SMS Strassburg SMS " Strassburg " was a light cruiser of the in the German " Kaiserliche Marine " ( Imperial Navy ) . Her class included three other ships : , , and . " Strassburg " was built at the " Kaiserliche Werft " shipyard in Wilhelmshaven from 1910 to October 1912 , when she was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet . The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 guns and had a top speed of . " Strassburg " spent the first year of her service overseas , after which she was assigned to the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet . She saw significant action at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914 and participated in the raid on Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914 . By 1916 , the ship was transferred to the Baltic to operate against the Russian Navy . She saw action during Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga in October 1917 , including screening for the battleship s and during the Battle of Moon Sound . She returned to the North Sea for the planned final operation against the British Grand Fleet in the last weeks of the war , and was involved in the mutinies that forced the cancellation of the operation . The ship served briefly in the new " Reichsmarine " in 1919 before being transferred to Italy as a war prize . She was formally transferred in July 1920 and renamed " Taranto " for service in the Italian Navy . In 1936 – 1937 , she was rebuilt for colonial duties and additional anti - aircraft guns were installed . She saw no significant action during World War II until the Armistice that ended Italy ' s participation in the war . She was scuttled by the Italian Navy , captured and raised by the Germans , and sunk by Allied bombers in October 1943 . The Germans raised the ship again , which was sunk a second time by bombers in September 1944 . " Taranto " was finally broken up for scrap in 1946 – 1947 . Design . " Strassburg " was ordered under the contract name " Ersatz " and was laid down at the " Kaiserliche Werft " shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in 1910 and launched on 24 August 1911 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 9 October 1912 . 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 AEG - Vulcan steam turbines driving two propellers . They were designed to give , but reached in service . These were powered by sixteen coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers , although they were later altered to use fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate . These gave the ship a top speed of . " Strassburg " carried of coal , and an additional of oil that gave her a range of approximately at . " Strassburg " had a crew of 18 officers and 336 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 . The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees , which allowed them to engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1 , 800 rounds of ammunition , for 150 shells per gun . She was also equipped with a pair of torpedo tube s with five torpedo es submerged in the hull on the broadside . 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 . " Strassburg " spent the first year of service overseas , from 1913 to 1914 . She was selected to participate in a long - distance cruise to test the reliability of the new turbine propulsion system in the battleships and . The three ships were organized in a special " Detached Division " . The trio departed Germany on 9 December 1913 and proceeded to the German colonies in western Africa . The ships visited Lomé in Togoland , Duala and Victoria in Kamerun , and Swakopmund in German South - West Africa . From Africa , the ships sailed to St . Helena and then on to Rio de Janeiro , arriving on 15 February 1914 . " Strassburg " was detached to visit Buenos Aires , Argentina before returning to meet the two battleships in Montevideo , Uruguay . The three ships sailed south around Cape Horn and then north to Valparaiso , Chile , arriving on 2 April and remaining for over a week . On 11 April , the ships departed Valparaiso for the long journey back to Germany . On the return trip , the ships visited several more ports , including Bahía Blanca , Argentina , before returning to Rio de Janeiro . On 16 May the ships left Rio de Janeiro for the Atlantic leg of the journey ; they stopped in Cape Verde , Madeira , and Vigo , Spain while en route to Germany . " Strassburg " , " Kaiser " , and " König Albert " arrived in Kiel on 17 June 1914 . In the course of the voyage , the ships traveled some . A week later , on 24 June , the Detached Division was dissolved . After returning to Germany , " Strassburg " spent majority of her career in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet . On 16 August , some two weeks after the outbreak of World War I , " Strassburg " and conducted a sweep into the Hoofden to search for British reconnaissance forces . The two cruisers encountered a group of sixteen British destroyer s and a light cruiser at a distance of about . Significantly outnumbered , the two German cruisers broke contact and returned to port . " Strassburg " was heavily engaged at the Battle of Heligoland Bight less than two weeks later , on 28 August . British battlecruiser s and light cruiser s raided the German reconnaissance screen commanded by Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass in the Heligoland Bight . " Strassburg " was the first German cruiser to leave port to reinforce the German reconnaissance forces . At 11 : 00 , she encountered the badly damaged British cruiser , which had been hit several times by and . " Strassburg " attacked " Arethusa " , but was driven off by the 1st Destroyer Flotilla . She lost contact with the British in the mist , but located them again after 13 : 10 from the sound of British gunfire that destroyed the cruiser . Along with , she badly damaged three British destroyers — , , and — before being driven off again . Shortly thereafter , the British battlecruisers intervened and sank and Maass ' s flagship . " Strassburg " and the rest of the surviving light cruisers retreated into the haze and were reinforced by the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group . " Strassburg " was present during the raid on Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby on 15 – 16 December , as part of the screening force for the battlecruisers of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper ' s I Scouting Group . After completing the bombardment of the towns , the Germans began to withdraw , though British forces moved to intercept them . " Strassburg " , two of the other screening cruisers , and two flotillas of torpedo boat s steamed between two British squadrons . In the heavy mist , which reduced visibility to less than , only her sister ship was spotted , though only briefly . The Germans were able to use the bad weather to cover their withdrawal . The ship had been transferred to the Baltic by 1916 , and so missed the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916 . By 1917 , she was assigned to the VI Scouting Group , which saw action during Operation Albion against the Russian naval forces in the Gulf of Riga . At 06 : 00 on 14 October 1917 , " Strassburg " , , and 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 , " Strassburg " and " Kolberg " joined the dreadnought s and for a sweep of the Gulf of Riga . In the ensuing Battle of Moon Sound , the battleships destroyed the old pre - dreadnought and forced the pre - dreadnought to leave the Gulf . On 21 October , " Strassburg " and the battleship were tasked with assaulting the island of Kyno . The two ships bombarded the island ; " Strassburg " expended approximately 55 rounds on the port of Salismünde . On 31 October , " Strassburg " carried the first military governor of the captured islands from Libau to Arensburg . By October 1918 , " Strassburg " was assigned to the IV Scouting Group , which was to participate in a final , climactic attack by the High Seas Fleet . Admirals Reinhard Scheer and Hipper intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy , in order to secure a better bargaining position for Germany , whatever the cost to the fleet . On the morning of 27 October , days before the operation was scheduled to begin , around 45 crew members from " Strassburg " s engine room slipped over the side of the ship and went into Wilhelmshaven . The crewmen had to be rounded up and returned to the ship , after which the IV Scouting Group moved to Cuxhaven . Here , men from all six cruisers in the unit refused to work in protest of the war , and in support of the armistice proposed by Prince Maximilian . 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 . In early November , " Strassburg " and steamed to Sassnitz . There , the commander of " Strassburg " took command of the naval forces in the port and invited a sailor ' s council to be formed to assist in controlling the forces there . Italian service . After the war , " Strassburg " served briefly with the reorganized " Reichsmarine " in 1919 . She was stricken from the naval register on 10 March 1920 and ceded to Italy as a war prize . She was transferred under the name " O " on 20 July 1920 in the French port of Cherbourg . " Strassburg " was commissioned into the Italian " Regia Marina " ( Royal Navy ) on 2 June 1925 and her name was changed to " Taranto " . Her two 8 . 8 cm anti - aircraft guns were replaced with two Italian 3 - inch / 40 anti - aircraft guns . The following year , she was modified to handle a Macchi M . 7 reconnaissance seaplane . " Taranto " was reclassified as a cruiser on 19 July 1929 , and in 1931 , her M . 7 seaplane was replaced with a CANT 24 R seaplane . The ship was rebuilt for colonial service in 1936 – 37 . Two boilers and the forward funnel were removed , which reduced the ship ' s speed to , though by World War II only could be maintained . Eight / 65 and ten machine guns were added for close - range anti - aircraft defense . She did not see significant service during World War II , though in early July 1940 , " Taranto " , two minelayers , and a pair of destroyers laid a series of minefields in the Gulf of Taranto and in the southern Adriatic , totaling 2 , 335 mines . She was scuttled in La Spezia on 9 September 1943 , a day after the armistice that ended the war for Italy was declared . The Germans captured the ship and re - floated her , though she was sunk by Allied bombers on 23 October . The Germans re - floated the ship again , and again she was sunk by bombers , on 23 September 1944 in the outer La Spezia roadstead . " Taranto " was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1946 – 1947 .