Bayern-class battleship
 SMS Bayern
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  Imperial German Navy |
| Preceded by | König class |
| Succeeded by |
|
| Built | 1913–1917 |
| In commission | 1916–1919 |
| Planned | 4 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Lost | 2 |
| Scrapped | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Super-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length |
|
| Beam | 30 m (98 ft 5 in) |
| Draft | 9.39 m (30 ft 10 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
| Range | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 1,187–1,271 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
The Bayern class was a
Bayern and Baden were commissioned into the fleet in July 1916 and March 1917, respectively. This was too late for either ship to take part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916. Bayern was assigned to the naval force that drove the Imperial Russian Navy from the Gulf of Riga during Operation Albion in October 1917, though the ship was severely damaged by a mine and had to be withdrawn to Kiel for repairs. Baden replaced Friedrich der Grosse as the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, but saw no combat.
Both Bayern and Baden were interned at Scapa Flow following the Armistice in November 1918. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, the commander of the interned German fleet, ordered his ships be sunk on 21 June 1919; Bayern was successfully scuttled, though British guards managed to beach Baden to prevent her from sinking. The ship was expended as a gunnery target in 1921. Sachsen and Württemberg, both at various stages of completion when the war ended, were broken up for scrap metal. Bayern was raised in 1934 and broken up the following year.
Design
Design work on the class began as early as 1910, with great consideration given to the armament of the new vessels. It had become clear that other navies were moving to guns larger than 30.5 cm (12 in), and so the next German battleship would also have to incorporate larger guns. The Weapons Department suggested a 32 cm (12.6 in) gun, but during a meeting on 11 May 1910, Admiral
In August that year, the design staff prepared studies for ships armed with 35 cm (13.8 in), 38 cm (15 in), and 40 cm (15.7 in) guns; the 40 cm caliber was set as the maximum, since it was (incorrectly) assumed that British wire-wound guns larger than that could not be built. During a meeting the following month, the preferred designs were a ship armed with ten 35 cm guns in five turrets or eight 40 cm guns in four turrets. The Weapons Department advocated the 35 cm gun ship, pointing out that it would have a 25% greater chance of hitting its target. Tirpitz inquired about a mixed battery of twin and triple turrets,[2][3] but after examining the gun turrets of the Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts of the Tegetthoff class, it was determined that the triple gun turrets still had too many problems. Among these deficiencies were increased weight, reduced ammunition supply and rate of fire, and loss of fighting capability if one of the turrets was disabled.[1]
Design studies suggested that the 35 cm ship would
Funding for the vessels was allocated under the fourth
General characteristics
Bayern and Baden were 179.4 m (588 ft 7 in)
Bayern and Baden were regarded as exceptional sea boats by the German navy. Bayern and her sisters were stable and very maneuverable. The ships suffered slight speed loss in heavy seas; with the rudders hard over, the ships lost up to 62% speed and heeled over 7 degrees. With a metacentric height of 2.53 m (8 ft 4 in),[10] larger than that of their British equivalents, the vessels were stable gun platforms for the confined waters of the North Sea.[11][b] The ships of the Bayern class had a standard crew of 42 officers and 1,129 enlisted men; when serving as a squadron flagship, an additional 14 officers and 86 men were required. The vessels carried several smaller craft, including one picket boat, three barges, two launches, two yawls, and two dinghies.[10]
Machinery
Bayern and Baden were equipped with eleven coal-fired Schulz-Thornycroft
Sachsen and Württemberg were intended to be one knot faster than the earlier pair of ships.[12] Württemberg received more powerful machinery that would have produced 47,343 shp (35,304 kW) for a designed speed of 22 knots. On Sachsen, a MAN diesel engine producing 11,836 bhp (8,826 kW) was to be installed on the center shaft, while steam turbines powered the outboard shafts, but the diesel engine was not ready by the end of the war, and it was only completed in 1919 for testing by the Naval Inter-Allied Control Commission. The combined power plant would have produced 53,261 shp (39,717 kW) for a designed speed of 22.5 knots.[9][13]
Armament
The Bayern-class battleships were armed with a main battery of eight 38 cm (15 in) SK L/45 guns
Post-war tests conducted by the British Royal Navy showed that the guns on Baden could be ready to fire again 23 seconds after firing; this was significantly faster than their British contemporaries, the Queen Elizabeth class, which took 36 seconds between salvos. While the German guns were faster to reload, the British inspectors found German anti-flash precautions to be significantly inferior to those that had been adopted by the Royal Navy after 1917, though this was to some degree mitigated by the brass propellant cases, which were far less susceptible to flash detonations than the silk-bagged British cordite. The guns that had been constructed for the battleships Sachsen and Württemberg were used as long-range, heavy siege guns on the Western Front, as coastal guns in occupied France and Belgium, and a few as railway guns; these guns were referred to as Langer Max.[16]
The ships were also armed with a
As was customary on capital ships of the period, the Bayern-class ships were armed with five 60 cm (24 in) submerged torpedo tubes. One tube was mounted in the bow and two on each broadside. A total of 20 torpedoes were carried per ship. When both Bayern and Baden struck mines in 1917, the damage incurred revealed structural weaknesses caused by the torpedo tubes and both ships had their lateral tubes removed.[10] The torpedoes were the H8 type, which were 9 m (30 ft) long and carried a 210 kg (463 lb) Hexanite warhead. The torpedoes had a range of 8,000 m (8,700 yd) when set at a speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph); at a reduced speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), the range increased significantly to 15,000 m (16,000 yd).[19][20]
Armor
The Bayern-class ships were protected with
The forward conning tower was protected with heavy armor: the sides were 400 mm (16 in) thick and the roof was 170 mm thick. The rear conning tower was less well armored; its sides were only 170 mm thick and the roof was covered with 80 mm (3.1 in) of armor plate. The main battery gun turrets were also heavily armored: the turret sides were 350 mm thick and the roofs were 200 mm thick. The 15 cm guns had 170 mm thick armor plating on the casemates; the guns themselves had 80 mm thick shields to protect their crews from shell splinters.[9]
Sachsen's armor layout was modified slightly as a result of the planned diesel engine, which was significantly taller than a turbine. A glacis over the diesel was added that was 200 mm thick on the sides, 140 mm (5.5 in) thick on either end, and 80 mm thick on top. Her belt was also slightly modified, with 30 mm (1.2 in) extending past the forward 200 mm thick section all the way to the stem.[21]
Construction
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The class was planned to include four ships.
Ships
| Ship | Builder | Namesake | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayern | Howaldtswerke, Kiel[10] | Bavaria | 22 December 1913[24] | 18 February 1915[10] | 15 July 1916[10] | Scuttled at Scapa Flow, 21 June 1919[10] |
| Baden | Schichau-Werke, Danzig[10] | Baden | 20 December 1913[24] | 30 October 1915[10] | 14 March 1917[10] | Sunk as target, August 1921[10] |
| Sachsen | Germaniawerft, Kiel[10] | Saxony | 15 April 1914[25] | 21 November 1916[10] | Cancelled prior to completion, scrapped in 1921[10] | |
| Württemberg | AG Vulcan, Hamburg[10] | Württemberg | 4 January 1915[26] | 20 June 1917[10] | ||
Service history
Fleet sortie of 18–19 August 1916
During the
Operation Albion
In early September 1917, following the German conquest of the Russian port of
The operation began on 12 October, when Moltke, Bayern, and the Königs began firing on the Russian shore batteries at Tagga Bay. Simultaneously, the Kaisers engaged the batteries on the Sworbe peninsula; the objective was to secure the channel between Moon and Dagö islands, which would block the only escape route of the Russian ships in the gulf. Both Grosser Kurfürst and Bayern struck mines while maneuvering into their bombardment positions; damage to the former was minimal, and the ship remained in action. Bayern was severely damaged, and temporary repairs proved ineffective. The ship had to be withdrawn to Kiel for repairs; the return trip took 19 days.[31]
Fleet sortie of 23–24 April 1918
In late 1917, the High Seas Fleet began to conduct anti-convoy raids with light craft in the North Sea between Britain and Norway. On 17 October, the German light cruisers Brummer and Bremse intercepted a convoy of twelve ships escorted by a pair of destroyers and destroyed it; only three transports managed to escape. On 12 December, four German destroyers intercepted and annihilated another convoy of five ships and two escorting destroyers. This prompted Admiral David Beatty, the Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, to detach several battleships and battlecruisers to protect the convoys in the North Sea.[32] This presented to Admiral Scheer the opportunity for which he had been waiting the entire war: the chance to isolate and eliminate a portion of the Grand Fleet.[33]
At 05:00 on 23 April 1918, the entire High Seas Fleet, including Bayern and Baden, left harbor with the intention of intercepting one of the heavily escorted convoys. Wireless radio traffic was kept to a minimum to prevent the British from learning of the operation. At 05:10 on 24 April, the battlecruiser Moltke suffered severe mechanical problems and had to be towed back to Wilhelmshaven. By 14:10, the convoy had still not yet been located, and so Scheer turned the High Seas Fleet back towards German waters. In fact, there was no convoy sailing on 24 April; German naval intelligence had miscalculated the sailing date by one day.[33]
Wilhelmshaven mutiny
In October 1918, Admiral Hipper, now the commander of the entire High Seas Fleet, planned for a final battle with the Grand Fleet. Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the Chief of the Naval Staff, approved the plan on 27 October; the operation was set for the 30th.[34] When the fleet was ordered to assemble in Wilhelmshaven on 29 October, war-weary crews began to desert or openly disobey their orders. Crews aboard the battleships König, Kronprinz, and Markgraf demonstrated for peace. The crew aboard Thüringen was the first to openly mutiny; Helgoland and Kaiserin joined as well.[35] By the evening of the 29th, red flags of revolution flew from the masts of dozens of warships in the harbor. In spite of this, Hipper decided to hold a last meeting aboard Baden—his flagship—to discuss the operation with the senior officers of the fleet. The following morning, it was clear the mutiny was too far gone to permit a fleet action. In an attempt to suppress the revolt, he ordered one of the battle squadrons to depart for Kiel.[36] By 5 November, red flags had been raised on every battleship in the harbor except König, though it too was commandeered by a sailors' council on 6 November.[37]
Fate
Following the armistice with Germany in November 1918, the majority of the High Seas Fleet was to be interned in the British naval base at Scapa Flow.[38] Bayern was listed as one of the ships to be handed over, though Baden initially was not. The battlecruiser Mackensen, which the British believed to be completed, was requested instead. When it became apparent to the Allies that Mackensen was still under construction, Baden was ordered to replace it.[39] On 21 November 1918, the ships to be interned, under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, sailed from their base in Germany for the last time. The fleet rendezvoused with the light cruiser HMS Cardiff, before meeting a massive flotilla of some 370 British, American, and French warships for the voyage to Scapa Flow.[40] Baden arrived at Scapa Flow separately on 14 December 1918.[41]
When the ships were interned, they had their guns disabled through the removal of their breech blocks.
The uncompleted Sachsen and Württemberg were stricken from the German Navy under the terms of Article 186 of the Versailles Treaty. Sachsen was sold for scrapping in 1920 to ship breakers at the Kiel Arsenal. Württemberg was sold the following year, and broken up in Hamburg.[10]
Notes
Footnotes
- Ersatz (ship name)." An example of this practice is the Derfflinger-class battlecruisers: the lead ship SMS Derfflinger was considered an addition to the fleet, and was ordered as "K", while her sisters Lützow and Hindenburg were ordered as Ersatz Kaiserin Augusta and Ersatz Hertha, being replacements for two older ships. See: Gröner, p. 56.
- capsizing.
- ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while the L/45 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/45 gun is 45 caliber, meaning that the gun barrel is 45 times as long as it is in bore diameter. See: Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ By this time, the Armistice had been extended to 23 June, though there is some contention as to whether Reuter was aware of this. Admiral Sydney Fremantle stated that he informed Reuter on the evening of the 20th, though Reuter claims he was unaware of the development. For Fremantle's claim, see Bennett, p. 307. For Reuter's statement, see Herwig, p. 256.
Citations
- ^ a b Hore, p. 70.
- ^ a b c Friedman, p. 131.
- ^ a b Dodson, p. 97.
- ^ Dodson, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Herwig, p. 77.
- ^ Herwig, p. 81.
- ^ Sturton, p. 38.
- ^ Sturton, p. 41.
- ^ a b c d e f Gröner, p. 28.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Gröner, p. 30.
- ^ Lyon & Moore, p. 104.
- ^ Greger, p. 37.
- ^ Dodson, p. 98.
- ^ Friedman, pp. 131–133.
- ^ Schmalenbach, p. 79.
- ^ Friedman, p. 133.
- ^ Friedman, pp. 143–144, 147.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 140, 155.
- ^ Friedman, p. 339.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 155.
- ^ Dodson, p. 99.
- ^ a b Gröner, pp. 28–30.
- ^ a b Herwig, p. 83.
- ^ a b Nottelmann, p. 298.
- ^ Nottelmann, p. 317.
- ^ Nottelmann, p. 320.
- ^ Massie, p. 682.
- ^ Massie, p. 683.
- ^ Halpern, p. 213.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 214–215.
- ^ a b Halpern, p. 215.
- ^ Massie, p. 747.
- ^ a b Massie, p. 748.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 281–281.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 281.
- ^ Woodman, pp. 237–238.
- ^ Schwartz, p. 48.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 282.
- ^ a b Herwig, p. 255.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 254–255.
- ^ Preston, p. 85.
- ^ Herwig, p. 256.
References
- ISBN 978-1-84415-300-8.
- Campbell, N. J. M. & Sieche, Erwin (1986). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 134–189. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Greger, Rene (1997). Battleships of the World. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-069-X.
- Grießmer, Axel (1999). Die Linienschiffe der Kaiserlichen Marine: 1906–1918; Konstruktionen zwischen Rüstungskonkurrenz und Flottengesetz [The Battleships of the Imperial Navy: 1906–1918; Constructions between Arms Competition and Fleet Laws] (in German). Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7637-5985-9.
- ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7.
- Herwig, Holger (1998) [1980]. "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Amherst: Humanity Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-286-9.
- Hore, Peter (2006). Battleships of World War I. London: Southwater Books. ISBN 978-1-84476-377-1.
- Lyon, Hugh & Moore, John E. (1978). The Encyclopedia of the World's Warships. London: Salamander Books. ISBN 0-517-22478-X.
- ISBN 978-0-345-40878-5.
- Nottelmann, Dirk (December 2019). "From Ironclads to Dreadnoughts: The Development of the German Navy, 1864–1918: Part XA, "Lost Ambitions"". Warship International. 56 (4). Toledo: International Naval Research Organization. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 978-0-8117-0211-9.
- Schmalenbach, Paul (1993). Die Geschichte der Deutschen Schiffsartillerie [The History of German Naval Artillery] (in German). Herford: Koehler. ISBN 9783782205771.
- Schwartz, Stephen (1986). Brotherhood of the Sea: A History of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific, 1885–1985. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-88738-121-8.
- Sturton, Ian, ed. (1987). Conway's All the World's Battleships: 1906 to the Present. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-448-0.
- Tarrant, V. E. (2001) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-304-35848-9.
- Woodman, Richard (2005). A Brief History of Mutiny. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7867-1567-1.
Further reading
- Dodson, Aidan; Cant, Serena (2020). Spoils of War: The Fate of Enemy Fleets after the Two World Wars. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4198-1.
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