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SMS Danzig
The last ship of the
Bremen-class was named after the city located in West Prussia on the Baltic coast, today located in Poland and called Gdansk. She was ordered as
Ersatz Alexandrine, a replacement for an old corvette of 1895. In an interesting coincidence, SMS
Alexandrine was later scrapped
in Danzig after being stricken. SMS
Danzig was laid down in 1904 and was launched on September 23rd, 1905. She was christened by the current mayor of Danzig, Dr Ehlers. She joined the German Navy on December 1st, 1907 with most of her crew coming from the old cruiser SMS
Arcona.
In appearance she and her predecessor
Leipzig were much closer to the succeeding
Königsberg-class: The mast was already integrated into the bridge, the funnels much straighter and the ramming bow less prominent. In terms of weapons, nothing had changed.
After commissioning,
Danzig served in the High Seas Fleet's Scouting forces.
In 1910 was transferred from the Scouting Forces to the Inspection of Ship Artillery, where she served as a training ship. During her years as training ships there were several collisions with other ships, for example the torpedo boat
S76 in October of 1910. In July of 1914
Danzig was assigned as a guard ship for the harbour of Kiel.
With the outbreak of the War,
Danzig was assigned to the II. Scouting Group and returned to the North Sea, but shortly afterwards she was moved to the IV. Scouting Group and would return to the Baltic. While awaiting transfer through the Kiel Channel together with her sister
München, the First Battle of the Heligoland Bight happened. The two cruisers were called in as possible reinforcements, but
Danzig did not participate in any combat actions, because she was busy rescuing survivors from the light cruiser
Ariadne.
In May of 1915, the IV. Scouting Group, consisting of
Danzig,
München,
Stettin,
Stuttgart and 21 torpedo boats, participated in the Battle of Libau, where they bombarded Russian land forces.
München briefly encountered Russian ships, but both sides did not press for an encounter, unsure of each other's strength.
Danzig returned to the North Sea fleet.
After hitting a mine on May 15th, the cruiser spent several months in dry dock for repairs, with most of her crew manning the cruiser
Frauenlob.
Danzig returned to service on November 13th, once again in the Baltic Sea, but on November 25th, she again hit a mine, receiving heavy damage to shafts and rudder. In both cases she was towed back by her sister
Berlin. During the repairs, which lasted for six months, the crew was once again transferred to
Frauenlob.
In 1916
Danzig was overhauled, served again in the II. Scouting Group and as guard ship. In 1917, back in the Baltic, she first served as target ship, but in autumn, she participated in the Battle of Moon Sound and the occupation of the Oesel Island. During the battle, once again part of the II Scouting group, she was commanded by Prinz Adalbert, son of the Kaiser. Tasked with screening the main battle fleet,
Danzig's only contribution to the battle was an interception order against Russian destroyers, together with cruisers
Königsberg and
Nürnberg.
After that, she was transferred to the reserve and used as target ship.
Danzig survived the war and was stricken on November 9th, 1919 and given to Great Britain as prize “R” on September 15th, 1920 and scrapped over the following years.