SMS Frauenlob

Frauenlob underway before the war

Frauenlob was ordered under the contract name "G" and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in mid-1901. She was launched of 22 March 1902; owing to space limitations, she was launched sideways, rather than stern-first. Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Wilhelm Büchsel gave a speech at the launching ceremony, and the new ship was christened by Anna Reuss, Princess of Stolberg-Wernigerode. She was named for the schooner Frauenlob, launched in 1853, that had been paid for in part by the donations of women from the German lands; the name means "praise women." The cruiser was commissioned for sea trials on 17 February 1903 under the command of Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Johannes Nickel. After a three-day endurance test passing through the Skagerrak, Kattegat, and the Danish straits, Frauenlob arrived in Kiel, where she was assigned to the reconnaissance force for I Squadron. She continued initial testing through 23 April, and on 7 May joined the fleet for a cruise to Spain that lasted until 10 June. A training cruise to Norwegian waters followed in July, and in September, the ship was drydocked in Wilhelmshaven for repairs and maintenance. She joined the fleet's battleships for their winter training cruise in November and December in the North and Baltic Seas.[5][6]

In January 1904, Frauenlob took part in another winter training cruise in the Skagerrak, and in March, the fleet's reconnaissance cruisers conducted a training cruise in the North Sea. The fleet held training exercises in May and June in the North and Baltic Seas, which concluded with a naval review held in honor of the visit of King Edward VII of Great Britain. The German fleet made a visit to Britain, the Netherlands, and Norway in July and August. After their return to Germany in August, the ships conducted fleet maneuvers. Another winter cruise followed in November and December, this time in the Baltic. The year 1905 followed a similar pattern to the previous year with regard to training exercises and cruises abroad. On 2 May, she ran aground while departing Bremerhaven, damaging her rudder. From 26 to 28 August, she took part in a cruise in the Baltic with the British Channel Fleet on its way to visit Swinemünde. After the annual fleet maneuvers, she was drydocked in Wilhelmshaven for an overhaul, and in October, KK Robert Mischke took command of the ship. She was docked again in December to have her hull thoroughly inspected for damage that might have been incurred during the grounding.[7]

The year 1906 passed largely uneventfully for Frauenlob. She took part in a large naval review held in September after the end of the autumn fleet maneuvers; the review was held for Grossadmiral (Grand Admiral) Hans von Koester, who was retiring at the end of the year. Frauenlob won Kaiser Wilhelm II's Schiesspreis (Shooting Prize) for excellent gunnery during that year's maneuvers; up to this time, he had previously only awarded one to each of the fleet's battleship squadrons. During torpedo practice, she accidentally torpedoed and sank her own steam pinnace. In addition to the year's training activities, Frauenlob conducted a training cruise to familiarize navigation officers with the narrow waterways of the Danish straits in 1907. She also won the Schiesspreis for cruisers again that year. In October, KK Friedrich Boedicker replaced Mischke as the ship's captain. By 1908, she was the only member of her class still in active service, and on 19 January she, too, was decommissioned in Wilhelsmhaven. She spent the next six years in reserve, though beginning in mid-1912, she was thoroughly overhauled and four of her 10.4 cm guns were removed to install ten 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns for training purposes, though she was not activated for this role.[7]

Frauenlob was recommissioned into the fleet on 2 August 1914 as a result of the outbreak of World War I. She was initially assigned to III Scouting Group before being transferred to the newly-created IV Scouting Group on 25 August. When the British raided the German defensive patrols in the Helgoland Bight on 28 August, resulting in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, Frauenlob was anchored off Helgoland as distant support of the patrol line. The British raiders—the Harwich Force—consisted of two light cruisers and thirty-three destroyers under Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. Frauenlob received reports of the attack at 08:00 from returning picket boats.[8][9][10] At about 09:00, Frauenlob and the light cruiser Stettin were sent out to reinforce the beleaguered German patrols.[11]

Frauenlob and Stettin shortly thereafter encountered the British cruiser HMS Arethusa and about six destroyers and they opened fire at 09:09. The ships quickly found the range and hit the British ship an estimated 25–35 times, disabling all but one of her guns and inflicting serious damage. One shell detonated a cordite charge and set Arethusa on fire. The ship's engine room flooded and her speed fell to 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). She turned away to starboard in order to escape from the punishing fire, but Frauenlob kept up with the badly damaged British cruiser until she disappeared in the fog. In return, Frauenlob was hit ten times, but was not seriously damaged; in all, five men were killed and another thirty-two were wounded. After the engagement ended, Frauenlob and the torpedo boat V3 took the badly damaged minesweeper T33 under tow and returned her to Heligoland, before proceeding to Wilhelmshaven.[9][12]

After completing repairs, Frauenlob joined the High Seas Fleet when it sailed in support of the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group during the raid on Yarmouth on 3–4 November. A similar operation followed on 15–16 December, resulting in the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. She also took part in fleet sorties in March, April, May, September, and October 1915; none of these resulted in contact with British warships. During the operation on 17–18 May, she steamed in front of the fleet to detonate any naval mines that might have been laid by British minelayers. In late October, she was drydocked for an overhaul, during which time her crew was sent to operate the cruiser Danzig. Frauenlob returned to service in time for another fleet operation on 23 March 1916 that resulted in no contact with enemy forces.[9]

• Frauenlob at the Battle of Heligoland Bight
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  Light cruiser Arethusa, the main opponent of Frauenlob at Helgoland
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  Actions of Mineseeker-Division III with aiding maneuvers of Frauenlob
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  Actions of Frauenlob in the Battle of Heligoland Bight
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  Frauenlob steaming at speed

Diagram of the Battle of Jutland showing the major movements

In late May, the German fleet commander, VAdm Reinhard Scheer, planned to conducted another fleet operation. The plan called for the battlecruiser squadron to steam north to the Skagerrak, with the intention of luring out a portion of the British fleet so it could be destroyed by Scheer's waiting battleships. The Germans had at their disposal sixteen dreadnought battleships, six pre-dreadnoughts, and five battlecruisers, along with numerous cruisers and torpedo boats. In the early hours of 30 May, the German fleet got underway Frauenlob remained with IV Scouting Group for the operation, which was at that time under the command of Kommodore (Commodore) Ludwig von Reuter and was tasked with screening the High Seas Fleet. Unknown to the Germans, the Royal Navy's Room 40 had intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. The Admiralty ordered the Grand Fleet, totalling some 28 dreadnoughts and 9 battlecruisers, to sortie the night before to cut off and destroy the High Seas Fleet.[13]

The initial action was fought primarily by the British and German battlecruiser formations in the afternoon, but by 18:00, the Grand Fleet approached the scene and the two main battle fleets engaged.[14] Frauenlob was not actively engaged in the battle until later on the evening of 31 May; at around 21:15, IV Scouting Group encountered the British 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron and briefly engaged them, but due to the poor visibility, only Stettin and München fired for long, and to no effect.[15]

Later, during the chaotic night fighting, the battlecruisers Seydlitz and Moltke passed too closely in front of Stettin, which forced all of the ships of IV Scouting Group to fall out of line, inadvertently bringing them into contact with the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. A ferocious firefight ensued, at a range of only 730 meters (2,400 ft). Frauenlob opened fire on HMS Southampton and HMS Dublin, as did the rest of IV Scouting Group. In return, Southampton launched a torpedo that struck Frauenlob at around 22:35, which cut her power and caused serious flooding. British 6-inch (152 mm) shellfire set the deck alight, and the stricken cruiser quickly capsized and sank with heavy loss of life. John Campbell reports that twelve officers and 308 men were killed in the sinking,[16][17] while Hans Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, and Hans-Otto Steinmetz state that 324 died when Frauenlob sank. Both agree that only 9 men from her crew survived, having been picked up after the battle by a Dutch steamer and interned in the Netherlands for the rest of the war.[9][18]