SMS Köln (1909)

SMS "Köln" was a light cruiser of the "Kolberg" class in the Imperial German navy, launched on 5 June 1909 at Germania shipworks in Kiel. She was 130.5 m long, 15 m wide, and had a draught of 5.58 m. She displaced 4,350 tons and had a top speed of 26.8 knots. Her main armament consisted of twelve 10.5 cm rapid fire guns, and her crew numbered 380 in peacetime and 485 in combat.

SMS "Köln" was the flagship of Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass in the first Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914, her final battle. Planning to attack German patrols off the north-west German coast, the British Harwich Force of two light cruisers and 31 destroyers under Commander Tyrwhitt made a raid upon German shipping close to the German naval base at Heligoland. Providing cover was the First Battle Cruiser Squadron under Vice Admiral Beatty, consisting of the battlecruisers "New Zealand" and "Invincible" and three cruisers. The Harwich Force sank a German torpedo-boat at around 7 am on 28 August, and the Germans hastily deployed the light cruisers SMS "Frauenlob" and SMS "Stettin" to the scene. They were joined soon afterwards by a squadron of four more light cruisers from Wilhelmshaven, including SMS "Köln" under the command of Captain Meidinger. Due to low water, the German battlecruisers in Wilhelmshaven were unable to leave harbour in time to provide support.

SMS "Köln" encountered and engaged the British light cruiser HMS "Arethusa" and eight destroyers which were fighting the German light cruiser SMS "Mainz". Outgunned and with HMS "Arethusa" heavily damaged, Commander Tyrwhitt requested urgent assistance. Beatty's squadron, some 25 miles to the north, arrived at 12.40 pm, completely surprising the Germans. The superior speed and firing power of the British battlecruisers was decisive, and the Germans lost SMS "Mainz", SMS "Köln", and SMS "Ariadne". Three other light cruisers escaped severely damaged. The Germans lost 712 killed and 419 captured.

SMS "Köln" sank at about 14.30 pm. Of her crew of about 485, some 200 initially survived the sinking, but all but one drowned soon after. The sole survivor, a stoker, managed to cling to the remnants of a lifeboat for 76 hours before being rescued. The wrecked boat later washed ashore on the island of Norderney and is today exhibited in Cologne in a side arch of the "Eigelsteintorburg" medieval city gate.

External links

* [http://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/ontour/museen/coeln/coeln1.htm Kleiner Kreuzer SMS CÖLN - Kutterwrack in der Eigelsteintorburg (German article about the lifeboat on display)]