SMS Deutschland (1914)
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire
|
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| Class and type: | Mine layer |
| Name: | SMS Deutschland |
| Builder: | AG Vulcan, Stettin |
| Launched: | 9 February 1909 |
| Commissioned: | 4 August 1914 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in the 1960s |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 4,200 t (4,600 short tons) |
| Length: | 113.8 m (373 ft) |
| Beam: | 16.26 m (53.3 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.9 m (16 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 5,000 shp |
| Speed: | 16.5 knots (31 km/h) |
| Armament: |
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SMS Deutschland was a German ferry commissioned as a minelayer during World War I. The ship served primarily in the Baltic Sea, including during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga. The ship was launched on 17 February 1909 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin. Deutschland was conscripted into military service as a mine layer, on 4 August 1914. The ship returned to ferry service after the war, but was again drafted into the German navy and renamed Stralsund in 1940, for participation in the abortive invasion of England. The ship fell into Soviet hands following the end of World War II, was renamed Orion and subsequently Aniva (Анива). The ship was eventually retired and scrapped in the 1960s.
On 17 August 1914, Deutschland sailed to the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, under the escort of the light cruisers Augsburg and Magdeburg and three destroyers. The German flotilla was met by the Russian armored cruisers Admiral Makarov and Gromoboi. As a result of the Russian naval presence, Deutschland had to lay her mines approximately 45 miles from the planned location. The Russian admiral was under the mistaken impression that the German armored cruisers Roon and Prinz Heinrich were on the scene as well, and so he did not attack the German ships.
On 6 December 1914, Deutschland laid mines in the Gulf of Bothnia, off the ports of Pori and Rauma. Three Swedish steamers, Everilda, Luna and Norra-Sverige were sunk outside Pori. The series of sinkings stopped all ship traffic between Sweden and Finland for several days On 24 May 1915, Deutschland and an escort of cruisers sailed into the Gulf of Finland, to lay mines southeast of the island of Utö.
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