and had a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph).
Strassburg spent the first year of her service overseas, after which she was assigned to the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet. She saw significant action at the
mutinies
that forced the cancellation of the operation.
The ship served briefly in the new
war prize. She was formally transferred in July 1920 and renamed Taranto for service in the Italian Navy. In 1936–1937, she was rebuilt for colonial duties and additional anti-aircraft guns were installed. She saw no significant action during World War II
until the Italian surrender, which ended Italy's participation in the war. She was scuttled by the Italian Navy, captured and raised by the Germans, and sunk by Allied bombers in October 1943. The Germans raised the ship again, which was sunk a second time by bombers in September 1944. Taranto was finally broken up for scrap in 1946–1947.
kW; 24,660 shp), but reached 33,482 PS (24,626 kW; 33,024 shp) in service. These were powered by sixteen coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers, although they were later altered to use fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. These gave the ship a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph). Strassburg carried 1,200 t (1,200 long tons) of coal, and an additional 106 t (104 long tons) of oil that gave her a range of approximately 5,820 nautical miles (10,780 km; 6,700 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). Strassburg had a crew of 18 officers and 336 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.[3] In 1915, Strassburg was completely rearmed, replacing the 10.5 cm guns with seven 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns, two 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns, and two deck-mounted 50 cm torpedo tubes.[3]
Strassburg spent the first year of service overseas, from 1913 to 1914.
Valparaiso, Chile, arriving on 2 April and remaining for over a week.[5]
On 11 April, the ships departed Valparaiso for the long journey back to Germany. On the return trip, the ships visited several more ports, including Bahía Blanca, Argentina, before returning to Rio de Janeiro. On 16 May the ships left Rio de Janeiro for the Atlantic leg of the journey; they stopped in Cape Verde, Madeira, and Vigo, Spain while en route to Germany. Strassburg, Kaiser, and König Albert arrived in Kiel on 17 June 1914. In the course of the voyage, the ships traveled some 20,000 nautical miles (37,000 km; 23,000 mi). A week later, on 24 June, the Detached Division was dissolved.[6] After returning to Germany, Strassburg spent majority of her career in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet.[7]
World War I
On 16 August, some two weeks after the outbreak of
Hoofden to search for British reconnaissance forces. The two cruisers encountered a group of sixteen British destroyers and a light cruiser at a distance of about 10,000 m (33,000 ft). Significantly outnumbered, the two German cruisers broke contact and returned to port.[8]
German sketch showing maneuvers and actions of Straßburg at the Battle of Helgoland
Strassburg was heavily engaged at the
Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass in the Heligoland Bight. Strassburg was the first German cruiser to leave port to reinforce the German reconnaissance forces. At 11:00, she encountered the badly damaged British cruiser HMS Arethusa, which had been hit several times by Stettin and SMS Frauenlob. Strassburg attacked Arethusa, but was driven off by the 1st Destroyer Flotilla. She lost contact with the British in the mist, but located them again after 13:10 from the sound of British gunfire that destroyed the cruiser Mainz.Along with Cöln, she badly damaged three British destroyers—Laertes, Laurel, and Liberty—before being driven off again. Shortly thereafter, the British battlecruisers intervened and sank Ariadne and Maass's flagshipCöln. Strassburg and the rest of the surviving light cruisers retreated into the haze and were reinforced by the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group.[9]
Strassburg was present during the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 15–16 December, as part of the screening force for the battlecruisers of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group. After completing the bombardment of the towns, the Germans began to withdraw, though British forces moved to intercept them. Strassburg, two of the other screening cruisers, and two flotillas of torpedo boats steamed between two British squadrons. In the heavy mist, which reduced visibility to less than 4,000 yd (3,700 m), only her sister ship Stralsund was spotted, though only briefly. The Germans were able to use the bad weather to cover their withdrawal.[10] The ship had been transferred to the Baltic by 1916, and so missed the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.[11]
By 1917, she was assigned to the
pre-dreadnought Slava and forced the pre-dreadnought Grazhdanin to leave the Gulf. On 21 October, Strassburg and the battleship Markgraf were tasked with assaulting the island of Kyno. The two ships bombarded the island; Strassburg expended approximately 55 rounds on the port of Salismünde. On 31 October, Strassburg carried the first military governor of the captured islands from Libau to Arensburg.[12]
By October 1918, Strassburg was assigned to the
mutinied. The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation.[14][13] In early November, Strassburg and Brummer steamed to Sassnitz. There, the commander of Strassburg took command of the naval forces in the port and invited a sailor's council to be formed to assist in controlling the forces there.[15]
Italian service
After the war, Strassburg served briefly with the reorganized
13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine guns were added for close-range anti-aircraft defense.[16]
In early July 1940, Taranto, the
armistice that ended the war for Italy was declared to prevent her from being seized by the Germans, who rapidly moved to occupy the country after Italy surrendered. The Germans captured the ship and re-floated her, though she was sunk by Allied bombers on 23 October. The Germans re-floated the ship again, and again she was sunk by bombers, on 23 September 1944 in the outer La Spezia roadstead, where the Germans had moved the hulk to block one of the entrances to the Gulf of La Spezia. Taranto was ultimately raised and broken up for scrap in 1946–1947.[16][17]
Fraccaroli, Aldo (1986). "Italy". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 252–290.
Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 7. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
German Empire
Kaiserliche Marine
French Navy
Regia Marina
Ottoman Navy
