SMS Friedrich Carl SMS " Friedrich Carl " was a German armored cruiser built in the early 1900s for the Imperial German Navy . She was the second ship of the " Prinz Adalbert " class . " Friedrich Carl " was built in Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg . She was laid down in 1901 , and completed in December 1903 , at the cost of 15 , 665 , 000 Marks . She was armed with a main battery of four guns and was capable of a top speed of . The ship served with the German fleet after her commissioning before being used as a torpedo training ship in 1909 . In August 1914 after the outbreak of World War I , she was brought back to active service to act as Rear Admiral Behring ' s flagship in the Baltic Sea . Her wartime career was cut short on 17 November when she struck a pair of Russian mines off Memel at . The mines caused fatal damage , but the ship sank slowly enough to permit the safe evacuation of most of the crew ; only seven men were killed in the incident . Construction . " Friedrich Carl " was ordered under the provisional name " Ersatz König Wilhelm " and built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg under construction number 155 . Her keel was laid in 1900 and she was launched on 22 June 1902 . Fitting - out work followed and this was completed by 12 December 1903 , the day she was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy . She had cost the Imperial German Government 15 , 665 , 000 " Goldmarks " . " Friedrich Carl " displaced as built and fully loaded , with a length of , a beam of and a draft of forward . She was powered by three vertical triple expansion engines , which produced a total of and yielded a maximum speed of on trials . She carried up to of coal , which enabled a maximum range of up to at a cruising speed of . She was armed with four guns arranged in two twin gun turret s , one on either end of the superstructure . Her secondary armament consisted of ten SK L / 40 guns , twelve guns and four underwater torpedo tubes , one in the bow , one in the stern , and one on both beams . Service history . " Friedrich Carl " served with the fleet from her commissioning on 12 December 1903 . She was assigned to I Subdivision of the Cruiser Division of the Active Fleet . Along with the light cruisers , , and , " Friedrich Carl " s subdivision was attached to the I Squadron of the Active Fleet . " Friedrich Carl " was the flagship of Rear Admiral Schmidt , the commander of the Cruiser Division . A second subdivision , composed of an armored cruiser and three light cruisers was attached to the II Squadron . On 20 September 1906 , Franz von Hipper took command of the ship . Under his leadership , the gunners aboard " Friedrich Carl " won the Kaiser ' s Prize for best shooting in the fleet in 1907 . Hipper remained in the position until March 1908 . " Friedrich Carl " served with the fleet until 1 March 1909 , when she was withdrawn for use as a torpedo training ship . She served in this capacity until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , when she was again placed in active service with the cruiser division in the Baltic Sea . In October 1914 , " Friedrich Carl " was the first German warship to carry seaplane s . The ship carried two planes provisionally and had no permanent modifications made to support them . She was made the flagship of Rear Admiral Behring , the commander of the German cruiser squadron in the Baltic Sea . The squadron was based in Neufahrwasser in Danzig . The German naval command was aware that British submarines were operating in the Baltic Sea , and so ordered Behring to attack the Russian port at Libau to prevent it from being used as a British submarine base . The Russian Navy , however , had begun a campaign of mine - warfare in the Baltic . Russian destroyers laid a series of minefields off Memel , Pillau , and other German ports in October 1914 . The Russian operations went completely undetected by the German navy . During this period , " Friedrich Carl " used her seaplanes in operations against the port in Libau . Behring was ordered to begin the attack on Libau in November ; poor weather conditions delayed the operation until the 16th . Early on the 17th , " Friedrich Carl " was steaming some off Memel when she struck two Russian mines . The ship was kept afloat for several hours , which allowed the crew to be evacuated safely . The operation went ahead as scheduled and blockships were sunk at the entrance to Libau . After the crew was removed , " Friedrich Carl " was abandoned ; she capsized and sank at around 06 : 30 . Only seven men were killed in the attack .