SMS Hertha

Seiner Majestät Schiff "Hertha" was a protected cruiser of the "Victoria Louise" class, built for the Kaiserliche Marine before the turn of the 20th Century. "Hertha" was the first ship of the class laid down, in October 1895, and also the first completed, in July 1898. She was built at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin; construction costs totaled 9,932,000 Marks.

Design

Dimensions and machinery

"Hertha" 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. "Hertha" 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|knot|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

"Hertha" 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

"Hertha" served as a colonial cruiser after she was completed. In 1899, she sailed from Germany to Tsingtao. She was assigned to the German East Asia Squadron, and served as its flagship from 17 February 1900 until she was replaced by "Fürst Bismarck" in 1903. "Hertha" participated in actions during the Boxer Rebellion.

On 31 December 1904, "Hertha" was detached from the East Asia Squadron, and began her voyage to Kiel. She arrived there on 12 May 1905. In 1906, she went to dry dock for a refit, during which she was re-boilered. "Hertha" originally had three stacks, although during the refit this was reduced to two funnels. The refit was finished by 1908, at which point "Hertha" became a cadet training ship.

"Hertha" had a short career during World War I. At the outbreak of hostilities, she was assigned to coastal defense duties in the V Scouting Group. By November 1914, "Hertha" was removed from front line service and became a barracks ship. She was disarmed in 1916. She served in this capacity until the end of the war. In 1919, "Hertha" was stricken from the naval register. In 1923, she was sold for scrapping.

=

External links

* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/armoured-cruiser/sms-victoria-luise.html World War 1 Naval Combat]
*de icon http://www.kreuzergeschwader.de/kreuzer/hertha.htm