SMS Augsburg SMS " Augsburg " was a light cruiser of the German " Kaiserliche Marine " ( Imperial Navy ) during the First World War . She had three sister ships , , , and . The ship was built by the " Kaiserliche Werft " in Kiel ; her hull was laid down in 1908 and she was launched in July 1909 . " Augsburg " was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in October 1910 . She was armed with a main battery of twelve 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 guns and had a top speed of . After her commissioning , " Augsburg " spent her peacetime career first as a torpedo test ship and then as a gunnery training ship . After the outbreak of World War I , she was assigned to the Baltic Sea , where she spent the entire war . On 2 August 1914 , she participated in an operation that saw the first shots of the war with Russia fired , and she later took part in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915 and Operation Albion in October 1917 , as well as numerous smaller engagements throughout the war . She struck a mine , once , in January 1915 , though the ship was again operational in a few months . After the end of the war , " Augsburg " was ceded to Japan as a war prize , and was subsequently broken up for scrap in 1922 . Design . " Augsburg " was ordered as a replacement for under the contract name " Ersatz Sperber " and was laid down in 1908 at the " Kaiserliche Werft " shipyard in Kiel . She was launched on 10 July 1909 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 1 October 1910 . 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 Parsons steam turbines driving four propellers . They were designed to give . These were powered by fifteen coal - fired Marine water - tube boilers . These gave the ship a top speed of . " Augsburg " carried of coal that gave her a range of approximately at . " Augsburg " had a crew of 18 officers and 349 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 were side by side aft . These were replaced in 1916 – 1917 with six 15 cm SK L / 45 guns . She also carried four 5 . 2 cm SK L / 55 anti - aircraft guns , though these were replaced with a pair of two 8 . 8 cm SK L / 45 anti - aircraft guns in 1918 . She was also equipped with a pair of torpedo tube s submerged in the hull . Two deck - mounted torpedo tube launchers were added in 1918 She could also carry 100 mines . The conning tower had thick sides , and the deck was covered with up to thick armor plate . Service history . After her commissioning , " Augsburg " was used as a torpedo test ship . In 1912 , she was transferred to gunnery training . Following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , she was assigned to the Baltic Sea , under the command of Rear Admiral Robert Mischke . On 2 August , " Augsburg " laid a minefield outside the Russian harbor of Libau , while shelled the port . The Russians had in fact already left Libau , which was seized by the German Army . The minefield laid by " Augsburg " was poorly marked and hindered German operations more than Russian efforts . " Augsburg " and the rest of the Baltic light forces then conducted a series of bombardments of Russian positions . On 17 August , " Augsburg " , " Magdeburg " , three destroyer s , and the minelayer encountered a pair of powerful Russian armored cruiser s , and . The Russian commander , under the mistaken assumption that the German armored cruisers and were present , did not attack and both forces withdrew . In September , the light forces in the Baltic were reinforced with the IV Battle Squadron , composed of the older and s , and the large armored cruiser . Starting on 3 September , the combined German force conducted a sweep into the Baltic . During the operation , " Augsburg " spotted the Russian cruisers and . She attempted to draw them closer to " Blücher " , but the Russians refused to take the bait and withdrew . On 7 September , " Augsburg " and the torpedo boat steamed into the Gulf of Bothnia and sank a Russian steamer off Raumo . By the 9th , the German fleet had returned to port . On the night of 24 – 25 January , " Augsburg " ran into a Russian minefield off Bornholm and struck a mine . The crew kept the ship afloat , and she was towed back to port for repairs . " Augsburg " was back in service by April 1915 , ready for a major operation against Libau . The German Army planned to seize the port as a distraction from the main Austro - German effort at Gorlice – Tarnów . They requested naval support , and so the Navy organized a force comprising the coastal defense ship , three armored cruisers , three light cruisers , including " Augsburg " , and a large number of torpedo boats and minesweepers . In addition , the IV Scouting Group , consisting of four light cruisers and twenty - one torpedo boats , was sent from the North Sea to reinforce the operation . The German Army captured Libau in May , and it was subsequently turned into an advance base for the German Navy . Later that month , the Navy assigned a mine - laying operation to " Augsburg " and ; they were to lay a minefield near the entrance to the Gulf of Finland . A submarine attack on the cruiser , however , prompted the German naval command to cancel the operation . On 1 June , " Augsburg " , , " Lübeck " , and seven torpedo boats escorted the minelaying cruiser while she laid a field off Bogskär . " Augsburg " served as the flagship of Commodore Johannes von Karpf , the commander of the operation . After finishing laying the minefield , Karpf sent a wireless transmission informing headquarters he had accomplished the mission , and was returning to port . This message was intercepted by the Russians , allowing them to intercept the Germans . Four Russian armored cruisers , with the powerful armored cruiser steaming in support , attempted to ambush the German squadron . Karpf dispersed his force shortly before encountering the Russians ; " Augsburg " , " Albatross " , and three torpedo boats steamed to Rixhöft while the remainder went to Libau . Shortly after 06 : 30 on 2 June , lookouts on " Augsburg " spotted the Russian force ; Karpf ordered the slower " Albatross " to seek refuge in neutral Swedish waters , while " Augsburg " and the torpedo boats used their high speed to escape the Russians . In the engagement that followed , " Albatross " was badly damaged and ran aground in Swedish waters . The Russians then turned to engage the second German force , but were low on ammunition after the engagement with " Augsburg " and " Albatross " and broke off the engagement . The Russian fired two torpedoes at " Augsburg " on the night of 28 June , though both missed . " Augsburg " was assigned to the forces that took part in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915 . A significant detachment from the High Seas Fleet , including eight dreadnought s and three battlecruisers , went into the Baltic to clear the Gulf of Riga of Russian naval forces . " Augsburg " participated in the second attack on 16 August , led by the dreadnoughts and . On the night of 19 August , " Augsburg " encountered a pair of Russian gunboat s — and ; " Augsburg " and " Posen " sank " Sivutch " , though " Korietz " managed to escape . The Russian surface forces had by this time withdrawn to Moon Sound , and the threat of Russian submarine s and mines still in the Gulf prompted the Germans to retreat . On 13 October , an unknown submarine fired a torpedo at " Augsburg " , though it did not hit her . In September 1916 , " Augsburg " participated in an attempt to force the Irben Strait into the Gulf of Riga in September 1916 . Heavy Russian resistance , primarily from the old battleship , forced the Germans to retreat from the Gulf . In November 1917 , " Augsburg " participated in another attack on the Gulf of Riga , Operation Albion . By this point , she had been assigned to the VI Scouting Group along with and her sister . At 06 : 00 on 14 October 1917 , the three ships left Libau to escort minesweeping operations in the Gulf of Riga . They were attacked by Russian coastal guns on their approach and were temporarily forced to turn away . By 08 : 45 , however , they had anchored off the Mikailovsk Bank and the minesweepers began to clear a path in the minefields . Two days later , " Augsburg " joined the dreadnought s and for a sweep of the Gulf of Riga . While the battleships engaged the Russian naval forces , " Augsburg " was tasked with supervising the occupation of Arensburg . According to the Armistice that ended the war , " Augsburg " and the rest of the German fleet not interned in Scapa Flow were to be returned to the main German ports and disarmed . In the subsequent Treaty of Versailles that formally ended the conflict , " Augsburg " was listed as a warship to be surrendered to the Allied powers ; she was to be disarmed in accordance with the terms of the Armistice , but her guns were to remain on board . After the end of World War I , " Augsburg " was surrendered to Japan as a war prize on 3 September 1920 , under the name " Y " . The Japanese had no use for the ship , and so she was broken up in Dordrecht in 1922 .