SMS Karlsruhe - Service History

Service History

Karlsruhe's first commanding officer was Fregattenkapitän Fritz Lüdecke. Following her commissioning in January 1914, Karlsruhe was assigned to overseas service, under the command of Fregattenkapitän Erich Köhler. At the outbreak of World War I the following August, the ship was based in the Caribbean, along with the cruiser Dresden. She had anchored in Cay Sal Bank in the Florida Strait when she received warnings that war in Europe was imminent. Karlsruhe's standing orders in the event of war saw the ship conducting a commerce raiding campaign against British merchant traffic. To hunt down Karlsruhe and any merchant ships she might arm as auxiliary cruisers, the Royal Navy deployed five cruiser squadrons, the most powerful were those commanded by Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock and Rear Admiral Archibald Stoddart. The British were forced to disperse their ships to cover the areas in which the two German cruisers, and any auxiliary cruisers they might arm, could operate.

On 6 August, Karlsruhe rendezvoused with the passenger ship SS Kronprinz Wilhelm about 120 nmi (220 km; 140 mi) north of Watling Island. Karlsruhe was in the process of transferring guns and equipment to the liner when Craddock, in his flagship HMS Suffolk, appeared to the south. The Germans had only managed to transfer two 8.8 cm guns, a machine gun, and some sailors by the time Suffolk arrived. The two ships quickly departed in different directions; Suffolk followed Karlsruhe and other cruisers were ordered to intercept her. Karlsruhe's faster speed allowed her to quickly outpace Craddock, but at 20:15, Bristol joined the pursuit and briefly fired on the German cruiser. The German gunners scored two hits on Bristol during the short engagement. Karlsruhe turned east and again used her high speed to evade the British ships. The British failed to relocate her, and by 9 August, Karlsruhe reached Puerto Rico with only 12 tons of coal in her bunkers.

With limited options for coal in the Caribbean, Köhler took his ship down to the northeast coast of Brazil, off Pernambuco. The area was not as heavily patrolled by the British. Here, Karlsruhe had easy access to coal supplies, either from chartered colliers or captured vessels. Köhler frequently kept one or two prizes to assist in the search for targets. In the course of her patrols off the Brazilian coast, Karlsruhe sank or captured sixteen merchant ships. These merchantmen, fifteen British ships and one Dutch vessel, totaled 72,805 gross register tons (GRT). Köhler then decided to move to another area, as remaining in one area would increase his chances of being tracked down by the British. He turned his ship toward the West Indies to attack Barbados and Fort-de-France and the shipping lanes between Barbados and Trinidad.

As Karlsruhe steamed to Barbados on the night of 4 November, a spontaneous internal explosion destroyed the ship. The hull was split in half; the bow section quickly sank and took with it Köhler and most of the crew. The stern remained afloat long enough for 140 of the ship's crew to escape onto the attending colliers. Commander Studt, the senior surviving officer, took charge and placed all of his men aboard the liner Rio Negro. He scuttled the second collier and steamed north for Iceland. The ship used the cover of a major storm to slip through the British blockade of the North Sea, and put in at Ålesund, Norway. Rio Negro then returned to Germany by early December. The Admiralstab, unaware of the loss of Karlsruhe, coincidentally radioed the ship to order her to return to Germany. Germany kept the loss of the ship a secret, and the British continued searching for her until they learned of her fate in March 1915. Köhler's widow christened the cruiser Karlsruhe, the third to bear the name, at her launching in August 1927.