SMS Konigsberg (1915)

SMS Konigsberg (1915) History

SMS Konigsberg was the lead ship of the Konigsberg class of light cruisers built for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. It was named after the former Konigsberg, which was destroyed in the Battle of Rufiji Delta in 1915. The new ship was laid at the AG Weser shipyard in 1914, launched in December 1915, and commissioned with the High Seas Fleet in August 1916.

The ship is armed with eight 15 cm SK L/45 guns and has a top speed of 27.5 kn (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph).

Koenigsberg worked with II Scouting Group; in September 1917 she took part in Operation Albion, a large amphibious operation against the Baltic Islands in the Gulf of Riga. Two months later, she was attacked by British battlecruisers during the Second Battle of Heligoland Bay. She was hit by the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, causing fire and significantly reducing her speed. However, she took cover under the cover of two German battleships. In the final days of the war, she was to take part in a sortie of the entire High Seas Fleet against the British Grand Fleet, but civil unrest broke out, forcing the plan to be cancelled.

The ship brought Rear Admiral Hugo Meurer to Scapa Flow to negotiate plans to detain the High Seas Fleet. However, Koenigsberg was not interned, so she escaped being sunk by the German fleet and was instead ceded to France as a booty.

Renamed Metz, she served in the French Navy until 1933 before being scrapped in 1936.

Specification

BASICS

Years of Service

1915

Origins

German Empire

Status

stop service

Destroyed, scrapped.

supplement

475

staff

Class information

Class

Konigsberg class

Class Size

4

ships

Class

SMS Konigsberg; SMS Karlsruhe; SMS Emden; SMS Nuremberg

Carrier

German Empire; France

Characters

Sea Bombing

Maritime bombardment/attack of surface targets/areas primarily through ship-based ballistic weapons.

Land Assault

Littoral attacks against surface targets primarily through ship-based missiles/missile weapons.

Sea Patrol

Active patrolling of critical waterways and sea areas; also serves as a local deterrent against air and maritime threats.

Airspace Denial/Deterrence

Neutralization or deterrence of flying elements by airborne missile weapon ballistics.

Fleet Support

Provide support (fire or materiel) to major surface fleets in blue water environments.

Dimensions and Weight

Length

497. 0 feet

151.49m

Ray

47. 0 feet

14.33m

Draft

19.5 feet

5.94m

Shift

6,500 t

Power and Performance

Installed Power:

Boiler with steam turbine producing 31,000 hp on 2 shafts.

Surface Velocity

section 27.5

(51.6 km/h)

Area

4,849nm

(5,580 miles | 8,980 kilometers)

Weapons

8 x 150 mm SK L/45 guns. 3 x 88 mm SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns (AA). 4 x 500mm (20") torpedo tubes.

Aircraft

None.