SMS Karlsruhe (1912)

SMS "Karlsruhe" was a German light cruiser of the "Karlsruhe" class (similar to the "Magdeburg" class), used during World War I. She was lightly armed but fast, and acted primarily as a commerce raider, capturing or sinking a total of 17 ships, before suffering an accidental explosion and sinking in November 1914.Citation
last = North, Wickware, and Hart
first =
title = The American Year Book
publisher = T. Nelson & Sons [etc.]
year = 1916
isbn =.] She had one sister ship, the SMS "Rostock".

ervice history

When war was declared, the "Karlsruhe" was in the Caribbean, under Captain Erich Köhler. On August 6, 1914 she rendezvoused with the German liner SS|Kronprinz Wilhelm, a passenger ship which was ordered to also convert into a commerce raider. The "Karlsruhe" transferred guns to the "Kronprinz Wilhelm", and received coal in return, though the transfer needed to be cut short when the British cruiser HMS "Suffolk" arrived. The German ships separated, and the "Suffolk" chose to chase the "Karlsruhe", at one point coming close enough (7000 yards) to open fire, but missed, and the "Karlsruhe" successfully escaped and fled to Puerto Rico for resupplying, and then to patrol off the coast of Brazil. Between August and November 1914, "Karlsruhe" sank sixteen merchant ships, [Citation
last = Osborne
first = Eric W.
title = Cruisers and Battle Cruisers
publisher = ABC-CLIO
year = 2004
isbn =1851093699.] some of these included:

* August 18, the freighter "Bowes Castle"
* August 28, the collier "Strathoy"
* "Maple Bridge"
* September 14, "Highland Hope"
* September 17, "Indrani"
* September 21/September 22, "Maria", "Cornish City", "Rio Iguassa"
* October: "Farn, Niceto di Larrinagu, Lynrowam, Crevantes, Pruth, Glanton, Hurstdale", and the new liner "Van Dyck"

In November the "Karlsruhe" set course for Barbados for a raiding mission, but on November 4 there was a major explosion which blew the bow off the ship, and within half an hour the ship had sunk. 129 survivors were picked up by the supply ships "Rio Negro" and "Indrani-Hoffnung". The cause of the explosion was unknown, though common speculation is that it was an ammunition accident. ]

References

External links

* [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/karlsruhe_class.htm#Karlsruhe Ship description] at battleships-cruisers.co.uk
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/karlsruhe.html Karlsruhe page] at worldwar1.co.uk ( [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/cruisers/sms-karlsruhe.html statistics] )