SMS Frankfurt
SMS Frankfurt as a target ship
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | Frankfurt |
Namesake | Frankfurt |
Builder | Kaiserliche Werft, Kiel |
Laid down | 1913 |
Launched | 20 March 1915 |
Commissioned | 20 August 1915 |
Fate | Ceded to the United States after World War I |
United States | |
Name | USS Frankfurt |
Acquired | 11 March 1920 |
Commissioned | 4 June 1920 |
Fate | Sunk as a target, 18 July 1921 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Wiesbaden-class light cruiser |
Displacement |
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Length | 145.3 m (477 ft) |
Beam | 13.9 m (46 ft) |
Draft | 5.76 m (18.9 ft) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h) |
Range | 4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Crew |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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SMS Frankfurt was a
Frankfurt saw extensive action with the
Design
Frankfurt was 145.3 meters (477 ft)
The ship was armed with a
Service history
Frankfurt was ordered under the contract name "
Battle of Jutland
At the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, Frankfurt served as Boedicker's flagship, the commander of II Scouting Group. II Scouting Group was again screening for the I Scouting Group battlecruisers, again commanded by Vizeadmiral Franz von Hipper. Frankfurt was engaged in the first action of the battle, when the cruiser screens of the German and British battlecruiser squadrons encountered each other. Frankfurt, Pillau, and Elbing briefly fired on the British light cruisers at 16:17 until the British ships turned away. Half an hour later, the fast battleships of the 5th Battle Squadron had reached the scene and opened fire on Frankfurt and the other German cruisers, though the ships quickly fled under a smokescreen and were not hit.[6]
Shortly before 18:00, the British
Frankfurt and Pillau spotted the cruiser
Subsequent operations
The ship participated in Operation Albion in October 1917, an operation to eliminate the Russian naval forces that still held the Gulf of Riga. The ship was part of II Scouting Group, commanded by Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter.[13] The following month, Frankfurt and the rest of II Scouting Group were engaged during the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. Along with three other cruisers from II Scouting Group, Königsberg escorted minesweepers clearing paths in minefields laid by the British. The dreadnought battleships Kaiser and Kaiserin stood by in distant support.[14] During the battle, Frankfurt fired torpedoes at the attacking British cruisers, but failed to score any hits.[15] The British broke off the attack when the German battleships arrived on the scene, after which the Germans also withdrew.[16]
At 19:08 on 21 October 1918,[17] Frankfurt accidentally rammed and sank the U-boat UB-89 in Kiel-Holtenau, killing seven of her crew. Twenty-seven survivors were pulled from the water.[18] UB-89 was raised by the salvage tug Cyclop on 30 October but with the war almost over, she was not repaired and did not see further service.[17][19]
In the final weeks of the war, Scheer and Hipper intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to secure a better bargaining position for Germany, whatever the cost to the fleet. On the morning of 29 October 1918, the
Fate
The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the
She was formally taken over on 11 March 1920 in England and commissioned into the US Navy on 4 June.
In July 1921, the
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Ostfriesland, Frankfurt, and other captured German ships off the Virginia Capes, July 1921
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Aerial photo of Frankfurt moored during the test, with white targets painted on her deck
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Beginning of bombing by aU.S. Navy Felixstowe F.5 photographed by the airship Roma
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Frankfurt burning during bombing tests
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Frankfurt sinks
Footnotes
- ^ Gröner, p. 111.
- ^ a b Gröner, pp. 111–112.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 162.
- ^ Scheer, p. 128.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 54.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 62, 75, 96.
- ^ Campbell, p. 100.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 127–128.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 149, 392.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 279, 292.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 341, 360, 401.
- ^ Staff, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Woodward, p. 90.
- ^ Scheer, p. 307.
- ^ Halpern, p. 377.
- ^ a b Herzog, p. 95.
- ^ Gray, p. 246.
- ^ Willmott, p. 437.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 280–282.
- ^ Herwig, p. 256.
- ^ Woodward, p. 183.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 112.
- Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- ^ Dodson, p. 145.
- ^ Miller, p. 32.
References
- Campbell, John (1998). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-1-55821-759-1.
- Campbell, N. J. M. & Sieche, Erwin (1986). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 134–189. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5.
- ISBN 978-1-8448-6472-0.
- Gray, Edwyn (1996). Few Survived: A History of Submarine Disasters. Pen & Sword. ISBN 978-0-85052-499-4.
- ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7.
- Herwig, Holger (1980). "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Amherst: Humanity Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-286-9.
- Herzog, Bodo (1968). 60 Jahre deutsche Uboote 1906-1966. München: J.F. Lehmann. OCLC 5417475.
- Miller, Roger G. (2009). Billy Mitchell: Stormy Petrel of the Air. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. OCLC 56356772.
- OCLC 52608141.
- Staff, Gary (2008). Battle for the Baltic Islands. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime. ISBN 978-1-84415-787-7.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1995). Jutland: The German Perspective. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-304-35848-9.
- "The Naval Bombing Experiments Off the Virginia Capes – June and July 1921". Naval History & Heritage Command. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
- Willmott, H. P. (2009). The Last Century of Sea Power (Volume 1, From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-35214-9.
- Woodward, David (1973). The Collapse of Power: Mutiny in the High Seas Fleet. London: Arthur Barker Ltd. ISBN 978-0-213-16431-7.
Further reading
- Dodson, Aidan; Cant, Serena (2020). Spoils of War: The Fate of Enemy Fleets after the Two World Wars. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4198-1.
- ISBN 978-1-68247-745-8.