Roon-class cruiser
Roon-class cruiser
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Roon |
| Builders: | |
| Operators: |
 Kaiserliche Marine
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| Preceded by: | Prinz Adalbert class |
| Succeeded by: | Scharnhorst class |
| Built: | 1902–1906 |
| Completed: | 2 ordered and commissioned |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Retired: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Armored cruiser |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 127.8 m (419 ft) |
| Beam: | 20.2 m (66 ft) |
| Draft: | 7.76 m (25.5 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 19,000 ihp (14,200 kW), three shafts |
| Speed: | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
| Range: | 4,200 nmi (7,780 km; 4,830 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The Roon class was a pair of armored cruisers built for the German Imperial Navy after the turn of the 20th century. The class comprised Roon and Yorck, which closely resembled the earlier Prinz Adalbert-class ships, but incorporated slight incremental improvements. The ships were easily distinguished from their predecessors by the addition of a fourth funnel. Like all of the armored cruisers built by Germany, they were intended to serve as station ships in Germany's overseas possessions. The ships did not compare well with their British rivals.
The two ships served with the High Seas Fleet in the reconnaissance squadrons after they joined the fleet in 1905–1906. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the ships served alongside the more powerful battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group. While returning to port after a raid of the English coast on 16 December 1914, Yorck struck German mines and sank with heavy loss of life. Roon was disarmed in 1916 and intended to be converted into a seaplane carrier, though this was never carried out. The ship was eventually broken up for scrap in 1921.
Design work on Roon and her sister ship Yorck was completed in 1901. The design for the Roon class can be traced back to the first German armored cruiser, Fürst Bismarck, built between 1896–1900, and the preceding Victoria Louise class of protected cruisers that came before it. The German armored cruisers were designed for overseas service, specifically to serve as station ships in the German colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.
Roon and her sister Yorck were improved versions of the preceding Prinz Adalbert class. The two ships were slightly larger and faster than the Prinz Adalbert class and had a slightly different armor layout; the Roon class ships had thinner armor on the turret faces, and slightly thinner armored decks. They shared many of the same layout characteristics as the contemporary German pre-dreadnought battleships, including a smaller main armament but heavier secondary battery than their foreign equivalents. As a result, they compared unfavorably with their British contemporaries. Taylor describes the ships as "poorly protected and not a successful class in service."
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Wikipedia