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SMS ''Königsberg'' ("His Majesty's Ship ''Königsberg'')〔"SMS" stands for "''Seiner Majestät Schiff''" ().〕 was the lead ship of her class of light cruisers built by the German ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy). Named after Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, 〔Now Kaliningrad, Russia.〕 she was laid down in January 1905, launched in December of that year, and completed by June 1906. Her class included three other ships: , , and . ''Königsberg'' was armed with a main battery of ten guns and had a top speed of . After her commissioning, ''Königsberg'' served with the High Seas Fleet's reconnaissance force. During this period, she frequently escorted Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht on visits to foreign countries. In April 1914, the ship was sent on what was to have been a two-year deployment to German East Africa, but this was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in August of that year. ''Königsberg'' initially attempted to raid British and French commercial traffic in the region, but only destroyed one merchant ship in the course of her career. Coal shortages hampered her ability to attack shipping. On 20 September 1914, she surprised and sank the British protected cruiser in the Battle of Zanzibar. ''Königsberg'' then retreated into the Rufiji River to repair her engines. Before the repairs could be completed, British cruisers located ''Königsberg'', and, unable to steam into the river to destroy her, set up a blockade. After several attempts to sink the ship during the Battle of Rufiji Delta, the British sent two monitors, and , to destroy the German cruiser. On 11 July 1915, the two monitors got close enough to severely damage ''Königsberg'', forcing her crew to scuttle the ship. The surviving crew salvaged all ten of her main guns and joined Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's guerrilla campaign in East Africa. ''Königsberg'' was partially broken up in 1963–65 for scrap, and the remains sank into the riverbed. ==Design== (詳細はsisters were designed to serve both as fleet scouts in home waters and in Germany's colonial empire. This was a result of budgetary constraints that prevented the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' from building more specialized cruisers suitable for both roles.〔Gardiner & Gray, pp. 142, 157〕 ''Königsberg'' was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced at full combat load. Her propulsion system consisted of two 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines powered by eleven coal-fired water-tube boilers rated at . These provided a top speed of and a range of approximately at . ''Königsberg'' had a crew of 14 officers and 308 enlisted men.〔Gröner, p. 104〕 The ship was armed with ten 10.5 cm SK L/45 guns in single pedestal mounts. There were two side by side forward on the forecastle, six amidships, three on either side, and two side by side aft.〔Gardiner & Gray, p. 157〕 The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees, which allowed them to engage targets out to .〔Gardiner & Gray, p. 140〕 They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun.〔 ''Königsberg'' also carried ten SK guns in single mounts.〔 She was also equipped with a pair of torpedo tubes with five torpedoes submerged in the hull on the broadside. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was thick amidships. The conning tower sides were thick.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SMS Königsberg (1905)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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