SMS Victoria Louise

===World War I and fate===

===World War I and fate===

Following the start of [[World War I]] on 28 July 1914, {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} was mobilized into V Scouting Group, which was tasked with training cadets in the Baltic Sea. After the unit was ready for operations, the ships were assigned to patrol duty on the line between the [[Dornbusch (Hiddensee)|Dornbusch]] and [[Møn]], Denmark.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=34}}{{sfn|Campbell & Sieche|p=142}} Shortly after 09:00 on 18 October, the British submarine {{HMS|E1}}, commanded by [[Noel Laurence]], attempted to torpedo {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} at a range of {{convert|460|m|abbr=on}}. ''E1'' launched two torpedoes, but they ran too deep and missed; {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} turned to [[starboard]] at {{convert|16|kn}}, the maximum speed she could make by that point. Lookouts spotted a [[periscope]], but it submerged before gunners aboard {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} could open fire. This was the only time a member of the {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} class encountered enemy forces during the war.{{sfn|Compton-Hall|pp=137–138}}{{sfn|Nottelmann|pp=207–208}} On 23 October, {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} returned to Danzig to be dry-docked for periodic maintenance. Shortly thereafter, and partly because of this incident, the naval command decided that the very weak armor protection of the {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}}-class ships precluded further activity, and the unit was disbanded on 28 October. Repair work on {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} stopped and she was disarmed between 1 and 7 November. On the 7th, she was decommissioned.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=34}}{{sfn|Nottelmann|p=208}}

Following the start of [[World War I]] on 28 July 1914, {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} was mobilized into V Scouting Group, which was given the task of training cadets in the Baltic Sea. After the unit was ready for operations, the ships were assigned to patrol duty on the line between the [[Dornbusch (Hiddensee)|Dornbusch]] and [[Møn]], Denmark.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=34}}{{sfn|Campbell & Sieche|p=142}} Shortly after 09:00 on 18 October, the British submarine {{HMS|E1}}, commanded by [[Noel Laurence]], attempted to torpedo {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} at a range of {{convert|460|m|abbr=on}}. ''E1'' launched two torpedoes, but they ran too deep and missed; {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} turned to [[starboard]] at {{convert|16|kn}}, the maximum speed she could make by that point. Lookouts spotted a [[periscope]], but it submerged before gunners aboard {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} could open fire. This was the only time a member of the {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} class encountered enemy forces during the war.{{sfn|Compton-Hall|pp=137–138}}{{sfn|Nottelmann|pp=207–208}} On 23 October, {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} returned to Danzig to be dry-docked for periodic maintenance. Shortly thereafter, and partly because of this incident, the naval command decided that the very weak armor protection of the {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}}-class ships precluded further activity, and the unit was disbanded on 28 October. Repair work on {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} stopped and she was disarmed between 1 and 7 November. On the 7th, she was decommissioned.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=34}}{{sfn|Nottelmann|p=208}}

{{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} was thereafter converted into a [[naval mine|mine]] storage [[hulk (ship type)|hulk]], and was also used as a [[barracks ship]] in Danzig. Following Germany's defeat in the war, the [[German Imperial Admiralty Staff|Admiralty Chief]] issued an order on 4 July 1919 striking {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} from the [[naval register]], effective on 1 October.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=34}}{{sfn|Nottelmann|p=208}} She was sold to the [[Norddeutscher Tiefbau]] company and rebuilt in 1920 into a cargo ship. This included removing internal bulkheads to create cargo holds (and strengthening the remaining hull structure to make up for the loss of those bulkheads); converting to a single shaft propulsion system (and moving the remaining engine further aft); and installing four boilers taken from the [[pre-dreadnought battleship]] {{SMS|Brandenburg||2}}, which was being [[ship breaking|broken up]] at the time. {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} retained her armor deck, even though it reduced storage capacity and made transferring cargo to and from the ship more difficult, because it was prohibitively expensive to remove. Work was completed by 20 November 1920, when the ship, which had been renamed {{lang|de|Flora Sommerfeld}}, began sea trials. She reached a speed of {{convert|13.1|kn}}, though her service speed was set at {{convert|12|kn}}. She was operated by {{lang|de|[[Danziger Hoch- und Tiefbau GmbH]]}}. She served in this capacity only briefly, as the conversion was not particularly successful; she was broken up for scrap, beginning in late 1922, in Danzig.{{sfn|Gröner|pp=47–48}}{{sfn|Nottelmann|pp=208, 212}}

{{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} was thereafter converted into a [[naval mine|mine]] storage [[hulk (ship type)|hulk]], and was also used as a [[barracks ship]] in Danzig. Following Germany's defeat in the war, the [[German Imperial Admiralty Staff|Admiralty Chief]] issued an order on 4 July 1919 striking {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} from the [[naval register]], effective on 1 October.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=34}}{{sfn|Nottelmann|p=208}} She was sold to the [[Norddeutscher Tiefbau]] company and rebuilt in 1920 into a cargo ship. This included removing internal bulkheads to create cargo holds (and strengthening the remaining hull structure to make up for the loss of those bulkheads); converting to a single shaft propulsion system (and moving the remaining engine further aft); and installing four boilers taken from the [[pre-dreadnought battleship]] {{SMS|Brandenburg||2}}, which was being [[ship breaking|broken up]] at the time. {{lang|de|Victoria Louise}} retained her armor deck, even though it reduced storage capacity and made transferring cargo to and from the ship more difficult, because it was prohibitively expensive to remove. Work was completed by 20 November 1920, when the ship, which had been renamed {{lang|de|Flora Sommerfeld}}, began sea trials. She reached a speed of {{convert|13.1|kn}}, though her service speed was set at {{convert|12|kn}}. She was operated by {{lang|de|[[Danziger Hoch- und Tiefbau GmbH]]}}. She served in this capacity only briefly, as the conversion was not particularly successful; she was broken up for scrap, beginning in late 1922, in Danzig.{{sfn|Gröner|pp=47–48}}{{sfn|Nottelmann|pp=208, 212}}