page_title: SMS Lübeck
section_title: Construction and early career
hierarchical_section_title: SMS Lübeck / Service history / Construction and early career
caption_attribution_description: English: Light cruiser SMS Lübeck of the German Imperial Navy Deutsch: Kleiner Kreuzer SMS Lübeck der Kaiserlichen Marine
context_page_description: SMS Lübeck was the fourth of seven Bremen-class cruisers of the Imperial German Navy, named after the city of Lübeck. She was begun by AG Vulcan Stettin in Stettin in 1903, launched in March 1904 and commissioned in April 1905. Armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm guns and two 45 cm torpedo tubes, Lübeck was capable of a top speed of 22.5 knots.
  Lübeck served with the High Seas Fleet for the first decade of her career, and after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, she was transferred to the Baltic Sea to defend Germany's coast from potential Russian attacks. She saw extensive service in the first three years of the war, during which time she participated in the seizure of Libau and was attacked by Allied submarines on two occasions. She struck a mine in 1916 but was repaired; in 1917, she was withdrawn for secondary duties. She survived the war, and was ceded to the British as a war prize in 1920, and subsequently broken up for scrap.
context_section_description: Lübeck was ordered under the contract name Ersatz Mercur and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin on 12 May 1903. She was launched on 26 March 1904, and at the ceremony, the Regierender Bürgermeister (Governing Mayor) of her namesake city gave a speech. Delays with delivery of the new turbines prevented the completion of fitting-out work by about eight months, and she finally began builder's sea trials on 18 March 1905. She was commissioned for sea trials on 26 April, which revealed that the turbines did not produce the expected increase in speed compared to traditional triple-expansion steam engines, leading to further discussions over the utility of using turbines in future designs. Her first commander was Fregattenkapitän (FK—Frigate Captain) Alexander Meurer. 
  Her initial testing was interrupted on 30 October when unrest during the 1905 Russian Revolution prompted the German Kaiser Wilhelm II to send the ship with seven torpedo boats to Russia. He intended the ship to evacuate Tsar Nicholas II of Russia—Wilhelm's cousin—and his family if the need arose. Lübeck patrolled in the Gulf of Finland for two weeks, by which time the crisis in Russia had been contained and she was able to return to her trials, which continued for nearly a year. In March 1906, Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Hermann Nordmann replaced Meurer, though he only served until April, when he was relieved by KK Otto Philipp. During this period, she operated as a flotilla leader for the torpedo boat training flotilla from 31 March to 25 April 1906, and then in the School and Experimental Ships Unit until 17 May. On 27 August, her trials were formally concluded and she was temporarily placed in reserve with a reduced crew in Wilhelmshaven.
  The ship was reactivated on 22 September and assigned to the Reconnaissance Unit of the High Seas Fleet; over the next two years, she took part in the yearly routine of training voyages and unit and fleet exercises. In October 1906, FK Felix Funke took command of the ship. In early 1907, she participated in fleet maneuvers in the North Sea, followed by a cruise to Skagen, Denmark, and then with mock attacks on the main naval base at Kiel. In May and June, further fleet exercises were held in the North Sea, which concluded with a voyage to Norway. The fleet next assembled for the annual autumn fleet maneuvers that were held every August and September. This year, the maneuvers were delayed to allow for a large fleet review, including 112 warships, for Wilhelm II in the Schillig roadstead. In the autumn maneuvers that followed, the fleet conducted exercises in the North Sea and then joint maneuvers with IX Army Corps around Apenrade. FK Ferdinand Thyen relieved Funke in September following the conclusion of the exercises.
  In February 1908, Lübeck participated in fleet maneuvers in the Baltic Sea. In May–June, fleet training was conducted off Helgoland, and in July, the fleet sailed into the Atlantic Ocean to conduct a major training cruise. Prince Heinrich had pressed for such a cruise the previous year, arguing that it would prepare the fleet for overseas operations and would break up the monotony of training in German waters, though tensions with Britain over the developing Anglo-German naval arms race were high. The fleet departed Kiel on 17 July, passed through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to the North Sea, and continued to the Atlantic. The fleet returned to Germany on 13 August. The autumn maneuvers followed from 27 August to 12 September. In October, FK Robert Kühne replaced Thyen as the ship's captain. Later that year, the fleet toured coastal German cities as part of an effort to increase public support for naval expenditures.
  Lübeck was ordered to deploy to the Mediterranean Sea on 19 April 1909 to reinforce the old gunboat Loreley, which was the German station ship in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Serious unrest in the country threatened Europeans there, and Loreley was not capable of protecting German interests by herself. Lübeck patrolled the southern coast of Anatolia un
caption: Colorized postcard of Lübeck sometime before 1912
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