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fighting ships of the world

KAISERLICHE MARINE / REICHSMARINE (GERMANY)

CRUISERS

BREMEN light cruisers (1904-1907)

München 1905

Berlin 1928

Name No Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comp Fate
Bremen   135 Weser, Bremen 1902 9.7.1903 19.5.1904 sunk 17.2.1915
Hamburg   258 Vulcan, Stettin 1902 25.7.1903 8.3.1904 accommodation ship 1918-1920, stricken 3.1931
Berlin     KW Danzig 1902 22.9.1903 4.4.1905 hulk 1935
Lübeck   260 Vulcan, Stettin 1903 26.3.1904 26.4.1905 target ship 1917
München   138 Weser, Bremen 1903 30.4.1904 10.1.1905 accommodation ship 1918
Leipzig   143 Weser, Bremen 1904 21.3.1905 20.4.1906 sunk 8.12.1914
Danzig     KW Danzig 1904 23.9.1905 1.2.1907 stricken 11.1919

 

Displacement normal, t

3278

Lübeck: 3265

Displacement full, t

3651 - 3816

Lübeck: 3661

Length, m

110.6 wl 111.1 oa

Breadth, m

13.3

Draught, m

5.38 - 5.60

No of shafts

2

Machinery

2 VTE, 10 Marine boilers

Lübeck: 2 Parsons steam turbines, 10 Marine boilers

Power, h. p.

11750

Lübeck: 14400

Max speed, kts

23

Fuel, t

coal 860

Endurance, nm(kts)

Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin: 4270(12)

Lübeck: 3800(12)

München, Leipzig, Danzig: 4690(12)

Armour, mm

steel / Krupp steel - deck: 35 - 20, slopes: 80 - 50, glacises: 100, CT: 100, shields: 50

Armament

Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin: 10 x 1 - 105/37 SK L/40 C/97, 2 - 450 TT (5, beam)

Lübeck, München, Leipzig, Danzig: 10 x 1 - 105/37 SK L/40 C/04, 2 - 450 TT (5, beam)

Complement

288

Project history: Having hit on a very satisfactory light cruiser design with the Gazelles the German Navy merely enlarged it and gave it more power and speed to produce the Bremens, the first class to adopt the city names which were henceforward to be standard. The main appearance difference was that the new class had three instead of two funnels. They also had a thicker deck. As a very sensible experimental move, Lübeck, otherwise identical to her sisters, was given the first turbine plant used by the German Navy, thus enabling successful comparative trials to be run. In an attempt to convert the high speed of rotation of the turbines to power, the Lübeck was originally fitted with four separate propellers on each shaft, though this number was later cut down to two.

Ship protection: 35mm protective deck with 80-50mm slopes protected machinery, outside machine spaces 20mm deck had turtleback form. Engines had 100mm glacises. CT had 100mm sides and 20mm roof, guns had 50mm shields.

Modernizations: 1915, Bremen: - 4 x 1 - 105/37; + 2 x 1 - 149/42 SK L/45 C/09

1915, Berlin: + 80 mines

1916, Lübeck: - 4 x 1 - 105/37, 2 - 450 TT; + 2 x 1 - 149/42 SK L/45 C/09, 2 x 1 - 500 TT (4), 50 mines

1916, Berlin, Műnchen: were disarmed

1916, Hamburg: - 4 x 1 - 105/37

1920, Hamburg: was armed with 10 x 1 - 105/42 SK C/06, 2 x 1 - 500 TT

1922, Berlin: was armed with 8 x 1 - 105/42 SK C/06, 2 x 1 - 500 TT, stem was reconstructed (length was 110.6m wl and 113.8m oa)

Naval service: Leipzig was a part of Spee squadron, she was sunk 8.12.1914 off Falklands by artillery of British cruisers Cornwall and Glasgow. Bremen was sunk in Northern Baltic by British submarine E9 (on other data stricken by Russian mines). Remaining ships participated in operations a little as were considered poorly armed and insufficiently fast.

© Ivan Gogin, 2008-14