SMS Niobe

SMS Niobe in Kiel in 1901
History
Germany
Name	Niobe
Builder	AG Weser
Laid down	30 August 1898
Launched	18 July 1899
Commissioned	25 June 1900
Out of service	Sold to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Name	Dalmacija
Acquired	26 June 1925
Captured	25 April 1941
Italy
Name	Cattaro
Acquired	25 April 1941
Captured	11 September 1943
Nazi Germany
Name	Niobe
Acquired	11 September 1943
Fate	Beached on Silba and destroyed by British motor torpedo boats in December 1943
General characteristics
Class and type	Gazelle-class light cruiser
Displacement	Normal: 2,643 t (2,601 long tons) Full load: 2,963 t (2,916 long tons)
Length	105 m (344 ft 6 in) loa
Beam	12.2 m (40 ft)
Draft	5.03 m (16 ft 6 in)
Installed power	8 × Thornycroft boilers 8,000 PS (7,900 ihp)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Range	3,570 nmi (6,610 km; 4,110 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	14 officers 243 enlisted men
Armament	10 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns 2 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 20 to 25 mm (0.79 to 0.98 in) Conning tower: 80 mm (3.1 in) Gun shields: 50 mm (2 in)

SMS Niobe^[a] was the second member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gazelle class was the culmination of earlier unprotected cruiser and aviso designs, combining the best aspects of both types in what became the progenitor of all future light cruisers of the Imperial fleet. Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a top speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph). The ship had a long career, serving in all three German navies, along with the Yugoslav and Italian fleets over the span of more than forty years.

Niobe served in both home and overseas waters in the Imperial Navy, serving in a variety of roles, including as a flotilla leader for torpedo boats, as a scout for the main fleet, and as a station ship with the East Asia Squadron. After the outbreak of World War I, the ship joined the vessels tasked with defending Germany's North Sea coast. By late 1915, she was withdrawn from active service and used as a headquarters ship for various commands. She was disarmed in 1917, but as one of the cruisers permitted to the postwar Reichsmarine (Navy of the Realm) by the Treaty of Versailles, she was modernized and rearmed in the early 1920s.

The ship saw no active service with the Reichsmarine and, in 1925, Germany sold the ship to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). There, she was renamed Dalmacija and served in the Royal Yugoslav Navy until April 1941, when she was captured by the Italians during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Renamed Cattaro, she served in the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) until the Italian surrender in September 1943. She was then seized by the German occupiers of Italy, who restored her original name. She was used in the Adriatic Sea briefly until December 1943, when she ran aground on the island of Silba, and was subsequently destroyed by British motor torpedo boats. The wreck was ultimately salvaged and broken up for scrap between 1947 and 1952.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).