SMS Elbing

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Elblag p1
Ship data
flag German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge) German Empire
Ship type Small cruiser
class Pillau class
Shipyard F. Schichau , Danzig
Build number 894
Keel laying May 21, 1913
Launch November 25, 1914
Commissioning September 4, 1915
Whereabouts Self-sunk on June 1, 1916
Ship dimensions and crew
length
135.3 m ( Lüa )
134.3 m ( KWL )
width 13.6 m
Draft Max. 5.98 m
displacement Construction: 4,390 t
Maximum: 5,252 t
 
crew 442 men
Machine system
machine 10 Yarrow boilers
2 steam turbines
Machine
performance
30,000 PS (22,065 kW)
Top
speed
27.5 kn (51 km / h)
propeller 2 three-winged ⌀ 3.5 m
Armament
Armor
  • Deck : 20-80 mm
  • Command tower: 50-75 mm
  • Shields: 50 mm

The SMS Elbing was a small cruiser of the Imperial Navy and the second ship in the Pillau class .

construction

The ship was built in 1913 under the name Admiral Nevelskoi for the Russian Imperial Navy in Schichau shipyard in Gdansk on keel laid. At the outbreak of the First World War the ship is still under construction was seized as enemy property and ran on 21 November 1914 as Elbing from the stack . The ship was named after the city of Elbing in East Prussia .

Due to technical problems with the equipment with its guns - instead of the originally planned Russian 13 cm cannons, German 15 cm guns were installed - the Elbing was not used for the first time until September 4, 1915.

Calls

On November 4, 1915, a torpedo boat rammed the cruiser, damaging the stern post . The test drives were completed on November 16. The Elbing was initially deployed in the Baltic Sea and joined the local association under Rear Admiral Albert Hopman on November 18 . On 5th / 6th In December 1915 she was involved in laying a mine barrier at the entrance to Irbenstrasse .

At the end of February 1916, the modern and well-armed Elbing was assigned to the reconnaissance forces in the North Sea in exchange for the Strasbourg . From March 3 to March 26, 1916, she was overhauled at the Danzig shipyard and arrived at Brunsbüttel on March 28 . On April 2, she and other warships took up a position in front of the Amrumbank Passage for several torpedo boat flotillas that were returning after an advance into British coastal waters. On 21/22 April she was involved in another advance that led to the west of the Amrumbank.

In her first battle she was in the bombardment of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth on 24/25. Involved April 1916 when she and the II Recon Group encountered three British cruisers and twelve destroyers. The battle was broken off by the enemy unit when the German battle cruisers intervened. On April 25, Elbing returned undamaged with the other ships to Wilhelmshaven .

The Skagerrak Battle

The Elbing and her sister ship Pillau belonged to the 2nd reconnaissance group under Rear Admiral Friedrich Boedicker , which was involved in the Battle of the Skagerrak on May 31, 1916 . The Elbing opened the battle and was able to score the first hit of the battle (albeit a dud ) on the British cruiser Galatea , despite the great distance . Around 7:00 p.m., the ships of the Second Reconnaissance Group unexpectedly hit the Grand Fleet . The Wiesbaden was shot incapacitated. The Elbing received medium hits. There were four dead and twelve wounded on board.

When the deep sea fleet marched back on the night of May 31st to June 1st, 1916, the Elbing ran in Kiellinie with the small cruisers Hamburg , Stuttgart and Rostock on the port side of the 1st Squadron. When suddenly British destroyers attacked, the cruisers turned to starboard to avoid the torpedoes approaching them and to withdraw from the night battle through the line of their own battle fleet. This resulted in a collision between the Elbing and the Posen large liner , which led to a devastating water ingress into the boiler rooms on the Elbing . Their machines were damaged, the vapor pressure fell rapidly, and the ship quickly got strong impact side . All attempts to save the cruiser failed. Therefore the commandant ordered frigate captain Madlung to blow up the ship. After the crew had been taken over by the torpedo boat S 53 , the Elbing was sunk by explosive charges on the morning of June 1 at 3:00 a.m.

literature

  • Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 1: Armored ships, ships of the line, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, gunboats. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 .
  • Hans H. Hildebrandt, Albert Röhr and Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Volume 2, Koehler, Herford 1985, ISBN 3-7822-0287-2 .
  • Robert Gardiner: Conway's All the world's fighting ships 1906-1921. Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .