Kaiserliche Marine armoured Cruisers: SMS Fürst Bismarck, SMS Prinz Heinrich, SMS Prinz Adalbert, SMS Friedrich Carl, SMS Roon, SMS Yorck, SMS Scharnhorst, SMS Gneisenau, SMS Blücher
The first armoured 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. A further seven units, divided between four different designs, followed over the next ten years; each design provided incremental improvements over earlier vessels. 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.
Germany’s armored cruisers served in a variety of roles, including overseas as flagships of the East Asia Squadron, and in the fleet reconnaissance forces. All of them, save Fürst Bismarck, saw action during the First World War 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, 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, and the two Prinz Adalbert-class cruisers were sunk in the Baltic Sea. Only Prinz Heinrich and Roon survived the war; both were scrapped in the early 1920s. (Wikipedia)
SMS Fürst Bismarck
(Library of Congress Photo)
SMS Fürst Bismarck (Prince Bismarck) was Germany’s first armoured cruiser, built for the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the late 1890s. Ordered in response to widespread foreign adoption of the ship type, the Germans built Fürst Bismarck to serve abroad in the German colonial empire and as a scout for the main fleet in home waters. The ship’s design emerged from a failed 1890s design competition that was heavily influenced by the new emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Though that failed to produce a workable design, further efforts resulted in the development of Fürst Bismarck, which was in many respects a cruiser version of the contemporary Kaiser Friedrich III class of battleships. Fürst Bismarck carried the same main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) guns as the battleships, but was faster due to a longer, lighter hull and more powerful engines.
The Germans worked to finish construction on the ship as early as possible after the outbreak of the 1899 Boxer Uprising in China; Fürst Bismarck arrived there in late 1900, becoming the flagship of the East Asia Squadron. Most of the initial fighting had taken place by the time the ship arrived, but she participated in a blockade of the Yangtze as part of the campaign to defeat the Boxers. From 1901 to 1909, Fürst Bismarck remained on station as the squadron flagship; most of her time was spent on routine patrols in the region, training exercises with other ships of the squadron, and visits to foreign ports. In 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War, a pair of damaged Russian warships sheltered at the German naval base at Qingdao, so Fürst Bismarck and other units of the squadron had to intern them for the rest of the conflict.
By 1909, Fürst Bismarck was in poor condition and needed to return home for extensive repairs. She was recalled in April 1909, and the new armored cruiser Scharnhorst was sent to relieve her. After arriving in Germany, Fürst Bismarck was drydocked in 1910 for repairs and a modernization that lasted into late 1914, by which time World War I had started. The ship thereafter served as a training vessel, as she was no longer suitable to serve in a combat capacity. Over the course of 1915 and 1916, she was disarmed before returning to training duties. Following Germany’s defeat in late 1918, Fürst Bismarck was struck from the naval register in June 1919 and shortly thereafter sold to ship breakers. Demolition was completed the following year. (Wikipedia)
(Kaiserliche Marine Photo)
SMS Fürst Bismarck passing under the Levensau High Bridge after returning from the East Asia Squadron on 13 June 1909.
SMS Prinz Heinrich
(Kaiserliche Marine Photo)
SMS Prinz Heinrich was a unique German armored cruiser built at the turn of the 20th century for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), and was named after Prince Heinrich. The second vessel of that type built in Germany, Prinz Heinrich was constructed at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel, being laid down in December 1898, launched in March 1900, and commissioned in March 1902. Prinz Heinrich’s design was a modification of the previous armored cruiser, Fürst Bismarck, and traded a smaller main battery and thinner (but more effective) armor for higher speed. All subsequent German armored cruisers were incremental developments of Prinz Heinrich.
Prinz Heinrich served with the German fleet in home waters for just four years, from 1902 to 1906, when she was withdrawn from front-line service. During this period, she served as the flagship of the fleet’s Scouting Forces, and she was primarily occupied with fleet training. The ship was out of service from early 1906 to mid-1908, when she was reactivated for use as a gunnery training ship, a role she filled until late 1912. Prinz Heinrich underwent modernization and conversion into a dedicated training ship in 1914, and the work was completed just before the outbreak of the First World War in July that year.
After the start of war, the ship was reactivated for active service, initially with III Scouting Group with the High Seas Fleet. Prinz Heinrich was used for coastal defense in the North Sea and she participated in the fleet sortie that supported the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914. After the naval command determined Prinz Heinrich was too old to serve in the North Sea against the powerful British Royal Navy, she was transferred to the Baltic Sea in early 1915. She supported offensive minelaying operations and patrolled the central Baltic for Russian forces, but never encountered any. She provided gunfire support during the attack on Libau in May 1915 and again shelled Russian positions during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August. In the face of severe crew shortages in late 1915, Prinz Heinrich had her crew reduced and was ultimately decommissioned and disarmed in March 1916. She thereafter served in a variety of secondary roles for the rest of the war, before being sold to be broken up in 1920. (Wikipedia)
(Arthur Renard Photo)
SMS Prinz Heinrich, 1902.
(Kaiserliche Marine Photo)
SMS Prinz Heinrich in the Kiel Canal.
SMS Prinz Adalbert
SMS Friedrich Carl
SMS Roon
SMS Yorck
SMS Scharnhorst
SMS Gneisenau
SMS Blücher