SMS Nürnberg (1906)

Coordinates: 53°28′S 55°04′W / 53.467°S 55.067°W / -53.467; -55.067
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For other ships with the same name, see SMS Nürnberg.

SMS Nürnberg underway before the war
History
German Empire
NameNürnberg
NamesakeNürnberg
BuilderHowaldtswerke, Kiel
Laid down16 January 1906
Launched28 August 1906
Commissioned10 April 1908
FateSunk at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8 December 1914
General characteristics
Class and typeKönigsberg-class light cruiser
Displacement
Length115.3 m (378 ft)
Beam13.2 m (43 ft)
Draft5.29 m (17.4 ft)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 2 × screw propellers
  • 2 ×
    triple-expansion engines
Speed23.4 knots (43.3 km/h)
Complement
  • 14 Officers
  • 308 Enlisted men
Armament
Armor

SMS Nürnberg ("His Majesty's Ship Nürnberg"),

Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). Her sisters included Königsberg, Stettin, and Stuttgart. She was built by the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel, laid down in early 1906 and launched in August of that year. She was completed in April 1908. Nürnberg was armed with ten 10.5 mm (0.41 in) guns, eight 5.2 cm (2 in) SK L/55 guns, and two submerged torpedo
tubes. Her top speed was 23.4 knots (43.3 km/h; 26.9 mph).

Nürnberg served with the fleet briefly, before being deployed overseas in 1910. She was assigned to the East Asia Squadron. At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, she was returning to the German naval base at Qingdao from Mexican waters. She rejoined the rest of the Squadron, commanded by Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee, which steamed across the Pacific Ocean and encountered a British squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock. In the ensuing Battle of Coronel on 1 November, the British squadron was defeated; Nürnberg finished off the British cruiser HMS Monmouth. A month later, the Germans attempted to raid the British base in the Falkland Islands; a powerful British squadron that included a pair of battlecruisers was in port, commanded by Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee. Sturdee's ships chased down and destroyed four of the five German cruisers; HMS Kent sank Nürnberg, with heavy loss of life.

Design

Main article: Königsberg-class cruiser
Line-drawing of the Königsberg class

The Königsberg-class ships were designed to serve both as fleet scouts in home waters and

Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) from building more specialized cruisers suitable for both roles.[1] The Königsberg class was an iterative development of the preceding Bremen class. All four members of the class were intended to be identical, but after the initial vessel was begun, the design staff incorporated lessons from the Russo-Japanese War. These included internal rearrangements and a lengthening of the hull.[2]

Nürnberg was 116.8 meters (383 ft)

triple expansion engines powered by eleven coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers. These provided a top speed of 23.4 kn (43.3 km/h; 26.9 mph) and a range of approximately 4,120 nautical miles (7,630 km; 4,740 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph). Nürnberg had a crew of 14 officers and 308 enlisted men.[3]

The ship was armed with a

amidships, three on either side, and two were side by side aft. The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees, which allowed them to engage targets out to 12,700 m (41,700 ft).[4] They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. The ship was also equipped with eight 5.2 cm (2 in) SK guns with 4,000 rounds of ammunition. She was also equipped with a pair of 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes with five torpedoes submerged in the hull on the broadside. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was 80 mm (3.1 in) thick amidships. The conning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides.[3]

Service history

Nürnberg was ordered under the contract name "

sea trials on 30 April, which were interrupted from 4 to 5 June when the Bavarian crown prince Ludwig came aboard to visit the ship during training exercises with the High Seas Fleet. The trials were completed on 3 July, but there was a shortage of trained crews, so Nürnberg was decommissioned in Wilhelmshaven so that her crew could be used elsewhere.[5][6]

Nürnberg remained out of service for the next two years before being recommissioned on 1 October 1910 for a deployment abroad. After completing her crew and making preparations for the voyage, she left Wilhelmshaven on 14 February, bound for

Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen in German New Guinea to assist the survey ship Planet, which had suffered severe boiler damage. Nürnberg also carried a small police detachment in response to murders of Germans in the area, but their presence proved to be unnecessary. Nürnberg took Planet under tow to Singapore for repairs on 9 September, arriving there on 24 September without incident. Nürnberg thereafter cruised through the region for the rest of the year.[6]

Nürnberg was in

Nanking from October to November 1911 to protect German nationals in the area, and again from January to April 1912.[6]

In May and June 1912, Nürnberg embarked the squadron commander for a cruise into the

Austro-Hungarian, and Swiss nationals in the area, but direct intervention ashore proved to be unnecessary. In June 1914, she sailed south to Panama, where she took on a new crew and supplies. Nürnberg thereafter steamed north to Mazatlán, Mexico, where she met her replacement, the light cruiser Leipzig, on 7 July. Nürnberg's boilers were in poor condition, necessitating a stop in San Francisco, United States, for repairs that lasted from 14 to 18 July.[8]

World War I

After completing repairs in the United States, Nürnberg was to sail via Hawaii to Apia, where she was to meet Scharnhorst and the armored cruiser

auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich.[12]

The four cruisers then departed the central Pacific, bound for Chile. On 13 August the captain of the Emden, Commodore

Fanning Island. The cruiser flew a French ensign to deceive the defenders, and succeeded in destroying the station on 7 September.[15] Nürnberg then rejoined the fleet at Christmas Island[16] later that day.[15] In order to keep the German high command informed of his activities, Spee sent Nürnberg on 8 September to Honolulu to send word through neutral countries.[17] Spee chose the ship because the British were aware she had left Mexican waters, and so her presence in Hawaii would not betray the movements of the entire East Asia Squadron.[18] She was also ordered to contact German agents to instruct them to prepare coal stocks in South America for the squadron's use.[15] Nürnberg brought back news of the Allied conquest of the German colony at Samoa.[17]

On 14 September, Spee decided to use his two armored cruisers to raid the British base at

Battle of Papeete on 22 September, Nürnberg and the rest of the East Asia Squadron bombarded the colony.[19] During the bombardment, the French gunboat Zélée was sunk by gunfire from the German ships. Fear of mines in the harbor prevented von Spee from seizing the coal that lay in the harbor.[20] By 12 October, the squadron had reached Easter Island. There they were joined by Dresden and Leipzig, which had sailed from American waters. After a week in the area, the ships departed for Chile.[21]

Battle of Coronel

Nürnberg (left) sinking HMS Monmouth (right) at Coronel
Main article: Battle of Coronel

To oppose the German squadron off the coast of South America, the British had scant resources; under the command of Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock were the armored cruisers HMS Good Hope and Monmouth, the light cruiser Glasgow, and the auxiliary cruiser Otranto. This flotilla was reinforced by the elderly pre-dreadnought battleship Canopus and the armored cruiser Defence, the latter, however, did not arrive until after the Battle of Coronel.[22] Canopus was left behind by Cradock, who likely felt that her slow speed would prevent him from bringing the German ships to battle. On the evening of 26 October, the East Asia Squadron steamed out of Mas a Fuera, Chile, and headed eastward. Spee learned that Glasgow had been spotted in Coronel on the 31st, and so turned towards the port.[23]

He arrived on the afternoon of 1 November, and to his surprise, encountered Good Hope, Monmouth, and Otranto as well as Glasgow. Canopus was still some 300 miles (480 km) behind, with the British colliers. At 17:00, Glasgow spotted the Germans; Cradock formed a line with Good Hope in the lead, followed by Monmouth, Glasgow, and Otranto in the rear. Spee decided to hold off on engaging the British until the sun had set more, at which point the British ships would be silhouetted by the sun. Nürnberg was some distance behind the rest of the German squadron, and joined the ensuing action later;[24] she had been delayed from searches of neutral steamers. Arriving late to the battle, Nürnberg found the drifting Monmouth and finished her off with gunfire at a range of around 550 to 900 m (600 to 980 yd).[25]

Voyage to the Falklands

A group of large warships steaming slowly away from the city.
The German squadron leaving Valparaíso on 3 November after the battle, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the lead and Nürnberg following. In the middle distance are a group of Chilean warships

After the battle, Spee took his ships north to Valparaiso. Since Chile was neutral, only three ships could enter the port at a time; Spee took Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Nürnberg in first visit on the morning of 3 November, leaving Dresden and Leipzig with the colliers at Mas a Fuera. In Valparaiso, Spee's ships could take on coal while he conferred with the Admiralty Staff in Germany to determine the strength of remaining British forces in the region. The ships remained in the port for only 24 hours, in accordance with the neutrality restrictions, and arrived at Mas a Fuera on 6 November, where they took on more coal from captured British and French steamers. On 10 November, Dresden and Leipzig were detached for a stop in Valparaiso, and five days later, Spee took the rest of the squadron south to St. Quentin Bay in the Gulf of Penas. On 18 November, Dresden and Leipzig met Spee while en route and the squadron reached St. Quentin Bay three days later. There, they took on more coal, since the voyage around Cape Horn would be a long one and it was unclear when they would have another opportunity to coal.[26]

Once word of the defeat reached London, the Royal Navy set to organizing a force to hunt down and destroy the East Asia Squadron. To this end, the powerful battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible were detached from the Grand Fleet and placed under the command of Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee.[27] The two ships left Devonport on 10 November and while en route to the Falkland Islands, they were joined by the armored cruisers Carnarvon, Kent, and Cornwall, the light cruisers Bristol and Glasgow, and the armed merchant cruiser Macedonia. The force of eight ships reached the Falklands by 7 December, where they immediately coaled.[28]

In the meantime, Spee's ships departed St. Quentin Bay on 26 November and rounded Cape Horn on 2 December. They captured the Canadian

Picton Island. The crews transferred the coal from Drummuir to the squadron's colliers. On the morning of 6 December, Spee held a conference with the ship commanders aboard Scharnhorst to determine their next course of action. The Germans had received numerous fragmentary and contradictory reports of British reinforcements in the region; Spee and two other captains favored an attack on the Falklands, while three other commanders argued that it would be better to bypass the islands and attack British shipping off Argentina. Spee's opinion carried the day and the squadron departed for the Falklands at 12:00.[29]

Battle of the Falkland Islands

Map showing the movements of the British and German ships during the battle
Main article: Battle of the Falkland Islands

Gneisenau and Nürnberg were delegated for the attack; they approached the Falklands the following morning, with the intention of destroying the wireless transmitter there. Observers aboard Gneisenau spotted smoke rising from

Port Stanley, but assumed it was the British burning their coal stocks to prevent the Germans from seizing them. As they closed on the harbor, 30.5 cm (12 in) shells from Canopus, which had been beached as a guard ship, began to fall around the German ships. Lookouts on the German ships spotted the large tripod masts of the battlecruisers, though these were initially believed to be from the battlecruiser HMAS Australia; the reports of several enemy warships combined with fire from Canopus prompted Spee to break off the attack.[28][30] The Germans took a southeasterly course at 22 kn (41 km/h; 25 mph) after having reformed by 10:45.[31] Spee formed his line with Gneisenau and Nürnberg ahead, Scharnhorst in the center, and Dresden and Leipzig astern.[32] The fast battlecruisers quickly got up steam and sailed out of the harbor to pursue the East Asia Squadron.[28] Spee realized his armored cruisers could not escape the much faster battlecruisers and ordered the three light cruisers to attempt to break away while he turned about and allowed the British battlecruisers to engage the outgunned Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.[33] In response, Sturdee sent his light cruisers to chase down Nürnberg, Dresden, and Leipzig.[34]

Kent chased Nürnberg down; at 17:00, Nürnberg opened fire at extreme range, approximately 11,000 m (12,000 yd). Kent was unable to reply until the range fell to 6,400 m (7,000 yd), at which time she began firing salvos rapidly. Nürnberg turned to port in order to bring her entire broadside into action, which was mimicked by Kent. The two ships steered on converging courses, and the distance between the two cruisers dropped to 2,700 m (3,000 yd). By that time, Kent's shells were raining down on Nürnberg and were causing major damage. A serious fire broke out forward at 18:02, and by 18:35, she was dead in the water and had ceased firing. Kent temporarily ceased fire, but after noticing Nürnberg was still flying her battle ensigns, resumed combat. After five more minutes of shelling, Nürnberg struck her colors, and Kent's crew prepared to lower lifeboats to pick up survivors.[35]

Only twelve men were picked up before the ship capsized and sank at 19:26, and five of them died after being rescued. Among the dead was one of Spee's sons, Otto von Spee.[36] In total, 327 officers and men were killed in the battle.[37] In the course of the engagement, Nürnberg had hit Kent thirty-eight times, but did not cause significant damage. One shell struck one of Kent's casemate guns and ignited the propellant charges inside, but the magazine was flooded before the fire could destroy the ship.[36] The sinking was commemorated in a painting entitled The Last Man by Hans Bohrdt, which depicted a German sailor waving the Imperial ensign as Nürnberg slipped beneath the waves.[9]

Notes

Memorial to Captain Karl von Schönberg, the commander of Nürnberg and killed during the battle

Footnotes

  1. Seiner Majestät Schiff
    ", or "His Majesty's Ship".

Citations

  1. ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 142, 157.
  2. ^ Nottelmann, pp. 110–114.
  3. ^ a b Gröner, p. 104.
  4. ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 140, 157.
  5. ^ Gröner, pp. 104–105.
  6. ^ a b c d Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, p. 168.
  7. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, p. 40.
  8. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, pp. 168–169.
  9. ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, p. 169.
  10. ^ Gray, p. 184.
  11. ^ Halpern, p. 71.
  12. ^ Hough, pp. 3–5.
  13. ^ Herwig, pp. 155–156.
  14. ^ Hough, p. 33.
  15. ^ a b c d Halpern, p. 88.
  16. ^ Gray, p. 185.
  17. ^ a b Strachan, p. 471.
  18. ^ Bennett, pp. 71–72.
  19. ^ Strachan, p. 472.
  20. ^ Halpern, p. 89.
  21. ^ Hawkins, p. 34.
  22. ^ Herwig, p. 156.
  23. ^ Halpern, p. 92.
  24. ^ Halpern, pp. 92–93.
  25. ^ Bennett, pp. 89, 94.
  26. ^ Staff, pp. 58–59.
  27. ^ Strachan, p. 41.
  28. ^ a b c Strachan, p. 47.
  29. ^ Staff, pp. 61–62.
  30. ^ Staff, pp. 62–63.
  31. ^ Staff, p. 64.
  32. ^ Bennett, p. 115.
  33. ^ Bennett, p. 117.
  34. ^ Halpern, p. 99.
  35. ^ Bennett, pp. 124–125.
  36. ^ a b Bennett, p. 125.
  37. ^ Gröner, p. 105.

References

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Further reading

53°28′S 55°04′W / 53.467°S 55.067°W / -53.467; -55.067

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