 SMS Strassburg
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | SMS Strassburg |
| Namesake | Strassburg |
| Builder | Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven |
| Laid down | October 1910 |
| Launched | 24 August 1911 |
| Commissioned | 1 October 1912 |
| Fate | Ceded to Italy in 1920 |
 Italy | |
| Name | Taranto |
| Acquired | 20 July 1920 |
| Commissioned | 2 June 1925 |
| Decommissioned | December 1942 |
| Fate | Sunk by air attack in 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Magdeburg-class cruiser |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 138.70 m (455 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 13.50 m (44 ft 3 in) |
| Draft | 4.25 m (13 ft 11 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 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 Strassburg was a light cruiser of the Magdeburg class in the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). Her class included three other ships: Magdeburg, Breslau, and Stralsund. Strassburg was built at the Kaiserliche Werft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven from 1910 to October 1912, when she was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet. The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns and had a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph).
Strassburg spent the first year of her service overseas, after which she was assigned to the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet. She saw significant action at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914 and participated in the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914. By 1916, the ship was transferred to the Baltic to operate against the Russian Navy. She saw action during Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga in October 1917, including screening for the battleships König and Markgraf during the Battle of Moon Sound. She returned to the North Sea for the planned final operation against the British Grand Fleet in the last weeks of the war, and was involved in the mutinies that forced the cancellation of the operation.
The ship served briefly in the new Reichsmarine in 1919 before being transferred to Italy as a war prize. She was formally transferred in July 1920 and renamed Taranto for service in the Italian Navy. In 1936–1937, she was rebuilt for colonial duties and additional anti-aircraft guns were installed. She saw no significant action during World War II until the Italian surrender, which ended Italy's participation in the war. She was scuttled by the Italian Navy, captured and raised by the Germans, and sunk by Allied bombers in October 1943. The Germans raised the ship again, which was sunk a second time by bombers in September 1944. Taranto was finally broken up for scrap in 1946–1947.