SS ''Königin Luise'' was a German steam

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

. She operated between Hamburg and the Netherlands, before being taken over by the Kaiserliche Marine on the outbreak of the First World War. She was used as an auxiliary minelayer before being sunk on 5 August 1914.Details on the ''Königin Luise''
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Construction and early career

''Königin Luise'' was laid down at AG Vulcan Stettin in 1913, and launched on 8 May 1913 for service with the Hamburg America Line. After serving for some time as a ferry, she was requisitioned by the Kaiserliche Marine on 3 August 1914 to serve as an auxiliary minelayer, carrying 200 naval mines. She was fitted with two revolver cannons, and there were plans to fit her with two 88 mm guns, but the British entry to the war on 4 August led to the navy pressing ''Königin Luise'' into immediate action. She was disguised in the black, buff, and yellow colours of the steamers of the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

that sailed between

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

and the Hook of Holland, and sailed from

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...

on the night of 4 August. Her captain, Commander Biermann, had orders to lay mines off the Thames Estuary.Loss of HMS ''Amphion''

Minelaying and encounter with the British

''Königin Luise'' was able to lay a number of mines off the coast during the night, but was sighted by a number of fishing vessels. The light cruiser of the Harwich Force and a number of

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s of the 3rd Flotilla sailed early in the morning of 5 August and headed towards Heligoland Bight. On the way they encountered a fishing boat, whose occupants informed the British force that they had seen an unknown ship "throwing things over the side" about 20 miles north of the Outer Gabbard. ''Amphion'' and the destroyers set off to investigate. The taskforce spotted ''Königin Luise'' at 10:25, and the destroyers and moved to investigate. ''Königin Luise'' fled at her top speed, moving into a rain squall, where she proceeded to lay more mines. ''Lance'' and ''Landrail'' gave chase, signalling to the rest of the force that they were engaging. ''Lance'' opened fire, one of the first British shots of the war. ''Amphion'' soon closed and also began to fire on the fleeing ''Königin Luise''. The German ship attempted to escape to neutral waters to the south-east, while leading the pursuing British through her minefield, but under heavy and accurate fire, Commander Biermann ordered the scuttling of the ship. The surviving crew abandoned ship, and ''Königin Luise'' rolled over to port and sank at 12:22. 46 of the 100 crew were rescued by the British ships. She was the first German naval loss of the war.

Loss of ''Amphion''

The British ships continued their patrol, before heading back to port that evening. Their course took them through the minefield ''Königin Luise'' had previously laid, and at 06:45 on the morning of 6 August ''Amphion'' struck one of the mines. Heavily damaged, she was abandoned, with her crew being taken off by the escorting destroyers. ''Amphion'' drifted back into the minefield, struck another mine at 07:03 and sank, becoming the first British naval war loss, with those killed being the first British casualties of the war. 19 of the 21 German POWs died on the ''Amphion'' when it sank plus 1 German POW killed on ''HMS Lark'' also lost by misadventure because of an ''Amphion'' shell.HMS Amphion\
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Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konigin Luise Minelayers of the Imperial German Navy Steamships of Germany World War I minelayers of Germany World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean 1913 ships Maritime incidents in August 1914 Ships built in Stettin