SMS Elbing

Maps showing the maneuvers of the British (blue) and German (red) fleets on 30–31 May 1916

In May 1916, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the fleet commander, planned to lure a portion of the British fleet away from its bases and destroy it with the entire High Seas Fleet. Elbing remained in II Scouting Group, attached to I Scouting Group, for the operation. The squadron left the Jade roadstead at 02:00 on 31 May, bound for the waters of the Skagerrak. The main body of the fleet followed an hour and a half later. At 15:00, lookouts on Elbing spotted the Danish steamer N. J. Fjord; Elbing detached a pair of torpedo boats to investigate the steamer. Two British cruisers, HMS Galatea and Phaeton, were simultaneously steaming to inspect the steamer, and upon spotting the German torpedo boats, opened fire shortly before 15:30. Elbing turned to support the destroyers, opening fire at 15:32. She quickly scored the first hit of the battle, on Galatea, though the shell failed to explode. The British turned to the north back toward the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, with Elbing still firing at long range. She was joined by Frankfurt and Pillau, but the three cruisers had to cease fire by 16:17, as the British had drawn out of range. About fifteen minutes later, the three cruisers engaged a seaplane launched by the seaplane tender HMS Engadine. They failed to score any hits, but the aircraft was forced off after which its engine broke down and it was forced to land. The three cruisers then returned to their stations ahead of the German battlecruisers.[5]

At around 18:30, Elbing and the rest of II Scouting Group encountered the cruiser HMS Chester; they opened fire and scored several hits on the ship. As both sides' cruisers disengaged, Rear Admiral Horace Hood's three battlecruisers intervened. His flagship HMS Invincible scored a hit on Wiesbaden that exploded in her engine room and disabled the ship.[6] Elbing and Frankfurt each fired a torpedo at the British battlecruisers, though both missed. Elbing was briefly engaged by the battlecruisers at very long range, though she was not hit. At around 20:15, Elbing lost her port engine due to leaks in her boiler condensers. This limited her speed to 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph) for the next four hours.[7]

II Scouting Group, along with the battlecruisers Seydlitz and Moltke had been ordered to take station ahead of the German line for its night cruising formation. Elbing was still having problems with her boiler condensers, and was unable to keep up the speed necessary to reach the front of the line, and so she fell in with IV Scouting Group. At 23:15, Elbing and Hamburg spotted the British cruiser Castor and several destroyers. They used the British recognition signal and closed to 1,100 yards (1,000 m) before turning on their searchlights and opening fire. Castor was hit seven times and set on fire, forcing the British to turn away. As they did, they fired several torpedoes at Elbing and Hamburg. One passed underneath Elbing but failed to explode. While this engagement was still on-going, the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron arrived and engaged IV Scouting Group. Elbing was hit once, which destroyed her wireless transmitting station and killed four men and wounded twelve.[8]

Shortly after midnight, the German fleet ran into the British rear destroyer screen. Elbing was by this time steaming on the port side of the German line along with Hamburg and Rostock. The dreadnought Westfalen—the first ship in the German line—opened fire first, followed quickly by Elbing, the other two cruisers, and the battleships Nassau and Rheinland. The British destroyers launched a torpedo attack, which forced the three cruisers to turn to starboard to avoid them. This pointed the cruisers directly at the German line. Elbing attempted to steam between Nassau and Posen, but Posen's captain wasn't aware of the movement until it was too late to avoid a collision. Posen turned hard to starboard, but still collided with Elbing's starboard quarter.[9] The cruiser was holed below the waterline, which flooded the starboard engine room first. She initially took on a list of eighteen degrees, which allowed water to spread to the port engine room. With the engines shut down, steam began to condense in the pipes, which disabled the electric generators and caused the ship to lose electrical power. As water spread throughout the ship's engine compartments, the list was reduced. The ship was completely immobilized, though she was not in danger of sinking.[10]

At 02:00, the torpedo boat S53 came alongside and took off 477 officers and men of Elbing's crew.[11] Her commander and a small group of officers and men remained on board. They rigged an improvised sail in an attempt to bring the ship closer to shore, but at around 03:00, British destroyers were spotted to the south and the order to scuttle the ship was given.[12] They then lowered the ship's cutter into the water and set off; while steaming back to port, they rescued the surgeon from the destroyer HMS Tipperary. At around 07:00, a Dutch trawler met the cutter and took the men to Holland. In the course of the Battle of Jutland, Elbing had fired 230 rounds of 15 cm ammunition and a single torpedo. Four of her crew were killed and twelve more were wounded.[13]