700-11 SMS ELBING 1915

SMS Elbing was a German light cruiser of the First World War. The keel for this unit was laid in 1913, the launch took place in November 1914, and entry into service in Kaiserliche Marine - in 1915. The length of the ship was 135.3 meters and a width of 13.6 meters. Full displacement reached about 5,300 tons, and maximum speed - to about 27-28 knots. The deck armament, at the time of launch, consisted of: 8 150 mm guns, 2 88 mm guns, 2 50 mm guns and mine tracks for up to 120 sea mines. SMS Elbing was initially built for the Russian Navy, but when the war broke out it was seized by the German side and completed for the Kaiserliche Marine. It had only one sister unit, SMS Pilau, and was built at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Gdańsk. The cruiser had relatively strong main armament and a decent top speed, but had no torpedo armament. SMS Eling took part in two major operations during World War I. The first was the April 1916 shelling of Yarmouth and Lowestoft (known as the Lowestoft Raid or Lunge). Shortly thereafter, in late May and early June of the same year, SMS Elbing took part in the Battle of Jutland in which he was sunk.