 SMS Hertha in the United States
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| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Hertha |
| Namesake | Hertha |
| Builder | AG Vulcan, Stettin |
| Laid down | October 1895 |
| Launched | 14 April 1897 |
| Commissioned | 23 July 1898 |
| Stricken | 6 December 1919 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Victoria Louise-class protected cruiser |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 110.6 m (363 ft) |
| Beam | 17.4 m (57 ft) |
| Draft | 6.58 m (21.6 ft) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Range | 3,412 nmi (6,319 km; 3,926 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 Hertha was a protected cruiser of the Victoria Louise class, built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) in the 1890s. Hertha was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in 1895, launched in April 1897, and commissioned into the Navy in July 1898. The ship was armed with a battery of two 21 cm guns and eight 15 cm guns and had a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).
Hertha served abroad in the East Asia Squadron for the first six years of her career; she served briefly as the Squadron flagship in 1900. She contributed a landing party to the force that captured the Taku Forts during the Boxer Uprising in 1900. After returning to Germany in 1905, she was modernized and used as a training ship in 1908, following the completion of the refit. She conducted a series of training cruises, and several notable officers served aboard the ship as cadets, including Karl Dönitz and Ernst Lindemann. At the outbreak of World War I, Hertha was mobilized into V Scouting Group, but served in front-line duty only briefly. She was used as a barracks ship after 1915, and ultimately sold for scrapping in 1920.