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SMS Roon
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SMS Roon
SMS Roon was the lead ship of her class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the early 1900s as part of a major naval expansion program aimed at strengthening the fleet. The ship was named after Field Marshal Albrecht von Roon. She was built at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel, being laid down in August 1902, launched in June 1903, and commissioned in April 1906. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns and had a top speed of 20.4 knots (37.8 km/h; 23.5 mph). Like many of the late armored cruisers, Roon was quickly rendered obsolescent by the advent of the battlecruiser; as a result, her career was limited.
Roon served in I Scouting Group, the reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet, for the duration of her peacetime career, including several stints as the flagship of the group's deputy commander. During this period, the ship was occupied with training exercises and made several cruises in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1907, she visited the United States to represent Germany during the Jamestown Exposition. In September 1911 she was decommissioned and placed in reserve.
Three years later, the ship was mobilized in August 1914 following the outbreak of World War I and assigned to III Scouting Group, serving initially with the High Seas Fleet in the North Sea. There, she escorted the main German fleet during the raid on Yarmouth in November and the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December, though she saw no action during either operation. She was transferred to the Baltic Sea in April 1915 and took part in several operations against Russian forces, including the successful attack on Libau in May and the failed attack on Riga in August. The threat of British submarines convinced the German command to withdraw old vessels like Roon by early 1916, and she was again decommissioned and eventually used as a training ship. Plans to convert her into a seaplane tender in 1918 came to nothing with the end of the war, and she was broken up in 1921.
The two Roon-class cruisers were ordered in 1902 as part of the fleet expansion program specified by the Second Naval Law of 1900. The two ships were incremental developments of the preceding Prinz Adalbert-class cruisers, the most significant difference being a longer hull; the extra space was used to add a pair of boilers, which increased power by 2,028 metric horsepower (2,000 ihp) and speed by 0.5 knots (0.93 km/h; 0.58 mph). The launch of the British battlecruiser HMS Invincible in 1907 quickly rendered all of the armored cruisers that had been built by the world's navies obsolescent.
Roon was 127.8 m (419 ft 3 in) long overall and had a beam of 20.2 m (66 ft 3 in) and a draft of 7.76 m (25 ft 6 in) forward. She displaced 9,533 metric tons (9,382 long tons) as built and 10,266 t (10,104 long tons) fully loaded. She was propelled by three vertical triple expansion engines, each driving a screw propeller, with steam provided by sixteen coal-fired water-tube boilers. The ship's propulsion system developed a total of 19,000 metric horsepower (19,000 ihp) and yielded a maximum speed of 21.1 knots (39.1 km/h; 24.3 mph) on trials, falling short of her intended speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph). She carried up to 1,570 t (1,550 long tons) of coal, which enabled a maximum range of up to 4,200 nautical miles (7,800 km; 4,800 mi) at a cruising speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). Roon had a crew of 35 officers and 598 enlisted men.
She was armed with four 21 cm (8.3 in) SK L/40 guns arranged in two twin-gun turrets, one on either end of the superstructure. Her secondary armament consisted of ten 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/40 guns; four were in single-gun turrets on the upper deck and the remaining six were in casemates in a main-deck battery. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried fourteen 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/35 guns, all in individual mounts in the superstructure and in the hull, either in casemates or open pivot mounts with gun shields. She also had four 45 cm (17.7 in) underwater torpedo tubes, one in the bow, one in the stern, and one on each broadside.
The ship was protected with Krupp cemented armor; the belt armor was 10 cm (3.9 in) thick amidships and was reduced to 8 cm (3.1 in) on either end. The main battery turrets had 15 cm (5.9 in) thick faces. Her deck was 4–6 cm (1.6–2.4 in) thick, connected to the lower edge of the belt by 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) thick sloped armor.
Roon was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Kaiser as a replacement for the ironclad Kaiser. The ship was built at the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel under construction number 28. Her keel was laid down on 1 August 1902 and she was launched on 27 June 1903. At her launching ceremony, Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee christened the ship Roon after Field Marshal Albrecht von Roon. Fitting-out work then commenced, which included provisions for the cruiser to be used as a flagship, and Roon was commissioned into the German fleet on 5 April 1906. Her first commander was Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Fritz Hoffmann. The ship then began sea trials that lasted until 9 July; she joined I Scouting Group on 15 August, where she replaced the armored cruiser Friedrich Carl as the flagship of the deputy commander, KzS and Kommodore (Commodore) Raimund Winkler. Roon then participated in the annual fleet maneuvers held in late August and early September. Later that month, Hoffmann was replaced by Fregattenkapitän (FK—Frigate Captain) Oskar von Platen-Hallermund, who commanded the vessel for just a month before he was in turn relieved by KzS Karl Zimmermann. At the same time as Hoffmann's departure, Winkler also left his post, being replaced by KzS and Kommodore Eugen Kalau vom Hofe, who transferred his flag to Friedrich Carl in October.
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SMS Roon
SMS Roon was the lead ship of her class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the early 1900s as part of a major naval expansion program aimed at strengthening the fleet. The ship was named after Field Marshal Albrecht von Roon. She was built at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel, being laid down in August 1902, launched in June 1903, and commissioned in April 1906. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns and had a top speed of 20.4 knots (37.8 km/h; 23.5 mph). Like many of the late armored cruisers, Roon was quickly rendered obsolescent by the advent of the battlecruiser; as a result, her career was limited.
Roon served in I Scouting Group, the reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet, for the duration of her peacetime career, including several stints as the flagship of the group's deputy commander. During this period, the ship was occupied with training exercises and made several cruises in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1907, she visited the United States to represent Germany during the Jamestown Exposition. In September 1911 she was decommissioned and placed in reserve.
Three years later, the ship was mobilized in August 1914 following the outbreak of World War I and assigned to III Scouting Group, serving initially with the High Seas Fleet in the North Sea. There, she escorted the main German fleet during the raid on Yarmouth in November and the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December, though she saw no action during either operation. She was transferred to the Baltic Sea in April 1915 and took part in several operations against Russian forces, including the successful attack on Libau in May and the failed attack on Riga in August. The threat of British submarines convinced the German command to withdraw old vessels like Roon by early 1916, and she was again decommissioned and eventually used as a training ship. Plans to convert her into a seaplane tender in 1918 came to nothing with the end of the war, and she was broken up in 1921.
The two Roon-class cruisers were ordered in 1902 as part of the fleet expansion program specified by the Second Naval Law of 1900. The two ships were incremental developments of the preceding Prinz Adalbert-class cruisers, the most significant difference being a longer hull; the extra space was used to add a pair of boilers, which increased power by 2,028 metric horsepower (2,000 ihp) and speed by 0.5 knots (0.93 km/h; 0.58 mph). The launch of the British battlecruiser HMS Invincible in 1907 quickly rendered all of the armored cruisers that had been built by the world's navies obsolescent.
Roon was 127.8 m (419 ft 3 in) long overall and had a beam of 20.2 m (66 ft 3 in) and a draft of 7.76 m (25 ft 6 in) forward. She displaced 9,533 metric tons (9,382 long tons) as built and 10,266 t (10,104 long tons) fully loaded. She was propelled by three vertical triple expansion engines, each driving a screw propeller, with steam provided by sixteen coal-fired water-tube boilers. The ship's propulsion system developed a total of 19,000 metric horsepower (19,000 ihp) and yielded a maximum speed of 21.1 knots (39.1 km/h; 24.3 mph) on trials, falling short of her intended speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph). She carried up to 1,570 t (1,550 long tons) of coal, which enabled a maximum range of up to 4,200 nautical miles (7,800 km; 4,800 mi) at a cruising speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). Roon had a crew of 35 officers and 598 enlisted men.
She was armed with four 21 cm (8.3 in) SK L/40 guns arranged in two twin-gun turrets, one on either end of the superstructure. Her secondary armament consisted of ten 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/40 guns; four were in single-gun turrets on the upper deck and the remaining six were in casemates in a main-deck battery. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried fourteen 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/35 guns, all in individual mounts in the superstructure and in the hull, either in casemates or open pivot mounts with gun shields. She also had four 45 cm (17.7 in) underwater torpedo tubes, one in the bow, one in the stern, and one on each broadside.
The ship was protected with Krupp cemented armor; the belt armor was 10 cm (3.9 in) thick amidships and was reduced to 8 cm (3.1 in) on either end. The main battery turrets had 15 cm (5.9 in) thick faces. Her deck was 4–6 cm (1.6–2.4 in) thick, connected to the lower edge of the belt by 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) thick sloped armor.
Roon was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Kaiser as a replacement for the ironclad Kaiser. The ship was built at the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel under construction number 28. Her keel was laid down on 1 August 1902 and she was launched on 27 June 1903. At her launching ceremony, Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee christened the ship Roon after Field Marshal Albrecht von Roon. Fitting-out work then commenced, which included provisions for the cruiser to be used as a flagship, and Roon was commissioned into the German fleet on 5 April 1906. Her first commander was Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Fritz Hoffmann. The ship then began sea trials that lasted until 9 July; she joined I Scouting Group on 15 August, where she replaced the armored cruiser Friedrich Carl as the flagship of the deputy commander, KzS and Kommodore (Commodore) Raimund Winkler. Roon then participated in the annual fleet maneuvers held in late August and early September. Later that month, Hoffmann was replaced by Fregattenkapitän (FK—Frigate Captain) Oskar von Platen-Hallermund, who commanded the vessel for just a month before he was in turn relieved by KzS Karl Zimmermann. At the same time as Hoffmann's departure, Winkler also left his post, being replaced by KzS and Kommodore Eugen Kalau vom Hofe, who transferred his flag to Friedrich Carl in October.
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