SMS Dresden (1907)
 SMS Dresden (transiting Kiel Canal) |
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| Career (German Empire) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Dresden |
| Namesake: | Dresden |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Laid down: | 1907 |
| Commissioned: | November 1908 |
| Fate: | Scuttled off Robinson Crusoe Island, 14 March 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 3,364 tons normal |
| Length: | 118 m (387 ft) |
| Beam: | 13.4 m (44 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.3 m (17 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Two 15,000 shaft horsepower (12 MW) Parsons turbines driving two propellers |
| Speed: | 25 knots (46.3 km/h) |
| Range: | 3,700 miles (6,000 km) |
| Complement: | 361 |
| Armament: | Ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) rapid fire guns (10 x 1), and two torpedo-tubes |
| Armour: | Deck 13 mm (0.51 in), Belt 51 mm (2.0 in), Conning tower 102 mm (4.0 in) |
The SMS Dresden was a German Imperial Navy light cruiser of the Dresden class, commissioned in 1908.
She was the sister ship of the famous commerce raider SMS Emden. While the Emden still had traditional triple-expansion engines, the Dresden was the first German cruiser to be equipped with the new Parsons turbines.
Prior to World War I the Dresden had been stationed in the Caribbean for a year. During that time, she was instrumental in evacuating American nationals during the U.S. occupation of Veracruz in 1914.[citation needed] She also played a role in the departure of exiled Mexican president Victoriano Huerta, transporting him from Mexico to Kingston, Jamaica.
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[edit] Service history
At the outbreak of the war in 1914, the Dresden was preparing for the return journey to Germany. However, orders were changed to prepare for commerce raiding. The Dresden then headed for the South Atlantic and rendezvoused with the German East Asia Squadron under Vice Admiral Count Spee at Easter Island. In company with Count Spee's other ships — the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau and the light cruisers SMS Leipzig and SMS Nürnberg — the Dresden participated in the Battle of Coronel. Together with SMS Leipzig she damaged the British light cruiser HMS Glasgow and obliged her to retire.
[edit] Battle of the Falkland Islands
Approximately one month later, Dresden was the only German cruiser to escape destruction at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, her turbine engines proving faster than her expansion-engined squadron mates. The ship then headed south back around Cape Horn to the maze of channels and bays in southern Chile. Until March 1915 she evaded Royal Navy searches while threatening British trade routes in the area.
[edit] The Ortega and the escape from the Dresden
On 18 September 1914 RMS Ortega, under the command of Captain Douglas Reid Kinnier, was travelling southward along the Chilean coast from Valparaíso to Montevideo. In addition to a valuable cargo of £117,000, the Ortega was carrying 300 French reservists as well as confidential mail from the Admiralty. When the Ortega was some 50 miles from the entrance to the Straits of Magellan through which she intended to pass, she sighted Dresden, approaching on an opposite course. The Ortega was only capable of a maximum speed of 14 knots whereas the cruiser could achieve a speed of 20 knots. Captain Kinnier ordered a change of course for Cape George. Notwithstanding the ship's engineers achieved a speed of 18 knots, the Dresden soon came within range and a shot from her foremost gun fell alongside the ship as a signal to heave to. Captain Kinnier, however, ignored the signal, and continued on his course, driving the ship as fast as he could. The Dresden then opened fire in earnest, but the Ortega, stern on, did not present a large target and none of the shots took effect.
Chancing all risks in the shallow and uncharted channels of Nelson Strait, Captain Kinnier succeeded in reaching waters where it was impossible for the Dresden to follow. Lowering some boats he sent them ahead of the ship to take soundings, and by following slowly in their wake, Captain Kinnier succeeded eventually in working his way through nearly one hundred miles of narrow and tortuous channel and emerged into the Straits of Magellan. Subsequently Captain Kinnier navigated his command into Smyth's Channel and thereafter Rio de Janeiro, "without even having a scratch on his plates".
[edit] The end
On 8 March 1915, the Dresden put into Cumberland Bay on the Chilean island of Más a Tierra (today known as Robinson Crusoe Island) which was neutral territory. With 80 tons of coal remaining in her bunkers, out of ammunition for the main battery, lacking stores and supplies as well as parts for her worn-out engines, the ship ceased to be operational. Dresden had sent coded signals to a German collier to meet her in the bay on 9 March. The bay had been used previously by Von Spee for similar meetings. The message had been intercepted by the British light cruisers HMS Glasgow, which had a copy of the captured German codebook. This was incomplete, requiring a 'key' to decode messages, but Charles Stuart, the signals officer, managed to decode the message.[1] On 14 March, Glasgow and HMS Kent found the elusive German cruiser still at anchor. Some shots were fired, injuring a few crew members, and the navigation officer Ernst Wieblitz. Soon after, the Dresden ran up a white flag and sent Lieutenant Wilhelm Canaris to negotiate with the British. However, this was merely a ruse to buy time so the Dresden's crew could abandon ship and scuttle her. At 11:15 a.m. the Dresden sank with her war ensign flying. Her crew of about 300 men was interned in Chile for the duration of the war. One lieutenant, Lothar Witzke, escaped and was later imprisoned by the United States as a spy and saboteur. Eventually about a third of the crew elected to remain and resettle in Chile at war's end. Lieutenant Canaris became famous during the Second World War as head of the German Military Intelligence Service, the Abwehr, and as member of the German Resistance. Coordinates: 33°36′6″S 78°49′30″W / 33.60167°S 78.825°W
[edit] Epilogue
Today the wreck, which lies in about 60 metres (200 ft) of water, is gaining popularity with recreational Scuba divers, and is occasionally used by the Chilean Navy for diver training. On 24 February 2006, Chilean and German divers found and recovered the Dresden's bell. The Republic of Chile presented the bell of SMS Dresden to the Museum of the German Armed Forces (Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr) at Dresden in November 2008, one hundred years after the commissioning of the cruiser.
CS Forester's novel Brown on Resolution, and two subsequent movies, were inspired by the Dresden's escape and subsequent destruction. Forester's novel has a German warship escape the Battle of the Falkland Islands and make its way to an isolated Pacific island, to effect repairs.
[edit] See also
Media related to SMS Dresden (1907) at Wikimedia Commons
[edit] References
- ^ Beesly, Patrick (1982). Room 40. London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd.. pp. 77–78. ISBN 0241108640.
[edit] External links
- German TV Documentary and FORGOTTEN CRUISERWARRIOR By Robert F. Smith
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