S.M.S. Derfflinger

[Patriot1918]

Hey all. I recently saw a picture of my great grandfather and great uncle. I noticed that they had military uniforms on and I was proud to finally saw that I had German military heritage in my blood. I just recently took a magnifying glass and looked very closely at my Great uncles cap to read part of the words " * M.S DERFFLINGE*". One can easily say that this is the S.M.S. Derfflinger. Well as soon as I found this out, I went to research this ship and learn more about it, as much as possible. Heres some timbits for those who had relative(s) who served on the ship or any other in the German Imperial navy. The sources I used are as follows:

http://german-navy.tripod.com/index.htm

and "An encyclopedia of Naval history"


The Derfflinger was a Battle cruiser. Highly successful capital ships, they were superior to their British counterparts. They were armed with twin 12 inch turrents and heavy secondary armament. At the battle of Jutland, the Derfflinger claimed the battleship HMS Queen Mary. Derfflinger took 21 direct shell hits, intense fires, and over 3,350 tons of water. She survived and was brought back to port for the rest of the war until being surrendered and sunk at Scapa Flow in 1919.

Very cool eh ? Anyway I was wondering if anyone had any more information on this remarkable ship ? Crew manifests, photos, anything. I would really appreciate it.