SMS München SMS " München " ( " His Majesty ' s Ship " München " " ) was the fifth of seven s of the Imperial German Navy , named after the city of Munich . She was built by AG Weser in Bremen , starting in 1903 , launched in April 1904 , and commissioned in January 1905 . Armed with a main battery of ten guns and two torpedo tube s , " München " was capable of a top speed of . " München " served with the fleet for the majority of her career , and saw extensive service during World War I , including at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916 . There , she engaged British light cruisers on two instances , and was damaged in both ; she contributed to the damaging of the cruiser during the latter engagement . " München " was torpedoed by the British submarine on 19 October 1916 , and was subsequently withdrawn from service . She spent the final year of the war as a barracks ship , and was surrendered as a war prize to the British in 1920 . " München " was later broken up for scrap . Construction . " München " was ordered under the contract name " M " and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in 1903 and launched on 30 April 1904 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 10 January 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 triple - expansion engine s , designed to give for a top speed of . The engines were powered by ten coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers . " München " carried up to of coal , which gave her a range of at . 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 five torpedo es . They were submerged in the hull on the broadside . " München " 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 , " München " was employed as a torpedo test ship and to conduct experiments with wireless telegraphy . After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , the ship was assigned to the High Seas Fleet . She was moored in Brunsbüttel with her sister - ship , en route to Kiel via the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal on the morning of 28 August 1914 . That morning , the British attacked the German patrol line in the Heligoland Bight . During the ensuing Battle of Heligoland Bight , " München " and " Danzig " were recalled and ordered to steam to the mouth of the Elbe and wait for further orders . At 12 : 25 , the two cruisers were ordered to move into the Bight and support the cruiser , but at 14 : 06 , " München " was instead ordered to conduct reconnaissance out to the north - east of Heligoland . Battle of Jutland . " München " was assigned to the IV Scouting Group during the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916 . The IV Scouting Group , under the command of Commodore Ludwig von Reuter , departed Wilhelmshaven at 03 : 30 on 31 May , along with the rest of the fleet . Tasked with screening for the fleet , " München " and the torpedo boat were positioned on the starboard side of the fleet , abreast of the III Battle Squadron . Later in the battle , shortly after 21 : 00 , " München " and the rest of the IV Scouting Group encountered the British 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron ( 3rd LCS ) . Reuter ' s ships were leading the High Seas Fleet south , away from the deployed Grand Fleet . Due to the long range and poor visibility , only " München " and were able to engage the British cruisers ; " München " fired 63 shells before she had to cease fire , without scoring any hits . She was hit twice in return , however ; the first hit caused minimal damage , but the second struck her third funnel . The resulting explosion damaged four of her boilers , making it difficult for her to keep steam up in all of her boilers . Reuter turned his ships hard to starboard , in order to draw the British closer to the capital ship s of the German fleet , but the 3rd LCS refused to take the bait and disengaged . During the ferocious night fighting that occurred as the High Seas Fleet forced its way through the British rear , the IV Scouting Group encountered the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron at close range in the darkness . As the two squadrons closed on each other , the Germans illuminated and and concentrated their fire on the two ships . The two ships were badly damaged and set on fire and forced to retreat , while the Germans also fell back in an attempt to bring the British closer to the battlecruiser s and . In the melee , the cruiser was hit and sunk by a torpedo launched by " Southampton " , and " München " nearly collided with the sinking " Frauenlob " . She managed to evade the wreck , and she then fired a torpedo at " Southampton " , but it missed . " München " was hit another three times during this engagement ; two of the hits exploded in the water , causing minor splinter damage . The third shell went through the second funnel and exploded on a funnel support on the other side ; one of the shell splinters knocked out the starboard rangefinder . The erratic maneuvering bent a wheel shaft in the helm , forcing her crew to steer the ship from the steering gear compartment for about two and a half hours . At 01 : 20 , " München " and " Stettin " briefly fired on the German torpedo boats , , and before they discovered their identity . Early on the morning of 1 June , around 05 : 06 , the pre - dreadnought battleship s of the II Battle Squadron opened fire on what they thought were British submarines ; the firing was so hysterical that it threatened to damage " München " and " Stettin " , as they were steaming up the side of the German line . The fleet commander , Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer , was forced to give a general " cease - fire " order . " München " in turn spotted an imaginary submarine off Heligoland at 11 : 40 and opened fire on the empty sea . In the course of the battle , " München " was hit by a total of five medium - caliber shells , which killed eight men and wounded another twenty . She had fired 161 rounds from her guns . Later operations . On 18 – 19 October , Scheer attempted a repeat of the original Jutland plan , which had called for a bombardment of Sunderland . While en route , " München " was hit by a torpedo launched by the submarine off the Dogger Bank . Scheer became convinced the British knew his location , and so he cancelled the operation and returned to port . " München " took on some of water , and saltwater got into her boilers , contaminating the freshwater used to produce steam . She had to be taken under tow , first by the torpedo boat , and then by her sister . By the following day , her engines were back in operation , and she steamed into the Jadebusen under her own power , where she entered the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven . After returning to port , " München " was decommissioned in November due to the battle damage incurred the previous month . She was later employed as a barracks ship for patrol ships in 1918 . She was stricken from the naval register on 5 November 1919 and ceded to the British as the war prize " Q " on 6 July 1920 under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles . They subsequently broke her up for scrap .