SMS Amazone SMS " Amazone " was the sixth member of the ten - ship , built by the Imperial German Navy . She was built by the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel , laid down in 1899 , launched in October 1900 , and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in November 1901 . Armed with a main battery of ten guns and two torpedo tube s , " Amazone " was capable of a top speed of . " Amazone " served in the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet during her peacetime career . After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , she was deployed as a coastal defense ship . In 1916 , she was disarmed and used as a training ship , and was converted into a barracks ship in 1917 . She was retained by the " Reichsmarine " after the end of the war and served on active duty with the new German Navy through the 1920s . She was reduced to secondary duties after 1931 , and remained in service as a barracks ship into the 1950s ; " Amazone " was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1954 . Construction . " Amazone " was ordered under the contract name " F " and was laid down at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel in 1899 and launched on 6 October 1900 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 15 November 1901 . 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 . They were designed to give , for a top speed of . The engines were powered by ten coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers . " Amazone " carried of coal , which gave her a range of at . She had a crew of 14 officers and 243 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 , 000 rounds of ammunition , for 100 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 . The ship was protected by an armored deck that was thick . The conning tower had thick sides , and the guns were protected by thick shields . Service history . After her commissioning , " Amazone " was employed in the reconnaissance forces of the German fleet . In 1902 , she was assigned to the Cruiser Division of the I Squadron of the German home fleet . The Division consisted of the armored cruiser , the flagship , , , and the light cruisers , and . The Division participated in the summer fleet maneuvers of August – September 1902 . By 1905 , her sisters and had replaced " Hela " and " Niobe " . She continued in the fleet reconnaissance role until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , when she was reduced to a coastal defense vessel . On 8 May 1915 , " Amazone " was patrolling off Cape Arkona when she was attacked by the British submarine . The submarine fired a torpedo from a range of , but it missed " Amazone " . On 9 September , another British submarine , , unsuccessfully attacked " Amazone " during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga . In 1916 , " Amazone " was disarmed and used as a basic training ship for naval cadets . The following year , she was converted into a barracks ship , based in Kiel , a role she filled until the end of the war . The Treaty of Versailles permitted Germany to retain six light cruisers , and " Amazone " was among those kept in service of the newly reorganized " Reichsmarine " . She was modernized at the " Reichsmarine Werft " in Wilhelmshaven in 1921 – 1923 , and had her ram bow replaced with a clipper bow . She was also rearmed with ten 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 guns in U - boat mountings and two torpedo tubes in deck launchers . " Amazone " served with the " Reichsmarine " from 1923 to 1930 . " Korvettenkapitän " Alfred Saalwächter took command of the ship in 1926 ; he later went on to become a senior admiral during World War II . " Amazone " was stricken from the naval register on 31 March 1931 . The ship was then used as a floating barracks for the Submarine Acceptance Commission in Kiel , and later as an auxiliary for the Warship Construction Test Office , submarine group . She survived World War II and after 1945 , she was again used as a barracks ship in Bremen . The old cruiser was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1954 in Hamburg .