SMS Yorck ("His Majesty's Ship Yorck") was the second and final ship of the Roon class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) as part of a major naval expansion program aimed at strengthening the fleet. Yorck was named for Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, a Prussian field marshal. She was laid down in 1903 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, launched in May 1904, and commissioned in November 1905. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns and had a top speed of 20.4 knots (37.8 km/h; 23.5 mph). Like many of the late armored cruisers, Yorck was quickly rendered obsolescent by the advent of the battlecruiser; as a result, her peacetime career was limited.
Yorck spent the first seven years of her career in I Scouting Group, the reconnaissance force for the High Seas Fleet, initially as the group flagship. She undertook training exercises and made several cruises in the Atlantic Ocean. Yorck was involved in several accidents, including an accidental explosion aboard the ship in 1911 and a collision with a torpedo boat in 1913. In May 1913, she was decommissioned and placed in reserve until the outbreak of World War I in July 1914. She was then mobilized and assigned to III Scouting Group. On 3 November, she formed part of the screen for the High Seas Fleet as it sailed to support a German raid on Yarmouth; on the return of the fleet to Wilhelmshaven, the ships encountered heavy fog and anchored in the Schillig Roads to await better visibility. Believing the fog to have cleared sufficiently, the ship's commander ordered Yorck to get underway in the early hours of 4 November. She entered a German minefield in the haze, struck two mines, and sank with heavy loss of life. The wreck was dismantled progressively between the 1920s and 1980s to reduce the navigational hazard it posed.
SMSYorck ("His Majesty's Ship Yorck") was the second and final ship of the Roon class of armored cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial...
SMS Emden ("His Majesty's Ship Emden") was the second and final member of the Dresden class of light cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine...
commanding the armored cruiser SMSYorck. Two months after the outbreak of World War I, he was made captain of the battlecruiser SMS Derfflinger, which he also...
SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth was a Kaiser Franz Joseph I-class protected cruiser of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Named in honor of the Empress Elisabeth, consort...
SMS Friedrich Carl was a German armored cruiser built in the early 1900s for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). She was the second and final...
service. On 1 October 1911, Hipper took command of the armored cruiser Yorck, along with the position as chief of staff for Rear Admiral Gustav Bachmann...
were designed with incremental improvements over Prinz Heinrich. Roon and Yorck, two sister ships laid down in 1902 and 1903, respectively, were similar...
cruiser SMSYorck entered a German minefield, struck two mines, and quickly sank at 53°40′N 008°05′E / 53.667°N 8.083°E / 53.667; 8.083 (SMSYorck) with...
SMS Karlsruhe was a light cruiser of the Karlsruhe class built by the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). She had one sister ship, SMS Rostock;...
German colonial empire. Other ships of the class are SMS Iltis, SMS Luchs, SMS Tiger, SMS Eber and SMS Panther. Jaguar was 65.2 meters (214 ft) long overall...
gunboat Crête-à-Pierrot is sunk after an engagement with the German gunboat SMS Panther 1904 February 9 Chemulpo – Russian cruiser Varyag (1899) scuttled...
Allied troops to Egypt; 412 people were killed. 412 Military 1914 Germany SMSYorck – on 4 November the German cruiser accidentally ran into a German minefield...
seven were planned, including four of the Mackensen and three of the Ersatz Yorck-class ships. Two of the Mackensens—the name ship and Graf Spee—were launched...
to clear before returning to harbour. In the fog, the armoured cruiser SMSYorck—which was travelling from the Jade Bay to Wilhelmshaven—went off course...
Mackensen-class battlecruiser SMS Ersatz Yorck (Replacement Yorck), construction stopped and after war broken up 1917, Bayern-class battleship SMS Württemberg for Kaiserliche...
SMS Seydlitz was a battlecruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), built in Hamburg. She was ordered in 1910 and commissioned in May 1913...
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