SMS was a light cruiser of the Imperial German Navy. Named for the city of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), she was the seventh and last ship of the . She was begun by the Imperial Dockyard in her namesake city in 1904, launched on 23 September 1905 and commissioned on 1 December 1907. Armed with a main battery of ten guns and two torpedo tubes, was capable of a top speed of .
spent the first ten years of her career in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet. The ship saw extensive service during the First World War; she was present at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914, but did not engage British warships. She also saw action in the Baltic Sea against Russian forces, and was badly damaged by a Russian mine in November 1915. was also involved in Operation Albion, the seizure of the islands at the entrance of the Gulf of Riga, in September 1917. She was thereafter withdrawn from service, and surrendered to Britain after the end of the war as a war prize. was dismantled for scrap starting in 1921.
Design
The German 1898 Naval Law called for the replacement of the fleet's older cruising vessels—steam corvettes, unprotected cruisers, and avisos—with modern light cruisers. The first tranche of vessels to fulfill this requirement, the , were designed to serve both as fleet scouts and as station ships in Germany's colonial empire. They provided the basis for subsequent designs, beginning with the that was designed in 1901–1903. The principle improvements consisted of a larger hull that allowed for an additional pair of boilers and a higher top speed.
was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced as designed and up to at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion steam engines with steam provided by ten coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers. Her propulsion system was rated at for a top speed of . carried up to of coal, which gave her a range of at . She had a crew of 14 officers and 274–287 enlisted men.
The ship was armed with ten 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 . They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried ten Maxim guns in individual mounts. She was also equipped with two torpedo tubes with five torpedoes. They were submerged in the hull on the broadside. was also fitted to carry fifty naval mines. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was up to thick. The conning tower had thick sides, and the guns were protected by thick gun shields.
Service history
was ordered under the contract name and was laid down at the (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig on 12 July 1904. She was launched on 23 September 1905, and at the ceremony, she was christened by Heinrich Otto Ehlers, the Bürgermeister of the ship's namesake city. After completing fitting-out work, she was commissioned to begin sea trials on 1 December 1907. These were carried out with a temporary crew, and lasted until 6 April 1908. The ship then took most of the crew from the light cruiser , whose place she took in I Scouting Group, the reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet. She and the rest of I Scouting Group embarked on a voyage into the central Atlantic in July and August. The cruise was made in company with the battleship squadrons of the High Seas Fleet. Prince Heinrich had pressed for such a cruise the previous year, arguing that it would prepare the fleet for overseas operations and would break up the monotony of training in German waters, though tensions with Britain over the developing Anglo-German naval arms race were high. The fleet departed Kiel on 17 July, passed through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to the North Sea, and continued to the Atlantic. The fleet returned to Germany on 13 August. The autumn maneuvers followed from 27 August to 12 September. That year, was awarded the Kaiser's (Shooting Prize) for excellent shooting for the light cruisers of I Scouting Group.