 Prinz Heinrich in port in 1902, probably while fitting-out
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Fürst Bismarck |
| Succeeded by | Prinz Adalbert class |
| History | |
 German Empire | |
| Name | Prinz Heinrich |
| Namesake | Prince Heinrich of Prussia |
| Builder | Kaiserliche Werft, Kiel |
| Laid down | December 1898 |
| Launched | 22 March 1900 |
| Commissioned | 11 March 1902 |
| Decommissioned | 27 March 1916 |
| Stricken | 25 January 1920 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Armored cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 415.33 ft (126.59 m) |
| Beam | 64.33 ft (19.61 m) |
| Draft | 26.5 ft (8.1 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Range | 4,580 nmi (8,480 km; 5,270 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor | |
SMS Prinz Heinrich was a unique German armored cruiser built at the turn of the 20th century for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), named after Kaiser Wilhelm II's younger brother Prince Heinrich. The second vessel of that type built in Germany, Prinz Heinrich was constructed at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel, being laid down in December 1898, launched in March 1900, and commissioned in March 1902. Prinz Heinrich's design was a modification of the previous armored cruiser, Fürst Bismarck, and traded a smaller main battery and thinner armor for higher speed. All subsequent German armored cruisers were incremental developments of Prinz Heinrich.
Prinz Heinrich served with the German fleet in home waters for just four years, from 1902 to 1906, when she was withdrawn from front-line service. During this period, she served as the flagship of the fleet's scouting forces, and she was primarily occupied with fleet training. The ship was out of service from early 1906 to mid-1908, when she was reactivated for use as a gunnery training ship, a role she filled until late 1912. Prinz Heinrich underwent modernization and conversion into a dedicated training ship in 1914, and the work was completed just before the outbreak of World War I in July that year.
After the outbreak of war, the ship was reactivated for active service, initially with III Scouting Group with the High Seas Fleet. Prinz Heinrich was used for coastal defense in the North Sea and she participated in the fleet sortie that supported the Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914. After the naval command determined that Prinz Heinrich was too old to serve in the North Sea against the powerful British Royal Navy, she was transferred to the Baltic Sea in early 1915. She supported offensive minelaying operations and patrolled the central Baltic for Russian forces, but never encountered hostile forces. She provided gunfire support during the attack on Libau in May 1915 and shelled Russian positions during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August. In the face of severe crew shortages in late 1915, Prinz Heinrich had her crew reduced and was ultimately decommissioned and disarmed in March 1916. She thereafter served in a variety of secondary roles for the rest of the war, before being broken up in 1920.