Graudenz-class cruiser

The class of light cruisers was a class of two ships built for the Imperial German Navy. The class comprised and . The ships both were laid down in 1912, launched in October 1913 and April 1914 and commissioned in August 1914 and January 1915, respectively. They were armed with a main battery of twelve guns, though over the course of their careers, they were rearmed with seven more powerful guns. They displaced at full load and were rated at a top speed of

Both ships saw extensive service during World War I, primarily in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet. They participated in several raids on the British coast, screening for the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group. saw heavy combat at the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of the war; had been damaged by a mine and was in dock for repairs at the time of the battle. Both were involved in the Wilhelmshaven mutiny at the end of the war. Following Germany's defeat, was ceded to Italy and served as until 1937, when she was sold for scrap. was transferred to France, where she served as until 1936, when she was converted into a barracks ship. She was ultimately scuttled in Lorient to protect the German U-boat pens there.

Design

General characteristics and machinery

The ships of the class were long at the waterline and long overall. They had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft. They displaced as designed and at full load. The ships' hulls were constructed with longitudinal steel frames and contained seventeen watertight compartments and a double bottom that extended for forty-seven percent of the length of the keel.

The two vessels each had a standard crew of twenty-one officers and 364 enlisted men. While serving as a second command flagship or a flotilla leader, they had an additional three officers and fourteen enlisted men for the commander's staff. They carried a number of smaller boats, including one picket boat, one barge, one cutter, two yawls, and two dinghies. The German Navy regarded the ships as good sea boats, with slight weather helm and gentle motion in a swell. The cruisers were maneuverable, but were slow going into a turn. Steering was controlled by a single large rudder. They lost speed only slightly in a head sea, but lost up to sixty percent in hard turns. They had a transverse metacentric height of .

The ships' propulsion system consisted of two sets of Marine-type steam turbines, each of which drove a three-bladed screw in diameter. Each turbine was divided into its own engine room. They were designed to give . These were powered by ten coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers and two oil-fired double-ended boilers, divided into four boiler rooms on the centerline. These gave the ship a top speed of . The ships carried of coal, and an additional of fuel oil that gave them a range of approximately at . At , the range fell considerably, to . Each ship had two turbo generators and one diesel generator with a combined output of at 220 Volts.

Armament and armor

The ships were 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 replaced with seven SK L/45 guns and two SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns in 1916 for and 1917 for . They were also equipped with a pair of torpedo tubes with five torpedoes; the tubes were submerged in the hull on the broadside. Two deck-mounted launchers were added for when the gun armament was upgraded; had her submerged tubes removed and four deck mounted launchers installed. Both ships could also carry 120 mines.

The ships were protected by a waterline armored belt that was thick amidships and thick on the bow. The stern was unarmored. The deck was covered with up to 60 mm thick armor plate forward, thick amidships, and thick aft. Sloped armor 40 mm thick connected the deck and belt armor. The conning tower had thick sides and a 20 mm thick roof. A rangefinder was added with thick steel plating. The main battery guns had thick gun shields.

Service history

''Graudenz''

saw extensive service during World War I, including serving as part of the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruisers of 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.

''Regensburg''

served in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet during World War I. She saw significant action at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where she served as the leader of the torpedo boat flotillas that screened for the I Scouting Group battlecruisers. Like , was to have participated in the final sortie of the German fleet at the end of the war, and was involved in the mutiny that forced the cancellation of the plan. After the end of the war, she was ceded to France in 1920 and renamed . In 1928 she took part in the Arctic rescue operations searching for the Airship Italia.''The Daily News Almanac and Political Register'', p. 443 Removed from service in 1936, she was used as a barracks ship in Lorient until 1944, when she was seized by the Germans and scuttled in the harbor to protect the U-boat pens there.

Footnotes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Graudenz
Cruiser classes

World War I cruisers of Germany
Ship classes of the French Navy