SMS Graudenz SMS " Graudenz " was the lead ship of the her class of light cruiser s . She had one sister ship , . The ship was built by the German " Kaiserliche Marine " ( Imperial Navy ) in the " Kaiserliche Werft " shipyard in Kiel , laid down in 1912 and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in August 1914 , days after the outbreak of World War I . She was named for the German town of Graudenz . The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 guns and had a top speed of . " Graudenz " saw extensive service during World War I , including serving as part of the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruiser s of the I Scouting Group during the raid on Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914 . The ship also took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915 , and the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915 . She had been damaged by a mine and was unable to participate in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 . She was assigned to the planned final operation of the High Seas Fleet in October 1918 , weeks before the end of the war , but a major mutiny forced the cancellation of the plan . After the end of the war , the ship was ceded to Italy as a war prize and commissioned into the Italian Navy as " Arcona " ; she remained in service until 1937 when she was stricken and broken up for scrap . Design . " Graudenz " was ordered under the contract name " " Ersatz " " and was laid down at the " Kaiserliche Werft " shipyard in Kiel in 1912 and was launched on 25 October 1913 . At her launch , the mayor of Graudenz , Dr . Kühnast , christened the ship . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 10 August 1914 . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward . She displaced at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two sets of Marine steam turbines driving two propellers . They were designed to give . These were powered by ten coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers and two oil - fired double - ended boilers . These gave the ship a top speed of . " Graudenz " carried of coal , and an additional of oil that gave her a range of approximately at . She had a crew of 21 officers and 364 enlisted men . The ship was armed with twelve 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 guns in single pedestal mounts . Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle , eight were located amidships , four on either side , and two in a superfiring pair aft . The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees , which allowed them to engage targets out to . These were later replaced with seven 15 cm SK L / 45 guns and two 8 . 8 cm SK L / 45 anti - aircraft guns . She was also equipped with a pair of torpedo tube s with five torpedo es submerged in the hull on the broadside . Two deck - mounted launchers were added when the gun armament was upgraded . She could also carry 120 mines . The ship was protected by a waterline armored belt that was thick amidships . The conning tower had thick sides , and the deck was covered with up to 60 mm thick armor plate . Service history . " Graudenz " s first operation was the raid on Yarmouth on 3 November 1914 . She formed part of the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruiser s of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper ' s I Scouting Group , along with the cruisers and . The bombardment was conducted without incident , but on the return , the armored cruiser struck a German mine outside Wilhelmshaven and sank . She was also present for the raid on Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby on 15 – 16 December 1914 . After completing the bombardment of the towns , the Germans began to withdraw , though British forces moved to intercept them . " Graudenz " , " Stralsund " , " Strassburg " , and two flotillas of torpedo boat s steamed between two British squadrons . In the heavy mist , which reduced visibility to less than , only " Stralsund " was spotted , though only briefly . The Germans were able to use the bad weather to cover their withdrawal . " Graudenz " again screened for the I Scouting Group for the sortie out to the Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915 . In the ensuing Battle of Dogger Bank , the large armored cruiser was sunk . In August 1915 , " Graudenz " went into the Baltic for a major operation to clear the Gulf of Riga of Russian naval forces . Eight dreadnought s and three battlecruisers from the High Seas Fleet were detached for the operation . " Graudenz " participated in the second attack on 16 August , led by the dreadnoughts and . The minesweepers cleared the Russian minefields by the 20th , allowing the German squadron to enter the Gulf . The Russians had by this time withdrawn to Moon Sound , and the threat of Russian submarine s and mines in the Gulf prompted the Germans to retreat . The major units of the High Seas Fleet were back in the North Sea before the end of August . " Graudenz " struck a mine in mid 1916 , and was in drydock for repairs in May 1916 . As a result , she was unavailable for the fleet operation that resulted in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May − 1 June 1916 . For the remainder of the war , she served as a torpedo boat flotilla leader . By October 1918 , " Graudenz " was assigned to the II Scouting Group , which was to participate in a final , climactic attack by the High Seas Fleet . The planned operation called for raids on Allied shipping in the Thames estuary and Flanders to draw out the Grand Fleet . " Graudenz " , and were assigned to the force tasked with attacking Flanders . On the morning of 29 October 1918 , the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven the following day . Starting on the night of 29 October , sailors on and then on several other battleships mutinied . The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation . Commodore Andreas Michelsen organized a force of light craft , including light cruisers , destroyer s , and U - boat s to oppose a possible British attack while the heavy units of the fleet were in disarray ; he chose " Graudenz " as his flagship . " Graudenz " served with the newly reorganized " Reichsmarine " in the aftermath of the war , through 1919 . She was stricken from the naval register on 10 March 1920 and surrendered to the Allies as a war prize . She was transferred to Italy on 1 June 1920 under the name " E " in the French port of Cherbourg . She was placed in Italian service and renamed " Ancona " . She was overhauled starting in 1921 through 1924 . Her coal storage space was reduced from to and her oil bunker capacity was correspondingly increased from to . " Ancona " was commissioned into the Italian Navy on 6 May 1925 . She was provided with equipment to handle an Macchi M . 7 seaplane in 1926 . The ship ' s bow and forecastle were lengthened between 1928 and 1929 to mount a catapult for the seaplane . She remained in service until 1932 when she was placed in reserve in Taranto . She was stricken on 11 March 1937 and subsequently broken up .