SMS Undine
Undine steaming at speed
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | Undine |
Namesake | Undine |
Builder | Howaldtswerke |
Laid down | 28 September 1901 |
Launched | 11 December 1902 |
Commissioned | 5 January 1904 |
Fate | Sunk, 7 November 1915 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Gazelle-class light cruiser |
Displacement |
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Length | 105 m (344 ft) loa |
Beam | 12.4 m (40.7 ft) |
Draft | 4.81 m (15.8 ft) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 21.5 kn (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph) |
Range | 4,400 nmi (8,100 km; 5,100 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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SMS Undine
Undine was initially used as an artillery training ship for the gunners of the German fleet. She also took part in training maneuvers with other elements of the fleet, and during one of these exercises in November 1905, she accidentally rammed and sank the torpedo boat SMS S126. The ship remained in German waters, making only a single visit to a foreign port in 1909. Undine remained in service through mid-1912. During this period, in addition to her training duties, she served as an auxiliary icebreaker.
After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Undine was deployed to the Baltic Sea, serving in the Coastal Defense Division. She was tasked with patrolling the western Baltic and she also participated in offensive operations against Russian forces. She was attacked by the British submarine HMS E19 on 7 November 1915 and was hit by two torpedoes, the second of which detonated the ship's ammunition magazines. Undine exploded and sank, but casualties were relatively light, with fourteen or twenty-five killed in the sinking out of a normal crew of 270.
Design
Following the construction of the
Undine was 105 meters (344 ft 6 in)
The ship was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns in single mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, six were located amidships, three on either side, and two were placed side by side aft. The guns could engage targets out to 12,200 m (13,300 yd). They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. She was also equipped with two 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes with five torpedoes. They were submerged in the hull on the broadside. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was 20 to 25 mm (0.79 to 0.98 in) thick. The conning tower had 80 mm (3.1 in) thick sides, and the guns were protected by 50 mm (2 in) thick gun shields.[4]
Service history
Construction – 1905
Undine was ordered under the contract name "J" and was
Undine underwent another round of trials, which ended when she moved back to Kiel on 4 February. She took part in training exercises from 7 to 19 May held off
She also took part in another round of nighttime torpedo boat exercises with IV Torpedo-boat Flotilla in November. During these maneuvers, on the night of 17 November, she accidentally collided with the torpedo boat S126 off Bülk. The cruiser was steaming with her lights off, and when the torpedo boats approached to conduct a mock torpedo attack, Undine turned her search lights on, which blinded the crew of S126. The torpedo boat inadvertently ran in front of Undine, and the latter rammed the former, slicing her in half. The torpedo boat S127 collided with the still-floating stern. Both halves of the ship sank quickly and one officer and thirty-two enlisted men drowned in the accident. S126's wreck was later raised, reassembled, and returned to service.[7][8]
1906–1914
From 3 May to 9 June 1906, the ship underwent repairs to her bow as a result of the damage incurred in the collision with S126; the work was performed at the
In May 1910, while Undine was steaming off Sonderburg, she encountered the
World War I
After the outbreak of
On 7 November 1915, Undine was steaming north of Arkona with a pair of torpedo boats as escort for the ferry Preussen as it moved from Trelleborg to Sassnitz. She was attacked by the British submarine E19, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Francis Cromie. E19 launched a pair of torpedoes at Undine at a range of 1,000 m (3,300 ft), both of which hit.[11][12][13] The second torpedo detonated her ammunition magazines and blew up the ship.[14] Undine broke in half and sank quickly at 13:08; the bow portion sank immediately but the stern section remained afloat briefly, jutting out of the water at a steep angle. Casualties were relatively minor, but the number is unclear: according to Erich Gröner, fourteen men were killed, but Hans Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, and Hans-Otto Steinmetz report that twenty-five died. The majority of her crew was rescued by the torpedo boat V154 and Preussen. Most of those who died were killed when the forward funnel and mast collapsed and fell over, crushing the men in the water.[10][11] The loss of Undine came on the heels of the sinking of the armored cruiser Prinz Adalbert two weeks earlier. These two losses were significant enough to compel the German Navy to curtail the movements of the fleet in the Baltic for the remainder of the year.[14]
Notes
Footnotes
- Seiner Majestät Schiff" (German: His Majesty's Ship).
Citations
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, pp. 183–184.
- ^ Nottelmann, pp. 103–110.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, p. 94.
- ^ a b Gröner, pp. 99–101.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 99–102.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 21.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, pp. 20–22.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 102.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 22.
- ^ Polmar & Noot, p. 45.
- ^ Compton-Hall, p. 151.
- ^ a b McCartney, p. 26.
References
- Compton-Hall, Richard (2004). Submarines at War 1914–1918. Penzance: Periscope Pub. ISBN 978-1-904381-21-1.
- ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
- 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. 3. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0211-4.
- 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. 8. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
- McCartney, Innes (2009). British Submarines of World War I. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-334-6.
- "Naval Notes – Germany". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLIX. London: J. J. Keliher & Co.: 1449–1452 1905. OCLC 64053958.
- Nottelmann, Dirk (2020). "The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Oxford: Osprey. pp. 102–118. ISBN 978-1-4728-4071-4.
- Polmar, Norman & Noot, Jurrien (1991). Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies, 1718–1990. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-570-4.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-1-68247-745-8.