 Magdeburg in 1911.
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| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Magdeburg |
| Namesake | Magdeburg |
| Builder | AG Weser, Bremen |
| Cost | 8,058,000 mark |
| Yard number | 171 |
| Laid down | 1910 |
| Launched | 13 May 1911 |
| Commissioned | 20 August 1912 |
| Fate | Wrecked on 26 August 1914 in the Gulf of Finland |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Magdeburg-class cruiser |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 138.7 m (455 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in) |
| Draft | 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 27.6 knots (51.1 km/h; 31.8 mph) |
| Range | 5,820 nmi (10,780 km; 6,700 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armor |
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SMS Magdeburg ("His Majesty's Ship Magdeburg")[a] was the lead ship of the Magdeburg class of light cruisers in the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). Her class included three other ships: Breslau, Strassburg, and Stralsund. Magdeburg was built at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen from 1910 to August 1912, when she was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet. The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 10.5 cm SK L/45 guns and had a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph). Magdeburg was used as a torpedo test ship after her commissioning until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, when she was brought to active service and deployed to the Baltic.
In the Baltic, Magdeburg fired the first shots of the war against the Russians on 2 August, when she shelled the port of Libau. She participated in a series of bombardments of Russian positions until late August. On the 26th, she participated in a sweep of the entrance to the Gulf of Finland; while steaming off the Estonian coast, she ran aground off the island of Odensholm and could not be freed. A pair of Russian cruisers appeared and seized the ship. Fifteen crew members were killed in the brief engagement. They recovered three intact German code books, one of which they passed to the British. The ability to decrypt German wireless signals provided the British with the ability to ambush German units on several occasions during the war, including the Battle of Jutland. The Russians partially scrapped Magdeburg while she remained grounded before completely destroying the wreck.
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