 Yorck in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal
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| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Yorck |
| Namesake | Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg |
| Builder | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Laid down | 25 April 1903 |
| Launched | 14 May 1904 |
| Commissioned | 21 November 1905 |
| Decommissioned | 21 May 1913 |
| Commissioned | 12 August 1914 |
| Fate | Sunk accidentally by German mines, 4 November 1914 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Roon-class armored cruiser |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 127.80 m (419 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 20.20 m (66 ft 3 in) |
| Draft | 7.76 m (25.5 ft) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 20.4 knots (37.8 km/h; 23.5 mph) |
| Range | 5,080 nmi (9,410 km; 5,850 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Crew |
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| Armament |
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| Armor | |
SMS Yorck ("His Majesty's Ship Yorck") was the second and final ship of the Roon class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) as part of a major naval expansion program aimed at strengthening the fleet. Yorck was named for Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, a Prussian field marshal. She was laid down in 1903 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, launched in May 1904, and commissioned in November 1905. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns and had a top speed of 20.4 knots (37.8 km/h; 23.5 mph). Like many of the late armored cruisers, Yorck was quickly rendered obsolescent by the advent of the battlecruiser; as a result, her peacetime career was limited.
Yorck spent the first seven years of her career in I Scouting Group, the reconnaissance force for the High Seas Fleet, initially as the group flagship. She undertook training exercises and made several cruises in the Atlantic Ocean. Yorck was involved in several accidents, including an accidental explosion aboard the ship in 1911 and a collision with a torpedo boat in 1913. In May 1913, she was decommissioned and placed in reserve until the outbreak of World War I in July 1914. She was then mobilized and assigned to III Scouting Group. On 3 November, she formed part of the screen for the High Seas Fleet as it sailed to support a German raid on Yarmouth; on the return of the fleet to Wilhelmshaven, the ships encountered heavy fog and anchored in the Schillig Roads to await better visibility. Believing the fog to have cleared sufficiently, the ship's commander ordered Yorck to get underway in the early hours of 4 November. She entered a German minefield in the haze, struck two mines, and sank with heavy loss of life. The wreck was dismantled progressively between the 1920s and 1980s to reduce the navigational hazard it posed.