SMS Karlsruhe SMS " Karlsruhe " was a light cruiser of the built by the German " Kaiserliche Marine " ( Imperial Navy ) . She had one sister ship , ; the ships were very similar to the previous s . The ship was laid down in 1911 , launched in November 1912 , and completed by January 1914 . Armed with twelve 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 guns , " Karlsruhe " had a top speed of , which allowed her to escape from British cruisers during her career . After her commissioning , " Karlsruhe " was assigned to overseas duties in the Caribbean . She arrived in the area in July 1914 , days before the outbreak of World War I . Once the war began , she armed the passenger liner SS " Kronprinz Wilhelm " , but while the ships were transferring equipment , British ships located them and pursued " Karlsruhe " . Her superior speed allowed her to escape , after which she operated off the northeastern coast of Brazil . Here , she captured or sank sixteen ships . While en route to attack the shipping lanes to Barbados on 4 November 1914 , a spontaneous internal explosion destroyed the ship and killed the majority of the crew . The survivors used one of " Karlsruhe " s colliers to return to Germany in December 1914 . Construction . " Karlsruhe " was ordered under the contract name " " Ersatz " " and was laid down at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel on 21 September 1911 . She was christened by Karl Siegrist , the mayor of Karlsruhe , and launched on 11 November 1912 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 15 January 1914 . 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 Marine steam turbines driving two propellers . They were designed to give , but reached in service . These were powered by twelve coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers and two oil - fired double - ended boilers . These gave the ship a top speed of . " Karlsruhe " carried of coal , and an additional of oil that gave her a range of approximately at . " Karlsruhe " had a crew of 18 officers and 355 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 . " Karlsruhe " s first commanding officer was " Fregattenkapitän " Fritz Lüdecke . Following her commissioning in January 1914 , " Karlsruhe " was assigned to overseas service , under the command of " Fregattenkapitän " Erich Köhler . At the outbreak of World War I the following August , the ship was based in the Caribbean , along with the cruiser . She had anchored in Cay Sal Bank in the Florida Strait when she received warnings that war in Europe was imminent . " Karlsruhe " s standing orders in the event of war saw the ship conducting a commerce raiding campaign against British merchant traffic . To hunt down " Karlsruhe " and any merchant ships she might arm as auxiliary cruiser s , the Royal Navy deployed five cruiser squadrons , the most powerful were those commanded by Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock and Rear Admiral Archibald Stoddart . The British were forced to disperse their ships to cover the areas in which the two German cruisers , and any auxiliary cruisers they might arm , could operate . On 6 August , " Karlsruhe " rendezvoused with the passenger ship SS " Kronprinz Wilhelm " about north of Watling Island . " Karlsruhe " was in the process of transferring guns and equipment to the liner when Craddock , in his flagship , appeared to the south . The Germans had only managed to transfer two 8 . 8 cm guns , a machine gun , and some sailors by the time " Suffolk " arrived . The two ships quickly departed in different directions ; " Suffolk " followed " Karlsruhe " and other cruisers were ordered to intercept her . " Karlsruhe " s faster speed allowed her to quickly outpace Craddock , but at 20 : 15 , joined the pursuit and briefly fired on the German cruiser . The German gunners scored two hits on " Bristol " during the short engagement . " Karlsruhe " turned east and again used her high speed to evade the British ships . The British failed to relocate her , and by 9 August , " Karlsruhe " reached Puerto Rico with only 12 tons of coal in her bunkers . With limited options for coal in the Caribbean , Köhler took his ship down to the northeast coast of Brazil , off Pernambuco . The area was not as heavily patrolled by the British . Here , " Karlsruhe " had easy access to coal supplies , either from chartered colliers or captured vessels . Köhler frequently kept one or two prizes to assist in the search for targets . In the course of her patrols off the Brazilian coast , " Karlsruhe " sank or captured sixteen merchant ships . These merchantmen , fifteen British ships and one Dutch vessel , totaled . Köhler then decided to move to another area , as remaining in one area would increase his chances of being tracked down by the British . He turned his ship toward the West Indies to attack Barbados and Fort - de - France and the shipping lanes between Barbados and Trinidad . As " Karlsruhe " steamed to Barbados on the night of 4 November , a spontaneous internal explosion destroyed the ship . The hull was split in half ; the bow section quickly sank and took with it Köhler and most of the crew . The stern remained afloat long enough for 140 of the ship ' s crew to escape onto the attending colliers . Commander Studt , the senior surviving officer , took charge and placed all of his men aboard the liner " Rio Negro " . He scuttled the second collier and steamed north for Iceland . The ship used the cover of a major storm to slip through the British blockade of the North Sea , and put in at Ålesund , Norway . " Rio Negro " then returned to Germany by early December . The " Admiralstab " , unaware of the loss of " Karlsruhe " , coincidentally radioed the ship to order her to return to Germany . Germany kept the loss of the ship a secret , and the British continued searching for her until they learned of her fate in March 1915 . Köhler ' s widow christened the cruiser " Karlsruhe " , the third to bear the name , at her launching in August 1927 .