SMS Fürst Bismarck
Armored cruiser of the German Imperial Navy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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SMS Fürst Bismarck (Prince Bismarck)[lower-alpha 1] was Germany's first armored cruiser, built for the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) before the turn of the 20th century. The ship was named for the German statesman Otto von Bismarck. The design for Fürst Bismarck was an improvement over the previous Victoria Louise-class protected cruisers—Fürst Bismarck was significantly larger and better armed than her predecessors.
A 1902 lithograph of Fürst Bismarck | |
Class overview | |
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Preceded by | Victoria Louise class |
Succeeded by | Prinz Heinrich |
History | |
German Empire | |
Name | Fürst Bismarck |
Namesake | Otto von Bismarck |
Builder | Kaiserliche Werft, Kiel |
Laid down | 1 April 1896 |
Launched | 25 September 1897 |
Commissioned | 1 April 1900 |
Stricken | 17 June 1919 |
Fate | Scrapped in 1919–1920 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Armored cruiser |
Displacement | |
Length | 127 m (416 ft 8 in) |
Beam | 20.40 m (66 ft 11 in) |
Draft | 7.80 m (25 ft 7 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 18.7 knots (34.6 km/h; 21.5 mph) |
Range | |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
The ship was primarily intended for colonial duties, and she served in this capacity as part of the East Asia Squadron until she was relieved in 1909, at which point she returned to Germany. The ship was rebuilt between 1910 and 1914, and after the start of World War I, she was briefly used as a coastal defense ship. She proved inadequate to this task, and so she was withdrawn from active duty and served as a training ship for engineers until the end of the war. Fürst Bismarck was decommissioned in 1919 and sold for scrap.