SMS Helgoland SMS " Helgoland " , the lead ship of her class , was a dreadnought battleship of the German Imperial Navy . " Helgoland " s design represented an incremental improvement over the preceding , including an increase in the bore diameter of the main guns , from 28 cm ( 11 in ) to 30 . 5 cm ( 12 in ) . Her keel was laid down on 11 November 1908 at the Howaldtswerke shipyards in Kiel . " Helgoland " was launched on 25 September 1909 and was commissioned on 23 August 1911 . Like most battleships of the High Seas Fleet , " Helgoland " saw limited action against Britain ' s Royal Navy during World War I . The ship participated in several fruitless sweeps into the North Sea as the covering force for the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group . She saw some limited duty in the Baltic Sea against the Russian Navy , including serving as part of a support force during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915 . " Helgoland " was present at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916 , though she was located in the center of the German line of battle and not as heavily engaged as the - and ships in the lead . " Helgoland " was ceded to Great Britain at the end of the war and broken up for scrap in the early 1920s . Her coat of arms is preserved in the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden . Construction . " Helgoland " was ordered by the German Imperial Navy ( " Kaiserliche Marine " ) under the provisional name " Ersatz Siegfried " , as a replacement for the old coastal defense ship . The contract for the ship was awarded to Howaldtswerke in Kiel under construction number 500 . Work began on 24 December 1908 with the laying of her keel , and the ship was launched less than a year later , on 25 September 1909 . Fitting - out , including completion of the superstructure and the installation of armament , lasted until August 1911 . " Helgoland " , named for the offshore islands seen as vital to the defense of the Kiel Canal , was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 23 August 1911 , just under three years from when work commenced , at a cost of 46 . 196 million gold marks . The ship was long , had a beam of and a draft of , and displaced at full load . She was powered by three vertical triple expansion steam engines , which produced a top speed of . " Helgoland " stored up to of coal , which allowed her to steam for at a speed of . After 1915 the boilers were modified to burn oil ; the ship could carry up to of fuel oil . " Helgoland " was armed with a main battery of twelve SK L / 50 guns in six twin gun turret s , with one turret fore , one aft , and two on each flank of the ship . The ship ' s secondary armament consisted of fourteen SK L / 45 guns and sixteen SK L / 45 guns . After 1914 , two of the 8 . 8 cm guns were removed and replaced by 8 . 8 cm anti - aircraft guns . " Helgoland " was also armed with six submerged torpedo tube s . Service history . Upon commissioning , " Helgoland " replaced the pre - dreadnought in the I Battle Squadron . On 9 February 1912 , " Helgoland " s crew beat the German record for loading coal , taking 1 , 100 tons of coal on board in two hours ; the record was previously held by the crew of the " Nassau " - class battleship . Kaiser Wilhelm II congratulated the crew through a Cabinet order . In March , fleet training maneuvers were conducted in the North Sea , followed by another round of exercises in November . The fleet also trained in the Skagerrak and Kattegat during the November exercises . The next year followed a similar training pattern , though a summer cruise to Norway was instituted . 1914 summer training cruise . On 10 July 1914 , " Helgoland " left the Jade Estuary to take part in the annual summer training cruise to Norway . The fleet , along with several German U - boat s , assembled at Skagen on 12 July to practice torpedo boat attacks , individual ship maneuvers , and searchlight techniques . The fleet arrived at the Fjord of Songe by 18 July , but " Helgoland " had to wait until after midnight for a harbor pilot to guide her into the confined waters of the fjord . " Helgoland " joined , the light cruiser , and the Kaiser ' s yacht in Balholm . That same day , " Helgoland " took on 1250 tons of coal from a Norwegian collier . The following morning " Helgoland " was joined by her sister , and the two ships sailed back to Germany , arriving on the morning of 22 July . On the evening of 1 August , the captain announced to the crew that the Kaiser had ordered the navy to prepare for hostilities with the Russian Navy . Outbreak of war . At the start of World War I , " Helgoland " was assigned to the I Division , I Battle Squadron . " Helgoland " was stationed off the heavily fortified island of Wangerooge on 9 August . Minefields and picket lines of cruisers , torpedo boats , and submarines were also emplaced there to defend Wilhelmshaven . " Helgoland " s engines were kept running for the entirety of her deployment , so that she would be ready to respond at a moment ' s notice . Four days later , on 13 August , " Helgoland " returned to Wilhelmshaven to refuel . The following day , naval reservists began arriving to fill out the wartime complements for the German battleships . Actions in the North Sea . Battle of Helgoland Bight . The first major naval action in the North Sea , the Battle of Helgoland Bight , took place on 28 August 1914 . " Helgoland " was again stationed off Wangerooge . Despite her proximity to the battle , " Helgoland " was not sent to aid the beleaguered German cruisers , as she could not be risked in an unsupported attack against possibly superior British forces . Instead , the ship was ordered to drop anchor and await relief by . By 04 : 30 , " Helgoland " received the order to join and sail out of the harbor . At 05 : 00 , the two battleships met the battered cruisers and . By 07 : 30 , the ships had returned to port for the night . Three days later , on 31 August , " Helgoland " was put into drydock for maintenance . On the afternoon of 7 September , " Helgoland " and the rest of the High Seas Fleet conducted a training cruise to the main island of Heligoland . Raid on Scarborough , Hartlepool , and Whitby . The first major operation of the war in which " Helgoland " took part was the raid on Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby on 15 – 16 December 1914 . The raid was conducted by the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group ; " Helgoland " and the other dreadnoughts of the High Seas Fleet steamed in distant support of Franz von Hipper ' s battlecruisers . Friedrich von Ingenohl , the commander of the High Seas Fleet , decided to take up station in the middle of the North Sea , about 130 miles east of Scarborough . The Royal Navy , which had recently received the German code books captured from the beached cruiser , was aware that an operation was taking place , but was not sure where the Germans would strike . Therefore , the Admiralty ordered David Beatty ' s 1st Battlecruiser Squadron , the six battleships of the 2nd Battle Squadron , and several cruisers and destroyers to intercept the German battlecruisers . However , Beatty ' s task force nearly ran headlong into the entire High Seas Fleet . At 06 : 20 , Beatty ' s destroyer screen came into contact with the German torpedo boat . This began a confused , 2 - hour battle between the British destroyers and the German cruiser and destroyer screen , often at very close range . At the time of the first encounter , the " Helgoland " - class battleships were less than away from the six British dreadnoughts ; this was nearly within firing range , but in the darkness , neither British nor German admirals were aware of the composition of their opponents ' fleets . Admiral Ingenohl , aware of the Kaiser ' s order not to risk the battle fleet without his express approval , concluded that his forces were engaging the screen of the entire Grand Fleet , and so , 10 minutes after the first contact , he ordered a turn to the southeast . Continued attacks delayed the turn , but by 06 : 42 , it had been carried out . For about 40 minutes , the two fleets were steaming on a parallel course . At 07 : 20 , Ingenohl ordered a further turn to port , which put his ships on a course for the safety of German bases . Training in Kiel . On 17 January , Ingenohl ordered " Helgoland " to go back to the docks for more maintenance , but she did not enter the drydock until three days later , owing to difficulties getting through the canal locks . By the middle of the month , " Helgoland " left dock ; her berth was then filled by the armored cruiser . On 10 February , " Helgoland " and the rest of the I Squadron sailed out of Wilhelmshaven towards Cuxhaven , but heavy fog impeded movement for two days . The ships then anchored off Brunsbüttel before proceeding through the Kiel Canal to Kiel . The crews conducted gunnery training with the main and secondary guns and torpedo firing practice on 1 March . The following night the crews conducted night - fighting training . On 10 March the squadron again passed through the locks to return to Wilhelmshaven . Fog again slowed progress , and the ships did not reach port until 15 March . Battle of the Gulf of Riga . " Helgoland " , her three sister ships , and the four " Nassau " - class battleships were assigned to the task force that was to cover the foray into the Gulf of Riga in August 1915 . The German flotilla , which was under the command of Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper , also included the battlecruiser s , , and , several light cruiser s , 32 destroyer s and 13 minesweepers . The plan called for channels in Russian minefields to be swept so that the Russian naval presence , which included the pre - dreadnought battleship , could be eliminated . The Germans would then lay minefields of their own to prevent Russian ships from returning to the gulf . " Helgoland " and the majority of the other big ships of the High Seas Fleet remained outside the gulf for the entirety of the operation . The dreadnoughts and were detached on 16 August to escort the minesweepers and to destroy " Slava " , though they failed to sink the old battleship . After three days , the Russian minefields had been cleared , and the flotilla entered the gulf on 19 August , but reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted a German withdrawal from the gulf the following day . Battle of Jutland . Under the command of Captain von Kameke , " Helgoland " fought at the Battle of Jutland , alongside her sister ships in the I Battle Squadron . For the majority of the battle , the I Battle Squadron formed the center of the line of battle , behind Rear Admiral Behncke ' s III Battle Squadron , and followed by Rear Admiral Mauve ' s elderly pre - dreadnought s of the II Battle Squadron . " Helgoland " and her sisters first entered direct combat shortly after 18 : 00 . The German line was steaming northward and encountered the destroyers and , which had been disabled earlier in the battle . " Nomad " , which had been attacked by the ships at the head of the line , exploded and sank at 18 : 30 , followed five minutes later by the " Nestor " , sunk by main and secondary gunfire from " Helgoland " , " Thüringen " and several other German battleships . At 19 : 20 , " Helgoland " and several other battleships began firing on , which , along with the other s of the 5th Battle squadron , had been pursuing the German battlecruiser force . The shooting stopped quickly though , as the Germans lost sight of their target ; " Helgoland " had fired only about 20 shells from her main guns . At 20 : 15 , during the third " Gefechtskehrtwendung " , " Helgoland " was struck by a armor - piercing ( AP ) shell , from either or , in the forward part of the ship . The shell hit the armored belt about 0 . 8 m ( 32 in ) above the waterline , where the armor was only 15 cm thick . The 15 - inch shell broke up on impact , but it still managed to tear a hole in the hull . It rained splinters on the foremost port side 15 cm gun , though it could still be fired . Approximately 80 tons of water entered the ship . By 23 : 30 , the High Seas Fleet had entered its night cruising formation . The order had largely been inverted , with the four " Nassau " - class ships in the lead , followed directly by the " Helgoland " s , with the " Kaiser " s and " König " s astern of them . The rear was again brought up by the elderly pre - dreadnoughts ; the mauled German battlecruisers were by this time scattered . At around midnight on 1 June , the " Helgoland " - and " Nassau " - class ships in the center of the German line came into contact with the British 4th Destroyer Flotilla . The 4th Flotilla broke off the action temporarily to regroup , but at around 01 : 00 , unwittingly stumbled into the German dreadnoughts a second time . " Helgoland " and " Oldenburg " opened fire on the two leading British destroyers . " Helgoland " fired six salvos from her secondary guns at the destroyer " Fortune " before she succumbed to the tremendous battering . Shortly after , " Helgoland " shifted fire to an unidentified destroyer ; " Helgoland " fired five salvos from her 15 cm guns to unknown effect . The British destroyers launched torpedoes at the German ships , but they managed to successfully evade them with a turn to starboard . Following the return to German waters , " Helgoland " and " Thüringen " , along with the s , , and , took up defensive positions in the Jade roadstead for the night . During the battle , the ship suffered only minor damage ; " Helgoland " was hit by a single 15 - inch shell , but sustained minimal damage . Nevertheless , dry - docking was required to repair the hole in the belt armor . Work was completed by 16 June . In the course of the battle , " Helgoland " had fired 63 main battery shells , and 61 rounds from her 15 cm guns . Later actions . After the Battle of Jutland , Admiral Scheer argued that the fleet could not break the British naval blockade , that only the resumption of unrestricted U - boat warfare would be successful . As a result , the High Seas Fleet largely remained in port , with the exception of two abortive sorties in August and October 1916 . In April 1917 , " Helgoland " accidentally rammed the new battlecruiser , which was in the process of fitting - out , as she left her berth . In October 1917 " Helgoland " , in company with , went to Amrum to receive the light cruisers and , which were returning from a raid on a British convoy to Norway . On 27 November the ship traversed the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal into the Baltic , but did not participate in the occupation of the islands in the Gulf of Riga . A third and final fleet advance took place in April 1918 , but was cut short when the battlecruiser developed engine problems and had to be towed back to port . Wilhelmshaven mutiny . " Helgoland " and her three sisters were to have taken part in a final fleet action days before the Armistice was to take effect . The bulk of the High Seas Fleet was to have sortied from their base in Wilhelmshaven to engage the British Grand Fleet ; Scheer — by now the Grand Admiral ( " Großadmiral " ) of the fleet — intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy , in order to retain a better bargaining position for Germany , despite the expected casualties . However , many of the war - weary sailors felt the operation would disrupt the peace process and prolong the war . 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 . Early on the 31st , the crew of " Helgoland " , which was directly behind " Thüringen " in the harbor , joined in the mutiny . The I Squadron commander sent boats to " Helgoland " and " Thüringen " to take off the ships ' officers , who were allowed to leave unharmed . He then informed the rebellious crews that if they failed to stand down , both ships would be torpedoed . After two torpedo boat s arrived on the scene , both ships surrendered ; their crews were taken ashore and incarcerated . The rebellion then spread ashore ; on 3 November , an estimated 20 , 000 sailors , dock workers , and civilians fought a battle in Kiel in an attempt to secure the release of the jailed mutineers . By 5 November , the red flag of the Socialists flew above every capital ship in Wilhelmshaven save . The following day , a sailors ' council took control of the base , and a train carrying the mutineers from " Helgoland " and " Thüringen " was stopped in Cuxhaven , where the men escaped . Post - war . According to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , all four " Helgoland " - class battleships were disarmed and surrendered as prizes of war to the Allies as replacements for the ships scuttled in Scapa Flow . On 21 – 22 November 1918 , " Helgoland " steamed to Harwich to retrieve the crews of U - boats that had been surrendered there . She was then removed from active service on 16 December 1918 . " Helgoland " and her sisters were stricken from the German navy on 5 November 1919 . " Helgoland " was formally handed over to the United Kingdom on 5 August 1920 . She was scrapped at Morecambe ; work began on 3 March 1921 . " Helgoland " s coat of arms is currently preserved in the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden .