mounted on the deck. She could also carry 120 mines. The conning tower had thick sides, and the deck was covered with up to thick armor plate. Service history Elbing was ordered by the Imperial Russian Navy as Admiral Nevelskoy from the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Danzig. She was laid down in 1913, requisitioned by the German Navy on 5 August 1914, and was renamed Elbing. She was launched on 21 November 1914, after which fitting-out work commenced. She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 4 September 1915. After her commissioning, Elbing was assigned to II Scouting Group, which typically operated alongside the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group. Her first major operation was the bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24–25 April. On the approach to Lowestoft, Elbing and spotted the Harwich Force, a squadron of three light cruisers and eighteen destroyers, approaching the German formation from the south at 04:50. Rear Admiral Friedrich Boedicker, the German commander, initially ordered his battlecruisers to continue with the bombardment, while Elbing and the other five light cruisers concentrated to engage the Harwich Force. At around 05:30, the British and German light forces clashed, firing mostly at long range. The battlecruisers arrived on the scene at 05:47, prompting the British squadron to retreat at high speed. A light cruiser and destroyer were damaged before Boedicker broke off the engagement after receiving reports of submarines in the area. Battle of Jutland 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, and , 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,