Chapter 01 -- Trade & Cruisers
Introduction:
After a two-year-hiatus, the IMPERIAL DOCKYARD series has returned with a new map and harbor named “CUXHAVEN”. This is a continuation of my City Journal dealing with battleships and the era in which they flourished. The plan is to publish a new chapter every two weeks. “Cuxhaven” will, primarily, highlight the battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy – how they came to be – their evolution – and their operational history. The Imperial battlecruisers were brilliant in their conception, handled with skill and audacity in battle – and have fascinated me for many years. In many ways, this “CJ” is an “homage” to a unique group of ships that existed for only a few years at the beginning of the last Century.
It is also my ongoing mission to highlight just how versatile and flexible SC4 really is. Much of my new material is (Thank The Gods) custom modeled, and allows me to create lots and scenes with much more realism. But the original project was undertaken with far less custom material and forced me to be creative with re-lotting and re-purposing the props and lots already in the game. SC4 does have limitations – but you need to “push the envelope” to find them!
I wish to reiterate my THANKS to the members of this community without whom this project would never have seen the light of day……
@Cyclone Boom& @CorinaMarie for their guidance and advice – given promptly and cheerfully.
@mattb325who readily contributed models and technical advice when problems were encountered.
@Tyberius06for lending his expertise and knowledge as well as rushing some of his “re-release” packages to keep me going.
@Barroco Hispanogets a “super-thumbs-up” for ALL his hard work providing me with the quality ship models so critical to this effort – and for all his patience.
AND LAST – BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST…...@AP. He and I have formed a true “collaboration” of effort. We are both fascinated with the period of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) and this project has become a “labor of love”. I could go on and on about his skill level and imagination, but he has contributed well over 400, High Def, 3-D models – from full-sized battlecruisers to individual sailors – and made it possible to construct some of the most detailed and complex vignettes ever seen in SC4. It has totally amazed me, and we hope it will do the same for you.
I would like to remind the readers that "AP" will begin releasing his prop packs along with installments of “Cuxhaven”. Again – these are “prop packs” to be used by “lot makers” – be SURE to read the attached documentation – “READ ME” files and tutorials. Due to AP’s busy “real life” schedule, we will not be able to release a prop pack with every CJ entree – but we will publish them as frequently as possible. If you lot-makers have any questions about how to use them, simply drop us a message and we will be happy to help.
Here is Volume I of HISTORIC NAVIES 1900 -- Lighters
Lying hove-to off the shallow harbor of Cuxhaven is a Hamburg-America Line steamer most likely bound for New York. The steamship line built a departure terminal in the small port around 1900 and it became the primary point of departure for thousands of immigrants bound for the New World. The harbor was too small and too shallow for ocean liners, so this paddle-steamer was built as a “tender”. Passengers were loaded onto the tender and ferried out to the liner. Picture circa 1905.
NOW -- let me say right up front -- this harbor bears no resemblance to the real-world Cuxhaven.
The port city of Cuxhaven is located at the mouth of the Elbe River and has always hosted commercial shipping and a modest fishing industry. The port’s value was considerably enhanced by the completion of the Kaiser Wilhelm I Canal in 1895. The canal’s western locks are just 20 miles up-river from Cuxhaven and were vital to the strategic deployment of the Hochseeflotte (High Sea Fleet) in either the North Sea or Baltic Sea. In 1906, Cuxhaven was “officially” selected as an alternative naval base – mainly because warships had been sent there for many years to relieve congestion in the Jade Estuary and at Wilhelmshaven. About 60 miles up-river from the canal is the massive port of Hamburg. In the early part of the 20th Century, Hamburg was the second largest port in Europe. Part of Hamburg’s industrial growth included one of the finest shipyards in all of Europe – Blohm & Voss – much favored by the Kaiserliche Marine.
For our purposes, “Cuxhaven” is “home port” to the scouting forces of the Hochseeflotte -- four scouting groups made up of a variety of different cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats.
This map shot gives you a pretty good idea of where everything is and how it fits together. Along the north edge is the main anchorage, or roadsted. On the left side of the map is the original small anchorage that was in use when ships were smaller and less numerous – the West Loch.
This is an overview of the Main Anchorage. The large enclosed area behind the breakwater is referred to as “the roadsted”. The piers, quays, wharves, and mooring points are all “assigned berths”, whereas the roadsted is only a “temporary” anchorage. Most of the harbor area was dredged out of a shallow bay and wetland to build a more spacious and modern harbor for the increasing numbers of new cruisers joining the fleet. Work was completed in 1893. There is sufficient berthing available to accommodate the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Scouting Groups, though the breakwater mooring points were added in 1904.
This location was first used in 1881, and was not much more than a small bay with two fishing piers and a few buildings. But Wilhelm II took the throne in 1888 and work began on the new, main anchorage, as well as expanding and modernizing what came to be called the West Loch. The construction was pushed ahead with great vigor, and by 1892 everything was in place. Though a bit crowded, there is sufficient room to comfortably host the 3rd Scouting Group in the old West Loch. The 3rd Scouting Group is composed of the protected cruises and armored cruisers built between 1895 and 1909.
And everything on this map is, in one way or another, directly related to the origins, composition, and operations of the Hochseefleet’s First Scouting Group – the battlecruiser squadron.
SMS Seydlitz - 1913 - The Battlecruiser that was “too tough to die”.
BATTLECRUISER !!
The very term “battlecruiser” bespeaks speed and power, and is unique to the Great War Era. The ships were things of beauty -- low and graceful, with the unmistakable aura of menace in their lines. Sailors wanted to serve on them, Captains wanted to command them, and thousands of pages have been written about them. The Imperial German battlecruisers are both enigmatic and fascinating, while the courage of the men that manned them is indisputable. And if there is truly any romance to be found in modern naval warfare – it is to be found here.
In the time before the advent of machine guns and tanks, an army used horse cavalry to scout enemy positions and raid supply lines. They could also launch themselves into the heat of battle to unsettle their opponents at a critical moment – or -- to press their advantage and put the enemy to flight.
In World War I, the battlecruisers were the “cavalry” of the “Hochseeflotte”. They were fast, powerful, and when properly handled – deadly. As a type, they existed only for a few years in the early 20th Century, with the first launched in 1907 (HMS Indomitable), and the last in 1919 (HMS Hood). There were a few built prior to World War II – the French Dunkerque Class, and the German Scharnhorst Class. But the type had largely fallen out of favor by that time.
So the various portions of the Cuxhaven map will be used to explain how the battlecruiser was conceived, how the “concept” evolved, and how the Imperial German warships were designed and employed. And all of this will be accomplished within the format of the ever-changing possibilities of SC4 – a twenty year old game that continues to survive & thrive! “AP” and I, hope you will be pleased.
This is the “London Pool” circa 1900, where shipping waits their turn at the docks. Seaborne trade was the source of Britain’s greatness. The sharp-eyed among you might spot the dome of St. Paul’s in the right background.
IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: CUXHAVEN
By: Dreadnought & AP
Chapter 01:
TRADE & CRUISERS
TRADE!!
Liza Minelli and Joel Gray sang it in 1972…...”Money makes the world go around...the world go around...the world go around”. And NEVER were truer words spoken. But it all started about 500 years before that…...
Around the dawn of the 15th Century, Europe discovered “national wealth” was a finite thing. There was a limit to the amount of tax money a sovereign could extract from the people. This, in turn, meant a monarch’s ability to project power across oceans and borders was limited by how many ships they could afford to build and how many troops could be paid. (Poor Princes have no influence – wealthy Princes have big armies and navies.) The time honored solution to this problem was to invade a neighbor and take their wealth. But even if you were lucky, a military campaign often cost more than you could steal. So rulers began looking for an easier way to make a buck.
Henry VIII, for example, spent a great deal of time and energy trying to get English wool into the Flemish Market. But the Continental traders (Walloons-?) were a cagey lot and refused to relinquish their dominance. Other monarchs had similar problems finding sources of income, and by the end of the century (The Age Of Discovery, no less.) they were desperate for markets. But when the Spanish got a handle on what Columbus had “discovered” -- that was all she wrote! Other nations looked at the mountains of gold and silver the Spaniards brought back from the New World and decided “colonization” was the way to go. It was at this point that TRADE on a semi-global scale was born. (Though the British hung onto the nasty habit of intercepting Spanish Treasure Fleets when it suited them.)
I won’t bore you with the mercantile details – they teach that in school. But Europe -- certain that they were the “civilized” part of the world -- spent the next four centuries carving the globe into “spheres of influence”, while grabbing vast tracts of land as “colonial possessions”. The “mother country” was able to cheaply extract raw resources from the colony (virtually slave labor) and ship them home. The resources were then manufactured into finished goods and sold at home and abroad at extravagant prices. Merchant’s purses began to bulge, enabling rulers to raise taxes, build a bigger navy and army, and begin throwing their political weight around. This led directly to “empire”.
Thus is established a direct link from colonial possessions to wealth AND power -- two things no government would give up without a fight. So once acquired, a colony had to be defended against internal unrest (bad for business) or rival European incursions (even worse). Occasionally, troops and ships would be sent for serious problems, but the usual guardian was a single warship stationed in a nearby colonial port. A single ship-of-the-line (the early equivalent of a battleship) might be home-ported in the region, but she would be augmented by several “frigates” that did the patrolling and used landing parties to deal with small disturbances. The frigates were the workhorses that kept the peace and “showed the flag”.
Frigates were wooden, three masted, full-rigged ships (square-rigged on all masts) ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 tons with a single gun deck. Armament was 28 to 32 guns, with the heaviest guns being 18 pounders. They were built with clean hull lines and carried a large spread of canvas, making them fast and highly maneuverable. A frigate, well handled, could hold it’s own. But frigates were NEVER designed or intended to stand in the “line of battle” against ships-of-the-line.
The USS Constitution – a large frigate at 44 guns – and perhaps the most famous of them all. Picture taken in 2012 under easy sail.
Small, fast, and cheap to build, frigates required a comparatively small crew. Two-deckers and three-deckers were much more expensive, required huge amounts of seasoned timber to build, took 600 to 900 men to operate (lots of gun crews), and were vastly more expensive to maintain. It only made sense to scatter “cheap” frigates around the edges of a far-flung empire for policing duties. And that is how the modern “cruiser” and “gunboat diplomacy” came into being.
Time passed and the wooden frigate of Nelson’s Age evolved to accommodate new technologies. In the 1850’s steam propulsion began to take over from sails. During the 1860’s rifled cannon and armor plate appeared. And by the 1890’s, the frigate had finally taken on the aspects of a modern “cruiser” – all steam and steel.
USS Galena – 1869 -- Still wooden-hulled, but sporting a steam engine and rifled cannon. Oddly, the Americans did not feel the need of a modern navy and relied on Civil War relics for decades.
USS Olympia – Commodore Dewey’s flagship at the battle of Manila Bay, 1898. All steel construction, triple expansion engines, and revolving armored gun turrets. A remarkably fast jump into the 20th Century.
Before the 1880’s, Germany had no colonial possessions, largely because there was nothing that could seriously be called “Germany”. Prior to the 1870’s what passed for Germany was a loose amalgamation of Kingdoms, Grand Duchies, Duchies, City States, and numerous small principalities. Only in 1871 did Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck engineer the Franco-Prussian War and create an excuse to unite all the “Germanic” states under Prussia’s leadership. In a single stroke, the “Iron Chancellor” crushed French opposition, played mid-wife to modern Germany, had his King declared an Emperor, and catapulted the newly-minted “Empire” into the realm of major-player politics (Weltpolitik).
Prussian steam corvette Augusta in action against the French – 1870.
Proclamation of the German Empire – 18 January, 1871.
Within a few years, the new nation had taken stock of their assets and an industrial boom started that would push Germany to the forefront of European manufacturing and scientific development. Factories, railroads, steamship lines, optical firms, banks, chemical plants, and shipyards changed an agrarian nation into an industrial powerhouse. Exports of German goods and machinery soared, producing large trade profits and a greatly increased tax base for the government.
Soon enough, ambition caught up with profits, and in 1882 the Colonial League was started by a group of prominent businessmen, industrialists, bankers, and politicians. The group financed pamphlet publications, public meetings, and newspaper articles, while their political members applied pressure in the Reichstag (parliament) – all to acquire overseas territory. They could see the wealth and power an empire had brought Great Britain, and they wanted their “place in the Sun”. When Wilhelm II took the throne in 1888, colonial possessions became a matter of Royal prestige. If his uncle, England’s Edward VII, had colonies, then so must he.
Between 1883 and 1885 Germany obtained territories in West Africa, South West Africa, East Africa, half of New Guinea, and the Marshal, Solomon, and Caroline Islands in the southwest Pacific. Later, in 1898, on a pretext, the German East Asiatic Squadron was ordered to seize the strategically located port of Tsingtao, China – and later negotiated a 99-year lease from the Chinese. The original idea was that Tsingtao would provide a lucrative gateway for increased trade with China. But the squadron commander, Kapitan zur See Otto von Diederichs, knew – despite what the politicians said -- Tsingtao would be a dagger aimed directly at British trade routes to Australia, China, Japan, Malaya, and even the Indian Ocean. As mentioned in previous chapters, overseas colonies provided friendly coaling stations for warships, and your “political influence” – in peace or war -- was limited to how far a warship could go on full coal bunkers.
The collier SS Gotha taking on coal at the Cuxhaven Coaling Station. Gotha is a commercial collier leased by the Navy from the Norddeutscher Lloyd Steamship Line. (You can just barely make out the blue and white “house flag” of the Norddeutscher Line flying from the second derrick mast.) It was not uncommon for the Imperial Navy to lease civilian colliers – especially on long voyages – because there were never enough government-owned colliers. This one will be joining a reinforcement convoy of cruisers and destroyers bound for Tsingtao, China. The warships will coal from Gotha first, and when her holds are empty, she will set course for Hamburg, and home. Everything in the basin – the collier, tugs, coal lighters, and the mooring dolphins – were all modeled by @AP. The coaling piers were modified and re-lotted from the “PEG-SNM Naval Series”.
This is a detail shot of Gotha. Note the dingy, worn texture of the weathered hull and the rusty look to the metal decking on the forecastle. The aft bunker hold is full and waiting for the hatch covers, while the fore hold is receiving the last few buckets of coal. Crewmen are moving around the deck, working on the forward winch, and “working coal”. The cargo booms are wonderfully detailed and realistic -- complete with the rigging to work them. “AP” put a great deal of effort into perfecting the art of rigging his models – very fine lines that do not overpower the model. And if you look closely, you will see a difference in thickness between the boom rigging and the “rat lines” reaching to the top of the mast – a distinction unique to his skill and technique. AND – “AP” does his research -- the rigging is all functional, not decorative. The texture colors on the ship blend quite well with one another and the white awning spread on the fantail is an excellent touch. The level of detail is unbelievable – you can even see the individual oars in the ship’s boats! You will also note “AP” has given the same level of detail to the tugboat Thor and the lighters in the foreground.
Gotha was modeled from the Prometheus Class colliers built for the US Navy just prior to WW I. We chose that particular ship because she resembled many of the colliers of the period, incorporated all of the best innovations, and had been designed with clean and graceful lines – unusual in any collier.
Having obtained colonies, more as an afterthought than a coherent plan, the “Kaiserliche Admiralitat” (Admiralty) came to the conclusion their aging collection of sailing frigates, steam frigates, and corvettes, were of minimal combat value and inadequate -- even for overseas duty. The recent explosion in German industrial exports and maritime trade only added to the dilemma. Not only were the colonies in need of protection, but the trade routes to and from them, as well. Germany’s sworn enemy, the French, were known to favor commerce raiding. And the far more numerous ships of the Royal Navy were a potential threat to trade routes everywhere in the world. The publication of Alfred Thayer Mahan’s “The Influence Of Seapower Upon History” (1890) merely printed what everyone already knew – but he solidly drove the point home. The book could be summed up in a single sentence...If your fleet was not strong enough to control the seas, then your commerce would be swept from them and your warships bottled up in harbor.
Accordingly, the first “modern” protected cruisers and unprotected cruisers were commissioned into the Imperial Navy in 1888. Cruiser development in the Kaiserliche Marine, like other navies, followed several threads, and was much debated in the offices of the Reichsmarineamt (Naval Office). But it eventually came down to just two types: a small, cheap, unprotected cruiser for scouting ahead of the battle fleet, and a slightly larger protected cruiser to provide strength and support for the scouting elements, as well as being strong enough to support colonial stations and hunt down enemy commerce raiders. Over the next two decades, these two types would evolve into the light cruiser and the armored cruiser.
UNPROTECTED CRUISERS
The “Unprotected” cruiser is just what it says – unprotected! The only thing between you and an enemy shell was the half inch steel skin of the ship. This type of warship was common to navies the world over as they transitioned from wood and sail to steel and steam. Designers knew cruisers, like the early frigates, would have to be fast in order to perform their scouting duties in advance of the fleet. They also understood they would have to be cheap enough to make it practical to deploy them on distant patrol and police duty. The head of the Kaiserliche Marine, General Leo von Caprivi, decided the two requirements were incompatible and ordered ships specifically designed for duty on foreign stations. The result was two Schwalbe Class unprotected cruisers commissioned in 1888.
Unprotected Cruiser SMS Schwalbe – 1888.
The operational requirements on distant duty stations largely defined their final form. The need to operate close inshore and up winding river estuaries resulted in a shallow draft and shorter hull length. An auxiliary sail rig (barquentine) was provided since engine repair facilities were scarce in the colonies. The sail rig also allowed the cruisers to escort merchant vessels over long distances while conserving coal. Finally, the absolute necessity to conduct police actions in the colonies required a crew large enough to spare a landing party.
These ships were about 220 feet long by 30 feet wide, and weighed in around 1,100 tons. The stem and stern portions were constructed of wood, while the center section of the hull was half inch steel. The whole hull was covered in wood and sheathed with copper to reduce marine fouling, and a bronze ram was mounted on the bow. Schwalbe could make a respectable 14 knots on twin shafts with a cruising radius of 1,600 kilometers. Caprivi wanted the overseas cruisers to be able to take care of themselves and insisted on an overly heavy armament – eight 4.1-inch guns. Two were mounted forward in sponsons overhanging the sides, with two similar guns aft, and two guns either side amidships, mounted in the hull. She carried a crew of 9 officers and 108 enlisted. They proved to be good sea boats and their deployment overseas allowed Caprivi to retire five old sailing frigates.
In all, nine unprotected cruisers were built, ending in 1895 with Gefion – much improved at 4,275 tons, mounting ten 4.1-inch guns, and capable of 20 knots. And – her armor protection had increased to a full inch!
Unprotected cruiser Gefion - 1895
But the idea of only building “unprotected” cruisers for foreign service was quickly seen as too “specialized”, and the Reichstag was not exactly free with their spending. Caprivi realized he was going to have to have ships that could multi-task. The naval architects of the Reichsmarineamt began design work for more versatile cruisers capable of performing fleet duties. But the unprotected cruisers provided valuable experience in both design and operational service and formed the basis of future designs that would become what we know as light cruisers. The modernization of the German cruiser force had begun.
LIGHT CRUISERS
Light Cruiser Gazelle - The first modern light cruiser built for the German Navy - 1901.
General Caprivi’s next small cruisers would have to operate with the Hochseeflotte in home waters, and be able to fulfill the policing duties on “colonial” stations. The designers needed something small, with a bit of armor protection, and an optimal combination of speed, armament, and the stability to handle the nasty North Sea weather -- as well as the endurance to operate in the colonial empire. The naval architects were so successful, the Gazelle Class became the template for all the light cruisers designed through 1914.
Gazelle was the lead ship of a ten-ship class, commissioned between 1901 and 1904. She was 344 feet long with a 40 foot beam, and displaced 2,600 tons. Her twin shafts generated 19.5 knots with a range of 3,570 miles at cruising speed. (A speed of 19.5 knots might seem slow, but was satisfactory in an age when most battleships made only 18 knots -- or less.) Her crew consisted of 14 officers and 243 enlisted men. The cruiser mounted ten 4.1-inch guns in single mounts with shields, capable of firing 15 rounds per minute. Two guns were placed on either side of the forecastle, three on either side amidships, and two more on either side of the fantail. There were three 17.7-inch torpedo tubes – one submerged in the bow and one on deck on either broadside – with eight reloads.
Under various Naval laws passed by the Reichstag, the Gazelle Class would, eventually, be followed by 37 additional light cruisers built and commissioned prior to the end of the First World War. And each successive class was a little bigger and a little faster because the naval architects were determined to produce better ships – ship for ship – than their English counterparts.
DRESDEN CLASS LIGHT CRUISER – 1909
The Reichstag Naval Law of 1898 called for the construction of 30 light cruisers beginning with the ten ship Gazelle Class. This was followed by 7 ships of the Bremen Class between 1903 – 1905. Next were 4 ships of the Konigsberg Class of 1905 – 1907. Following that came SMS Dresden and her sister ship SMS Emden, comprising a two-ship class commissioned in 1909. Dresden was built at Blohm & Voss Shipyard, Hamburg, while Emden was constructed at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard), Danzig. There were some minor visual differences, but the basic pattern set by Gazelle was closely adhered to. The chief improvement was an additional boiler to increase speed to 24 knots.
In the picture above, you see Emden and Dresden “nested” against a pier taking on provisions. When finished, Dresden has been ordered to join the 4th Scouting Group in the main anchorage. Emden will be moved to the repair docks to have her engines overhauled for a long voyage. His Majesty, the Kaiser, has approved reinforcements for the East Asiatic Squadron and Emden will be joining a small convoy of warships and colliers bound for Tsingtao, China.
The very fine cruiser models are provided by @Barroco Hispano. The piers were modified from the PEG-SNM series of naval lots, with the addition of 100 ton crane models by “AP”. Wooden caissons (WMP Seawalls) were added to the front of the piers to act as “bumpers”. The roads are Paeng’s Grunge Concrete lots, while various buildings were re-purposed as workshops and warehouses. The warehouse adjacent to the pier is borrowed from a “PEG Seaport” – and since I wanted a long warehouse, I simply butted two ends together. The crane alongside the rail siding is from the PEG-SNM Dry Dock lot and was patterned after a crane commonly found in US Navy yards from the late 1930’s through the 1950’s.
You will also note two excellent Odin Class tug boats tied up along the seawall. This is a close-up of the tugs in that grouping. The white harbor tug in the picture was gifted by “WolfZe” and is reminiscent of steam tugs in the port of New York from the 1880’s into the late 1940’s. The remaining tugs are by “AP”. From lower left to right, they are a Midgard Class, A Passat Class, and two Odin Class, alongside the seawall. The Midgard Class is an older, low horsepower tug, suitable for harbors, rivers, and inshore coastal work. The Passat Class are modern (1910), state of the art tugs, with high horsepower, and capable of operating at sea. The Odin Class are a slimmed-down, slightly more modern, increased horsepower version of the Midgards. These beautifully modeled little boats are patterned after real tugs and have a dingy, overworked, weathered look that really brings them to life. If you examine these models closely, the level of detail is absolutely astonishing. Scratch-built -- they are courtesy of @AP.
The Dresden Class was, at 3,660 tons, much heavier than the earlier Gazelle, and just a bit larger with dimensions of 388 feet in length and a 44 foot beam. The armament remained the same with ten 4.1-inch guns – 6 mounted on the deck in shields and 4 mounted in the hull. They kept the original arrangement with two on the forecastle and two on the fantail and the remainder on either broadside. There were also two 17.7-inch torpedo tubes mounted on deck amidships. Since Gazelle’s time, armor protection had been increased in each successive class until Dresden sported a 3.1-inch deck, gun shields of 2 inches, and a 3.9-inch conning tower.
This is an excellent view of the bow -- very fine lines -- but short. Note the water barriers curving around the guns. Those guns would have been nearly impossible to work in any sort of seaway. The bridge structure has also been raised one deck and the wheelhouse fully enclosed, with spray shields on the bridge wings. This is another indication of the amount of spray and water coming across the bows at high speed or in rough weather.
STRASSBURG - MAGDEBURG CLASS LIGHT CRUISER – 1909
Strassburg was one of four ships of the Magdeburg Class laid down in 1910 and commissioned in 1912. This class included a number of innovations -- a new longitudinal hull framing system with a minimum of 14 watertight compartments, a cleaner and more efficient hull form, and a “clipper” bow rather than the usual ram bow. These ships were also designed for easy conversion to fast minelayers, with a cut down quarter deck providing space to install mine racks. More significantly, the Magdeburg’s were the first Imperial light cruisers with an armor belt on the waterline. Model courtesy of "Barroco Hispano".
The improvements to the class raised displacement to 4,570 tons and lengthened the hull to 455 feet and a breadth of 45 feet. With a length-to-breadth ratio of 10 to 1, the cruiser took on the shape of a “pencil” – making it much easier to push through the water. As clearly shown by the placement of the funnels, fully one half of the ship was occupied by her 16 boilers. Combined with the installation of steam turbines and a three shaft propeller arrangement, the ship was easily capable of 27.5 knots. All ships of the class were originally armed with twelve 4.1-inch guns, but when war broke out, it was found that the small guns were no longer sufficient to stop newer and larger destroyers. During the course of the war the armament was upgraded to what you see in the picture – seven 5.9-inch guns. There were also two 17.7-inch torpedo tubes mounted on deck, one on either beam. You can just make them out at the edge of the deck between the third and fourth funnel. (It should be noted that between the World Wars, the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limited all cruisers to 10,000 tons, while The London Naval Treaty of 1936 officially divided cruisers into 6 inch gun light cruisers, and 8 inch gun heavy cruisers. From 1922, this was the standard classification of cruisers – until the advent of the “missile cruiser”.)
The Magdeburg Class was armored with a waterline belt of 2.4 inches amidships, tapering at the bow – the stern was unarmored. The deck armor consisted of 2.5 inches of plate forward, 1.6 inches amidships, and 0.70 inches aft. She had a protective armored deck of 1.6 inches sloping down and connecting to the belt armor. The conning tower was 3.9 inches thick and the main battery guns were protected by 2-inch shields. All in all – a vast improvement over Gazelle’s meager protection. (Chapter 2 will have a full explanation of the principle of the protective armored deck.)
Three of the four ships in the class had rather eventful careers:
Magdeburg was deployed to the Baltic where she fired the very first shots of the Great War when she shelled the Russian port of Libau. In late August, 1914, she participated in a sweep of the Gulf of Finland and while steaming along the Estonian coast, she grounded off Odensholm Island and could not be re-floated. Soon, a pair of Russian cruisers arrived and seized the ship. The Russians recovered a pair of naval code books, one of which, they passed to the British. For the remainder of the war, this code book enabled the British to read much of the Hochseeflotte’s wireless traffic and alerted the British to the planned operations in May, 1916 -- allowing them to ambush the Imperial Fleet at Jutland. Though there were suspicions that the German codes had been “broken”, no steps to change them were ever taken.
Breslau, upon commissioning, was immediately assigned to the Mediterranean along with the new battlecruiser Goeben, to form the “Mittelmeerdivision” (Mediterranean Squadron). This squadron was sent to look after German nationals and government interests in the Balkan region during the Balkan War of 1912. After evading British cruiser forces in the early hours of WW I, the two ships steamed up the Bosphorus and dropped anchor off Constantinople. Berlin arranged a deal to transfer them to the Turkish Navy – whereupon, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia. (There was a great display of the German crews parading on deck, removing their Imperial headgear, and donning the famous red Turkish Fez.) Both ships remained active in the Black Sea, laying minefields, bombarding ports and installations, and even ferrying troops and supplies for the Turks. Breslau (renamed Midilli) was mined and sunk in 1918, during the Battle of Imbros, while Goeben (Yavuz Sultan Selim) survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1967. (The shame is that no one thought to preserve the last remaining battlecruiser from World War I!)
SMS Goeben proceeding on final sea trials – 1912.
Strassburg was assigned to the Scouting Forces of the Hochseeflotte in 1913 and went on to see action at the Battle of Heligoland and the Bombardment of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby in 1914. In 1917 she saw action against the Russians during the operations in the Gulf of Riga. After the Armistice in 1918, she served briefly in the Wiemar Republic’s Reichsmarine before being ceded to Italy as war reparations in 1920. She served as Taranto in the “Regia Marina”, which is why our picture shows her flying an Italian flag. When Italy surrendered in 1943, she was scuttled by her crew. The Germans quickly occupied Italy to take advantage of the easily defended mountainous terrain, and took the time to raise their former warship from the bottom of the harbor. She was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft in late 1943, raised again by the Germans, and bombed and sunk yet again in September, 1944. A somewhat dubious honor, but she must hold the record for the number of sinkings by a single ship. She was broken up for scrap in 1946 – 1947.
Stralsund, alone among the class, served a, more or less, mundane existence. She was assigned to the Scouting Force for the majority of her career, seeing action in the raids on the English coast and at Heligoland in 1914, and Dogger Bank in 1915. She was in the dockyard during Jutland, but served in the Reichsmarine (Wiemar Republic) after the war, before being ceded to France, where she served as Mulhouse until 1925. She was eventually scrapped in 1935.
KARLSRUHE CLASS LIGHT CRUISER – 1914
SMS Rostock – The last light cruiser to join the fleet before the outbreak of war in 1914.
SMS Karlsruhe and Rostock constituted a two ship class and were the last light cruisers to join the Kaiserliche Marine prior to World War I. These ships were virtually identical to the preceding Magdeburg Class, but were slightly heavier at 4,900 tons, a bit longer at 466 feet, and capable of making 29.3 knots – a considerable improvement achieved largely through slight alterations to the hull lines that gave the ships a smoother form and more “rake” to the “clipper” bow. They carried the same armament as the Magdeburg’s – twelve 4.1-inch guns.
KONIGSBERG CLASS LIGHT CRUISERS – 1916 - 1917
This four ship class was composed of Konigsberg, Karlsruhe, Emden, and Nurnberg – all named after light cruisers lost earlier in the war. (Which can cause some confusion.) They were commissioned into the Kaiserliche Marine in 1916 and 1917, which was rather late in the war. Konigsberg and Emden were built at the AG Weser Shipyard in Bremen – Karlsruhe at the Imperial Dockyard Kiel – and Nurnburg at the Howaldtswerke Shipyard, also in Kiel.
In the picture above, the beautiful and detailed cruiser models speak for themselves, and they are courtesy of @Barroco Hispano. The breakwater in the background is by “Uki”. But the small, details may be of interest as well.
For many years I have seen period pictures of battleships at anchor, with boat booms extended from their sides, and swarms of small boats coming and going. But I was never able to depict this very common and somewhat mundane activity which has everything to do with the realistic portrayal of life in the fleet. Here you see the boat boom out and a cutter tied up – the crew unloading boxes to the ship.
Ships riding at anchor are small, tightly packed worlds unto themselves. Communication with the ship was strictly for “Navy’ business and could only be accomplished by flag hoists, shore semaphore, wireless telegraphy, or a “dispatch boat”. Ship’s business errands could only be run by boat. Reports and messages had to be sent ashore. Mail had to be ferried out to the ship. Food had to be brought out in lighter barges towed by tugs. Nearly everything we take for granted had to be accomplished by small boats. Harbors and anchorages were, literally, alive with small boats plying back and forth between ship and shore.
Thanks to “AP” no detail of realism is too small to get attention. The boat boom extending out from the ship is a prop, as is the cutter unloading. They are placed on a 1x1 lot, carefully adjusted to mesh with the side of the ship. They can be placed alongside almost any ship and provide an entirely new degree of realism.
You will also note the two cruisers are moored at the bow to a “battleship buoy”, also sometimes referred to as a “barrel buoy”. These are permanent, floating mooring buoys anchored to the seabed with heavy chains and concrete bases. Ships pull alongside and “fish” the buoy toward the hull so a mooring hawser can be tied off, or they send a small boat to “tie off”. These have been around for centuries, in one form or another, in every corner of the world. And courtesy of “AP” – now you will see them in SC4. This one is also a free-standing 1x1 lot plopped as close as possible to the ships.
As the last “full” cruiser class commissioned into the Imperial navy, and just an incremental improvement over the preceding Wiesbaden Class, these ships were still quite impressive for their day. Their length was 496 feet, with a 46 foot beam, displacing 5,440 tons. Their design incorporated eighteen watertight compartments with a double bottom over 45% of the length of the keel. The cruisers were manned by 17 officers and 458 men and were generally regarded as good sea boats -- highly maneuverable with a tight turning radius. (Note: There were, in fact, four more cruisers commissioned before the Armistice, but two of them were minelayers, and the very last two saw no actual combat.)
Karlsruhe was fitted with two sets of high-pressure geared turbines, while the other three ships received direct-drive steam turbines, and all were powered by ten coal-fired and two double-ended, oil-fired boilers. The turbines drove a double shaft arrangement and reached a trial speed of 27.5 knots. However, the trials were conducted in shallow water due to war time dangers, and in deep water the ships could have exceeded 29 knots. Armament consisted of eight 5.9-inch guns in pedestal mounts with shields. Two guns were placed side-by-side forward, two on either broadside, and two more, centreline, and super-firing aft. The rate of fire was 5 to 7 rounds per minute. Four 19.7-inch torpedo tubes were installed, one on deck on either broadside, and two more submerged in the hull. Eight torpedoes were carried. The ships were also equipped to carry 200 mines. Armor protection was virtually the same as the Magdeburg Class cruisers.
Konigsberg and Nurnburg participated in the Second Battle Of Heligoland in November 1917, when they were providing close escort for minesweepers clearing channels through British minefields near the island. They were ambushed by a group of Royal Navy destroyers and light cruisers escorted by the battlecruiser HMS Repulse. During the engagement, Konigsberg was struck by a 15” shell from Repulse which did no serious structural damage, but caused a large fire. The outnumbered German ships immediately fell back on their advancing support units. The British pursuit was broken off when they identified the topmasts of the dreadnought battleships SMS Kaiser and Kaiserin approaching. And that was the last action by the Hochseeflotte that could be called a “battle”.
The blueprints for Konigsberg would later be used as the basis for the initial design work on the Emden, built for the Reichsmarine in the 1920’s. The design department had suffered severe budget cuts under the Wiemar Republic, and the Versailles Treaty had closed the Navy’s Ship Testing Institute, but the original Konigsberg blueprints had survived the chaos following the Kaiser’s abdication. Consequently, the architects saved time and money by taking a proven design and building upon it.
All in all, the pattern of the little Gazelle had led the way for those that followed. By 1914 the Kaiserliche Marine had, by process of evolution, built a solid force of fast, well armed, and reasonably armored light cruisers.
Light Cruiser Dresden II – Last cruiser commissioned into the Kaiserliche Marine - 1918.
NEXT TIME……
PROTECTED CRUISERS:
A BRIEF EXPERIMENT
Once gain…...
MY MANY THANKS to @Barroco Hispano for his generously given time and talent creating so many beautiful warships.
MY SPECIAL THANKS to @AP for his collaboration in this shared project. It is his considerable skill and talent, and much valuable time spent creating so many wonderful props that have added so much variety, originality, and “life” to the dockyards.
If you enjoyed anything you saw – please punch the “like” button so I will know. A comment would be even more informative.
Comments and critiques requested and gratefully accepted. All questions answered promptly to the best of my ability.
THANK YOU for your visit.
You may wish to visit these CJ’s as well……
SERIES I:
IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: WILHELMSHAVEN
SERIES II:
IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: CUXHAVEN
Appearing – Work In Publication
SERIES III:
IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: BREMERHAVEN
Appearing -- ???
And please feel free to drop in at…
THE SIMTROPOLIS SHIPYARD
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