Königsberg class (1905)

*Koenigsberg* class
	The Szczecin
Ship data
country	German Empire
Ship type	Small cruiser
Construction period	1905 to 1907
Launch of the type ship	December 12, 1905
Units built	4th
period of service	1907 to 1919
Ship dimensions and crew
length	115.3 m ( Lüa ) 114.8 m ( KWL )
width	13.2 m
Draft	Max. 5.29 m
displacement	Construction: 3,390 t ; Maximum: 3,814 t
crew	322 men
Machine system
machine	11 Marine boiler; 2 3-cyl compound machine
Machine ; performance	13,918 hp (10,237 kW)
Top ; speed	24.1 kn (45 km / h)
propeller	2 four-leaf ⌀ 4.0 m
Armament
	10 × 10.5 cm SK L / 40 (1,500 shots); 10 × 5.2 cm SK L / 55 ; 2 × torpedo tube ⌀ 45 cm (in the sides, under water, 5 shots);
Armor
	Deck : 20-80 mm; Coam : 100 mm; Command tower: 20–100 mm; Shields: 50 mm;

The first Königsberg class was the immediate successor to the Bremen class . It was designed in 1903/04 and 1904/1905 and consisted of four small cruisers of the Imperial Navy . The ship names, German cities, followed the example of the Bremen class.

List of ships

Surname	Shipyard	Keel laying	Launch	Commissioning	Whereabouts
SMS Koenigsberg	Imperial shipyard , Kiel	-	Dec 12, 1905	April 6, 1907	self-sunk on July 11, 1915, in the Rufiji Delta
SMS Nuremberg	Imperial shipyard, Kiel	-	August 28, 1906	April 10, 1908	sunk on December 8, 1914, during the naval battle in the Falkland Islands
SMS Stuttgart	Imperial Shipyard , Danzig	-	September 22, 1906	February 1, 1908	Decommissioned on December 17, 1918, scrapped in 1920
SMS Szczecin	AG Vulcan , Szczecin	-	March 7, 1907	October 29, 1907	on 19./20. Decommissioned December 1918, scrapped 1921–1923

technology

This class of ship was still equipped with the classic ram bow . Although belonging to one class, there were clear differences among these ships. It was particularly noticeable that the aft chimney of the last three ships was detached (jokingly referred to as "detached" in marine jargon): it had a significantly greater distance to the middle than to the front chimney, which was due to the differently subdivided boiler system. This consisted of a total of 11 water tube boilers, which were installed in three boiler rooms at SMS Königsberg and five boiler rooms for the other ships. Three of the cruisers were equipped with two triple expansion engines; the Stettin had Parsons turbines .

Armament

All ships were equipped with ten 10.5 cm L / 40 rapid loading cannons and two 45 cm underwater torpedo tubes. While the type ship Königsberg had ten 3.7 cm automatic cannons, the three remaining units each had eight 5.2 cm L / 55 rapid-loading cannons.

modification

The Stuttgart was converted into an aircraft cruiser from February to May 1918 . The number of 10.5 cm guns was reduced to four. On the foredeck, instead of the two foremost two, two 8.8 cm L / 45 anti-aircraft guns were set up, while the entire rear half of the ship was taken up by the aircraft hangar and an open deck that was used to launch and bring the three seaplanes on board, so that the four rear gun positions were eliminated.

literature

Gerhard Koop / Klaus-Peter Schmolke: Small cruisers 1903–1918, Bremen to Cologne class . Volume 12 classes and types of ships in the German Navy. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7637-6252-3 .

Web links

Commons : Königsberg class - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

↑ Data apply to the type ship
^ After Hildebrand: Königsberg single ship, ordered as a Bremen class cruiser , then plan changed; Nuremberg class with Stuttgart and Stettin higher displacement and another 2 m longer.

[1] Data apply to the type ship

[2] After Hildebrand: Königsberg single ship, ordered as a Bremen class cruiser , then plan changed; Nuremberg class with Stuttgart and Stettin higher displacement and another 2 m longer.