 Hamburg underway early in her career
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Hamburg |
| Laid down | 1902 |
| Launched | 25 July 1903 |
| Commissioned | 8 March 1904 |
| Out of service | 1944 |
| Stricken | 31 March 1931 |
| Fate | Sunk in 27 July 1944, Raised and Scrapped in 1956 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Bremen-class light cruiser |
| Displacement | |
| Length | Length overall: 111.1 meters (365 ft) |
| Beam | 13.3 m (43.6 ft) |
| Draft | 5.28 m (17.3 ft) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) |
| Range | 4,270 nmi (7,910 km; 4,910 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armor |
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SMS Hamburg ("His Majesty's Ship Hamburg")[a] was the second member of the seven-vessel Bremen class of light cruisers, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the early 1900s. She and her sister ships were ordered under the 1898 Naval Law that required new cruisers be built to replace obsolete vessels in the fleet. The design for the Bremen class was derived from the preceding Gazelle class, utilizing a larger hull that allowed for additional boilers that increased speed. Named for the city of Hamburg, the ship was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph).
Hamburg served with the reconnaissance force of the main fleet for the majority of her early career, and during this period, she frequently escorted Hohenzollern, the yacht of Kaiser Wilhelm II. During World War I, she served as the deputy flagship of a flotilla of U-boats, and she frequently cruised with the High Seas Fleet during patrols in the North Sea. She was present at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where she was damaged in clashes with British light forces as the German fleet withdrew in the night. Obsolescent by that time, Hamburg was reduced to a stationary headquarters ship and was also used as an accommodation ship for the rest of the war.
Following Germany's defeat, Hamburg remained in Germany and was among the vessels permitted to the Reichsmarine by the Treaty of Versailles. She was among the first vessels to be recommissioned in 1920 and in 1921, while escorting minesweepers, she engaged Soviet coastal artillery. Her crew assisted in the suppression of unrest in Hamburg in October 1923. Reduced to a training ship in 1926, she embarked on a world cruise, after which she was decommissioned and reduced to a barracks ship. She served in that capacity in Kiel until early 1944, when the Nazi-era Kriegsmarine moved her to Hamburg to be broken up; British bombers sank the ship in April before she could be dismantled. The wreck was raised after the war in 1949 and was finally scrapped by 1956.
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