In the early 20th Century,
the German Empire decided to challenge for the title of the strongest naval power,
which traditionally belonged to the British.
And, as the Kaiser’s fleet grew,
an important role in it was assigned to fast and versatile cruisers.
One such vessel was Kolberg, a protected cruiser and the lead ship in a series of four.
To stand against the Mistress of the Seas,
the Germans required more than just a powerful battleship fleet.
They needed scout cruisers.
In addition to this, the German Empire also had to defend their colonies.
Being a practical people, the Germans decided to develop a multipurpose cruiser.
Since the start of the 20th Century, one by one, Germany built
several classes of these ships, officially called light cruisers.
Kolberg was laid down in 1908 by Schichau-Werke
in Danzig (now Gdańsk),
and in two years she joined Germany’s High Seas Fleet.
German light cruisers were named after cities.
On the stem, the ships proudly carried the emblems
of Kolberg, Augsburg, Mainz, and Cologne.
Later on, all major German ships were decorated with a relevant
coat of arms, a tradition that has been preserved to this day.
Cruiser Kolberg had a length of 130 meters;
her beam was 14 meters,
and the draft was 5.5 meters.
The ship’s total displacement was 4,915 tons.
For the first time in German shipbuilding,
a whole series of cruisers were fitted with turbines,
which produced excellent results.
The power plant produced over 30,000 horsepower,
so the cruiser could reach a speed of over 26 knots.
The primary protection for the cruiser was provided by her armored deck,
whose slopes were up to 80 mm thick.
The guns and the conning tower were also protected.
There were plenty of debates about the armament of German light cruisers.
While the British were starting to equip their light cruisers
with 152-mm cannons, the Germans continued to use 105-mm guns,
which were weaker but had a better rate of fire.
Kolberg-class cruisers carried 12 of these guns.
As well as the primary armament, the ships had four small-caliber guns
and two submerged torpedo tubes.
However, both were virtually useless in combat.
Before World War I,
German admirals were sure that, during battle,
a larger number of guns and the crew’s excellent battle skills
would compensate for the small caliber of Kolberg’s artillery.
German cruisers were planning to defeat the enemy
with a better rate of fire and shooting accuracy.
But their first battles laid this theory to rest…
Less than a month after the war started,
the Battle of Heligoland Bight took place.
The tide wasn’t turning in the favor of the German fleet.
German cruisers were emerging from the pre-dawn fog one by one,
only to come under massive fire from English ships.
Kolberg’s sister ship, Mainz, was sunk in a battle against light British cruisers,
armed with 152-mm guns.
Cöln had even fewer chances—she ran against Admiral Beatty’s battlecruisers.
Pummeled with heavy shells weighing half a ton each,
conducting incessant fire, and proudly flying her flag,
Cöln vanished under the water.
It was already the era of big guns.
And when the two remaining ships of the class,
Kolberg and Augsburg,
were operating in the Baltic Sea,
they avoided getting into battle against less speedy, but well-armed Russian cruisers.
In the end, Germany started rearming its light cruisers.
At the end of 1916, it was Kolberg’s turn:
instead of a dozen outdated, old guns,
she received six powerful 150-mm cannons.
One of the cruiser’s last operations was an attempt
to capture the Russian Baltic Fleet in Helsingfors
(now Helsinki).
Making use of the revolutionary disarray in Russia,
the Germans decided to block Russian ships
in the port of the Finnish capital and capture them.
But after the heroic Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet,
these plans were never realized.
Meanwhile, it was March of 1918...
Eight months later, World War I came to an end:
Germany was defeated.
After the peace treaty was signed,
cruiser Kolberg was commissioned into the French Navy as Colmar.
In 1927, the ship was decommissioned,
and, two years later, former cruiser Kolberg was scrapped in Brest, France.