The small cruiser SMS München belonged to the Bremen class, which were built shortly after the turn of the century and should serve with 7 ships as fleet reinforcement.
Launching and design:
The Bremen class emerged from the Gazelle class, but had a much more powerful drive system whereupon the number of chimneys had to be increased from 2 to 3. In addition, 10 3.7 cm machine guns were installed to increase the firepower as well.
The launch took place on April 30, 1904, the commissioning on January 10, 1905.
Small cruiser SMS München
History of SMS München:
After commissioning and subsequent test drives, SMS München replaced the SMS Nymphe in the torpedo inspection as a test ship.
In the period from December 9, 1906 to June 21, 1907, the ship Wilhelmshaven was overhauled before the III. Reconnaissance group was transferred.
Use in the war:
With the outbreak of the First World War, the ship was assigned on 25 August of the IV. reconnaissance group and ordered to the Baltic Sea. Already on 28 August 1914, the transfer to the North Sea, where the ship participated in several advances and took place on January 24, 1915 at the Battle of the Dogger Bank.
After the last battle, the SMS München was relocated to the Baltic Sea, participated in several attacks around the island of Gotland and joined on 31 January 1916 together with the freighter Moscow. The repair work lasted until the beginning of March 1916, after which the ship was relocated to the North Sea on March 10, 1916.
During the Battle of the Skagerrak from 31 May to 1 June 1916, the München got a few hits, which killed a total of 8 crew members. The repair lasted until June 30, 1916.
In a renewed advance in the North Sea München was torpedoed on 19 October 1916 by the British submarine E38. Since the ship at this time from the point of view of the naval Command too old and the benefit was no longer sufficient for a repair, the München was decommissioned in November 1916 and served until the war as a host ship of Sundwach ships.
Whereabouts:
After the surrender, the ship was first deleted from the list of warships on 5 November 1919, then delivered to Britain on 6 July 1920 and scrapped.
Ship data:
| Name: |
SMS München |
| Country: |
German Empire |
| Ship Type: |
Small cruiser |
| Class: |
Bremen-Class |
| Boatyard: |
AG Weser, Bremen |
| Building-costs: |
5.054.000 Mark |
| Launched: |
April 30th, 1904 |
| Commissioning: |
January 10th, 1905 |
| Whereabouts: |
Delivered to Britain on 6 July 1920 and scrapped |
| Length: |
111,1 meters |
| Width: |
13,3 meters |
| Draft: |
Max. 5,54 meters |
| Displacement: |
Max. 3.780 Tons |
| Crew: |
288 to 313 Men |
| Drive: |
10 Marine Boiler |
| Power: |
12.205 PS (8.977 kW) |
| Maximum speed: |
23,3 kn (43 km/h) |
| Armament: |
10 × Rapid Fire Gun 10,5 cm L / 40 (1.500 rounds) 10 × Rapid Fire Gun 5,3 cm L / 55 2 × torpedo tube ⌀ 45,0 cm (5 rounds)
|
| Armor: |
Deck: 20-80 mm |
You can find the right literature here:
German Battleships 1914–18 (1): Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland classes (New Vanguard)
German Battleships 1914–18 (1): Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland classes (New Vanguard) Paperback – February 23, 2010
Supported by official documents, personal accounts, official drawings and specially commissioned artwork, this volume is an enlightening history of the Deutschland to Osfriesland classes. Detailing the last of the pre-dreadnaught battleship classes, this book goes on to explain the revolutionary developments that took place within the German Imperial Navy as they readied themselves for war. This included creating vessels with vast increases in size and armament. This account of design and technology is supplemented by individual ship histories detailing combat experience complete with first-hand accounts. The specially commissioned artwork also brings this history to life with recreations of the battleship Pommern fighting at Jutland and ships of the Osfriesland class destroying HMS Black Prince in a dramatic night-time engagement.
The Imperial German Navy of World War I, Vol. 1 Warships: A Comprehensive Photographic Study of the Kaiser’s Naval Forces
The Imperial German Navy of World War I, Vol. 1 Warships: A Comprehensive Photographic Study of the Kaiser’s Naval Forces Hardcover – December 28, 2016
The Imperial German Navy of WWI is a series of books (Warships, Campaigns, & Uniforms) that provide a broad view of the Kaiser's naval forces through the extensive use of photographs. Every effort has been made to cover all significant areas during the war period. In addition to the primary use of photographs, technical information is provided for each warship along with its corresponding service history; with a special emphasis being placed on those warships that participated in the Battle of Skagerrak (Jutland). Countless sources have been used to establish individual case studies for each warship; multiple photos of each warship are provided. The entire series itself is unprecedented in its coverage of the Kaiser's navy.
German Battlecruisers of World War One: Their Design, Construction and Operations
German Battlecruisers of World War One: Their Design, Construction and Operations Hardcover – November 4, 2014
This is the most comprehensive, English-language study of the German Imperial Navy's battlecruisers that served in the First World War. Known as Panzerkreuzer, literally "armored cruiser," the eight ships of the class were to be involved in several early North Sea skirmishes before the great pitched battle of Jutland where they inflicted devastating damage on the Royal Navy's battlecruiser fleet. This book details their design and construction, and traces the full service history of each ship, recounting their actions, drawing largely from first-hand German sources and official documents, many previously unpublished in English.
The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918
The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918 Hardcover – March 15, 2016
The battleships of the Third Reich have been written about exhaustively, but there is little in English devoted to their Second Reich predecessors. This new book fills an important gap in the literature of the period by covering these German capital ships in detail and studying the full span of battleship development during this period. The book is arranged as a chronological narrative, with technical details, construction schedules, and ultimate fates tabulated throughout, thus avoiding the sometimes disjointed structure that can result from a class-by-class approach. Heavily illustrated with line drawings and photographs, many from German sources, the book offers readers a fresh visual look at these ships. A key objective of the book is to make available a full synthesis of the published fruits of archival research by German writers found in the pre-World War II books of Koop & Schmolke, Großmer's on the construction program of the dreadnaught era, Forstmeier & Breyer on World War I projects, and Schenk & Nottelmann's papers in Warship International. As well as providing data not available in English-language books, these sources correct significant errors in standard English sources.
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