SMS Hela
Encyclopedia
SMS Hela was a light cruiser
of the German Imperial Navy prior to and during World War I
. The only ship of her class, Hela was built as an aviso
and launched on 28 March 1895 in Bremen
. She was named after the Hela peninsula
near Danzig
(present-day Gdańsk
). Hela was lightly armed for a light cruiser; her main armament consisted of just four 8.8 centimetres (3.5 in) guns.
In 1900–1901, Hela was deployed to China during the Boxer Rebellion
. She participated in extensive fleet maneuvers in 1902, before being significantly rebuilt from 1903–1906. From 1910, Hela was used as a fleet tender. With the outbreak of World War I
in 1914, she was put back into active service as a support ship for the torpedo boats stationed off Helgoland. On 13 September 1914, Hela was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine ; two of her crew died.
type in the German Navy
. German avisos were developed from earlier torpedo boat
s and were intended for use in home waters with the fleet. The first aviso, was purchased from a British shipbuilder in 1875; seven more ships were built in German yards before Hela was laid down in 1893. The aviso type culminated in what would later be referred to as the light cruiser
; Helas successors, the s, were the first true light cruisers built.
of 11 metre and a draft
of 4.46 metre forward and 4.64 metre aft. She was designed to displace
2027 t (1,995 LT), and at full combat load the displacement increased to 2082 t (2,049.1 LT). Her hull
was constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames, which contained 22 watertight compartments above the armored deck and ten below. A double bottom
ran for 35 percent of the length of the hull. Helas crew consisted of 7 officers and 171 enlisted men.
The ship was powered by two 3-cylinder triple expansion engines; both drove a screw that was 3.25 metre in diameter. Each engine had its own separate engine room. The engines were supplied with steam by six locomotive boilers split into two boiler rooms. The engines were rated at 6,000 indicated horsepower and a top speed of 20 kn (10.9 m/s), though on trials they reached a half knot better. Hela was equipped with three electrical generators that produced 36 kilowatts at 67 volt
s. Steering was controlled by a single rudder
.
of 590 meters per second (1,936 f/s) and a rate of approximately 15 shots per minute. At the maximum elevation of 30°, the guns could hit targets out to 10,500 m (11,480 yards). These guns were provided with a total of 800 rounds, for 200 per gun. She was also equipped with six 5 cm (2 in) SK L/40 quick-firing guns. These guns fired 1.75 kg (3.9 lb) shells, at up to 10 shots per minute. They had a maximum range of 6,200 m (6,780 yd). Hela carried 250 rounds per gun. Her armament was completed with three 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes. Two were placed on the deck and the third was submerged in the bow of the ship.
Hela was lightly armored. She was protected by an armor deck that was 20 mm (0.78740157480315 in) thick and composed of steel. The deck sloped on the sides, and was slightly increased in thickness to 25 mm (0.984251968503937 in). The conning tower
was armored with 30 mm (1.2 in) thick steel.
in 1900, Chinese nationalists laid siege to the foreign embassies in Peking and murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler, the German minister. The widespread violence against Westerners in China led to a creation of an alliance between Germany and seven other Great Powers: the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, the United States, France, and Japan. Those soldiers who were in China at the time were too few in number to defeat the Boxers; in Peking there was a force of slightly more than 400 officers and infantry from the armies of the eight European powers. At the time, the primary German military force in China was the East Asia Squadron
, which consisted of the protected cruiser
s , , and , the small cruisers and , and the gunboats and . There was also a German 500-man detachment in Taku; combined with the other nations' units the force numbered some 2,100 men.
These 2,100 men, led by the British Admiral Edward Seymour
, attempted to reach Peking but due to heavy resistance were forced to stop in Tientsin. As a result, the Kaiser determined an expeditionary force would be sent to China to reinforce the East Asia Squadron. Hela was part of the naval expedition, which included the four pre-dreadnought battleships, sent to China to reinforce the German flotilla there. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
opposed the plan, which he saw as unnecessary and costly. The force was sent in spite of von Tirpitz's objections; it arrived in China in September 1900. By that time, the siege of Peking had already been lifted. As a result, the task force suppressed local uprisings around Kiaochow. In the end, the operation cost the German government more than 100 million marks.
s were trapped in the Kattegat
by a superior enemy unit in the North Sea. The German squadron was tasked with returning to Kiel
in the Baltic, where it would return to Wilhelmshaven
via the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal
to rejoin the rest of the fleet. Hela, along with three Brandenburg-class battleships and the cruisers and , was positioned in one of the three main channels from the Kattegat to Kiel to act as an opposing force
. Two other battle squadrons were positioned to block the advance of the isolated German squadron.
On the morning of 2 September, the operation commenced. Hela was tasked with sweeping the numerous smaller channels, inlets, and bays in the squadron's area of responsibility. At 06:00 that morning, the commander of the German squadron decided to take his ships through the channel to which Hela was assigned. The "hostile" torpedo-boat screen sighted the German flotilla, but a dense fog precluded effective pursuit by the battleships. However, Hela, the other two cruisers, and the torpedo boats were detached to engage the German torpedo-boat screen. Hela and the other ships quickly "destroyed" several of the German torpedo boats. This prompted the German squadron to retreat northward, with Hela and the other ships in pursuit. The German squadron was chased back through the Kattegat before the exercise was called off. On the night of 3 September, the entire fleet anchored off Læsø
island to give the crews a rest.
The following day, 4 September, the exercise resumed. The German squadron was reinforced by several battleships and the armored cruiser
; Hela was again assigned to the hostile force. The German flotilla was ordered to sail into the North Sea and attempt to reach the safety of the island fortress of Helgoland. Hela was assigned to a screening force that was intended to intercept the German squadron so it could be brought to battle. A short engagement between the hostile screen and Prinz Heinrich ensued, during which Prinz Heinrich damaged the protected cruiser
s and . A torpedo boat attack on the German squadron followed in the early hours of 5 September. The hostile force was unable to prevent the escape of the German squadron, however, which reached Helgoland by 12:00.
Hela and the rest of the fleet anchored off Helgoland on 8–11 September. During the day the ships conducted training with steam tactics. On 11 September the ships returned to Wilhelmshaven where on the following two days the ships replenished their coal supplies. On 14 September the final operation of the annual maneuvers began. The situation specified that the naval war had gone badly for Germany; only four battleships were still in service, along with Hela, Freya, and a division of torpedo boats. The ships were to be stationed in the mouth of the Elbe river to protect the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and access to Hamburg
. On 15 September, the hostile force blockaded the Elbe, along with other rivers and harbors on the North Sea. The torpedo boats, which had been scattered in the previous engagement, were tracked and destroyed by the hostile force. The hostile battleship squadron steamed to the mouth of the Elbe, where Hela, Freya, and the remaining torpedo boats were stationed as lookouts. Nothing happened during the day of 16 September, but that night several German torpedo boats managed to destroy one of the blockading cruisers and badly damage another. The following day, Prinz Heinrich engaged Hela and Freya briefly before forcing the two ships to retreat. The weather began to storm so the operation was postponed until the following day. That morning, the hostile fleet forced its way into the Elbe, past the fortifications at the mouth of the river. The German flotilla made a desperate attack which resulted in the sinking of two of the hostile battleships. The hostile force, however, ultimately overwhelmed the outnumbered German ships and the exercise ended with their victory.
for extensive modernization. The ship's superstructure
was rebuilt, and her two rear 8.8 cm guns were removed. Her boilers, which had been trunked into a single smoke stack were now split between two funnels. Coal storage capacity was also increased, from 370 t (364.2 LT) to 412 t (405.5 LT). The ship was also further subdivided; the 22 watertight compartments above the armored deck were increased to 30, and the double bottom was extended to cover 39 percent of the hull. She was also re-boilered; her six original boilers were replaced with eight Marine-type boilers. Work lasted until 1906, at which point she rejoined the fleet and was stationed in Germany. Her crew was also increased by the addition of another officer and 16 enlisted men. After 1910, Hela was withdrawn from active service and used as a fleet tender.
s that formed the outer ring of coastal scouting patrols in the German portion of the North Sea. Hela was stationed to the northeast of Helgoland, along with the cruiser . These forces were surprised and attacked by superior British forces on 28 August 1914 in the first Battle of Helgoland Bight. After reports of the initial engagement between light forces reached Hela, the ship turned eastward to join the fighting. However, after another report, which stated that the British ships were retreating to the southwest away from Helgoland, reached Hela, the ship returned to her patrol station. Hela emerged from the battle without damage, and that night regrouped with the cruisers and to provide cover for the remaining torpedo boats and reestablish the Bight patrol line.
However, two weeks later, on the morning of 13 September 1914, Hela was attacked six miles southwest of Helgoland by the British submarine HMS E9
under command of the future Admiral Max Horton
. Hela was conducting a training exercise at the time; the area around Helgoland was presumed safe from British submarines. After surfacing, E9 spotted the German cruiser and immediately re-submerged to fire two of her torpedoes. After 15 minutes, E9 rose to periscope depth to inspect the scene. The British submarine found Hela sinking. Within another 15 minutes, Hela had slipped beneath the waves. The crew of E9 was awarded a bounty of £
1,050 as a reward for sinking Hela. Despite the speed with which the ship sank, her entire crew, with the exception of two sailors, were rescued from the sea.
Hela was the first German ship sunk by a British submarine in the war. As a result of her loss, all German ships conducting training exercises were moved to the Baltic Sea to prevent further such sinkings. One of her 8.8 cm guns was retrieved from the wreck and is now preserved at Fort Kugelbake in Cuxhaven.
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 German Imperial Navy prior to and during 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 only ship of her class, Hela was built as an aviso
Aviso
An aviso , a kind of dispatch boat or advice boat, survives particularly in the French navy, they are considered equivalent to the modern sloop....
and launched on 28 March 1895 in Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
. She was named after the Hela peninsula
Hel Peninsula
Hel Peninsula |Nehrung]]) is a 35-km-long sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is located in Puck County of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.- Geography :...
near Danzig
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
(present-day Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
). Hela was lightly armed for a light cruiser; her main armament consisted of just four 8.8 centimetres (3.5 in) guns.
In 1900–1901, Hela was deployed to China during the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
. She participated in extensive fleet maneuvers in 1902, before being significantly rebuilt from 1903–1906. From 1910, Hela was used as a fleet tender. With the outbreak of 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...
in 1914, she was put back into active service as a support ship for the torpedo boats stationed off Helgoland. On 13 September 1914, Hela was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine ; two of her crew died.
Design
Hela was the culmination in the development of the avisoAviso
An aviso , a kind of dispatch boat or advice boat, survives particularly in the French navy, they are considered equivalent to the modern sloop....
type in the German Navy
German Navy
The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...
. German avisos were developed from earlier torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s and were intended for use in home waters with the fleet. The first aviso, was purchased from a British shipbuilder in 1875; seven more ships were built in German yards before Hela was laid down in 1893. The aviso type culminated in what would later be referred to as the 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...
; Helas successors, the s, were the first true light cruisers built.
General characteristics and machinery
Hela was 104.6 metre long at the waterline and 105 metre overall. She had a beamBeam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 11 metre and a draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
of 4.46 metre forward and 4.64 metre aft. She was designed to displace
Displacement (ship)
A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...
2027 t (1,995 LT), and at full combat load the displacement increased to 2082 t (2,049.1 LT). Her hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
was constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames, which contained 22 watertight compartments above the armored deck and ten below. A double bottom
Double bottom
A double bottom is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom of the ship has two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is somewhat higher in the ship, perhaps a few feet, which forms a...
ran for 35 percent of the length of the hull. Helas crew consisted of 7 officers and 171 enlisted men.
The ship was powered by two 3-cylinder triple expansion engines; both drove a screw that was 3.25 metre in diameter. Each engine had its own separate engine room. The engines were supplied with steam by six locomotive boilers split into two boiler rooms. The engines were rated at 6,000 indicated horsepower and a top speed of 20 kn (10.9 m/s), though on trials they reached a half knot better. Hela was equipped with three electrical generators that produced 36 kilowatts at 67 volt
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
s. Steering was controlled by a single rudder
Rudder
A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
.
Armament and armor
Hela was armed with four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnellfeuerkanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while the L/30 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/30 gun is 30 calibers, meaning that the gun barrel is 30 times as long as it is in diameter. quick-firing guns in individual mountings. The guns fired 10 kg (22 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocityMuzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 590 meters per second (1,936 f/s) and a rate of approximately 15 shots per minute. At the maximum elevation of 30°, the guns could hit targets out to 10,500 m (11,480 yards). These guns were provided with a total of 800 rounds, for 200 per gun. She was also equipped with six 5 cm (2 in) SK L/40 quick-firing guns. These guns fired 1.75 kg (3.9 lb) shells, at up to 10 shots per minute. They had a maximum range of 6,200 m (6,780 yd). Hela carried 250 rounds per gun. Her armament was completed with three 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes. Two were placed on the deck and the third was submerged in the bow of the ship.
Hela was lightly armored. She was protected by an armor deck that was 20 mm (0.78740157480315 in) thick and composed of steel. The deck sloped on the sides, and was slightly increased in thickness to 25 mm (0.984251968503937 in). The conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
was armored with 30 mm (1.2 in) thick steel.
Boxer Rebellion
During the Boxer RebellionBoxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
in 1900, Chinese nationalists laid siege to the foreign embassies in Peking and murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler, the German minister. The widespread violence against Westerners in China led to a creation of an alliance between Germany and seven other Great Powers: the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, the United States, France, and Japan. Those soldiers who were in China at the time were too few in number to defeat the Boxers; in Peking there was a force of slightly more than 400 officers and infantry from the armies of the eight European powers. At the time, the primary German military force in China was the 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...
, which consisted of the protected cruiser
Protected cruiser
The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...
s , , and , the small cruisers and , and the gunboats and . There was also a German 500-man detachment in Taku; combined with the other nations' units the force numbered some 2,100 men.
These 2,100 men, led by the British Admiral Edward Seymour
Edward Hobart Seymour
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Hobart Seymour, GCB, OM, GCVO , was a Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief, China Station.- Early life :...
, attempted to reach Peking but due to heavy resistance were forced to stop in Tientsin. As a result, the Kaiser determined an expeditionary force would be sent to China to reinforce the East Asia Squadron. Hela was part of the naval expedition, which included the four pre-dreadnought battleships, sent to China to reinforce the German flotilla there. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz was a German Admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871...
opposed the plan, which he saw as unnecessary and costly. The force was sent in spite of von Tirpitz's objections; it arrived in China in September 1900. By that time, the siege of Peking had already been lifted. As a result, the task force suppressed local uprisings around Kiaochow. In the end, the operation cost the German government more than 100 million marks.
Fleet training, 1902
On 31 August 1902, the annual fleet maneuvers began. The first portion of the exercise positioned Germany in a naval war against a powerful enemy that had superior forces in the North and Baltic Seas. A German squadron, consisting of the coastal defense ships , , and and a division of torpedo boatTorpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s were trapped in the Kattegat
Kattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
by a superior enemy unit in the North Sea. The German squadron was tasked with returning to Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
in the Baltic, where it would return to Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...
via the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal
Kiel Canal
The Kiel Canal , known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal until 1948, is a long canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.The canal links the North Sea at Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. An average of is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland Peninsula....
to rejoin the rest of the fleet. Hela, along with three Brandenburg-class battleships and the cruisers and , was positioned in one of the three main channels from the Kattegat to Kiel to act as an opposing force
Opposing force
An opposing force or enemy force is a military unit tasked with representing an enemy, usually for training purposes in war game scenarios...
. Two other battle squadrons were positioned to block the advance of the isolated German squadron.
On the morning of 2 September, the operation commenced. Hela was tasked with sweeping the numerous smaller channels, inlets, and bays in the squadron's area of responsibility. At 06:00 that morning, the commander of the German squadron decided to take his ships through the channel to which Hela was assigned. The "hostile" torpedo-boat screen sighted the German flotilla, but a dense fog precluded effective pursuit by the battleships. However, Hela, the other two cruisers, and the torpedo boats were detached to engage the German torpedo-boat screen. Hela and the other ships quickly "destroyed" several of the German torpedo boats. This prompted the German squadron to retreat northward, with Hela and the other ships in pursuit. The German squadron was chased back through the Kattegat before the exercise was called off. On the night of 3 September, the entire fleet anchored off Læsø
Læsø
Læsø is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality on that island...
island to give the crews a rest.
The following day, 4 September, the exercise resumed. The German squadron was reinforced by several battleships and the armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
; Hela was again assigned to the hostile force. The German flotilla was ordered to sail into the North Sea and attempt to reach the safety of the island fortress of Helgoland. Hela was assigned to a screening force that was intended to intercept the German squadron so it could be brought to battle. A short engagement between the hostile screen and Prinz Heinrich ensued, during which Prinz Heinrich damaged the protected cruiser
Protected cruiser
The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...
s and . A torpedo boat attack on the German squadron followed in the early hours of 5 September. The hostile force was unable to prevent the escape of the German squadron, however, which reached Helgoland by 12:00.
Hela and the rest of the fleet anchored off Helgoland on 8–11 September. During the day the ships conducted training with steam tactics. On 11 September the ships returned to Wilhelmshaven where on the following two days the ships replenished their coal supplies. On 14 September the final operation of the annual maneuvers began. The situation specified that the naval war had gone badly for Germany; only four battleships were still in service, along with Hela, Freya, and a division of torpedo boats. The ships were to be stationed in the mouth of the Elbe river to protect the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and access to Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. On 15 September, the hostile force blockaded the Elbe, along with other rivers and harbors on the North Sea. The torpedo boats, which had been scattered in the previous engagement, were tracked and destroyed by the hostile force. The hostile battleship squadron steamed to the mouth of the Elbe, where Hela, Freya, and the remaining torpedo boats were stationed as lookouts. Nothing happened during the day of 16 September, but that night several German torpedo boats managed to destroy one of the blockading cruisers and badly damage another. The following day, Prinz Heinrich engaged Hela and Freya briefly before forcing the two ships to retreat. The weather began to storm so the operation was postponed until the following day. That morning, the hostile fleet forced its way into the Elbe, past the fortifications at the mouth of the river. The German flotilla made a desperate attack which resulted in the sinking of two of the hostile battleships. The hostile force, however, ultimately overwhelmed the outnumbered German ships and the exercise ended with their victory.
Reconstruction and later service
In 1903, Hela was taken into the dry dock at the Kaiserliche Werft DanzigKaiserliche Werft Danzig
Kaiserliche Werft Danzig was a German shipbuilding company founded in 1852, first as Königliche Werft Danzig but renamed in 1871 with the proclamation of the German Empire. Together with Kaiserliche Werft Kiel and Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven it was one of three shipyards which produced...
for extensive modernization. The ship's superstructure
Superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
was rebuilt, and her two rear 8.8 cm guns were removed. Her boilers, which had been trunked into a single smoke stack were now split between two funnels. Coal storage capacity was also increased, from 370 t (364.2 LT) to 412 t (405.5 LT). The ship was also further subdivided; the 22 watertight compartments above the armored deck were increased to 30, and the double bottom was extended to cover 39 percent of the hull. She was also re-boilered; her six original boilers were replaced with eight Marine-type boilers. Work lasted until 1906, at which point she rejoined the fleet and was stationed in Germany. Her crew was also increased by the addition of another officer and 16 enlisted men. After 1910, Hela was withdrawn from active service and used as a fleet tender.
World War I
When World War I broke out, Hela was brought back to active duty and assigned to the covering forces for the German torpedo boatTorpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s that formed the outer ring of coastal scouting patrols in the German portion of the North Sea. Hela was stationed to the northeast of Helgoland, along with the cruiser . These forces were surprised and attacked by superior British forces on 28 August 1914 in the first Battle of Helgoland Bight. After reports of the initial engagement between light forces reached Hela, the ship turned eastward to join the fighting. However, after another report, which stated that the British ships were retreating to the southwest away from Helgoland, reached Hela, the ship returned to her patrol station. Hela emerged from the battle without damage, and that night regrouped with the cruisers and to provide cover for the remaining torpedo boats and reestablish the Bight patrol line.
However, two weeks later, on the morning of 13 September 1914, Hela was attacked six miles southwest of Helgoland by the British submarine HMS E9
HMS E9
HMS E9 was a British E class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow. She was laid down on 1 June 1912 and was commissioned on 18 June 1914.-Service history:...
under command of the future Admiral Max Horton
Max Kennedy Horton
Admiral Sir Max Kennedy Horton, GCB, DSO and two bars was a British submariner in World War I and commander-in-chief of the Western Approaches in the latter half of World War II, responsible for British participation in the Second World War's Battle of the Atlantic.-First World War:Horton joined...
. Hela was conducting a training exercise at the time; the area around Helgoland was presumed safe from British submarines. After surfacing, E9 spotted the German cruiser and immediately re-submerged to fire two of her torpedoes. After 15 minutes, E9 rose to periscope depth to inspect the scene. The British submarine found Hela sinking. Within another 15 minutes, Hela had slipped beneath the waves. The crew of E9 was awarded a bounty 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...
1,050 as a reward for sinking Hela. Despite the speed with which the ship sank, her entire crew, with the exception of two sailors, were rescued from the sea.
Hela was the first German ship sunk by a British submarine in the war. As a result of her loss, all German ships conducting training exercises were moved to the Baltic Sea to prevent further such sinkings. One of her 8.8 cm guns was retrieved from the wreck and is now preserved at Fort Kugelbake in Cuxhaven.