Nautilus passing under the Levensau High Bridge in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal shortly after entering service
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name: | Nautilus |
Builder: | AG Weser, Bremen |
Cost: | 2,879,000 German gold mark |
Laid down: | 19 December 1905 |
Launched: | 28 August 1906 |
Commissioned: | 19 March 1907 |
Struck: | 21 March 1919 |
Fate: | Broken up 1928 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Nautilus-class minelayer |
Displacement: | 2,345 t (2,308 long tons; 2,585 short tons) |
Length: | 98.2 m (322 ft 2 in) o/a |
Beam: | 11.2 m (36 ft 9 in) |
Draft: | 4.42 m (14 ft 6 in) |
Installed power: |
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Propulsion: |
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Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Range: | 3,530 nautical miles (6,540 km; 4,060 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
Complement: | 11 officers, 197 men |
Armament: |
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SMS Nautilus was a German minelaying cruiser built for the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1900s, the lead ship of the Nautilus class. The ship was built by AG Weser, with her keel laying taking place in December 1905. She was launched in August 1906 and commissioned in March 1907. Nautilus initially carried 186 naval mines and a battery of eight 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns, but she was later modified to carry 205 mines and, in 1918, numerous light weapons to support amphibious operations.
Nautilus spent her peacetime career conducting training exercises with the main fleet and minesweeping experiments before being placed in reserve in 1911. Reactivated at the start of World War I, she initially laid both defensive and offensive mine fields in the North and Baltic Seas. She was permanently transferred to the Baltic in 1916, and the following year she supported Operation Albion, the conquest of the Gulf of Riga. After Germany's defeat, Nautilus was demilitarized and used as a hulk from 1921 to 1928 before being sold for scrap and broken up in Copenhagen.
Nautilus was 98.2 meters (322 ft) long overall and had a beam of 11.2 m (37 ft) and an average draft of 4.42 m (14.5 ft) forward. She displaced 1,975 metric tons (1,944 long tons; 2,177 short tons) normally and up to 2,345 t (2,308 long tons; 2,585 short tons) at full load. Her crew numbered ten officers and 191 enlisted men.
Her propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion steam engines each driving a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by four coal-fired marine-type boilers. The ship's engines were rated to produce a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) from 6,600 PS (6,510 ihp; 4,850 kW), though Nautilus slightly exceeded those figures on speed trials. She had a cruising radius of 3,530 nautical miles (6,540 km; 4,060 mi) at a speed of 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).