SMS Breslau was a Magdeburg-class cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built in the early 1910s and named after the Lower Silesian city of Breslau. Following her commissioning, Breslau and the battlecruiser Goeben were assigned to the Mittelmeerdivision in response to the Balkan Wars. After evading British warships in the Mediterranean to reach Constantinople, Breslau and Goeben were transferred to the Ottoman Empire in August 1914, to entice the Ottomans to join the Central Powers in World War I. The two ships, along with several other Ottoman vessels, raided Russian ports in October 1914, prompting a Russian declaration of war. The ships were renamed Midilli and Yavûz Sultân Selîm, respectively, and saw extensive service with the Ottoman fleet, primarily in the Black Sea against the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Norddeutscher Lloyd was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic development of Bremen and Bremerhaven. On 1 September 1970, the company merged with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.
The Pinguin was a German auxiliary cruiser (Hilfskreuzer) which served as a commerce raider in World War II. The Pinguin was known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 33, and designated HSK 5. The most successful commerce raider of the war, she was known to the British Royal Navy as Raider F. The name Pinguin means penguin in German.
SMS Wolf was an armed merchant raider or auxiliary cruiser of the Imperial German Navy in World War I. She was the fourth ship of the Imperial Navy bearing this name, following two gunboats and another auxiliary cruiser that was decommissioned without seeing action.
SS Cap Trafalgar was a German ocean liner launched in 1913 for the Hamburg Süd line. In 1914, she was converted for use as an auxiliary cruiser during World War I. She was the first armed merchant cruiser sunk by a ship of the same class; she was destroyed by HMS Carmania, also a converted ocean liner, in a furious action in the South Atlantic on 14 September 1914. It was the world's first battle between former ocean liners.
SMS Möwe was a merchant raider of the Imperial German Navy which operated against Allied shipping during World War I.
The Battle of the Gulf of Riga was a World War I naval operation of the German High Seas Fleet against the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea in August 1915. The operation's objective was to destroy the Russian naval forces in the Gulf in preparation for landing German troops to facilitate the fall of Riga in the later stages of the Central Powers' offensive on the Eastern Front in 1915. The German fleet, however, failed to achieve its objective and was forced to return to its bases; Riga remained in Russian hands until it fell to the German Army on 1 September 1917.
SMS Prinz Adalbert was an armored cruiser built in the early 1900s for the Imperial German Navy. She was named after Prince Adalbert of Prussia, former Commander-in-Chief of the Prussian Navy, and was the lead ship of her class.
SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich was a German passenger liner which saw service in the First World War as an auxiliary cruiser of the Imperial German Navy. Though largely overlooked, Prinz Eitel Friedrich was, after SS Kronprinz Wilhelm, the most successful of Germany’s first wave of auxiliary cruisers. She was able to remain at large for seven months, from August 1914 to March 1915, and sank 11 ships, for a total tonnage of 33,000 GRT.
SS Königin Luise was a German steam ferry. She operated between Hamburg and the Netherlands, before being taken over by the Kaiserliche Marine on the outbreak of the First World War. She was used as an auxiliary minelayer before being sunk on 5 August 1914.
SMS Albatross was a German minelaying cruiser built for the Kaiserliche Marine, the second and final member of the Nautilus class. Her keel was laid down in May 1907 at the AG Weser shipyard; she was launched in October and commissioned into the fleet in May 1908. Her armament consisted of eight 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns and 288 naval mines.
SMS Nautilus was a German minelaying cruiser built for the Kaiserliche Marine 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.
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.
Admiral Makarov was the second of the four Bayan-class armoured cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the mid-1900s. While initially assigned to the Baltic Fleet, the ship was detached to the Mediterranean several times before the start of World War I in 1914. She was modified to lay mines shortly after the war began. Admiral Makarov laid mines herself during the war and provided cover for other ships laying minefields. The ship fought several inconclusive battles with German ships during the war, including the Battle of Åland Islands in mid–1915. She also defended Moon Sound during the German invasion of the Estonian islands in late 1917. Admiral Makarov was decommissioned in 1918 and sold for scrap in 1922.
SMS Meteor was an auxiliary cruiser of the Imperial German Navy which operated against Allied shipping during World War I.
The German commerce raiders of World War I were surface vessels used by the Imperial German Navy for its Handelskrieg, a campaign against Allied seaborne trade. The ships comprised warships, principally cruisers, stationed in the German colonial empire before the war began, express liners commissioned as auxiliary cruisers and later, freighters outfitted as merchant raiders. These vessels had a number of successes and had a significant effect on Allied naval strategy, particularly in the early months of the war.
SS Cap Polonio was a German 20,576 GRT ocean liner that was launched in 1914 and scrapped in 1935. She worked the Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft route between Hamburg in Germany and Buenos Aires in Argentina. She was named after Cabo Polonio in Uruguay.
HMS Princess Margaret was a minelayer operated by the British Royal Navy during and after the First World War. She was built by the Scottish shipbuilder William Denny for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a liner to serve on the Pacific West Coast, and as such was powered by geared steam turbines, giving a speed of 23 knots.
Barletta was an Italian cargo liner built during the 1930s and later became an auxiliary cruiser of the Regia Marina during World War II.
HMS Angora was a British passenger ship which was requisitioned from the Mercantile Marine by the Royal Navy for service as a transport and auxiliary minelayer during World War I.
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