SMS Lübeck SMS " Lübeck " ( " His Majesty ' s Ship " Lübeck " " ) was the fourth of seven s of the Imperial German Navy , named after the city of Lübeck . She was begun by AG Vulcan Stettin in Stettin in 1903 , launched in March 1904 and commissioned in April 1905 . Armed with a main battery of ten guns and two torpedo tube s , " Lübeck " was capable of a top speed of . " Lübeck " served with the High Seas Fleet for the first decade of her career , and after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , she was transferred to the Baltic Sea to defend Germany ' s coast from potential Russian attacks . She saw extensive service in the first three years of the war , during which time she participated in the seizure of Libau and was attacked by Allied submarines on two occasions . She struck a mine in 1916 but was repaired ; in 1917 , she was withdrawn for secondary duties . She survived the war , and was ceded to the British as a war prize in 1920 , and subsequently broken up for scrap . Construction . " Lübeck " was ordered under the contract name " Ersatz " and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1903 and launched on 26 March 1904 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 26 April 1905 . 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 Parsons steam turbines , designed to give for a top speed of . She was the first warship in the German Navy to be equipped with turbine propulsion . The engines were powered by ten coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers . " Lübeck " carried up to of coal , which gave her a range of at , a shorter range than her sisters , due to her less efficient turbines . She had a crew of 14 officers and 274 – 287 enlisted men . The ship was armed with ten 10 . 5 cm SK L / 40 guns in single mounts . Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle , six were located amidships , three on either side , and two were placed side by side aft . The guns could engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1 , 500 rounds of ammunition , for 150 shells per gun . She was also equipped with two torpedo tube s with four torpedo es , mounted on the deck . She was also fitted to carry fifty naval mine s . The ship was protected by an armored deck that was up to thick . The conning tower had thick sides , and the guns were protected by thick shields . Service history . After her commissioning , " Lübeck " was assigned to the High Seas Fleet . She served with the fleet until 1914 and the outbreak of World War I . She was then relegated to service as a coastal defense vessel in the Baltic . As the Central Powers prepared to launch the Gorlice – Tarnów Offensive in early May 1915 , the extreme left flank of the German Army was ordered to launch a diversionary attack on 27 April . " Lübeck " was assigned to the naval support for the attack ; on the first day of the attack , she and the cruiser shelled the port of Libau . Ten days later , the Army was poised to seize Libau , and so requested naval support for the attack . " Lübeck " and several other cruisers and torpedo boats covered the assault on the city and patrolled to ensure no Russian naval forces attempted to intervene . Rear Admiral Hopman , the commander of the reconnaissance forces in the Baltic , conducted a major assault on Libau , in conjunction with an attempt by the German Army to seize the city . The attack took place on 7 May . " Lübeck " joined the armored cruisers , , and , the elderly coast defense ship , and the light cruisers and " Thetis " . They were escorted by a number of destroyers , torpedo boats , and minesweepers . The IV Scouting Group of the High Seas Fleet was detached from the North Sea to provide cover for the operation . The bombardment went as planned , though the destroyer struck a mine in Libau ' s harbor , which blew off her bow and destroyed the ship . German ground forces were successful in their assault however , and took the city . A week later , on 14 May , " Lübeck " was to lay a minefield off the Gulf of Finland with " Augsburg " , but Russian submarines in the area convinced the Germans to cancel the operation . On 1 July , the minelayer , escorted by the cruisers " Lübeck " , " Roon " , and " Augsburg " and seven destroyers , laid a minefield north of Bogskär . While returning to port , the flotilla separated into two sections ; " Augsburg " , " Albatross " , and three destroyers made for Rixhöft while the remainder of the unit went to Libau . " Augsburg " and " Albatross " were intercepted by a powerful Russian squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Bakhirev , consisting of three armored and two light cruisers . Commodore Johannes von Karpf , the flotilla commander , ordered the slower " Albatross " to steam for neutral Swedish waters and recalled " Roon " and " Lübeck " . " Albatross " was grounded off Gotland and " Augsburg " escaped , and the Russian squadron briefly engaged " Roon " before both sides broke contact . Upon being informed of the situation , Hopman sortied with " Prinz Heinrich " and " Prinz Adalbert " to support von Karpf . While en route , the cruisers encountered the British submarine , which scored a hit on " Prinz Adalbert " . Hopman broke off the operation and returned to port with the damaged cruiser . On 9 August , " Lübeck " was attacked by the Russian submarine " Gepard " outside the Irben Strait at the entrance to the Gulf of Riga . " Gepard " fired a spread of five torpedoes at a range of , but " Lübeck " successfully evaded them . On 6 November , " Lübeck " again came under attack from an Allied submarine ; on this occasion , it was the British . Again , " Lübeck " managed to evade the torpedoes and escape undamaged . The Allies finally had success against the ship on 13 January 1916 , when a Russian mine damaged " Lübeck " ; she nevertheless returned to port and was repaired . In 1917 , she was withdrawn from front - line service and employed as a training ship , as well as a target ship . " Lübeck " served in this capacity until the end of the war in November 1918 . Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , the ship was surrendered to the British as a war prize . She was formally ceded on 3 September 1920 under the name " P " ; the British in turn sold her for scrapping in 1922 , and she was dismantled in Germany over the following year .