 Stralsund (or her sisterStrassburg) at sea, in 1915 or 1916 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Stralsund |
| Namesake | SMS Stralsund |
| Builder | AG Weser,Bremen |
| Laid down | 1910 |
| Launched | 4 November 1911 |
| Commissioned | 10 December 1912 |
| Decommissioned | 17 December 1918 |
| Stricken | 5 November 1919 |
| Fate | Ceded to France in 1920 |
| History | |
 France | |
| Name | Mulhouse |
| Namesake | Mulhouse |
| Acquired | 3 August 1920 |
| Commissioned | 3 August 1922 |
| Stricken | 15 February 1933 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1933–1935 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Magdeburg-classcruiser |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 138.7 m (455 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in) |
| Draft | 4.46 m (14 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 27.5knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph) |
| Range | 5,820 nmi (10,780 km; 6,700 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armor |
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SMSStralsund was aMagdeburg-classlight cruiser of the GermanKaiserliche Marine. Her class included three other ships:Magdeburg,Breslau, andStrassburg. She was built at theAG Weser shipyard inBremen from 1910 to December 1912, when she was commissioned into theHigh Seas Fleet. The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve10.5 cm SK L/45 guns and had a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph).
Stralsund was assigned to the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career. She saw significant action in the early years ofWorld War I, including several operations off the British coast and the Battles ofHeligoland Bight andDogger Bank, in August 1914 and November 1915, respectively. She was not damaged in either action. The ship was in dockyard hands during theBattle of Jutland, and so she missed the engagement. After the end of the war, she served briefly in theReichsmarine before being surrendered to the Allies. She was ceded to theFrench Navy, where she served asMulhouse until 1925. She was formally stricken in 1933 and broken up for scrap two years later.
TheMagdeburg-class cruisers were designed in response to the development of the BritishInvincible-classbattlecruisers, which were faster than all existing German light cruisers. As a result, speed of the new ships must be increased. To accomplish this, more powerful engines were fitted and theirhulls were lengthened to improve their hydrodynamic efficiency. These changes increased top speed from 25.5 to 27knots (47.2 to 50.0 km/h; 29.3 to 31.1 mph) over the precedingKolberg-class cruisers. To save weight,longitudinal framing was adopted for the first time in a major German warship design. In addition, theMagdeburgs were the first cruisers to carrybelt armor, which was necessitated by the adoption of more powerful 6-inch (150 mm) guns in the latest British cruisers.[1]
Stralsund was 138.7 meters (455 ft 1 in)long overall and had abeam of 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in) and adraft of 4.46 m (14 ft 8 in) forward. Shedisplaced 4,570 t (4,500long tons; 5,040short tons) normally and up to 5,587 t (5,499 long tons) atfull load. The ship had a shortforecastle deck and a minimalsuperstructure that consisted primarily of aconning tower located on the forecastle. She was fitted with two polemasts with platforms forsearchlights.Stralsund had a crew of 18 officers and 336 enlisted men.[2]
Her propulsion system consisted of three sets of Bergmannsteam turbines driving threescrew propellers. These were powered by sixteen coal-fired Marine-typewater-tube boilers, although they were later altered to usefuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. The boilers were vented through fourfunnels locatedamidships. They were designed to give 25,000shaft horsepower (19,000 kW) for a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph), but she reached 35,515 shp (26,484 kW) and a top speed of 28.2 knots (52.2 km/h; 32.5 mph) during her initial speed testing.Stralsund carried 1,200 t (1,181 long tons) of coal, and an additional 106 t (104 long tons) of oil that gave her a range of approximately 5,820nautical miles (10,780 km; 6,700 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).[2][3]
The ship was armed with amain battery of twelve10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns in single pedestal mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, eight were located on thebroadside, four on either side, and two were side by side aft. The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees, which allowed them to engage targets out to 12,700 m (13,900 yd).[4] They were supplied with 1,800 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. She was also equipped with a pair of 50 cm (19.7 in)torpedo tubes with fivetorpedoes; the tubes were submerged in the hull on the broadside. She could also carry 120mines.[5]
Stralsund was protected by a waterlinearmor belt and a curved armor deck. The deck was flat across most of the hull, but angled downward at the sides and connected to the bottom edge of the belt. The belt and deck were both 60 mm (2.4 in) thick. The conning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides.[5][6]
Stralsund was ordered under the contract name "ErsatzCormoran" and waslaid down at theAG Weser shipyard inBremen in September 1910 andlaunched on 4 November 1911; during the launching ceremony, the mayor ofStralsund, Ernst Gronow, gave a speech.Fitting-out work thereafter commenced. Named for the earlierschoonerStralsund, she wascommissioned into active service on 10 December 1912.Fregattenkapitän (FK—Frigate Captain)Magnus von Levetzow served as her first commander, though he served only briefly in that role, before being replaced by FK Victor Harder in January 1913. After entering service,Stralsund conductedsea trials, which lasted until 15 February. The ship then joined the Unit of Reconnaissance Ships, assigned toII Scouting Group, where she took part in the peacetime routine of training exercises and cruises with theHigh Seas Fleet for the next year.[2][7]
On 16 August, some two weeks after the outbreak ofWorld War I,Stralsund andStrassburg were ordered to carry out a sweep into theHoofden to search for British reconnaissance forces, in the hopes of surprising patrolling British destroyers. The operation was led by Harder aboardStralsund. They were accompanied by theU-boatsU-19 andU-24, which were to ambush any British forces that counter-attacked. The two cruisers departed late on 17 August and early the following morning, they passed through the British patrol line in darkness; at around 04:45, they reversed course with the intention surprising the British destroyers from behind.Stralsund andStrassburg steamed about 50 nmi (93 km; 58 mi) apart to increase their chances of locating British forces; at 06:39,Stralsund spotted a group of eight or tendestroyers and the light cruiserHMS Fearless at a distance of about 10,000 m (11,000 yd).[8][9] The British commander aboardFearless initially mistookStralsund for anarmored cruiser and he initially ordered his ships to refrain from attacking her.Stralsund, for her part, immediately opened fire on the nearest destroyers. After about half an hour of inaccurate shooting from both sides, German lookouts spotted what they thought was a second British cruiser approaching, so Harder decided to break off the engagement.[10][11]
In response toStralsund's raid on the British patrol line, the British naval command decided to stage a retaliatory raid on the German defenses in theHelgoland Bight, to be carried out by theHarwich Force.[12] This led to theBattle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. British battlecruisers andlight cruisers raided the German reconnaissance screen in theHeligoland Bight. At the start of the action,Stralsund and the rest of II Scouting Group were at anchor in Wilhelmshaven, and as soon as reports of British cruisers arrived at the naval command, II Scouting Group was ordered to sea immediately. By 11:30,Stralsund had gotten underway, followingStrassburg and the light cruiserCöln.[13]
At around 13:40,Stralsund, heard the sound of shooting in the distance, and shortly after 14:00, she encountered three British cruisers and a battlecruiser. She came under heavy fire, but suffered only a single hit that failed to explode, though shell fragments from near misses injured several crewmen.Stralsund quickly disengaged and fled south before turning north to come to the aid of the strickenAriadne, which had been badly damaged by the British battlecruisersStralsund andDanzig picked up around sixty men fromAriadne.Stralsund and the rest of the surviving light cruisers retreated into the haze and were reinforced by the battlecruisers of theI Scouting Group underKonteradmiral (KAdm—Rear Admiral)Franz Hipper.[14][15]Stralsund andDanzig returned and rescued most of the crew ofAriadne.[16] During the battle,Stralsund only received a single hit, and none of her crew were wounded.[3]
On 9 September,Stralsund and the cruiserKolberg escorted the minelaying cruisersAlbatross andNautilus and the auxiliary minelayerKaiser while they laid a minefield in the North Sea. In late September,Stralsund was temporarily moved to theBaltic Sea, where she took part in a sweep for Russian forces as far north as the northern tip ofGotland. She soon returned to the North Sea, and with II Scouting Group, sortied with the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group for theraid on Yarmouth.[3] The operation was carried out on 2–3 November 1914, and the ships of II Scouting Group served as the reconnaissance screen for battlecruisers. While the battlecruisers bombarded the town ofYarmouth,Stralsund laid a minefield, which sank a steamer and the submarineHMS D5 which had sortied to intercept the German raiders. After completing the bombardment, the German squadron returned to port without encountering British forces.[17]Stralsund and II Scouting Group next went to sea on 20 November in company with I Scouting Group for an uneventful patrol.[3]
Another battlecruiser raid was carried out on 15–16 December,[3] this time against the coastal towns ofScarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby. The two scouting groups left the Jade at 03:20.[18] Hipper's ships sailed north, through the channels in the minefields, past Helgoland to theHorns Rev light vessel, at which point the ships turned westward, towards the English coast.[19] The main battle squadrons of the High Seas Fleet left in the late afternoon of the 15th. During the night of 15 December, the main body of the High Seas Fleet encountered British destroyers, and fearing the prospect of a night-time torpedo attack, AdmiralFriedrich von Ingenohl ordered the ships to retreat.[20] Hipper's ships carried out the bombardment regardless,[21] though they were unaware of Ingenohl's withdrawal. They then turned back to rendezvous with the German fleet.[22]
By this time, the British battlecruiser force was in position to block Hipper's egress route, while other forces were en route to complete the encirclement. At 12:25, the light cruisers of II Scouting Group began to pass the British forces searching for Hipper. One of the cruisers in the2nd Light Cruiser Squadron spottedStralsund, and signaled a report to Beatty. At 12:30, Beatty turned his battlecruisers towards the German ships. Beatty presumed that the German cruisers were the advance screen for Hipper's ships, however, those were some 50 km (31 mi) ahead. The 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, which had been screening for Beatty's ships, detached to pursue the German cruisers, but a misinterpreted signal from the British battlecruisers sent them back to their screening positions. This confusion allowed the German light cruisers to escape, and alerted Hipper to the location of the British battlecruisers. The German battlecruisers wheeled to the northeast of the British forces and made good their escape.[22]
On 25 December 1914, the British launched theCuxhaven Raid, an air attack on the German naval base inCuxhaven and theNordholz Airbase.Stralsund engaged one of the attackingseaplanes, but was unable to shoot it down.[23]Stralsund joined the light cruiserGraudenz on 3 January 1915 for a patrol into the North Sea to the west ofAmrun Bank that ended without locating British forces.[3]Stralsund next carried out a minelaying operation in company withStrassburg on 14–15 January off theHumber.[24] The ship was again part of the reconnaissance screen for the I Scouting Group at theBattle of Dogger Bank on 24 January.Stralsund andGraudenz were assigned to the front of the screen andRostock andKolberg steamed on either side of the formation; each cruiser was supported by a half-flotilla of torpedo boats. At 08:15, lookouts onStralsund andKolberg spotted heavy smoke from large British warships approaching the formation. As the main German fleet was in port and therefore unable to support the battlecruisers, Hipper decided to retreat at high speed. The British battlecruisers were able to catch up to the Germans, however, and in the ensuing battle, the large armored cruiserBlücher was sunk.[25]
Stralsund moved to the Baltic for another operation from 17 to 28 March, which targeted Russian forces that were attacking nearMemel. On 23 March, she bombarded Russian positions and troop concentrations atPolangen, just to the north of Memel. She returned to the North Sea immediately, in time to participate in a fleet sweep into the North Sea on 29–30 March. She went to sea again on 17 April for a minelaying operation in company withStrassburg that lasted until the following day, this time to lay mines off theSwarte Bank.Stralsund and the rest of II Scouting Group carried out a patrol to the Dogger Bank area on 17–18 May. Another sortie by the entire High Seas Fleet took place on 29–30 May, and like the previous operations, the Germans failed to locate any British vessels.Stralsund embarked on sweeps on 28 June in the direction ofTerschelling and on 2 July toward Horns Rev, again without result. That month, FK Karl Weniger replaced Harder as the ship's commander.[7]
In August,Stralsund and the rest of II Scouting Group returned to the Baltic to take part in theBattle of the Gulf of Riga. The ships served as part of the covering force, under Hipper's command, that patrolled outside the gulf to prevent any Russian ships from counterattacking. During this period,Stralsund came under attack by the BritishsubmarineHMS E1, but the submarine's torpedoes missed. By 29 August,Stralsund had returned to the North Sea. She loaded 140 mines for another minelaying operation on 11–12 September; she laid this field between Terschelling and the Swarte Bank. Another fleet sortie took place on 23–24 October. ForStralsund, the year's operations came to an end with a sweep by II Scouting Group into theSkagerrak andKattegat from 16 to 18 December.[3]
Stralsund participated in a pair of patrols into the North Sea on 2–3 and 11 February 1916. She was then detached from II Scouting Group on 19 February for a major refit that began two days later at theKaiserliche Werft shipyard inKiel.[3] Her twelve 10.5 cm guns were replaced with seven15 cm SK L/45 guns and two8.8 cm SK L/45 guns.[2] She also had her forecastle extended by 10 m (33 ft) to raise the height of her broadside guns a deck higher, and her torpedo tubes were moved to the middle deck. She also had a night-fighting control station installed on the roof of herbridge. The work lasted until 17 June,[3] and as a result, the ship was not available for theBattle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June.[26] In June,Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea)Hans Gygas relieved Weniger as the ship's captain.Stralsund returned to active service on 6 July, and she briefly served as theflagship of KAdmLudwig von Reuter, the commander ofIV Scouting Group; she held this role from 10 to 17 July. She then returned to II Scouting Group, serving as its flagship from 4 August to 30 October, initially under KAdmFriedrich Boedicker until 11 September, when he was replaced by Reuter. During this period, she led II Scouting Group during the fleet sortie on 18–20 August,[7] which resulted in theaction of 19 August 1916, an inconclusive clash that left several ships on both sides damaged or sunk by submarines, but no direct fleet encounter.[27]
On 12 September,Stralsund embarked afloatplane, which was used operationally for the first time during a fleet sweep to the east of the Dogger Bank on 18–20 October. She went to sea on 4–5 November with the High Seas Fleet to come to the aid of the U-boatsU-20 andU-30, which hadrun aground on the coast of Denmark.Stralsund was transferred from II Scouting Group to IV Scouting Group on 2 December, where she became the flagship of KAdmKarl Seiferling, though he remained aboard for only nine days.Stralsund participated in a patrol out to theFisher Bank on 27–28 December. On 10 January 1917, the ships of IV Scouting Group carried out a minelaying operation in the North Sea between Helgoland andNorderney; they were reinforced by the cruiserDanzig during the operation. On 15 January,Kommodore (Commodore)Max Hahn took command of IV Scouting Group, makingStralsund his flagship.[28][a]Stralsund spent the next several months participating in patrols of the southern North Sea, interrupted only by a period in the shipyard at theKaiserliche Werft in Kiel for repairs to her turbines, which lasted from 7 August to 15 October. WhileStralsund was under repair, Hahn shifted his flag permanently to the cruiserRegensburg.[29]
On 22 October,Stralsund was ready to return to service, and she was sent toLibau in the Baltic.Operation Albion, the amphibious attack on the islands in theGulf of Riga, had already ended in a German victory, so the ship quickly returned to the North Sea. From 11 to 20 November, KzS Paul Heinrich—the commander of I Torpedo-boat Flotilla—usedStralsund as his flagship. While Heinrich was aboard, the ship took part in a pair of sweeps into the North Sea as far as thelightshipNoordhinder on 12 and 17 November.[29] On 2 February 1918, while covering a minesweeping unit in the North Sea,Stralsund struck a mine laid by British ships. Though two of herwatertight compartments flooded, she was able to steam under her own power back to Wilhelmshaven. ThedreadnoughtKaiser and several other ships steamed out to escortStralsund back to port. Repairs lasted from 4 February to 25 April, and as a result,[29][30] the ship was unavailable for the major fleet operation on 23–24 April to intercept a British convoy to Norway.[31]
After returning to service,Stralsund joined the rest of IV Scouting Group for training exercises in the Baltic on 27 April. There, on 16 May, she was assigned as the flagship of KAdmHugo Meurer, the commander of asonderverband (special unit) that was to operate in the eastern Baltic. She sailed toMariehamn, arriving on 19 May, where she relieved the cruiserKolberg, which had been operating in the area. From there,Stralsund sailed forHelsingfors, Finland; there, KAdmLudolf von Uslar replaced Meurer as the commander of naval forces in the area. Over the next few weeks, the ship cruised to various ports in the region, includingReval, Estonia; Mariehamn,Hanko, andTurku, Finland;Windau, Latvia; and Libau. The ship then departed Libau for Kiel, before moving back to the North Sea on 24 June. She remained there until 8 August, when she was ordered back to the Baltic for a major operation.[29]
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Stralsund was assigned to a newsonderverband, which was to carry outOperation Schlußstein, under the command of nowVizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Boedicker. The planned operation came about as a result of the uncertain military and political situation in Russia in the summer of 1918. The nascent Soviet government was fighting theRussian Civil War against theWhites, and British forces hadintervened in northern Russia, occupyingMurmansk. The Soviets, who had signed theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, requested German help to expel the British, fight White forces, and suppress theDon Cossacks. Though Germany was interested in defeating British forces in north Russia, the German command had no desire to fight the anti-communist Whites or the Cossacks. Operation Schlußstein marked the beginning phase of the campaign against the British intervention in northern Russia; it was to begin with the occupation ofSt. Petersburg.[29]
The ships assigned to Operation Schlußstein included the dreadnoughtsNassau,Ostfriesland, andThüringen; the ships of IV Scouting Group—Stralsund,Strassburg,Regensburg, andFrankfurt—the cruiserKolberg; theavisoBlitz; V Torpedoboat Flotilla; aseaplane tender, and numerous mine-warfare vessels and smaller craft. On 12 August, German forces began clearing minefields in the easternGulf of Finland, though the major warships of the unit remained behind in Kiel. Four days later, Boedicker and his staff moved toStralsund, which sailed that day in company withStrassburg, bound for Libau. The ships then continued on to Reval, Helsingfors,Narva,Hungerburg, andBjörkö. The wartime situation continued to deteriorate for Germany, which led to the postponement of Operation Schlußstein, andStralsund was soon recalled. She passed through Helsingfors, Reval, and Libau before arriving back in Kiel. She then returned to the North Sea, arriving in Wilhelmshaven on 9 September, where Boedicker and his staff left the ship.[32]
On 12 September,Stralsund returned to the Baltic and sailed back east, arriving in Björkö to relieveStrassburg as the guardship there on 16 September. She remained there for more than a month, during which time Operation Schlußstein was formally cancelled on 27 September. By that time, Germany's position in the Balkans began to collapse after theVardar offensive on theMacedonian front inflicted a decisive defeat on German and Bulgarian forces. On 22 October, the oldcoastal defense shipBeowulf arrived to replaceStralsund, which departed for Helsingfors. She spent the last weeks of the war there, after which she returned to Kiel, where she was decommissioned on 17 December.[33]
After the war,Stralsund was not included in the fleet that was interned at Scapa Flow during the peace negotiations. She was instead permitted to remain in Germany, and the naval command hoped that she could be preserved for the postwarReichsmarine. But after thescuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow in June 1919, shortly before theTreaty of Versailles was signed, this proved to be an unrealistic expectation.[34][33] The Treaty of Versailles specified that the ship was to be disarmed and handed over to the Allies within two months of the signing of the treaty.[35]Stralsund was accordingly struck from thenaval register on 5 November 1919.[33] She was ceded to France as awar prize under the transaction name "Z". Departing Germany on 28 July 1920 in company with the torpedo boatV130, the ships arrived inCherbourg, France, on 3 August. There, she was formally handed that day.[34][36]
On arriving in France, she underwent a minor refit that consisted primarily of replacing her 8.8 cm guns with 75 mm (3 in) anti-aircraft guns,[37] though the rest of her original armament remained. She was renamedMulhouse in honor of theeponymous city inAlsace that had been recovered from Germany at the end of World War I. She and four other ex-German or ex-Austro-Hungarian cruisers were commissioned into theFrench Navy in the early 1920s.Mulhouse was commissioned on 3 August 1922.[38]
Mulhouse was assigned to theFrench Mediterranean Fleet as part of the 3rd Light Division in company with the other ex-German cruisersMetz andStrasbourg and the ex-Austro-HungarianThionville.[37] The unit, which was renamed the 2nd Light Division in December 1926, was moved to the Atlantic in August 1928, though all of the ex-German and ex-Austro-Hungarian vessels were then placed inreserve, since the first generation of post-war cruisers were entering service in the French fleet.Mulhouse and the other old ships were first stationed inBrest, but were moved to theLandévennec in 1930. As the French fleet completed additional cruisers, it no longer had a need to keepMulhouse in reserve, and she was struck from the naval register on 15 February 1933. She was sold toship breakers in September,[39] and was broken up in Brest by 1935.[40] The ship's bell was later returned to Germany and is now on display at theLaboe Naval Memorial.[33]
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