SMS Wiesbaden - Service History

Service History

Commanded by Captain Fritz Reiss, Wiesbaden was assigned to the II Scouting Group of light cruisers under Konteradmiral Friedrich Bödicker, which took part in the Battle of Jutland on 30 May and 1 June 1916. Wiesbaden's sister ship Frankfurt served as Bödicker's flagship. The unit was assigned to screen for the battlecruisers of Vizeadmiral Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group. At the start of the battle, Wiesbaden was cruising to starboard, which placed her on the disengaged side when Elbing, Pillau, and Frankfurt first engaged the British cruiser screen.

At around 18:30, Wiesbaden and the rest of the II Scouting Group encountered the cruiser HMS Chester; they opened fire and scored several hits on the ship. As both sides' cruisers disengaged, Rear Admiral Horace Hood's three battlecruisers intervened. His flagship HMS Invincible scored a hit on Wiesbaden that exploded in her engine room and disabled the ship. Konteradmiral Paul Behncke, the commander of the leading element of the German battle line, ordered his dreadnoughts to cover the stricken Wiesbaden. Simultaneously, the light cruisers of the British 3rd and 4th Light Cruiser Squadrons attempted to make a torpedo attack on the German line; while steaming into range, they battered Wiesbaden with their main guns. The destroyer HMS Onslow steamed to within 2,000 yards (1,800 m) of Wiesbaden and fired a single torpedo at the crippled cruiser. It hit directly below the conning tower, but the ship remained afloat. In the ensuing melee, the armored cruiser HMS Defence blew up and HMS Warrior was fatally damaged. Wiesbaden launched her torpedoes while she remained immobilized, but with no success.

Shortly after 20:00, the III Flotilla of torpedo boats attempted to rescue Wiesbaden's crew, but heavy fire from the British battle line drove them off. Another attempt to reach the ship was made, but the torpedo boat crews lost sight of the cruiser and were unable to locate her. The ship finally sank sometime between 01:45 and 02:45. Only one crew member survived the sinking; he was picked up by a Norwegian steamer the following day. Among the 589 killed was the well-known writer of poetry and fiction dealing with the life of fishermen and sailors, Johann Kinau, known under his pseudonym of Gorch Fock, who has since then been honored by having two training windjammers of the Kriegsmarine and the German Navy, respectively, named after him. The wreck of Wiesbaden was found in 1983 by divers of the German Navy, who removed both of the ship's screws. The ship lies on the sea floor upside down, and was the last German cruiser sunk at Jutland to be located.