn

took part in a minelaying operation on 10 January 1917, which laid a defensive mine barrier between Helgoland and Norderney. For the rest of the year, the German fleet remained largely in port, and the cruisers of IV Scouting Group were largely confined to defensive patrols in the German Bight to protect the U-boat force as it departed from and returned to its bases in Germany. On 4 July, went to the Baltic for training exercises; she was also used as a target ship during shooting practice. This period lasted until 10 November. She was detached from IV Scouting Group in August, and on 10 September, she became the flagship of the Commander of the Defenses of the Western Baltic Sea, KAdm Hermann Nordmann. She replaced the pre-dreadnought in that role. departed for periodic maintenance in Wilhelmshaven on 8 December. By the time she returned to the Baltic on 17 February 1918, Nordmann's command had been merged with its counterpart for the central Baltic, and he became the Commander of the Defence of the Baltic, though he shifted his flag from to .Template:Sfn

At that time, was withdrawn from front line service and used as a training ship with the U-boat school. She was employed as a target ship for U-boat crews to practice torpedoing a moving target. There was some debate about converting the ship into a seaplane tender, as had been done to her sister ship earlier that year, but the discussion came to nothing. Instead, she served briefly as the flagship for the Commander of Minesweeping and Clearing Force from 10 June to 20 July, at which point she was replaced by the cruiser . thereafter returned to the U-boat school, where she remained until the end of the war in November. During this period, on 25 September, Kaiser Wilhelm II visited the ship.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

On 11 November, the Armistice with Germany went into effect, ending the fighting in World War I. Following Germany's defeat, was decommissioned in Wilhelmshaven on 19 or 20 December in Kiel.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn She was specified among the list of vessels to be surrendered to the Allied powers as a war prize under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.Template:Sfn She was accordingly stricken from the naval register on 5 November 1919. She left Germany in company with the cruiser and thirteen torpedo boats between 9 and 11 September 1920 and arrived in Rosyth, Great Britain, on 17 September,Template:Sfn where was surrendered to Great Britain under the transfer name "T". The terms of the Versailles treaty required that ex-German warships be dismantled or rendered unusable by specific dates; as the deadline for (16 March 1922) rapidly approached, she was sold to shipbreakers in Copenhagen and dismantled for scrap by 1923.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn