SMS Prince Bismarck
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SMS Fürst Bismarck was an armored cruiser ( Großer Kreuzer ) of the Imperial Navy . Her name was chosen in honor of the Imperial Chancellor and Prince Otto von Bismarck . She was a single ship and her commissioning took place on April 1, 1900 (Otto von Bismarck's 85th birthday).
history
The Fürst Bismarck was the first armored cruiser of the Imperial Navy and was classified as "Cruiser I. Class" at the start of construction, while the larger cruiser SMS Kaiserin Augusta and the five units of the Victoria-Louise class were classified as "Cruiser II. Class" were. With the subsequent SMS Prinz Heinrich , the new type designation of the "Great Cruiser" was introduced from the Fleet Act and also retroactively transferred to the already existing ships.
The Fürst Bismarck was built at the Imperial Shipyard in Kiel . The launch of the 127 meter long, 20.4 m wide, 7.8 m deep and 11,461 ton heavy ship was on September 25, 1897, the commissioning on April 1, 1900. The ship reached a maximum speed of 18.7 kn.
Flagship of the cruiser squadron
The Fürst Bismarck left for East Asia on June 30, 1900 and arrived in Tsingtau on August 13 with the transporters Frankfurt and Wittekind , which brought the first reinforcements of the marine infantry to East Asia. She then ran on into the Yellow Sea to the units of the East Asian cruiser squadron and from August 17, 1900 was the flagship of the association commanded by Vice Admiral Felix von Bendemann . Because of the Boxer Rebellion, he was involved in a variety of international tasks, especially since the murder of the German envoy Clemens von Ketteler gave the Germans special weight. The bulk of the international forces were in front of Tientsin , from where international troops advanced to relieve the Legation Quarter in Beijing.
The German Reich sent considerable troop contingents and, with Count Waldersee, also provided the commander-in-chief of the Second International Expeditionary Corps and pulled together a large number of ships off China. Among other things, it dispatched the four ships of the line of the Brandenburg class , but they no longer actively intervened in the fighting. At the end of 1900, the squadron had three large cruisers, seven small cruisers, four ships of the line, four gunboats and four torpedo boats, a total of 23 units, in addition to the flagship.
On February 15, 1902, Vice Admiral Richard von Geissler , who had commanded the battleship division in 1900/1901, took over the East Asian cruiser squadron. In 1903 he visited the Japanese Emperor Mutsuhito and in August the Russian Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok . On November 15, 1903, Rear Admiral (from 1904: Vice Admiral) Curt von Prittwitz and Gaffron took over command, during which the Russo-Japanese War fell. When he took command, in addition to the flagship, there were two large cruisers, five small cruisers (only one modern), four gunboats and two torpedo boats - a total of 14 units. From April 1904, his chief of staff was Wilhelm Souchon , who later became chief of the Mediterranean division . In August 1905 the large floating dock in Tsingtau was completed, which now made it possible to carry out all repairs on site. The Prince Bismarck , which was dependent on repairs so far in Hong Kong or Nagasaki was subjected there to October a basic repair. On November 11, 1905, Rear Admiral, then Vice Admiral Alfred Breusing took over command of the squadron in Shanghai , which carried out a longer cruise through the Dutch East Indies with his flagship in early 1906 and then allowed the crews a break in Hong Kong. On May 13, 1907 Rear Admiral , then Vice Admiral Carl von Coerper, as the last admiral on the Fürst Bismarck, took command of the East Asian cruiser squadron, which owned the small cruisers Leipzig , Niobe and soon also Arcona , four gunboats, three river gunboats and two torpedo boats so that it had reached its planned strength again.
Subordinate ships
- Large cruiser SMS Hertha ; April 11, 1899 to East Asia, February to August 1900 flagship of the squadron, order to travel home on December 31, 1904, broken up in 1920
- Large cruiser SMS Hansa ; August 16, 1899 to East Asia, July 4, 1906 order to return home, broken up in 1920
- Large cruiser SMS Kaiserin Augusta ; Ordered 8 November 1897 from Smyrna to East Asia, started 6 March 1902 homeward journey with S 91 and S 92 , wrecked in 1920
- Small cruiser SMS Irene ; 17 November 1894 to East Asia, 27 June 1901 started home with the Gefion , from 1913 Wohnhulk and broken up in 1921.
- Small cruiser SMS Gefion ; December 16, 1897 to East Asia, travel home on June 27, 1901, broken up in 1923
- Gunboat SMS Iltis ; February 6, 1899 to East Asia, 1914 scuttled in the port of Kiautschou
- Gunboat SMS Jaguar ; June 1, 1899 to East Asia, 1914 scuttled in the port of Kiautschou
- Gunboat SMS Tiger ; June 17, 1900 to East Asia, 1914 self-sinking in the port of Kiautschou
- Gunboat SMS Luchs ; July 7, 1900 to East Asia, 1914 scuttled in the port of Kiautschou
- Ship of the line SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm ; Flagship of the liner division (dispatched July 11, 1900, start of the march back on June 1, 1901), sold to Turkey in 1910 and sunk in 1915
- Ship of the line SMS Weißenburg ; Liner division, sold to Turkey in 1910 and broken up in 1952
- Ship of the line SMS Wörth ; Liner division, scrapped in 1919
- Liner SMS Brandenburg ; Liner division, scrapped in 1919
- Small cruiser SMS Hela ; sunk near Heligoland in 1914 as an advisory service to the liner division
- Small cruiser SMS Schwalbe ; Ordered from East Africa to China on July 5, 1900, journey home on August 16, 1902, broken up in 1922.
- Small cruiser SMS Bussard ; Ordered to China on July 10, 1900 instead of East Africa, on April 26, 1904, still to drive to the East Africa station, broken up in 1913
- Small cruiser SMS Geier ; Ordered from Acapulco to China on July 9, 1900 , journeyed home on January 14, 1905, interned in Hawaii from 1914 and sunk in 1918 after a collision
- Small cruiser SMS Seeadler ; Ordered July 1900 for South Sea Station to China, 28 June 1905 clearance for South Sea Station, continued to East Africa due to unrest, served as a mine hulk from 1914 and was destroyed by an explosion in 1917.
- Hospital ship Gera , from July 26th 1900 to May 24th 1901 she served the East Asian Expeditionary Corps. On her departure (reached Shanghai on October 6th) she was accompanied by torpedo boats S 90 , S 91 and S 92 .
- Torpedo boat S 90 , sunk on October 17, 1914 after the sinking of the Japanese cruiser Takachiho near Tsingtau
- Torpedo boat S 91 , March 6, 1902 trip home with Empress Augusta and S 92 competed
- Torpedo boat S 92 , March 6, 1902 journey home with S 91 and Empress Augusta started
- Torpedo boat destroyer SMS Taku , captured by China in 1900 , decommissioned in 1913
- Steam launch SMS Schamien ; October 1900 in service on Pearl River, sold February 1904
- River gunboat SMS Vorwärts ; March 1901 in service on Yangtze, sold June 1910
- Small cruiser SMS Thetis ; December 1, 1901 to East Asia, journey home via East Africa on August 28, 1905 , sold for demolition in 1929
- Small cruiser SMS Sperber ; Commanded from East Africa to East Asia on October 9, 1903, commanded to West Africa on April 25, 1905, deleted in 1912, demolished in 1920
- River gunboat SMS Tsingtau ; In service on Pearl River in February 1904, launched in 1914, submerged in 1917
- River gunboat SMS Vaterland ; May 1904 in service on the Yangtze, launched in 1914, confiscated in 1917
- Small cruiser SMS Niobe ; July 9, 1906 to East Asia, journey home on January 31, 1909, sold to Yugoslavia in 1926 , destroyed in 1943
- Small cruiser SMS Leipzig ; 8 September 1906 to East Asia, 8 December 1914 sunk in a naval battle near the Falkland Islands
- Small cruiser SMS Arcona ; August 27, 1907 in East Asia, started home travel March 24, 1910, canceled in 1930, anti-aircraft battery during the war
On April 8, 1909, the armored cruiser Fürst Bismarck started the journey home and was replaced as the flagship of the East Asian cruiser squadron by the great cruiser (armored cruiser) SMS Scharnhorst on April 29, 1909 in Colombo , on which Rear Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl had embarked, who followed the squadron Coerper's departure takes over.
The squadron chief was with the Leipzig and other ships off Samoa and started his journey home from Suva .
Back home
The Fürst Bismarck was decommissioned in June 1909 and converted into a torpedo training ship from 1910 .
On November 28, 1914, she was briefly activated for coastal protection, but then mostly served as a training ship. In September 1916 the armament was completely removed and decommissioned on December 31, 1918. After brief use as an office ship, it was canceled in June 1919, sold and scrapped in Rendsburg in 1920.
Commanders
| April 1, 1900 to November 1901 | Captain Heinrich Graf von Moltke |
| November 1901 to December 1903 | Sea captain Carl Friedrich |
| December 2, 1903 to November 14, 1905 | Frigate captain / sea captain Max Prowe |
| November 1905 to November 1907 | Frigate captain / sea captain Max Wilken |
| November 1907 to June 26, 1909 | Frigate captain / sea captain Otto Wurmbach |
| November 28, 1914 to April 1915 | Sea captain Ferdinand Bertram |
| April 1915 to November 1916 | Corvette Captain Eduard Bartels |
| November 1916 to September 1917 | Corvette Captain Gustav Blockhuis |
| September 1917 to December 1918 | Corvette Captain Wilhelm Hollmann |
literature
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 1 : Armored ships, ships of the line, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, gunboats . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 , p. 75 f .
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 3 : Ship biographies from the Elbe to Graudenz . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 164–174 (Approved licensed edition by Koehler's Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg, approx. 1990).
