Description[]
These seven cruisers were improved versions of the Gazelle class, optimized for greater speed. To accommodate more boilers, a third stack was added. Entering service from 1904 to 1907, these ships started the tradition of naming cruisers after cities in the German Navy and were, as their predecessors, used for various duties. One of them, SMS Lübeck, served as test bed for the new turbine engines. Although not being very modern, they were used intensely during the war, and several ships were lost. The most famous was, without doubt, SMS Leipzig, which sailed with Graf von Spee's Ostasiengeschwader, triumphed with it at Coronel and found an untimely end at the Battle of the Falklands. Some of the others, Bremen and Lübeck, were also equipped with two 15cm guns.
Ship data
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Relative combat value: 542
Basic damage control capacity: 73%
Dimensions
Displacement: 3756 tons
Length: 111 m
Width: 13 m
Draught: 5 m
Standard crew: 288
Performance
Maximum speed (undamaged): 23 knots
Endurance: 8691 km
Coal capacity: 620 tons
Armour protection
Conning tower armour: 4
Hull armour: 0
Main belt armour: 8 (includes backing slope of deck armour)
Deck armour: 4 (sloped at edges to provide additional belt level protection)
Best armour type: Krupp
Armament
10 x 10,5cm SK L/40, centrally controlled. Ammo: 1500 rounds
10 x 3,7cm Maxims, centrally controlled. Ammo: 6000 rounds
2 x 45cm C/03 D Torpedoes, centrally controlled. Ammo: 4 torpedoes
Ships in class[]
- Bremen (†, lost in December 1915 due to mine hit)
- Berlin
- Danzig
- Hamburg
- Leipzig (†, lost in the Battle of the Falkland Islands)
- München
- Lübeck