SMS Dresden
Encyclopedia
The SMS Dresden was a German
Imperial Navy
light cruiser
of the Dresden class
, commissioned in 1908.
She was the sister ship of the famous commerce raider
. While the Emden still had traditional triple-expansion engines
, the Dresden was the first German cruiser to be equipped with the new Parsons turbine
s.
Prior to World War I
the Dresden had been stationed in the Caribbean
for a year. During that time, she was instrumental in evacuating American nationals during the U.S. occupation of Veracruz in 1914. She also played a role in the departure of exiled Mexican
president Victoriano Huerta
, transporting him from Mexico to Kingston, Jamaica
.
and rendezvoused with the German East Asia Squadron
under Vice Admiral Count Spee at Easter Island
. In company with Count Spee's other ships — the armoured cruisers and and the light cruisers and — the Dresden participated in the Battle of Coronel
. Together with SMS Leipzig she damaged the British light cruiser and obliged her to retire.
, her turbine engines proving faster than her expansion-engined squadron mates. The ship then headed south back around Cape Horn
to the maze of channels and bays in southern Chile
. Until March 1915 she evaded Royal Navy
searches while threatening British trade routes in the area.
, was travelling southward along the Chilean coast from Valparaíso
to Montevideo
. In addition to a valuable cargo of £
117,000, the Ortega was carrying 300 French
reservists as well as confidential mail from the Admiralty
. When the Ortega was some 50 miles from the entrance to the Straits of Magellan through which she intended to pass, she sighted Dresden, approaching on an opposite course. The Ortega was only capable of a maximum speed of 14 knots whereas the cruiser could achieve a speed of 20 knots. Captain Kinnier ordered a change of course for Cape George. Notwithstanding the ship's engineers achieved a speed of 18 knots, the Dresden soon came within range and a shot from her foremost gun fell alongside the ship as a signal to heave to. Captain Kinnier, however, ignored the signal, and continued on his course, driving the ship as fast as he could. The Dresden then opened fire in earnest, but the Ortega, stern on, did not present a large target and none of the shots took effect.
Chancing all risks in the shallow and uncharted channels of Nelson Strait
, Captain Kinnier succeeded in reaching waters where it was impossible for the Dresden to follow. Lowering some boats he sent them ahead of the ship to take soundings, and by following slowly in their wake, Captain Kinnier succeeded eventually in working his way through nearly one hundred miles of narrow and tortuous channel and emerged into the Straits of Magellan. Subsequently Captain Kinnier navigated his command into Smyth's Channel and thereafter Rio de Janeiro
, "without even having a scratch on his plates".
) which was neutral territory. With 80 tons of coal remaining in her bunkers, out of ammunition for the main battery, lacking stores and supplies as well as parts for her worn-out engines, the ship ceased to be operational. Dresden had sent coded signals to a German collier to meet her in the bay on 9 March. The bay had been used previously by Von Spee for similar meetings. The message had been intercepted by the British light cruisers HMS Glasgow, which had a copy of the captured German codebook. This was incomplete, requiring a 'key' to decode messages, but Charles Stuart, the signals officer, managed to decode the message. On 14 March, Glasgow and found the elusive German cruiser still at anchor. Some shots were fired, injuring a few crew members, and the navigation officer Ernst Wieblitz
. Soon after, the Dresden ran up a white flag and sent Lieutenant Wilhelm Canaris
to negotiate with the British. However, this was merely a ruse to buy time so the Dresdens crew could abandon ship and scuttle her. At 11:15 a.m. the Dresden sank with her war ensign flying. Her crew of about 300 men was interned in Chile for the duration of the war. One lieutenant, Lothar Witzke
, escaped and was later imprisoned by the United States as a spy and saboteur. Eventually about a third of the crew elected to remain and resettle in Chile at war's end. Lieutenant Canaris became famous during the Second World War
as head of the German Military Intelligence Service, the Abwehr
, and as member of the German Resistance
.
divers, and is occasionally used by the Chilean Navy
for diver training. On 24 February 2006, Chilean and German divers found and recovered the Dresdens bell. The Republic of Chile presented the bell of SMS Dresden to the Museum of the German Armed Forces (Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr
) at Dresden in November 2008, one hundred years after the commissioning of the cruiser.
CS Forester's novel Brown on Resolution
, and two subsequent movies, were inspired by the Dresdens escape and subsequent destruction. Forester's novel has a German warship escape the Battle of the Falkland Islands and make its way to an isolated Pacific island, to effect repairs.
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
Imperial Navy
Kaiserliche Marine
The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
of the Dresden class
Dresden class light cruiser
The Dresden class of light cruisers was a class of two ships built for the German Imperial Navy in the early part of the 20th century. The class was composed of Dresden and Emden. Dresden and Emden both participated in well known battles during World War I...
, commissioned in 1908.
She was the sister ship of the famous commerce raider
Commerce raiding
Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...
. While the Emden still had traditional triple-expansion engines
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
, the Dresden was the first German cruiser to be equipped with the new Parsons turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s.
Prior to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the Dresden had been stationed in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
for a year. During that time, she was instrumental in evacuating American nationals during the U.S. occupation of Veracruz in 1914. She also played a role in the departure of exiled Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
president Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...
, transporting him from Mexico to Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
.
Service history
At the outbreak of the war in 1914, the Dresden was preparing for the return journey to Germany. However, orders were changed to prepare for commerce raiding. The Dresden then headed for the South AtlanticAtlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and rendezvoused with the German East Asia Squadron
German East Asia Squadron
The German East Asia Squadron was a German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the 1870s and 1914...
under Vice Admiral Count Spee at Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. In company with Count Spee's other ships — the armoured cruisers and and the light cruisers and — the Dresden participated in the Battle of Coronel
Battle of Coronel
The First World War naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher...
. Together with SMS Leipzig she damaged the British light cruiser and obliged her to retire.
Battle of the Falkland Islands
Approximately one month later, Dresden was the only German cruiser to escape destruction at the Battle of the Falkland IslandsBattle of the Falkland Islands
The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a British naval victory over the Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 during the First World War in the South Atlantic...
, her turbine engines proving faster than her expansion-engined squadron mates. The ship then headed south back around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
to the maze of channels and bays in southern Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. Until March 1915 she evaded Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
searches while threatening British trade routes in the area.
The
Ortega and the escape from the Dresden On 18 September 1914 , under the command of Captain Douglas Reid KinnierDouglas Reid Kinnier
Captain Douglas Reid Kinnier, D.S.C., R.N.R., was a distinguished British seaman who rose to prominence in the early months of the First World War for a daring escape from the German cruiser Dresden in uncharted seas in the vicinity of the Magellan Straits.- Background :Captain Kinnier was born on...
, was travelling southward along the Chilean coast from Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
to Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
. In addition to a valuable cargo of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
117,000, the Ortega was carrying 300 French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
reservists as well as confidential mail from the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
. When the Ortega was some 50 miles from the entrance to the Straits of Magellan through which she intended to pass, she sighted Dresden, approaching on an opposite course. The Ortega was only capable of a maximum speed of 14 knots whereas the cruiser could achieve a speed of 20 knots. Captain Kinnier ordered a change of course for Cape George. Notwithstanding the ship's engineers achieved a speed of 18 knots, the Dresden soon came within range and a shot from her foremost gun fell alongside the ship as a signal to heave to. Captain Kinnier, however, ignored the signal, and continued on his course, driving the ship as fast as he could. The Dresden then opened fire in earnest, but the Ortega, stern on, did not present a large target and none of the shots took effect.
Chancing all risks in the shallow and uncharted channels of Nelson Strait
Nelson Strait
Nelson Strait is the 9 km long and 9.8 km wide strait lying between Robert Island and Nelson Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The strait was explored by early 19th century sealers and first charted by Nathaniel Palmer in 1821...
, Captain Kinnier succeeded in reaching waters where it was impossible for the Dresden to follow. Lowering some boats he sent them ahead of the ship to take soundings, and by following slowly in their wake, Captain Kinnier succeeded eventually in working his way through nearly one hundred miles of narrow and tortuous channel and emerged into the Straits of Magellan. Subsequently Captain Kinnier navigated his command into Smyth's Channel and thereafter Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, "without even having a scratch on his plates".
The end
On 8 March 1915, the Dresden put into Cumberland Bay on the Chilean island of Más a Tierra (today known as Robinson Crusoe IslandRobinson Crusoe Island
Robinson Crusoe Island , formerly known as Más a Tierra , or Aguas Buenas, is the largest island of the Chilean Juan Fernández archipelago, situated 674 kilometres west of South America in the South Pacific Ocean...
) which was neutral territory. With 80 tons of coal remaining in her bunkers, out of ammunition for the main battery, lacking stores and supplies as well as parts for her worn-out engines, the ship ceased to be operational. Dresden had sent coded signals to a German collier to meet her in the bay on 9 March. The bay had been used previously by Von Spee for similar meetings. The message had been intercepted by the British light cruisers HMS Glasgow, which had a copy of the captured German codebook. This was incomplete, requiring a 'key' to decode messages, but Charles Stuart, the signals officer, managed to decode the message. On 14 March, Glasgow and found the elusive German cruiser still at anchor. Some shots were fired, injuring a few crew members, and the navigation officer Ernst Wieblitz
Ernst Wieblitz
Wieblitz Ernst was a German naval officer during the World War I. He was navigation officer on the SMS Dresden on the day of the scuttling.- Biography :...
. Soon after, the Dresden ran up a white flag and sent Lieutenant Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...
to negotiate with the British. However, this was merely a ruse to buy time so the Dresdens crew could abandon ship and scuttle her. At 11:15 a.m. the Dresden sank with her war ensign flying. Her crew of about 300 men was interned in Chile for the duration of the war. One lieutenant, Lothar Witzke
Lothar Witzke
Lothar Witzke was a German spy and saboteur active in the United States and Mexico during World War I.- Naval career :Born in Posen , Witzke was educated at Posen Academy then entered the German Naval Academy as a seventeen-year-old cadet. By the beginning of the war he was a lieutenant in the...
, escaped and was later imprisoned by the United States as a spy and saboteur. Eventually about a third of the crew elected to remain and resettle in Chile at war's end. Lieutenant Canaris became famous during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as head of the German Military Intelligence Service, the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, and as member of the German Resistance
German Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
.
Epilogue
Today the wreck, which lies in about 60 metres (200 ft) of water, is gaining popularity with recreational ScubaScuba set
A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
divers, and is occasionally used by the Chilean Navy
Chilean Navy
-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...
for diver training. On 24 February 2006, Chilean and German divers found and recovered the Dresdens bell. The Republic of Chile presented the bell of SMS Dresden to the Museum of the German Armed Forces (Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr
Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr Military History Museum is the military museum of the German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, and one of the major military history museums in Germany. The museum is under the technical and administrative chain of command of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office. It...
) at Dresden in November 2008, one hundred years after the commissioning of the cruiser.
CS Forester's novel Brown on Resolution
Brown on Resolution
Brown on Resolution is a 1929 nautical novel written by CS Forester. It is set during World War I. The hero of the novel, seaman Brown, is the sole able-bodied survivor of a sunken British warship, who is able single-handedly to discomfit its attacker, a German cruiser, long enough to ensure its...
, and two subsequent movies, were inspired by the Dresdens escape and subsequent destruction. Forester's novel has a German warship escape the Battle of the Falkland Islands and make its way to an isolated Pacific island, to effect repairs.
External links
- German TV Documentary and FORGOTTEN CRUISERWARRIOR By Robert F. Smith