List of cruisers of Germany

Hansa, of the Victoria Louise class

Starting in the mid-1880s, the German Navy began to modernize its cruising force, which at that time relied on a mixed collection of sail and steam frigates and corvettes. General Leo von Caprivi, then the Chief of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), ordered several new warships, including two Irene-class cruisers laid down in 1886, the first protected cruisers to be built in Germany.[2] Design work on their successor, Kaiserin Augusta, began the following year, though she was not laid down until 1890. Five more ships of the Victoria Louise class followed in the mid-1890s. These ships, the last protected cruisers built in Germany, provided the basis for the armored cruisers that were built starting at the end of the decade.[3] All of these ships were intended to serve both as fleet scouts and overseas cruisers, since Germany's limited naval budget prevented development of ships optimized for each task.[4]

Most of the German protected cruisers served on overseas stations throughout their careers, primarily in the East Asia Squadron in the 1890s and 1900s. Prinzess Wilhelm participated in the seizure of the Kiautschou Bay concession in November 1897, which was used as the primary base for the East Asia Squadron.[5] Kaiserin Augusta, Hertha, and Hansa assisted in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900,[6] and Vineta saw action during the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–03, where she bombarded several Venezuelan fortresses.[7] Irene, Prinzess Wilhelm, and Kaiserin Augusta were relegated to secondary duties in the 1910s, while the Victoria Louise class was used to train naval cadets in the 1900s. All eight ships were broken up for scrap in the early 1920s.[8]

1902 lithograph of SMS Gefion

At the same time that Caprivi began ordering new protected cruisers, he also authorized the construction of smaller unprotected cruisers for use in Germany's overseas colonies. The first of these, the Schwalbe class, were laid down in 1886 and 1887.[2] A further six vessels of the Bussard class, which were improved versions that were larger and faster than their predecessors, followed over the next five years.[15] A final, much larger vessel, Gefion, was laid down in 1892; her design was based on contemporary protected cruisers like Kaiserin Augusta. She represented another attempt to merge the colonial cruiser and fleet scout, which was unsuccessful.[16] As a result, the German naval designers began work on the Gazelle class, which provided the basis for all future German light cruisers.[17][18]

All nine cruisers served extensively in Germany's colonies, particularly in Africa and Asia. They participated in the suppression of numerous rebellions, including the Abushiri Revolt in German East Africa in 1889–1890,[19] the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900–1901,[19] and the Sokehs Rebellion in the Caroline Islands in 1911.[20] Most of the ships had been recalled to Germany and decommissioned by the early 1910s, having been replaced by the newer light cruisers. Bussard and Falke were scrapped in 1912, but the rest continued on in secondary roles. Of the remaining seven ships, only Cormoran and Geier remained abroad at the start of World War I in August 1914. Cormoran was stationed in Tsingtao, but her engines were worn out, so she was scuttled to prevent her capture.[21] Geier briefly operated against British shipping in the Pacific before running low on coal. She put into Hawaii, where she was interned by the US Navy. After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, she was seized and commissioned into American service as USS Schurz, though she was accidentally sunk in a collision in June 1918.[22] Seeadler, employed as a mine storage hulk in Wilhelmshaven during the war, was destroyed by an accidental explosion in 1917. Condor, Schwalbe, and Sperber were all broken up for scrap in the early 1920s, while Gefion was briefly used as a freighter, before she too was scrapped, in 1923.[23]

A lithograph of Fürst Bismarck, Germany's first armored cruiser

The first armored cruiser, Fürst Bismarck, was ordered shortly after the Victoria Louise class of protected cruisers. Fürst Bismarck was an improved version of the earlier type, with heavier armament, more extensive armor protection, and a significantly greater size.[29] A further seven units, divided between four different designs, followed over the next ten years; each design provided incremental improvements over earlier vessels.[30] A ninth armored cruiser, Blücher, was a much larger vessel representing an intermediate step between armored cruisers and battlecruisers. Indeed, her design had been influenced by the misinformation Britain had released about its Invincible-class battlecruisers, which were then under construction. Once the characteristics of the new ships were revealed, Germany began building battlecruisers in response.[31]

Germany's armored cruisers served in a variety of roles, including overseas as flagships of the East Asia Squadron,[32][33] and in the fleet reconnaissance forces. All of them, save Fürst Bismarck, saw action during World War I in a variety of theaters. Blücher served with the battlecruisers in the I Scouting Group and was sunk at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915,[34] and the two Scharnhorst-class cruisers formed the core of Maximilian von Spee's squadron that defeated the British at the Battle of Coronel in November 1914 before being annihilated at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.[35] Yorck was accidentally sunk by a German mine in November 1914 outside Wilhelmshaven,[36] and the two Prinz Adalbert-class cruisers were sunk in the Baltic Sea.[37] Only Prinz Heinrich and Roon survived the war; both were scrapped in the early 1920s.[38]

A lithograph of SMS Gazelle, the first modern light cruiser built by Germany

Starting in the late 1890s, the Kaiserliche Marine began developing modern light cruisers, based on experience with the unprotected cruisers and a series of avisos it had built over the preceding decade.[48] The ten-ship Gazelle class set the basic pattern, which was gradually improved over successive classes.[18] The Pillau class introduced more powerful, 15-centimeter (5.9 in) main guns, and the Magdeburg class added a waterline main belt to improve armor protection.[49] Between 1897 and the end of World War I, the German Navy completed forty-seven light cruisers; all of these ships saw service during the war in a variety of theaters and roles. Some, such as Emden and Königsberg, served as commerce raiders,[50][51] while others, such as the two Wiesbaden-class cruisers, served with the High Seas Fleet and saw action at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.[52] Several fleet cruiser design studies were prepared in 1916, but no work was begun before the war ended in November 1918.[53]

Following the war, the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to cede all of its most modern light cruisers; only eight Gazelle and Bremen-class cruisers were permitted under the terms of the treaty.[54] These ships could be replaced after twenty years from the time they were launched, and the first new vessel, Emden, was laid down in 1921. Five more ships of the Königsberg and Leipzig classes were built between 1926 and 1935.[55] These six cruisers all saw combat during World War II; two, Königsberg and Karlsruhe, were sunk during the invasion of Norway in April 1940.[56] Emden and Köln were destroyed by Allied bombers in the closing months of the war, and Leipzig was discarded after being badly damaged in a collision with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. This left Nürnberg as the only vessel of the type to survive the war. She was seized by the Soviet Union as a war prize and continued in Soviet service until she was scrapped in 1960.[55]

Blücher on sea trials

In addition to restricting the number of light cruisers Germany could possess, the Treaty of Versailles also limited the capital ship strength of the new Reichsmarine to six old pre-dreadnought battleships and placed restrictions on the size of replacement ships, with the intent of prohibiting ships more powerful than coastal defense ships from being built.[96] The Reichsmarine responded by designing the Deutschland class; these heavy cruisers armed with 28 cm (11 in) guns were intended to break the naval clauses of Versailles by significantly outgunning the new treaty cruisers being built by Britain and France under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, which were limited to 20.3 cm (8.0 in) guns. If Britain and France agreed to abrogate the naval clauses of the Versailles treaty, Germany would abandon the new cruisers. France rejected the proposal, and so the three Deutschlands were built,[97] and a further two of the D-class were planned, though these were cancelled in favor of a larger derivative, the Scharnhorst class of fast battleships. When Germany signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in 1935, the Reichsmarine was permitted to build five new heavy cruisers—the Admiral Hipper class. Plan Z, approved in early 1939, projected a dozen P-class cruisers based on the Deutschland design.[98]

Owing to the outbreak of World War II, only three of the Admiral Hippers were completed and the P-class ships were cancelled.[98] Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled following the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939, and Blücher was sunk during the invasion of Norway. Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper were destroyed by Allied bombers in the last month of the war. In 1942 the Kriegsmarine decided to convert the Admiral Hipper-class cruiser Seydlitz into an aircraft carrier, though the project was not completed.[99] Deutschland, renamed Lützow, and Prinz Eugen both survived the war; the former was sunk in Soviet weapons tests in 1947 and the latter sank after enduring two nuclear detonations in Operation Crossroads in 1946.[100][101] The two unfinished Admiral Hippers, Seydlitz and Lützow, were scrapped in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s; the former was a war prize but the latter had been sold to the Soviets before the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.[101]

• List of battleships of Germany
• List of battlecruisers of Germany
• List of ironclad warships of Germany

Footnotes

Citations

• Bidlingmaier, Gerhard (1971). "KM Admiral Graf Spee". Warship Profile 4. Windsor: Profile Publications. pp. 73–96. OCLC 20229321.
• Forstmeier, Friedrich (1972). "SMS Emden, Small Protected Cruiser 1906–1914". In Preston, Antony (ed.). Warship Profile 25. Windsor: Profile Publications. pp. 1–24. OCLC 33083971.
• Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-8317-0302-8.
• Gardiner, Robert & Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922–1946. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-913-9.
• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
• Gottschall, Terrell D. (2003). By Order of the Kaiser: Otto von Diedrichs and the Rise of the Imperial German Navy 1865–1902. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-309-1.
• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
• Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7.
• Herwig, Holger (1980). "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Amherst: Humanity Books. ISBN 1-57392-286-2.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe. 2. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8364-9743-5.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe. 3. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 3-7822-0211-2.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe. 5. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ASIN B003VHSRKE.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe. 7. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ASIN B003VHSRKE.
• Mitchell, Nancy (1999). The Danger of Dreams: German and American Imperialism in Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-4775-6.
• Novik, Anton (1969). "The Story of the Cruisers Brummer and Bremse". Warship International. Toledo: International Naval Research Organization. 3: 185–189. OCLC 1647131.
• Perry, Michael (2001). Peking 1900: The Boxer Rebellion. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-181-7.
• Prager, Hans Georg (2002). Panzerschiff Deutschland, Schwerer Kreuzer Lützow: ein Schiffs-Schicksal vor den Hintergründen seiner Zeit (in German). Hamburg: Koehler. ISBN 978-3-7822-0798-0.
• Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.
• Staff, Gary (2006). German Battlecruisers: 1914–1918. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84603-009-3.
• Tarrant, V. E. (2001) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-304-35848-9.
• Williamson, Gordon (2003). German Heavy Cruisers 1939–1945. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-502-0.
• Williamson, Gordon (2003). German Light Cruisers 1939–1945. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-503-1.