SMS Breslau
Encyclopedia : S : SM : SMS : SMS Breslau
| |
| Career |
|
|---|---|
| Shipyard: | |
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 1910 |
| Launched: | 16 May 1911 |
| Commissioned: | 1912 |
| Fate: | Mined & sunk off Imbros, 20 January, 1918 |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 4,550 tons |
| Length: | 136 m (446 ft) |
| Beam: | 14 m (43 ft 11 in) |
| Draught: | 5,48 m (16 ft 10 in) |
| Propulsion: | 4 screws, 16 Schulz-Thorneycroft boilers, 25,000 hp (19 MW) |
| Speed: | 25 knots (46 km/h) |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 370 |
| Armament: | 7 x 150 mm (5.9 in ), 50 calibre 2 x 10 kg (22 pdr) anti-aircraft 4 x torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft: | None |
In 1912 Breslau was attached to the German Mittelmeerdivision (Mediterranean Division) along with the battlecruiser SMS Goeben under the command of Admiral Wilhelm Souchon. At the outbreak of the First World War, Breslau and Goeben were to interdict French transports transferring troops from Algeria to France however, due to concentrations of French and British warships, Breslau only succeeded in conducting a nuisance bombardment of the embarkation port of Bône on 4 August, 1914.
The pursuit of Goeben and Breslau by the British Mediterranean Fleet lasted until 10 August when the two ships passed through the Dardanelles en route to Constantinople where they were officially transferred to the Turkish Navy, Breslau being renamed Midilli - the Turkish name for the Aegean island of Lesbos - though retaining her German crew.
For most of the war Breslau operated in concert with Goeben in the Black Sea. On 19 January, 1918 Breslau and Goeben returned through the Dardanelles to the Aegean where they engaged the Royal Navy flotilla that was stationed there to intercept them. The German ships out-gunned their opposition, sinking two monitors, M28 and HMS Raglan, but disaster struck when they ran into a minefield. Breslau struck a mine and sank immediately, with the loss of 330 men; Goeben was damaged but managed to escape.
The future Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz served on this ship as an ensign.
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