SMS Victoria Louise

Seiner Majestät Schiff "Victoria Louise" was the lead ship of her class of protected cruisers, built for the Kaiserliche Marine before the turn of the 20th Century.

"Victoria Louise" was laid down in Bremen by the AG Weser shipyard in April 1896. She was completed in February 1899, at a cost of 10,714,000 Marks. She was designed primarily for an overseas cruiser role.

Design

Dimensions and machinery

"Victoria Louise" was 358 feet 3 inches long at the waterline, and had an overall length of 363 feet 2 inches. She had a beam of 57 feet 2 inches and a draught of 22 feet 9 inches. "Victoria Louise" displaced 5,660 tons on a standard load, and 6,491 tons fully loaded. The ship was powered by three shaft triple expansion engines, that produced 10,000 ihp and delivered a top speed of convert|19.5|kn|km/h|1.

Between 1905 and 1911, the ships of the "Victoria Louise" class were modernized. The ships had their boilers replaced, and had their original three funnels reduced to two stacks.

Armor and armament

"Victoria Louise" was protected by 4 inch thick armor plate on the decks. The ship was armed with a wide mix of armaments. The main armament consisted of two convert|8.2|in|mm|0|sing=on guns mounted in single turrets fore and aft. The secondary armament comprised eight convert|5.9|in|mm|0|sing=on guns in casemates along the length of the ship, along with ten convert|3.4|in|mm|0|sing=on guns, also casemated. The ships were also armed with three convert|17.7|in|mm|0|sing=on torpedo tubes.

ervice history

At the start of World War I, "Victoria Louise" served as a coastal defense ship, but by November 1914, she was consigned to a barracks ship role, along with her sister ships. In 1923, she was sold for scrap.

External links

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