| Career (German Empire) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Stuttgart |
| Namesake: | Stuttgart |
| Laid down: | 1905 |
| Launched: | 22 September 1906 |
| Completed: | 1 February 1908 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Königsberg-class light cruiser |
| Displacement: | 3,469 metric tons (3,414 long tons) |
| Length: | 116.8 m (383.2 ft) |
| Beam: | 13.3 m (43.6 ft) |
| Draft: | 5.3 m (17.4 ft) |
| Installed power: | 13,500 ihp (10,100 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
4 shafts, 2 sets of Parsons Steam turbines |
| Speed: | 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) |
| Complement: | 322 |
| Armament: |
10 × 1 - 105 mm (4.1 in) guns |
| Armor: | Deck: 20–30 mm (0.79–1.2 in) Gun shields: 50 mm (2 in) Conning tower: 100 mm (3.9 in) |
SMS Stuttgart was a Königsberg class light cruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine, named after the city of Stuttgart.
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The Stuttgart was one of the three light cruisers whose eighth funnel was 'detached', meaning the distance to the central funnel was greater than that between the middle and front funnels. These cruisers are usually called the Nürnberg class after its SMS Nürnberg or the Stettin class after the SMS Stettin, the first such cruiser to enter service, with the Königsberg class proper only consisting of the SMS Königsberg herself.
She was laid down in 1905 at the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig and launched on 22 September 1906 by Dr Gauß, then lord mayor of Stuttgart. She entered service on 1 February 1908 and her testing was completed on 9 April that year, but the Marine did not have enough men to crew her and she was laid up in reserve for a year. On 16 February 1909 she became an artillery training ship within the Schiffsartillerieinspektion, replacing SMS Nymphe. Over the next five years the Stuttgart remained in the reserve fleet, spending the time entirely on manoeuvres and parades, apart from 1913 when she was sent to help the stricken heavy cruiser SMS Blücher.
At the outbreak of war the Stuttgart was at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig. Put back into full service, on 7 August 1914 she was assigned to the 4th Scouting Group of the High Seas Fleet in Wilhelmshaven. Used for screening, reconnaissance and mining operations, in May 1915 she was sent to take part in a German offensive in the Baltic Sea, where she saw action against Russian warships. She then returned to the North Sea, before spending more time in the Baltic between October 1915 and January 1916. She then was sent to Wilhelmshaven for a refit.
She fought at Jutland as part of the 4th Scouting Group and survived the battle undamaged. On 15 December 1916 she was taken out of service and her crew used to man the new light cruiser SMS Emden. From February to May 1918 the Stuttgart was converted into a seaplane carrier at Wilhelmshaven, with six of her 10.5mm cannon replaced with two 8.8 cm cannon, enabling her to carry one plane below decks and two on the deck. She recommissioned as such on May 16, 1918 and from then until the end of the war carried out reconnaissance in the German Bight. She was then taken out of service on 17 December 1918, struck from the navy list on 5 November 1919, sailed to Britain on 20 July 1920 and scrapped there.
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