SMS Niobe (1899)
SMS Niobe in Kiel in 1901
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| History | |
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 German Empire
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| Name: | Niobe |
| Builder: | AG Weser |
| Laid down: | 1898 |
| Launched: | 18 July 1899 |
| Commissioned: | 25 June 1900 |
| Out of service: | Sold to Yugoslavia |
 Kingdom of Yugoslavia
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| Name: | Dalmacija |
| Acquired: | 26 June 1925 |
| Captured: | 25 April 1941 |
 Italy
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| Name: | Cattaro |
| Acquired: | 25 April 1941 |
| Captured: | 11 September 1943 |
 Nazi Germany
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| Name: | Niobe |
| Acquired: | 11 September 1943 |
| Fate: | Beached on Silba and destroyed by British torpedo boats in December 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Gazelle-class light cruiser |
| Displacement: | 2,963 tonnes (2,916 long tons) |
| Length: | 105 m (344 ft 6 in) overall |
| Beam: | 12.20 m (40 ft) |
| Draft: | 5.03 m (16 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power: | 8,000 ihp (6,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shafts, 2 Triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed: | 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph) |
| Range: | 3,570 nmi (6,610 km; 4,110 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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| Armor: | Deck: 20 to 25 mm (0.79 to 0.98 in) |
SMS Niobe ("His Majesty's Ship Niobe") was the second member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers built by the Imperial German Navy. She was built by the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, laid down in 1898, launched in July 1899, and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in June 1900. She was named after Niobe, a figure from Greek mythology. Armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, Niobe was capable of a top speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph). The ship had a long career, serving in all three German navies, along with the Yugoslav and Italian fleets over the span of over 40 years in service.
Niobe served in both home and overseas waters in the Imperial Navy, before being reduced to a coastal defense ship after the outbreak of World War I. She survived the conflict and was one of six cruisers permitted to the Reichsmarine by the Treaty of Versailles. In 1925, the German Navy sold the ship to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). There, she was renamed Dalmacija and served until April 1941, when she was captured by the Italians during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Renamed Cattaro, she served in the Italian Regia Marina until the Italian surrender in September 1943. She was then seized by the German occupiers of Italy, who restored her original name. She was used in the Adriatic briefly until December 1943, when she ran aground on the island of Silba, and was subsequently destroyed by British Motor Torpedo Boats. The wreck was ultimately salvaged and broken up for scrap in 1947–49.
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