SMS Brummer

SMS "Brummer" was a minelaying light cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine that was the lead ship of the Brummer class cruisers. She was built by AG Vulcan Stettin and launched on 11 December, 1915 at Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland) and completed on 2 April 1916. Sister ship SMS "Bremse" was launched on 11 March 1916 and was completed on 1 July 1916. The two ships entered service in October 1916.

ervice

"Brummer" and her subsequent sister ship "Bremse" served together for their entire combat career. In October 1916 they were assigned to the II Scouting Group, then to the IV Scouting Group in December 1916. On October 17, 1917, the two ships raided along the Norwegian coast and sank the British destroyers HMS "Strongbow" and HMS "Mary Rose" along with nine merchant ships. Throughout 1917 and 1918 they continued to sortie against enemy merchant shipping in Norway's waters.

Fate

Along with the remainder of the High Seas Fleet, "Brummer" and "Bremse" steamed towards Scapa Flow in disarmed state pending negotiation of peace. The fleet reached British waters on 21 November, 1918 and were boarded by Allied crews to inspect their armaments; subsequently the ships were interned at Gutter Sound, where they would remain for the rest of their lives. The German flags were hauled down, not to be again risen until June 1919, when most of the fleet was scuttled under Admiral Ludwig von Reuter's orders.

References

* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/cruisers/sms-brummer.html Brummer class cruisers]
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/scuttle.html Mass Scuttling of 1919]