SMS was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. She was the lead ship of her class, which included . and her sister were enlarged versions of the preceding ; they were equipped with a greater number of main guns and were capable of a higher top speed. The ship was named after the Prussian military reformer General Gerhard von Scharnhorst and commissioned into service on 24 October 1907.
served briefly with the High Seas Fleet in Germany in 1908, though most of this time was spent conducting sea trials. She was assigned to the East Asia Squadron based in Qingdao, China, in 1909. After arriving, she replaced the cruiser as the squadron flagship, a position she would hold for the rest of her career. Over the next five years, she went on several tours of various Asian ports to show the flag for Germany. She frequently carried the squadron commanders to meet Asian heads of state and was present in Japan for the coronation of the Taishō Emperor in 1912.
After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, and , accompanied by three light cruisers and several colliers, sailed across the Pacific Ocean to the southern coast of South America. On 1 November 1914, and the rest of the East Asia Squadron encountered and overpowered a British squadron at the Battle of Coronel. The defeat prompted the British Admiralty to dispatch two battlecruisers to hunt down and destroy the German squadron, which they accomplished at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. The discovery of the wreck was announced in December 2019 by Mensun Bound.
Design
The two -class cruisers were ordered as part of the naval construction program laid out in the Second Naval Law of 1900, which called for a force of fourteen armored cruisers. The ships marked a significant increase in combat power over the predecessors, the , being more heavily armed and armored. These improvements were made to allow for and to fight in the line of battle should the need arise, a capability requested by the General Department.
was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . The ship displaced as designed and at full load. She was powered by three triple-expansion steam engines with steam provided by eighteen coal-fired water-tube boilers. Her propulsion system was rated to produce for a top speed of . She had a cruising radius of at a speed of . s crew consisted of 52 officers and 788 enlisted men; of these, 14 officers and 62 enlisted men were assigned to the squadron commander's staff and were additional to the standard complement.
s primary armament consisted of eight SK L/40 guns, four in twin gun turrets, one fore and one aft of the main superstructure on the centerline, and the remaining four mounted in single casemates. The secondary armament included six SK L/40 guns, also in individual casemates that were placed a deck below the main battery casemates. Defense against torpedo boats was provided by a battery of eighteen SK L/35 guns mounted in casemates. She was also equipped with four submerged torpedo tubes. One was mounted in the bow, one on each broadside, and the fourth was placed in the stern.
The ship was protected by a 15 cm belt of of Krupp armor, decreased to forward and aft of the central citadel. She had an armored deck that was thick, with the heavier armor protecting the ship's engine and boiler rooms and ammunition magazines. The centerline gun turrets had thick sides, while the wing turrets received 15 cm of armor protection. The casemate secondary battery was protected by a strake of armor that was thick.
Service history
Named for (Lieutenant General) Gerhard von Scharnhorst, a Prussian military reformer during the Napoleonic Wars, was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany on 22 March 1905, with the construction number 175. The ship was given the provisional designation "D". She was launched on 23 March 1906, and (Field Marshal) Gottlieb Graf von Haeseler gave a speech and christened the ship at her launching ceremony. She was commissioned into the fleet a year and a half later on 24 October 1907. She then began sea trials; while conducting speed tests she exceeded her design speed by one knot, reaching .
From 6 to 11 November, her trials were interrupted by a voyage to Vlissingen in the Netherlands and Portsmouth in Britain in company with Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht and the light cruiser . On 14 January 1908, ran aground off the Bülk Lighthouse and suffered serious underwater damage. Repairs were made at Blohm & Voss, and lasted until 22 February. She then resumed her trials, which continued until the end of April. On 1 May, she replaced as the flagship of the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet, under the command of (Rear Admiral) August von Heeringen. During the rest of the year, she participated in the normal peacetime routine of training exercises and fleet maneuvers.
East Asia Squadron
1909–1911 On 11 March 1909, was assigned to the (East Asia Squadron); replaced her as the reconnaissance squadron flagship. After completing preparations for the voyage, left Kiel on 1 April; aboard was Friedrich von Ingenohl, who was to take command of the East Asia Squadron upon his arrival. On 29 April, rendezvoused with , the flagship of the East Asia Squadron, in Colombo. There, took over the role of squadron flagship. At the time, the squadron also included the light cruisers and and several gunboats and torpedo boats. In July and August, went on a cruise in the Yellow Sea and in August surveyed ports in the area. She spent December and early January 1910 in Hong Kong for the Christmas and New Year's festivities, in company with and the gunboat .
In January 1910 , , and went on a tour of East Asian ports, including Bangkok, Manila, and stops in Sumatra and North Borneo. By 22 March, and had returned to the German port at Qingdao. In the meantime, had left the East Asia Squadron in February; her replacement, , arrived on 9 April. Ingenohl, by now promoted to (Vice Admiral), departed on 6 June and was replaced by Erich Gühler. The new squadron commander took and on a tour of Germany's Pacific colonies, starting on 20 June. Stops included the Mariana Islands, Truk, and Apia in German Samoa. In the last port, the cruisers met the unprotected cruisers and , the station ships for the South Seas Station. While there, the new light cruiser arrived on 22 July to further strengthen the East Asia Squadron.
In 1910, won the Kaiser's (Shooting Prize) for excellent gunnery in the East Asia Squadron. On 25 November, and the rest of the squadron went on a trip to Hong Kong and Nanjing; while in Hong Kong, an outbreak of typhus struck. Among those who were infected was Gühler, who succumbed to the disease on 21 January 1911. In the meantime, unrest had broken out in Ponape, which required the presence of and . instead went on a tour of Southeast Asian ports, including Saigon, Singapore, and Batavia. She then returned to Qingdao by way of Hong Kong and Amoy, arriving on 1 March. There, Günther von Krosigk was waiting to take command of the squadron. Two weeks later, the squadron was reinforced by the arrival of s sister ship on 14 March.
From 30 March to 12 May, went on a cruise in Japanese waters with Krosigk aboard. She thereafter steamed to the northern area of the German protectorate in early July; at the time tensions were high in Europe due to the Agadir Crisis. Krosigk attempted to keep the situation calm in East Asia and he took his flagship on a tour of harbors in the Yellow Sea. By 15 September, the cruiser was back in Qingdao. After arriving in Qingdao, went into dock for her annual repair; Krosigk accordingly shifted his flag to temporarily. On 10 October, the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing Dynasty broke out, causing a great deal of tension amongst the Europeans, who recalled the attacks on foreigners during the Boxer Uprising of 1900–1901. The rest of the East Asia Squadron was placed on alert to protect German interests and additional troops were sent to protect the German consulate. But the feared attacks on Europeans did not materialize and so the East Asia Squadron was not needed.
1912–1914
By late November, was back in service and Krosigk returned to the ship. She cruised to Shanghai by way of Tianjin and Yantai, arriving on 12 December. From 14 to 24 January 1912, toured the ports of the central China coast and returned to Qingdao on 9 March, where the rest of the squadron had assembled. On 13 April, the ships went on a month-long cruise to Japanese waters, returning to Qingdao on 13 May. From 17 July to 4 September, went on another tour of Japanese ports and during this period she also visited Vladivostok in Russia and several ports in the Yellow Sea.
On 30 July, the Japanese Emperor Meiji died; escorted , which carried Prince Heinrich, Wilhelm II's brother, to the Meiji Emperor's funeral and the coronation ceremony for the Emperor Taishō. The ships remained in Japan from 5 to 26 September. After returning to Qingdao, Prince Heinrich conducted an inspection of the entire East Asia Squadron. On 4 December, Krosigk handed over command of the squadron to Maximilian von Spee. On 27 December, Spee took and on a tour of the southwest Pacific, including stops in Amoy, Singapore, and Batavia. The two cruisers reached Qingdao on 2 March 1913. From 1 April to 7 May, took Spee to Japan to meet the Taishō Emperor. Starting on 22 June, Spee began a tour of Germany's Pacific colonies aboard his flagship. The ship stopped in the Marianas, the Admiralty Islands, the Hermit Islands, Rabaul in Neupommern, and Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen in German New Guinea.
While in Rabaul on 21 July, Spee received word of further unrest in China, which prompted his return to the Wusong roadstead outside Shanghai by 30 July. After the situation calmed, Spee was able to take his ships on a short cruise to Japan, which began on 11 November. and the rest of the squadron returned to Shanghai on 29 November, before she departed for another trip to Southeast Asia. Spee met with Vajiravudh, the King of Siam, and also visited Sumatra, North Borneo, and Manila. returned to Qingdao on 19 March 1914. In early May, Spee, by now promoted to , took and the torpedo boat on a visit to Port Arthur and then to Tianjin; Spee continued on to Beijing, where he met with Yuan Shikai, the first President of the Republic of China. He came back aboard on 11 May and the ship returned to Qingdao. Spee thereafter began preparations for a cruise to German New Guinea; departed on 20 June, leaving only behind in Qingdao.
rendezvoused with in Nagasaki, Japan, where they received a full supply of coal. They then sailed south, arriving in Truk in early July where they would restock their coal supplies. While en route, they received news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. On 17 July, the East Asia Squadron arrived in Ponape in the Caroline Islands. Spee now had access to the German radio network and he learned of the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia on 28 July and the Russian mobilization against Austria-Hungary and possibly Germany on 30 July. On 31 July, word came that the German ultimatum that Russia demobilize its armies was set to expire. Spee ordered his ships be stripped for war. On 2 August, Wilhelm II ordered German mobilization against Russia and its ally, France.
World War I