Magdeburg Class Light Cruisers

Magdeburg Class.  Larger, faster, four funnelled and better protected than previous German light cruiser designs.  They introduced a new hull form and replaced the bow ram with a cruiser bow shape.

SMS Magdeburg
Built Weser, Bremen, laid down April 1910, completed August 1912, cost 8,058,000 Marks.

SMS Breslau
Built Vulcan, Stettin, laid down 1910, completed May 1912, cost 7,961,000 Marks.

SMS Strassburg
Built Wilhelmshaven Navy Yard, laid down 1910, completed October 1912, cost 7,302,000 Marks.

SMS Stralsund
Built Weser, Bremen, laid down September 1910, completed December 1912, cost 7,741,000 Marks.

Size:
Length 130 m waterline 130.5 m overall, beam 14 m, draught 5.48 m, displacement 4,362 tonnes  load 4,915 tonnes full load.

Propulsion:
Magdeburg, Stralsund 3 shaft Bergmann turbines, 25,000 shp = 27 knots
Breslau 4 shaft AEG-Vulcan turbines, 25,000 shp = 27 knots
Strassburg 2 shaft Navy turbines, 25,000 shp = 27 knots

Trials:
Magdeburg 29,904 shp = 27.6 knots
Breslau 33,482 shp = 27.5 knots
Strassburg 33,742 shp = 28.2 knots
Stralsund 35,515 shp = 28.2 knots

Armour:
2.5-0.5in belt, 2.5-1in decks

Armament:
12 x 105mm (4.1in) SKL/ 45cal (8 x 1), 2 x 500mm (19.7in) TT, 120 mines

Comments:
First German light cruisers with belt armour.  They were also longitudinally framed for the first time in a German cruiser.  Crew 354.

World War 1 Service:
Magdeburg
26 August 1914 Ran aground near the Odensholm lighthouse (Baltic).  After a failed attempt to re-float her the Russian cruisers Bogatyr and Pallada arrive and destroy the her with gunfire.

Breslau
Part of the Mediterranean Division.
4 August 1914 bombarded Bona.
7 August 1914 short engagement with British light cruiser HMS Gloucester.
10 August 1914 entered the Dardanelles.
16 August1914 sold to the Ottoman Empire and renamed Midilli but retained the German crew.
29 October 1914 bombards Sevastopol.
18 November 1914 involved in the Battle of Cape Sarych with Russian pre-Dreadnought battleships.
2-3 April 1915 sortie in the Black Sea sinking two Russian merchant ships.
10 June 1915 damaged in action with Russian destroyers.
18 July 1915 Damaged by mine.
18 April 1916 Damages Russian minesweeper T233 and sinks a merchant ship.
4 July 1916 Sinks two Russian merchant ships.
23 June 1917 Lays mines and destroys radio station at Snake Islands.
25 June 1917 attacked by Russian battleship Svobodnaya Rossiya.
20 January 1918 attempt to raid British forces outside the entrance to the Dardanelles. Involved in sinking the British monitors Raglan and M28 at Imbros but is struck by 5 mines and sinks.

Strassburg
II Scouting Group.
28 August 1914 took part in Battle of Heligoland Bight.
Ceded to Italy, sunk by air attack 1944.

Stralsund
II Scouting Group.
28 August 1914 took part in Battle of Heligoland Bight.
24 January 1915 took part in the Battle at the Dogger Bank.
Ceded to French, sold for scrap 1933

SMS Strassburg was rearmed in 1916 with 7 x 150mm (5.9in) guns and 2 88mm anti-aircraft guns, SMS Stralsund undergoing a similar re-armament the previous year.  Former SMS Breslau, by then Midilli, received 2 x 150mm (5.9in) guns in 1916 and was completely rearmed with 8 x 150mm (5.9in) guns in 1917.