SMS Hela SMS " Hela " was an aviso of the German Imperial Navy prior to and during World War I . The only ship of her class , " Hela " was launched on 28 March 1895 in Bremen . She was named after the Hela peninsula near Danzig ( present - day Gdańsk ) . " Hela " was lightly armed for a light cruiser ; her main armament consisted of just four guns . In 1900 – 1901 , " Hela " was deployed to China during the Boxer Rebellion . She participated in extensive fleet maneuvers in 1902 , before being significantly rebuilt from 1903 – 1906 . From 1910 , " Hela " was used as a fleet tender . With the outbreak of World War I in 1914 , she was put back into active service as a support ship for the torpedo boats stationed off Helgoland . On 13 September 1914 , " Hela " was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine ; two of her crew died . Design . " Hela " was the culmination in the development of the aviso type in the German Navy . German avisos were developed from earlier torpedo boat s and were intended for use in home waters with the fleet . The first aviso , was purchased from a British shipbuilder in 1875 ; seven more ships were built in German yards before " Hela " was laid down in 1893 . The aviso type culminated in what would later be referred to as the light cruiser ; " Hela " s successors , the s , were the first true light cruisers built . General characteristics and machinery . " Hela " was long at the waterline and overall . She had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft . She was designed to displace , and at full combat load the displacement increased to . Her hull was constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames , which contained 22 watertight compartments above the armored deck and ten below . A double bottom ran for 35 percent of the length of the hull . " Hela " ' s crew consisted of 7 officers and 171 enlisted men . The ship was powered by two 3 - cylinder triple expansion engines ; both drove a screw that was in diameter . Each engine had its own separate engine room . The engines were supplied with steam by six locomotive boiler s split into two boiler rooms . The engines were rated at 6 , 000 indicated horsepower and a top speed of , though on trials they reached a half knot better . " Hela " was equipped with three electrical generators that produced 36 kilowatts at 67 volts . Steering was controlled by a single rudder . Armament and armor . " Hela " was armed with four SK L / 30 quick - firing guns in individual mountings . The guns fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 590 meters per second ( 1 , 936 f / s ) and a rate of approximately 15 shots per minute . At the maximum elevation of 30° , the guns could hit targets out to 10 , 500 m ( 11 , 480 yards ) . These guns were provided with a total of 800 rounds , for 200 per gun . She was also equipped with six SK L / 40 quick - firing guns . These guns fired shells , at up to 10 shots per minute . They had a maximum range of 6 , 200 m ( 6 , 780 yd ) . " Hela " carried 250 rounds per gun . Her armament was completed with three torpedo tubes . Two were placed on the deck and the third was submerged in the bow of the ship . " Hela " was lightly armored . She was protected by an armor deck that was thick and composed of steel . The deck sloped on the sides , and was slightly increased in thickness to . The conning tower was armored with thick steel . Service history . In early 1898 , " Hela " was assigned to the I Division of the Maneuver Squadron for that year ' s training exercises . She served as the dispatch vessel for the four s . Boxer Rebellion . During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 , Chinese nationalists laid siege to the foreign embassies in Peking and murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler , the German minister . The widespread violence against Westerners in China led to a creation of an alliance between Germany and seven other Great Powers : the United Kingdom , Italy , Russia , Austria - Hungary , the United States , France , and Japan . Those soldiers who were in China at the time were too few in number to defeat the Boxers ; in Peking there was a force of slightly more than 400 officers and infantry from the armies of the eight European powers . At the time , the primary German military force in China was the East Asia Squadron , which consisted of the protected cruiser s , , and , the small cruisers and , and the gunboats and . There was also a German 500 - man detachment in Taku ; combined with the other nations ' units the force numbered some 2 , 100 men . These 2 , 100 men , led by the British Admiral Edward Seymour , attempted to reach Peking but due to heavy resistance were forced to stop in Tientsin . As a result , the Kaiser determined an expeditionary force would be sent to China to reinforce the East Asia Squadron . " Hela " was part of the naval expedition , which included the four pre - dreadnought battleship s , sent to China to reinforce the German flotilla there . Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz opposed the plan , which he saw as unnecessary and costly . The force was sent in spite of von Tirpitz ' s objections ; it arrived in China in September 1900 . By that time , the siege of Peking had already been lifted . As a result , the task force suppressed local uprisings around Kiaochow . In the end , the operation cost the German government more than 100 million marks . Fleet training , 1902 . On 31 August 1902 , the annual fleet maneuvers began . The first portion of the exercise positioned Germany in a naval war against a powerful enemy that had superior forces in the North and Baltic Seas . A German squadron , consisting of the coastal defense ship s , , and and a division of torpedo boat s were trapped in the Kattegat by a superior enemy unit in the North Sea . The German squadron was tasked with returning to Kiel in the Baltic , where it would return to Wilhelmshaven via the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to rejoin the rest of the fleet . " Hela " , along with three " Brandenburg " - class battleships and the cruisers and , was positioned in one of the three main channels from the Kattegat to Kiel to act as an opposing force . Two other battle squadrons were positioned to block the advance of the isolated German squadron . On the morning of 2 September , the operation commenced . " Hela " was tasked with sweeping the numerous smaller channels , inlets , and bays in the squadron ' s area of responsibility . At 06 : 00 that morning , the commander of the German squadron decided to take his ships through the channel to which " Hela " was assigned . The " hostile " torpedo - boat screen sighted the German flotilla , but a dense fog precluded effective pursuit by the battleships . However , " Hela " , the other two cruisers , and the torpedo boats were detached to engage the German torpedo - boat screen . " Hela " and the other ships quickly " destroyed " several of the German torpedo boats . This prompted the German squadron to retreat northward , with " Hela " and the other ships in pursuit . The German squadron was chased back through the Kattegat before the exercise was called off . On the night of 3 September , the entire fleet anchored off Læsø island to give the crews a rest . The following day , 4 September , the exercise resumed . The German squadron was reinforced by several battleships and the armored cruiser ; " Hela " was again assigned to the hostile force . The German flotilla was ordered to sail into the North Sea and attempt to reach the safety of the island fortress of Helgoland . " Hela " was assigned to a screening force that was intended to intercept the German squadron so it could be brought to battle . A short engagement between the hostile screen and " Prinz Heinrich " ensued , during which " Prinz Heinrich " damaged the protected cruiser s and . A torpedo boat attack on the German squadron followed in the early hours of 5 September . The hostile force was unable to prevent the escape of the German squadron , however , which reached Helgoland by 12 : 00 . " Hela " and the rest of the fleet anchored off Helgoland on 8 – 11 September . During the day the ships conducted training with steam tactics . On 11 September the ships returned to Wilhelmshaven where on the following two days the ships replenished their coal supplies . On 14 September the final operation of the annual maneuvers began . The situation specified that the naval war had gone badly for Germany ; only four battleships were still in service , along with " Hela " , " Freya " , and a division of torpedo boats . The ships were to be stationed in the mouth of the Elbe river to protect the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and access to Hamburg . On 15 September , the hostile force blockaded the Elbe , along with other rivers and harbors on the North Sea . The torpedo boats , which had been scattered in the previous engagement , were tracked and destroyed by the hostile force . The hostile battleship squadron steamed to the mouth of the Elbe , where " Hela " , " Freya " , and the remaining torpedo boats were stationed as lookouts . Nothing happened during the day of 16 September , but that night several German torpedo boats managed to destroy one of the blockading cruisers and badly damage another . The following day , " Prinz Heinrich " engaged " Hela " and " Freya " briefly before forcing the two ships to retreat . The weather began to storm so the operation was postponed until the following day . That morning , the hostile fleet forced its way into the Elbe , past the fortifications at the mouth of the river . The German flotilla made a desperate attack which resulted in the sinking of two of the hostile battleships . The hostile force , however , ultimately overwhelmed the outnumbered German ships and the exercise ended with their victory . Reconstruction and later service . In 1903 , " Hela " was taken into the dry dock at the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig for extensive modernization . The ship ' s superstructure was rebuilt , and her two rear 8 . 8 cm guns were removed . Her boilers , which had been trunked into a single smoke stack were now split between two funnels . Coal storage capacity was also increased , from to . The ship was also further subdivided ; the 22 watertight compartments above the armored deck were increased to 30 , and the double bottom was extended to cover 39 percent of the hull . She was also re - boilered ; her six original boilers were replaced with eight Marine - type boilers . Work lasted until 1906 , at which point she rejoined the fleet and was stationed in Germany . Her crew was also increased by the addition of another officer and 16 enlisted men . After 1910 , " Hela " was withdrawn from active service and used as a fleet tender . World War I . When World War I broke out , " Hela " was brought back to active duty and assigned to the covering forces for the German torpedo boat s that formed the outer ring of coastal scouting patrols in the German portion of the North Sea . " Hela " was stationed to the northeast of Helgoland , along with the cruiser . These forces were surprised and attacked by superior British forces on 28 August 1914 in the first Battle of Helgoland Bight . After reports of the initial engagement between light forces reached " Hela " , the ship turned eastward to join the fighting . However , after another report , which stated that the British ships were retreating to the southwest away from Helgoland , reached " Hela " , the ship returned to her patrol station . " Hela " emerged from the battle without damage , and that night regrouped with the cruisers and to provide cover for the remaining torpedo boats and reestablish the Bight patrol line . However , two weeks later , on the morning of 13 September 1914 , " Hela " was attacked six miles southwest of Helgoland by the British submarine under command of the future Admiral Max Horton . " Hela " was conducting a training exercise at the time ; the area around Helgoland was presumed safe from British submarines . After surfacing , " E9 " spotted the German cruiser and immediately re - submerged to fire two of her torpedoes . After 15 minutes , " E9 " rose to periscope depth to inspect the scene . The British submarine found " Hela " sinking . Within another 15 minutes , " Hela " had slipped beneath the waves . The crew of " E9 " was awarded a bounty of £1 , 050 as a reward for sinking " Hela " . Despite the speed with which the ship sank , her entire crew , with the exception of two sailors , were rescued from the sea . " Hela " was the first German ship sunk by a British submarine in the war . As a result of her loss , all German ships conducting training exercises were moved to the Baltic Sea to prevent further such sinkings . One of her 8 . 8 cm guns was retrieved from the wreck and is now preserved at Fort Kugelbake in Cuxhaven .