SMS ("His Majesty's Ship ") was the fourth of seven s of the Imperial German Navy, named after the city of Lübeck. She was begun by AG Vulcan Stettin in Stettin in 1903, launched in March 1904 and commissioned in April 1905. Armed with a main battery of ten guns and two torpedo tubes, was capable of a top speed of .
served with the High Seas Fleet for the first decade of her career, and after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, she was transferred to the Baltic Sea to defend Germany's coast from potential Russian attacks. She saw extensive service in the first three years of the war, during which time she participated in the seizure of Libau and was attacked by Allied submarines on two occasions. She struck a mine in 1916 but was repaired; in 1917, she was withdrawn for secondary duties. She survived the war, and was ceded to the British as a war prize in 1920, and subsequently broken up for scrap.
Design
The German 1898 Naval Law called for the replacement of the fleet's older cruising vessels—steam corvettes, unprotected cruisers, and avisos—with modern light cruisers. The first tranche of vessels to fulfill this requirement, the , were designed to serve both as fleet scouts and as station ships in Germany's colonial empire. They provided the basis for subsequent designs, beginning with the that was designed in 1901–1903. The principle improvements consisted of a larger hull that allowed for an additional pair of boilers and a higher top speed. was re-designed to use steam turbines instead of traditional triple-expansion steam engines to allow a comparative evaluation against otherwise identical vessels.
was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced as designed and up to at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of two Parsons steam turbines, with steam provided by ten coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers. Her propulsion system was rated at for a top speed of . She was the first warship in the German Navy to be equipped with turbine propulsion. carried up to of coal, which gave her a range of at , a shorter range than her sisters, due to her less efficient turbines. She had a crew of 14 officers and 274–287 enlisted men.
The ship was armed with ten SK L/40 guns in single mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, six were located amidships, three on either side, and two were placed side by side aft. The guns could engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried ten Maxim guns in individual mounts. She was also equipped with two torpedo tubes, which were placed below the waterline, one on each broadside. She was also fitted to carry fifty naval mines. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was up to thick. The conning tower had thick sides, and the guns were protected by thick gun shields.
Service history
Construction and early career
was ordered under the contract name and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin on 12 May 1903. She was launched on 26 March 1904, and at the ceremony, the (Governing Mayor) of her namesake city gave a speech. Delays with delivery of the new turbines prevented the completion of fitting-out work by about eight months. Work had been scheduled to be completed by 1 August 1904, but Krupp, the manufacturer of several of the turbine components, had significant problems casting the necessary parts. finally began builder's sea trials on 18 March 1905. She was commissioned for sea trials on 26 April, with (FK—Frigate Captain) Alexander Meurer as her first commander. Her trials revealed that the turbines did not produce the expected increase in speed compared to traditional triple-expansion engines, leading to further discussions over the utility of using turbines in future designs. The Navy experimented with a variety of propeller arrangements, including as many as eight screws on four shafts, and different propeller sizes and blade pitches. She nevertheless remained inferior to her sister ships in terms of acceleration and stopping.