Construction and initial service of , named after the earlier
screw frigate , was ordered under the contract name "K". She was
laid down at the
AG Vulcan shipyard in
Stettin on 15 February 1896, though some assembly of materials had begun in workshops on 15 October 1895. She was
launched on 14 April 1897, and
Ludwig, the son of
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, christened the ship at the launching ceremony. Tests of the ship's steam plant began on 24 April 1898, while the ship was still incomplete. In June, Kaiser Wilhelm II came to inspect the ship; his interest stemmed in part from his role in the design process. The still unfinished ship was then moved to the (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel for
fitting-out work, and while there, she was lightly rammed by the
ironclad . The ship was
commissioned into the German navy on 23 July 1898 to begin
sea trials. (Corvette Captain)
Guido von Usedom was the ship's first commander. During her trials, her
measured mile tests were filmed with
Oskar Messter's black-and-white
kinetoscope. The ship's initial testing revealed problems with her boilers, but she nevertheless was sent with the
aviso to escort Kaiser Wilhelm II aboard his
yacht on a voyage to the
Mediterranean Sea. got underway from Kiel on 18 September, stopped in
Gibraltar, and arrived in
Venice, Italy, on 4 October, where she met and . The ships then visited a number of ports in the region, including
Constantinople,
Jaffa,
Haifa,
Beirut, and
Port Said in the
Ottoman Empire. While in Beirut on 11 November, the unit was disbanded and was assigned to relieve the old ironclad in the
International Squadron that had been assembled in response to the
Cretan Revolt. But s boilers had suffered serious damage during the voyage, owing to design defects, and she was instead forced to go to
Genoa, Italy, on 14 November at low speed for repairs. While entering the port on the night of 26–27 November, was struck by a merchant vessel that was torn from its moorings by a strong gale. The ship damaged s upper deck and tore off a boat
davit. She then entered the
Gio. Ansaldo & C. shipyard for repairs; while the work was ongoing, received orders to sail for the
East Asia Squadron once she was ready for service again.
East Asia Squadron showing the
Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory|alt=The Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory was located in the natural harbor at
Qingdao on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula After completing repairs, briefly conducted trials to ensure that her propulsion system was in working order before departing for East Asia on 11 April 1899. She stopped in
Singapore on 21 May and arrived at
Qingdao in the
Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory, Germany's colonial possession in China, on 8 June. Her arrival allowed the old ironclad to return to Germany. At the same time, (
KAdm—Rear Admiral)
Ernst Fritze, the deputy commander of the East Asia Squadron, temporarily made his
flagship. The vessel then began a tour of the northern part of the station, sometimes cruising with other vessels of the squadron, before turning south, arriving in
Amoy, China, on 2 November. There, she met her
sister ship , which Fritze made his new flagship. From there, cruised to
Hong Kong in company with the squadron flagship, the old ironclad . While there, went into dry dock for maintenance that lasted three months while left for home; the squadron commander, (Vice Admiral)
Felix von Bendemann, transferred his flag to on 17 February 1900. In early April, began a tour of Japan, where she was visited by
Emperor Meiji. At that time, the East Asia Squadron consisted of , , the protected cruisers and , and the
unprotected cruiser . The five cruisers rendezvoused in Qingdao on 23 April for squadron training exercises that lasted into early May. The ships then dispersed for cruises through the region; and steamed up the
Yangtze river as far as
Hankou in mid-May. Later that month, the ships all returned to Qingdao. was scheduled to steam to
Tianjin to take Bendemann and the German
Minister to China,
Clemens von Ketteler, to visit the
Qing imperial court, but on 29 May, early reports of the
Boxer Uprising had reached the Germans, leading them to cancel the visit.
Boxer Uprising The Europeans in the region were not initially concerned with the unrest, but as the situation worsened, the British Vice Admiral
Edward Seymour, the longest-serving vice admiral in the area, contacted the other European naval commanders and requested a meeting to discuss what measures should be taken. Bendemann ordered his squadron, less , which was to remain behind to guard Qingdao, to meet the ships of the British
China Station off
Taku at the mouth of the
Hai River. and the rest of the squadron arrived off Taku on 8 June, and Bendemann met with Seymour the next day. The two admirals did not initially agree on a course of action, owing to the lack of information about the general situation, since the telegraph line to the embassies in
Beijing had been cut. Bendemann nevertheless sent a
landing party of one hundred men drawn from all four of his cruisers ashore to reinforce the men in Tianjin that had been gathered from the
Eight Nation Alliance, which had formed to combat the Boxers. Shortly after midnight on 10 June, Seymour informed Bendemann of a
telegram he had received informing him of the critical situation at the
Legation Quarter in Beijing. Seymour decided to lead a relief force from the European ships' crews, which would march from Tianjin to Beijing to relieve the garrison there. Bendemann contributed a force of 20 officers, 2 doctors, and 487 sailors to the
Seymour Expedition, about a quarter of the international force, which also included men from French, Russian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian, Japanese, and United States' warships. s contribution consisted of 4 officers and 120 sailors, led by Usedom; while the captain was ashore, the ship was commanded by the executive officer, (
KL—Captain Lieutenant) Hecht. During the expedition, Usedom replaced British Captain
John Jellicoe as Seymour's chief of staff, after Jellicoe was wounded in combat. The expedition failed after encountering strong Chinese resistance from both
Boxers and government soldiers. In the meantime, concerned about the situation of the expedition and having received word of Chinese reinforcements to the nearby
Taku Forts, Bendemann urged action, which resulted in the
Battle of the Taku Forts on 17 June. At the same time, the men who had initially gone ashore to defend Tianjin on 9 June came under repeated Chinese attacks, and further men were sent ashore; contributed another sixty men and four
non-commissioned officers, led by
KL Adolf von Trotha. The battered force under Seymour's command arrived back in Tianjin on 23 June and further strengthened the forces occupying the city. Fighting continued through mid-July, but by the 18th, most of the men were returned to their ships. Following the failure of Seymour's expedition, the Eight Nation Alliance gathered forces from
British India,
French Indochina, the Philippines, eastern Russia, and Japan to make another attempt to march on Beijing by mid-August. and contributed 150 and 200 men, respectively, to the force, which arrived in Beijing on 18 August, having met light Chinese resistance on the way. In the meantime, the new armored cruiser had arrived off China and on 17 August, Bendemann transferred his flag to the ship. By 5 September, reinforcements sent from Germany had arrived, allowing the landing parties from and the other vessels to be withdrawn to their ships by 15 September. The new units arrived under the command of (General Field Marshal)
Alfred von Waldersee; embarked Waldersee in
Wusong near
Shanghai and carried him to Taku. Because of his experience during the campaign, Usedom was assigned to Waldersee's staff, leaving again under the command of Hecht. On 1 October, took part in the occupation of coastal fortifications at
Shanhaiguan. That month, (
FK—Frigate Captain)
Carl Derzewski arrived to take command of the ship. She otherwise saw little activity, spending most of her time at Qingdao and
Yantai. In the course of fighting during the Boxer Uprising, had suffered seven men killed.
Subsequent operations cruised off the Chinese coast through 1901. On 8 June, she once again embarked Waldersee for a visit to
Kobe, Japan, that lasted until 19 June and included a meeting with Meiji. then sailed to
Nagasaki, Japan, where Waldersee transferred to the
hospital ship , which carried him back to Germany. then returned to Qingdao, where she remained for some time before making another visit to Japan. On 21 October, went into dry dock in Hong Kong for periodic maintenance and Bendemann temporarily returned to . The cruiser then embarked on a tour of the
Dutch East Indies that lasted into 1902; she stopped in Singapore on 19 February, where
VAdm Richard Geissler came aboard to replace Bendemann as the squadron commander. By that time, work on had been completed, and she arrived in Singapore at the same time to take aboard the new commander. then steamed north to
Uraga, Japan, where she was dry docked for repairs that lasted from 25 March to 5 May. After the ship reached Japan, (
KzS–Captain at Sea)
Friedrich von Ingenohl arrived to take command. After completing repairs in Nagasaki, returned to Qingdao, where she remained before again visiting Japanese cities. While steaming off
Formosa on 9 August, she was struck by a
typhoon that caused significant flooding.
KzS Malte von Schimmelmann relieved Ingenohl in November. Later that year, she visited ports in the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and Singapore. In early 1903, she returned to Nagasaki for another overhaul. then steamed back to Qingdao, where she lay for four months, before visiting ports in Russia, Korea, and Japan. The ship saw little activity of note in 1904, apart from a voyage up the Yangtze in company with up to Hankou, followed by a cruise to Singapore. By the end of the year, was in need of a more thorough overhaul than could be accomplished in the shipyards available in East Asia, prompting her return to Germany. She got underway on 31 December, passing through
Mahé in the
Seychelles and
Dar es Salaam in
German East Africa. She entered the Mediterranean on 5 April, where she met Wilhelm II, who was cruising aboard . The two vessels steamed together through 8 April, when continued on to home, arriving in Kiel, where she was decommissioned on 12 May.
Later career |left In 1906, went into the shipyard at the (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig for a thorough overhaul that included replacing her boilers and alterations to her armament. The boiler uptakes were altered to vent through two funnels. The work was completed by early 1908, and she was recommissioned under the command of
KzS Hugo Louran on 7 April for service as a training ship for naval cadets and apprentice seamen. From 6 to 11 June, she carried Prince Ludwig to
Bornholm and then to
Swinemünde. She then steamed to
Bremerhaven with a class of naval cadets aboard, embarking on a training cruise abroad. She visited ports in Norway, Scotland, and Ireland before steaming south to the Mediterranean Sea, stopping in
Funchal,
Madeira, and
Las Palmas in the
Canary Islands on the way. While in the Mediterranean, she made port calls in
Palma de Mallorca,
Alexandria, Egypt, and several cities in Italy. She stopped in
Corfu on 30 December, where she met her sister . The two ships then steamed to
Messina to render humanitarian assistance after an earthquake struck the area. carried some of food and other supplies to the city, arriving there the next day. On 1 January 1909, she embarked 120 badly injured people and evacuated them to
Naples before returning to Messina the following day. Her crew went ashore and assisted with efforts to dig out people trapped in the rubble. The ship carried some 300 survivors to Naples. As thanks for the ship's assistance,
Queen Elena of Italy visited the ship on 5 January and King
Vittorio Emanuele III issued a daily order thanking the crew. Both cruisers anchored off Corfu the next day; began the voyage back to Germany on 21 January and arrived in Kiel on 15 March. In April,
FK Walter Engelhardt relieved Louran as the ship's commander. After taking on another group of cadets, went on a short training cruise in home waters, beginning on 5 June. On 7 August, she left Germany to visit the United States to represent Germany at the
Hudson–Fulton Celebration; she joined and the
light cruisers and at the celebration, which took place in late September and early October. thereafter cruised in the
Caribbean Sea, which included a stop in
Kingston, Jamaica, from 9 to 11 January 1910, where she assisted the
HAPAG steamship , which had
run aground there. s crew assisted in the unloading of some of cargo and transferring passengers to another steamer before could be pulled free. then resumed her voyage and arrived back in Kiel on 8 March. went on another short training cruise to Norway and in the
Baltic Sea in mid-1910, before departing for another extended voyage in the Mediterranean on 15 August. The cruise concluded in Kiel on 7 March 1911. In April,
FK Ernst-Oldwig von Natzmer took command of the ship. A short cruise in the Baltic followed, which included a stop in
Stockholm, Sweden, after which visited Norway and Scotland before returning to
Wilhelmshaven, Germany. That year's long-range cruise went to the
West Indies and lasted from 21 August to 11 March 1912. The annual training cruise began in early August and went to the mid-Atlantic, and included stops in the
Azores and Madeira. While in Funchal, Natzmer assisted the captain of the steamer by arresting several sailors who had been involved in a
mutiny and then transferring them to another vessel that carried them back to Germany. then steamed to
Barcelona, Spain, where she received orders to join the newly created
Mediterranean Division on 2 November. The unit, centered on the
battlecruiser , had been sent to defend German interests during the
Balkan Wars. After visiting numerous ports in the region through early 1913, was detached in mid-February and arrived back in Kiel on 7 March. After her return, she went into dry dock for periodic maintenance. In April,
FK Heinrich Rohardt became the ship's captain. departed with another crew of naval cadets on 29 May for a short training cruise to Norway that concluded in Wilhelmshaven on 3 August. Twelve days later, she got underway again for the annual overseas voyage, which went to North America and the Caribbean. While there, she received orders to go to
Veracruz, Mexico, to protect German interests during the
Mexican Revolution; she stayed there from 21 October to 2 November. She thereafter visited the
Antilles and ultimately returned to Kiel on 13 March 1914. embarked on her final peacetime training cruise on 2 June with a contingent of 75 cadets. She steamed first in the central Baltic before visiting Norway. She then crossed the
North Sea to
Edinburgh, Scotland, where she stayed from 22 to 25 July; the ship was the last German vessel to visit a British port before the start of World War I.
World War I After returning to Germany in late July, had begun preparations for the annual training cruise, but these were interrupted by the outbreak of war at the end of the month. was assigned to
V Scouting Group, and was initially employed on guard duty in the western Baltic in August and September. She joined her sister and the armored cruiser for a sweep into the eastern Baltic from 24 to 26 October; the commander of V Scouting Group,
KAdm Gisberth Jasper, temporarily made is flagship for the operation. The Germans' intention was to penetrate as far as the
Gulf of Finland, and while ships encountered no opposition, reports of enemy submarines led Jasper to cancel the operation while off
Lyserort. On 28 October, Jasper returned to his previous flagship, . By the end of 1914, however, the ships were again removed from service, owing to their vulnerability to
mine and torpedo attacks. , which had been stationed in Swinemünde, withdrew to the west on 30 October. On 16 November, she was decommissioned and thereafter disarmed and converted into a
barracks ship. Based in
Flensburg, she supported the crews of the
seaplane base there through the end of the war. Her 21 cm guns were emplaced as a
coastal artillery battery in occupied Belgium as "Battery " between
Wenduine and
Blankenberge. Following Germany's defeat in November 1918, was towed back to Kiel, where she was stricken from the
naval register on 6 December 1919 and sold to ship-breakers in Audorf-Rendsburg. and was scrapped the following year. == Notes ==