More German light cruisers

Garlicdesign

Post subject: More German light cruisers

Posted: October 9th, 2015, 8:08 pm

Posts: 1071
Joined: December 26th, 2012, 9:36 am
Location: Germany

Hello everyone!

Continuing the collection of HSF light cruisers: Karlsruhe- and Rostock-classes

SMS Rostock
Rostock and her sister SMS Karlsruhe (already in the archive) were slightly upscaled repeats of the Magdeburg-class with a visibly longer forecastle, which gave her - IMHO - the most elegant lines of all German light cruisers. While the Kolbergs and the Magdeburgs experimented with different types of engines, from this class on, two-shaft Navy-type (Parsons) turbines were standardized. Rostock took part in the battles of the Dogger Bank and of Jutland. During the latter, she served as flagship of Scheer's destroyer screen (three flotillas) and sunk two British destroyers before being torpedoed by another British destroyer; while under tow, she was caught by HMS Dublin and scuttled. Most of her crew was rescued.
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Graudenz-class

These two cruisers were the follow-on class to the Karlsruhes. They had the same machinery, but only three funnels, resulting in less graceful appearance, but also less smoke interference for the bridge. Their underwater hull was identical, and they had the same Lcwl; their bow was slightly more raked, giving them a tad more LOA. They were the last German cruisers to be completed with 105mm guns, but a slight improvement was made by mounting the aft pair superfiring on the centerline.

SMS Graudenz
Graudenz was completed a few days after the start of the war and took part in the battles of the Dogger Bank and in the Moon Sound; she misses Jutland due to mine damage.
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During repairs, she was re-armed with seven 150mm guns and two 88mm flaks; she also received two additional 500mm torpedo tubes, while retaining their submerged tubes. The position of the 88mm guns is not shown on any of the available line drawings; some postwar photographs show them side by side abreast and just behind the aft funnel, while most other German light cruisers mounted them on the centerline. She returned to the HSF after her repair late in 1916, but did not see any substantian action. She was ceded to Italy after the war, becoming RN Ancona; she was used for catapult trials (receiving a fixed catapult firing forward on the forecastle, which was lengthened by fitting a ridiculously exagerrated clipper bow) and scrapped in 1936.
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SMS Regensburg
Regensburg was completed in January 1915 and served as flagship of Hipper's three destroyer flotillas at Jutland. She damaged a light cruiser and a destroyer, but carried not enough punch to sink them; although she received massive attention from several British battlecruisers, light cruisers and destroyers, she was not hit by as much as a single shell.
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After Jutland, she was refitted with seven 150mm and two 88mm guns; unlike her sister, she received four singls 500mm deck torpedo tubes, and her submerged tubes were removed. She further differed from Graudenz by having her searchlights rearranged (Graudenz retained the original side-by-side arrangement, according to what photographic evidence I found); she also had only one observation station, while Graudenz had three. Like her sister, she saw no significant action after Jutland and became a French prize after the war. She was renamed Strasbourg and scrapped in 1936.
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Greetings
GD

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