SMS Königsberg 1915
Marker: recorded wreck position (First World War).
Key facts
| Name | SMS Königsberg | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1915 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | First World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | light cruiser | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | German Reich | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Imperial German Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War I | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Nearest coast | Tanzania | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | -7.8683, 39.2400 | Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0) |
About the wreck
SMS Königsberg ("His Majesty's Ship Königsberg") was the lead ship of her class of light cruisers built by the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). Named after Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia, she was laid down in January 1905, launched in December of that year and completed by June 1906. Her class included three other ships: Stettin, Stuttgart, and Nürnberg. Königsberg was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 24.1 knots (44.6 km/h; 27.7 mph).
After her commissioning, Königsberg served with the High Seas Fleet's reconnaissance force. During this period, she frequently escorted Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht on visits to foreign countries. In April 1914, the ship was sent on what was to have been a two-year deployment to German East Africa, but this was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in August of that year. Königsberg initially attempted to raid British and French commercial traffic in the region, but only destroyed one merchant ship in the course of her career. Coal shortages hampered her ability to attack shipping.
Location
- Recorded position: -7.8683, 39.2400 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: Tanzania
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SMS Königsberg (1905) (revision 1375481415), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- MV Skagit 2012 · 167 km
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Other wrecks of the World War I
- SM U-13 1914
- SMS Emden 1914
- SMS Gneisenau 1914
- SMS Scharnhorst 1914
- SS Königin Luise 1914
- HMS Argyll 1915
- HMS Arno 1915
- HMS Natal 1915
- HMS Triumph 1915
- SM U-12 1915
All 163 wrecks of the World War I →
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