- SMS Freya
Seiner Majestät Schiff "Freya" was a
protected cruiser of the "Victoria Louise" class, built for theKaiserliche Marine before the turn of the 20th Century. "Freya" was built at the Imperial Dockyard inKiel . She was laid down in January 1896, and completed in October 1900 at a cost of 11,094,000 Marks.Design
Dimensions and machinery
"Freya" 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. "Freya" 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
"Freya" was protected by 4 inch thick armor plating 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 , "Freya" was assigned to coastal defense duties. By November 1914, however, she was removed from front line service and turned into a barracks ship. In April 1915, she became a training ship, and served in this capacity until the end of the war. In 1921, "Freya" was sold for scrap.External links
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/armoured-cruiser/sms-victoria-luise.html World War 1 Naval Combat]
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