The Mine cruiser SMS Brummer belonged to the sister ship brake to the miner steamer C, a type of ship which should use the sea mines offensive in the sea war.
Launching and design:
The development of the SMS Brummer is based on the concept of using sea mines as an offensive weapon in naval warfare in order to fix enemy ships in ports or to cover the withdrawal of their own ships. With the outbreak of the First World War, four high-performance turbine sets for the Russian battle cruiser Navarin, which were no longer delivered, were in the Vulcan shipyard in Stettin. In the considerations of the naval leadership over the use of these turbines, one came to the conclusion to use these for so-called mine cruisers, whose construction concept was based on speed.
Thus, the two minivans of the Brummer class were set up with these turbines.
In contrast to other cruisers, the weapons were reduced to 4 15-cm guns for weight and space reasons. Also, the strength of the armor was halved, as on the one hand great value was placed on speed and space for the mines. In addition, it was attempted to adapt the mine cruisers from the optics and the superstructures ago the British light cruisers of the Arethusa class, so that the German ships could not be recognized as such quickly.
The launch of the Brummer took place on 11 December 1915, the commissioning on 2 April 1916.
Side drawing of the Brummer class
Use in the war:
The SMS Brummer was assigned after commissioning the IV. reconnaissance group and operated in the North Sea. Together with their sister ship SMS Bremse, Allied convoys between Bergen and the Shetland Islands were attacked by the laying of minefields. However, due to the superior British naval forces, larger ventures did not materialize. In June 1918, the two minecruisers laid the last mines in the German Bight.
With the emerging riots and revolts in November 1918, the minecruisers were relocated to the Baltic Sea. There they lay at anchor in Swinemünde and were decommissioned with the surrender of the German Empire.
SMS Brummer
Whereabouts:
After the Brummer was decommissioned, the ship had to be reactivated, as it should be interned according to the provisions of the capitulation to Britain with the largest part of the German deep-sea fleet.
The ship was thus relocated to Scapa Flow where it sank on the orders of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter on June 21, 1919 itself.
The wreck was then not lifted and is still on the seabed.
Ship data:
| Name: |
SMS Brummer |
| Country: |
German Empire |
| Ship Type: |
Mine cruiser |
| Class: |
Brummer-Class |
| Boatyard: |
AG Vulcan, Stettin |
| Building-costs: |
unknown |
| Launched: |
December 11th 1915 |
| Commissioning: |
April 2nd, 1916 |
| Whereabouts: |
Sunk on June 21, 1919 in Scapa Flow itself |
| Length: |
140,4 meters |
| Width: |
13,2 meters |
| Draft: |
Max. 5,88 meters |
| Displacement: |
Max. 5.856 Tons |
| Crew: |
309 Men |
| Drive: |
6 Marine Boiler |
| Power: |
33.000 PSw |
| Maximum speed: |
28 kn |
|
Armament: |
4 rapid-fire gun - 15 cm L / 45 |
|
Armor: |
Belt: 40 mm |
You can find the right literature here:
German Battleships 1914–18 (1): Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland classes (New Vanguard)
German Battleships 1914–18 (1): Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland classes (New Vanguard) Paperback – February 23, 2010
Supported by official documents, personal accounts, official drawings and specially commissioned artwork, this volume is an enlightening history of the Deutschland to Osfriesland classes. Detailing the last of the pre-dreadnaught battleship classes, this book goes on to explain the revolutionary developments that took place within the German Imperial Navy as they readied themselves for war. This included creating vessels with vast increases in size and armament. This account of design and technology is supplemented by individual ship histories detailing combat experience complete with first-hand accounts. The specially commissioned artwork also brings this history to life with recreations of the battleship Pommern fighting at Jutland and ships of the Osfriesland class destroying HMS Black Prince in a dramatic night-time engagement.
The Imperial German Navy of World War I, Vol. 1 Warships: A Comprehensive Photographic Study of the Kaiser’s Naval Forces
The Imperial German Navy of World War I, Vol. 1 Warships: A Comprehensive Photographic Study of the Kaiser’s Naval Forces Hardcover – December 28, 2016
The Imperial German Navy of WWI is a series of books (Warships, Campaigns, & Uniforms) that provide a broad view of the Kaiser's naval forces through the extensive use of photographs. Every effort has been made to cover all significant areas during the war period. In addition to the primary use of photographs, technical information is provided for each warship along with its corresponding service history; with a special emphasis being placed on those warships that participated in the Battle of Skagerrak (Jutland). Countless sources have been used to establish individual case studies for each warship; multiple photos of each warship are provided. The entire series itself is unprecedented in its coverage of the Kaiser's navy.
German Battlecruisers of World War One: Their Design, Construction and Operations
German Battlecruisers of World War One: Their Design, Construction and Operations Hardcover – November 4, 2014
This is the most comprehensive, English-language study of the German Imperial Navy's battlecruisers that served in the First World War. Known as Panzerkreuzer, literally "armored cruiser," the eight ships of the class were to be involved in several early North Sea skirmishes before the great pitched battle of Jutland where they inflicted devastating damage on the Royal Navy's battlecruiser fleet. This book details their design and construction, and traces the full service history of each ship, recounting their actions, drawing largely from first-hand German sources and official documents, many previously unpublished in English.
The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918
The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918 Hardcover – March 15, 2016
The battleships of the Third Reich have been written about exhaustively, but there is little in English devoted to their Second Reich predecessors. This new book fills an important gap in the literature of the period by covering these German capital ships in detail and studying the full span of battleship development during this period. The book is arranged as a chronological narrative, with technical details, construction schedules, and ultimate fates tabulated throughout, thus avoiding the sometimes disjointed structure that can result from a class-by-class approach. Heavily illustrated with line drawings and photographs, many from German sources, the book offers readers a fresh visual look at these ships. A key objective of the book is to make available a full synthesis of the published fruits of archival research by German writers found in the pre-World War II books of Koop & Schmolke, Großmer's on the construction program of the dreadnaught era, Forstmeier & Breyer on World War I projects, and Schenk & Nottelmann's papers in Warship International. As well as providing data not available in English-language books, these sources correct significant errors in standard English sources.
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