SMSBremen in 1907
Class overview
Builders	AG Weser (3) AG Vulcan Stettin (2) Kaiserliche Werft Danzig (2)
Operators	Imperial German Navy  Reichsmarine  Kriegsmarine
Preceded by	Gazelle class
Succeeded by	Königsberg class
In commission	1904–1936
Completed	7
Lost	2
Scrapped	5
General characteristics
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	Normal: 3,278 t (3,226long tons) Full load: 3,797 t (3,737 long tons)
Length	Length overall: 111.1 meters (364 ft 6 in)
Beam	13.3 m (43 ft 8 in)
Draft	5.53 m (18 ft 2 in)
Installed power	10 ×water-tube boilers 10,000 PS (9,900 ihp)
Propulsion	2 × screwpropellers 2 ×triple-expansion engines
Speed	22knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range	4,270 nmi (7,910 km; 4,910 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	14 officers 274 enlisted men
Armament	10 ×10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns 10 ×3.7 cm (1.5 in) Maxim guns 2 × 45 cm (17.7 in)torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 80 mm (3.1 in)

TheBremen class was a group of sevenlight cruisers built for theImperial German Navy in the early 1900s. The seven ships,Bremen,Hamburg,Berlin,Lübeck,München,Leipzig, andDanzig, were an improvement upon the previousGazelle class. They were significantly larger than the earlier class, and were faster and better armored. Like theGazelles, they were armed with a main battery of ten10.5 cm SK L/40 guns and a pair oftorpedo tubes.

The ships of theBremen class served in a variety of roles, from overseas cruiser to fleet scout to training ship.Bremen andLeipzig were deployed to the American and Asian stations, respectively, while the other five ships remained in German waters with theHigh Seas Fleet. At the outbreak ofWorld War I in August 1914,Leipzig was in thePacific Ocean in theEast Asia Squadron; she saw action at theBattle of Coronel in November and was sunk a month later at theBattle of the Falkland Islands.Bremen was sunk by a Russian mine in December 1915, but the other five ships of the class survived the war.

Three of the surviving ships,Lübeck,München, andDanzig, were seized by Britain aswar prizes after the end of the war and sold for scrapping. The other two ships,Hamburg andBerlin, were used as training cruisers through the 1920s. They were converted intobarracks ships in the mid-1930s, a role they filled for a decade; in 1944,Hamburg was sunk by British bombers and later broken up for scrap, whileBerlin was scuttled in deep water after the end ofWorld War II to dispose of a load of chemical weapons.

The1898 Naval Law authorized the construction of thirty newlight cruisers by 1904, with two cruisers to be built per year; an amendment passed in 1900 increased that number to three per annum. By this time, AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitz had become the head of theReichsmarineamt (RMA—Imperial Naval Office), and he favored a strategy of concentrating the German fleet in home waters, rather than dispersing numerous vessels on foreign stations.^[1][2]

TheGazelle-class cruisers filled the requirements for the first ten vessels projected by the 1898 Naval Law. The design for theBremen class was an incremental improvement over theGazelle class, the improvements chiefly being in size and speed. To accommodate the more powerful propulsion system, a third funnel was added. The armor deck was also thickened significantly.^[3] The German Navy had begun experimenting withsteam turbines aboard small vessels in 1901. Toward the end of the year, Tirpitz instructed the construction department to study the possibility of fitting one of the new cruisers with turbines, since they promised to provide greater power for the same weight. In addition, the quality of turbine engines could be compared with otherwise identical vessels that were fitted withtriple-expansion steam engines. KaiserWilhelm II approved the decision to equip the fourth member of the new class,Lübeck, with the new engines on 20 January 1903.^[4]

TheBremen class marked a change in German cruiser naming conventions;Kaiser Wilhelm II authorized the use of city names for the new ships, three of which were major ports from the oldHanseatic League, along withDanzig, two major cities inBavaria andSaxony, along with the German capital.^[5] TheBremen class was followed by theKönigsberg class, which was very similar to theBremens, including the same armament. And like theBremens, one ship of the class,Stettin, was equipped with turbines while the others retained triple-expansion machinery.^[6]

TheBremen-class ships were 110.6 meters (362 ft 10 in)long at the waterline and 111.1 m (364 ft 6 in)long overall. They had abeam of 13.3 m (43 ft 8 in) and adraft of 5.28 to 5.68 m (17 ft 4 in to 18 ft 8 in) forward. Theydisplaced 3,278metric tons (3,226long tons) as designed and between 3,652 to 3,816 t (3,594 to 3,756 long tons; 4,026 to 4,206 short tons) atfull load. The ships'hulls hadflush decks and a pronouncedram bow. They were constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames, and incorporated twelvewatertight compartments. The hulls also had adouble bottom that ran for 56 percent of the length of the hull.^[7]

All seven ships were good sea boats, but they werecrank and rolled up to twenty degrees. They were also very wet at high speeds and suffered from a slightweather helm. Nevertheless, the ships turned tightly and were very maneuverable. In a hard turn, their speed fell up to 35 percent. They had a transversemetacentric height of 0.58 to 0.61 m (23 to 24 in). The ships had a standard crew of fourteen officers and between 274 and 287 enlisted men, though later in their careers, these figures increased to 19 and 330, respectively. TheBremen-class ships carried a number of smaller boats, including one picket boat, onepinnace, twocutters, twoyawls, and onedinghy.^[8]

With the exception ofLübeck, the ships' propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion steam engines, which drove a pair ofscrew propellers.Lübeck was instead fitted with a pair ofParsons steam turbines manufactured by Brown, Boveri & Co. that drove four screws. All seven ships were fitted with ten coal-fired Marine-typewater-tube boilers, which were trunked into three funnelsamidships.Bremen andHamburg had three generators that produced a total output of 111 kilowatts at 110 volts; the rest of the ships had two generators rated at 90 kilowatts at the same voltage.^[7][4]

The triple-expansion engines were designed to give 10,000metric horsepower (9,900 ihp) for a top speed of 22knots (41 km/h; 25 mph), whileLübeck's turbines were rated at 11,343 metric horsepower (11,188 shp) and a maximum speed of 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph), though all seven ships exceeded these speeds on trials. The ships carried up to 860 tonnes (850 long tons) of coal, which gave the first three ships a range of 4,270nautical miles (7,910 km; 4,910 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph);Lübeck's less efficient turbine engines cut her cruising radius to 3,800 nmi (7,000 km; 4,400 mi), while the last three ships of the class had a longer range, at 4,690 nmi (8,690 km; 5,400 mi).^[7]

The ships of the class were armed with ten10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns in single mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on theforecastle, six were located amidships, three on either side, and two were placed side by side aft. The guns could engage targets out to 12,200 m (40,026 ft 3 in). For defense againsttorpedo boats, they were armed with ten3.7 cm (1.5 in) Maxim guns. They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. All seven ships were also equipped with two 45 cm (17.7 in)torpedo tubes with fivetorpedoes. These tubes were submerged in the hull on thebroadside.^[8]

Later in their careers,Bremen andLübeck had two15 cm SK L/45 guns installed in place of the two forward and two rear 10.5 cm guns. They retained the six broadside 10.5 cm guns.Lübeck later had a pair of 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes installed in deck mounts, with four torpedoes.^[8]

Armor protection for the members of the class consisted of two layers of steel with one layer ofKrupp armor. The ships were protected by an armored deck that was up to 80 millimeters (3.1 in) thick. Sloped armor 50 mm (2 in) thick gave some measure of vertical protection, coupled with the coal bunkers. Theconning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides and a 20 mm (0.79 in) thick roof. The ships' guns were protected by 50 mm thickgun shields.^[9]

The ships of theBremen class served in a variety of roles throughout their careers.Bremen andLeipzig served abroad from 1905 to 1914; the former returned to Germany shortly before the outbreak ofWorld War I, and the latter remained with theEast Asia Squadron.Hamburg,Berlin,Lübeck, andDanzig served in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet after they entered service.München meanwhile was used as a torpedo test ship during her pre-war service. All seven of the ships saw action during the First World War, though onlyBremen andLeipzig were lost during the conflict.^[10]

Danzig was present during theBattle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914, but did not directly engage the British ships. She did, however, rescue survivors from the sinking cruiserAriadne.^[11]Hamburg was present for theraid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914, where she briefly encountered—but did not engage—British light forces.^[12] Only one ship,München, saw action at theBattle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916,^[13] where she was hit by five medium-caliber shells and moderately damaged.^[14] Three of the ships,Bremen,Lübeck, andDanzig, saw action against Imperial Russian forces in theBaltic Sea during the war, including during the assault onLibau and theBattle of the Gulf of Riga in 1915 and duringOperation Albion in 1917.^[15][16]Bremen struck Russian mines in December 1915 and sank with the majority of her crew going down with her.^[17]Leipzig, still overseas at the start of the war, saw action at theBattles of Coronel andFalkland Islands in late 1914. At the former, she engaged the British cruiserHMS Glasgow, and at the latter, was sunk byGlasgow andHMS Cornwall.^[18]

Berlin was withdrawn from service in 1916 and disarmed.München was badly damaged by a British mine in October 1916, and thereafter decommissioned for use as abarracks ship.Hamburg was also used as barracks ship later in the war, andLübeck became atraining ship in 1917.Danzig was the last ship to leave active service, in late 1917. Of the five surviving ships,Berlin andHamburg were retained by the newly reorganizedReichsmarine as training ships. The remaining three,Lübeck,München, andDanzig, were surrendered aswar prizes to the United Kingdom, which sold them for scrapping in the early 1920s.Hamburg andBerlin soldiered on as training cruisers into the late 1920s and early 1930s; by the mid-1930s, they had again been converted into floating barracks.^[10]Hamburg was sunk by Britishbombers in 1944,^[19] and later raised and broken up for scrap in 1949.Berlin survivedWorld War II and was loaded with chemical weapons and scuttled in theSkaggerak after the war to dispose of the munitions.^[10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBremen class cruiser.

• Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
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• Gröner, Erich (1990).German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
• Halpern, Paul G. (1995).A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7.
• Herwig, Holger (1980)."Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Amherst: Humanity Books.ISBN 978-1-57392-286-9.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993).Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 2. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.ISBN 978-3-8364-9743-5.
• Massie, Robert K. (2003).Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea.New York City: Ballantine Books.ISBN 978-0-345-40878-5.
• Nottelmann, Dirk (2020). "The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy". In Jordan, John (ed.).Warship 2020. Oxford: Osprey. pp. 102–118.ISBN 978-1-4728-4071-4.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two. Annapolis: US Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.
• Staff, Gary (2008).Battle for the Baltic Islands. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime.ISBN 978-1-84415-787-7.
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• Dodson, Aidan; Cant, Serena (2020).Spoils of War: The Fate of Enemy Fleets after the Two World Wars. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-5267-4198-1.
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