SMS Frankfurt

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SMS Frankfurt as a target ship
History
German Empire
NameFrankfurt
NamesakeFrankfurt
BuilderKaiserliche Werft, Kiel
Laid down1913
Launched20 March 1915
Commissioned20 August 1915
FateCeded to the United States after World War I
United States
NameUSS Frankfurt
Acquired11 March 1920
Commissioned4 June 1920
FateSunk as a target, 18 July 1921
General characteristics
Class and typeWiesbaden-class light cruiser
Displacement
Length145.3 m (477 ft)
Beam13.9 m (46 ft)
Draft5.76 m (18.9 ft)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed27.5 knots (50.9 km/h)
Range4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Crew
  • 17 officers
  • 457 enlisted
Armament
Armor

SMS Frankfurt was a

Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). She had one sister ship, SMS Wiesbaden; the ships were very similar to the previous Karlsruhe-class cruisers. The ship was laid down in 1913, launched in March 1915, and completed by August 1915. Armed with eight 15 cm SK L/45 guns
, Frankfurt had a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph) and displaced 6,601 t (6,497 long tons; 7,276 short tons) at full load.

Frankfurt saw extensive action with the

Army Air Force
in July 1921.

Design

Frankfurt was 145.3 meters (477 ft)

screw propellers. They were designed to give 31,000 shaft horsepower (23,000 kW). These were powered by ten coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers and two oil-fired double-ended boilers. These gave the ship a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph). Frankfurt carried 1,280 t (1,260 long tons) of coal, and an additional 470 t (460 long tons) of oil that gave her a range of 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). Frankfurt had a crew of 17 officers and 457 enlisted men.[1]

The ship was armed with a

armored belt that was 60 mm (2.4 in) thick amidships. The conning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides, and the deck was covered with up to 60 mm thick armor plate.[2]

Service history

Frankfurt was ordered under the contract name "

fitting-out work commenced. She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 20 August 1915,[2] after being rushed through sea trials.[3] The first operation in which Frankfurt saw action was the Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24 April 1916. Frankfurt was assigned to the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group, temporarily under the command of Konteradmiral Friedrich Boedicker's. During the raid, Frankfurt attacked and sank a British armed patrol boat off the English coast.[4] Due to reports of British submarines and torpedo attacks, Boedicker broke off the chase, and turned back east towards the High Seas Fleet. At this point, the German fleet commander, Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer, who had been warned of the Grand Fleet's sortie from Scapa Flow, turned back towards Germany.[5]

Battle of Jutland

Maps showing the maneuvers of the British (blue) and German (red) fleets on 30–31 May 1916

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

Rear Admiral Horace Hood's three battlecruisers intervened, however, and scored a hit on Wiesbaden that disabled the ship.[8] About an hour later, Canterbury scored four hits on Frankfurt in quick succession: two 6-inch (150 mm) hits in the area of Frankfurt's mainmast and a pair of 4-inch (100 mm) hits. One of the 4-inch shells hit forward, well above the waterline, and the second exploded in the water near the stern and damaged both screws.[9]

Frankfurt and Pillau spotted the cruiser

Horns Reef.[11] Frankfurt had three men killed and eighteen wounded in the course of the engagement. She had fired 379 rounds of 15 cm ammunition and a pair of 8.8 cm shells, and launched a single torpedo.[12]

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

mutinied. The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation. Most of the High Seas Fleet's ships, including Frankfurt, were interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow, under the command of Reuter.[20]

Fate

Frankfurt (left) aground in Scapa Flow; salvage work in progress on the battleship Baden (right)

The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the

war prize.[23]

She was formally taken over on 11 March 1920 in England and commissioned into the US Navy on 4 June.

New York Navy Yard. There, the ships were thoroughly inspected by naval engineers to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the German ships, with the goal of incorporating any lessons learned into future American designs. While there, she also had her watertight compartments completely sealed to improve her ability to remain afloat when damaged.[25][26]

In July 1921, the

Martin MB-2 bombers hit Frankfurt with several of the 600 lb bombs and sank the ship at 18:25.[23][27]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Gröner, p. 111.
  2. ^ a b Gröner, pp. 111–112.
  3. ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 162.
  4. ^ Scheer, p. 128.
  5. ^ Tarrant, p. 54.
  6. ^ Tarrant, pp. 62, 75, 96.
  7. ^ Campbell, p. 100.
  8. ^ Tarrant, pp. 127–128.
  9. ^ Campbell, pp. 149, 392.
  10. ^ Campbell, pp. 279, 292.
  11. ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
  12. ^ Campbell, pp. 341, 360, 401.
  13. ^ Staff, pp. 3–4.
  14. ^ Woodward, p. 90.
  15. ^ Scheer, p. 307.
  16. ^ Halpern, p. 377.
  17. ^ a b Herzog, p. 95.
  18. ^ Gray, p. 246.
  19. ^ Willmott, p. 437.
  20. ^ Tarrant, pp. 280–282.
  21. ^ Herwig, p. 256.
  22. ^ Woodward, p. 183.
  23. ^ a b Gröner, p. 112.
  24. Naval History & Heritage Command
    . Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  25. ^ Dodson, p. 145.
  26. ^ a b The Naval Bombing Experiments.
  27. ^ Miller, p. 32.

References

Further reading