SMS Wiesbaden

SMS ''Wiesbaden'' was a light cruiser of the built for the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''). She had one sister ship, ; the ships were very similar to the previous s. The ship was laid down in 1913, launched in January 1915, and completed by August 1915. Armed with eight 15 cm SK L/45 guns, ''Wiesbaden'' had a top speed of and displaced at full load.

''Wiesbaden'' saw only one major action, the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. The ship was badly damaged by gunfire from the battlecruiser . Immobilized between the two battle fleets, ''Wiesbaden'' became the center of a hard-fought action that saw the destruction of two British armored cruisers. Heavy fire from the British fleet prevented evacuation of the ship's crew. ''Wiesbaden'' remained afloat until the early hours of 1 June and sank sometime between 01:45 and 02:45. Only one crew member survived the sinking; the wreck was located by German Navy divers in 1983.

Design

''Wiesbaden'' was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of two sets of Marine steam turbines driving two screw propellers. They were designed to give . These were powered by ten coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers and two oil-fired double-ended boilers. These gave the ship a top speed of . ''Wiesbaden'' carried of coal, and an additional of oil that gave her a range of at . ''Wiesbaden'' had a crew of 17 officers and 457 enlisted men.

The ship was armed with a main battery of eight SK L/45 guns in single pedestal mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, four were located amidships, two on either side, and two were placed in a superfiring pair aft. The guns could engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1,024 rounds of ammunition, for 128 shells per gun. The ship's antiaircraft armament initially consisted of four L/55 guns, though these were replaced with a pair of SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns. She was also equipped with four torpedo tubes with eight torpedoes. Two were submerged in the hull on the broadside and two were mounted on the deck amidships. She could also carry 120 mines. The ship was protected by a waterline armored belt that was thick amidships. The conning tower had thick sides, and the deck was covered with up to 60 mm thick armor plate.

Service history

''Wiesbaden'' was ordered under the contract name "''Ersatz'' " and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1913 and launched on 20 January 1915, after which fitting-out work commenced. She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 23 August 1915, after being rushed through sea trials.

Battle of Jutland

Commanded by Captain Fritz Reiss, ''Wiesbaden'' was assigned to II Scouting Group of light cruisers under ''Konteradmiral'' Friedrich Boedicker, which took part in the Battle of Jutland on 30 May and 1 June 1916. ''Wiesbaden''s sister ship served as Boedicker's flagship. The unit was assigned to screen for the battlecruisers of ''Vizeadmiral'' Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group. At the start of the battle, ''Wiesbaden'' was cruising to starboard, which placed her on the disengaged side when , , and ''Frankfurt'' first engaged the British cruiser screen.

At around 18:30, ''Wiesbaden'' and the rest of II Scouting Group encountered the cruiser ; they opened fire and scored several hits on the ship. As both sides' cruisers disengaged, Rear Admiral Horace Hood's three battlecruisers intervened. His flagship scored a hit on ''Wiesbaden'' that exploded in her engine room and disabled the ship. ''Konteradmiral'' Paul Behncke, the commander of the leading element of the German battle line, ordered his dreadnoughts to cover the stricken ''Wiesbaden''. Simultaneously, the light cruisers of the British 3rd and 4th Light Cruiser Squadrons attempted to make a torpedo attack on the German line; while steaming into range, they battered ''Wiesbaden'' with their main guns. The destroyer steamed to within of ''Wiesbaden'' and fired a single torpedo at the crippled cruiser. It hit directly below the conning tower, but the ship remained afloat. In the ensuing melee, the armored cruiser blew up and was fatally damaged. ''Wiesbaden'' launched her torpedoes while she remained immobilized, scoring one hit against the battleship .

Shortly after 20:00, III Flotilla of torpedo boats attempted to rescue ''Wiesbaden''s crew, but heavy fire from the British battle line drove them off. Another attempt to reach the ship was made, but the torpedo boat crews lost sight of the cruiser and were unable to locate her. The ship finally sank sometime between 01:45 and 02:45. Only one crew member survived the sinking; he was picked up by a Norwegian steamer the following day. Among the 589 killed was the well-known writer of poetry and fiction dealing with the life of fishermen and sailors, Johann Kinau, known under his pseudonym of Gorch Fock, who has since then been honored by having two training windjammers of the Kriegsmarine and the German Navy, respectively, named after him. The wreck of ''Wiesbaden'' was found in 1983 by divers of the German Navy, who removed both of the ship's screws. The ship lies on the sea floor upside down, and was the last German cruiser sunk at Jutland to be located.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden-class cruisers
Ships built in Stettin
1915 ships
World War I cruisers of Germany
Ships sunk at the Battle of Jutland
Maritime incidents in 1916