Roon class armored cruiser

The "Roon" class was a class of armored cruisers, built for the German Imperial Navy after the turn of the 20th century. The class comprised "Roon" and "Yorck", which closely resembled the earlier "Prinz Adalbert" class ships.

Construction

"Roon" was laid down in August, 1902, at the Kiel Navy dockyard. She was completed in April, 1906, at the cost of 15,345,000 marks. "Yorck" was laid down in February, 1903, at Blohm + Voss shipyard. "Yorck" was completed in November, 1905, at a cost of 16,241,000 marks.

Design

ize and machinery

The ships of the "Roon" class were convert|418|ft|7|in|m|0|abbr=on at the waterline, had a beam of convert|66|ft|4|in|m|0|abbr=on, and a draught of convert|25.5|ft|m. They displaced 9,533 tons standard, and 10,266 at full load. They were powered by 3 shaft triple-expansion engines, which produced convert|19000|ihp|abbr=on, delivering a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h).

Armor and armament

The ships had convert|6|in|mm of belt armor, convert|7|in|mm on the turret faces, and between convert|1.5|in|mm to convert|2.5|in|mm of armor on the decks. They were armed with four convert|8.2|in|mm|0|sing=on guns, in fore and aft twin turrets. Secondary armament included ten convert|5.9|in|mm|0|sing=on guns in single turrets and casemates, fourteen convert|3.45|in|mm guns, and four convert|17.7|in|mm|0|sing=on torpedo tubes.

ervice history

At the start of World War I, "Roon" was serving as the flagship of the III Scouting Group. Her sister "Yorck" was brought out of the reserve fleet and joined her in the III SG. On 4 November 1914, "Yorck" hit two German mines in the Jade Estuary, and sank. The day before (3 November 1914), "Roon" shelled Yarmouth; she shelled Hartlepool on 16 December. Following these actions, "Roon" was transferred to the Baltic Sea, until November 1916, when she became a training ship. She was scrapped after the war in 1921.

External links

* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/armoured-cruiser/sms-roon.html World War 1 Naval Combat]