Braunschweig-class battleship
Preussen in 1907
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Class overview | |
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Name | Braunschweig class |
Builders | Germaniawerft, Schichau, AG Vulcan |
Operators | |
Preceded by | Wittelsbach class |
Succeeded by | Deutschland class |
Built | 1901–1906 |
In commission | 1904–1960 |
Completed | 5 |
Scrapped | 5 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement |
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Length | 127.7 m (419 ft) loa |
Beam | 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in) |
Draft | 8.1–8.16 m (26 ft 7 in – 26 ft 9 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Range | 5,200 nmi (9,600 km; 6,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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The Braunschweig-class battleships were a group of five
During their early careers, the five ships served in II Battle Squadron, with Preussen its flagship. The fleet was occupied primarily with routine peacetime training and foreign visits. In 1912, Braunschweig was placed in reserve and she was joined the following year by Elsass. Lothringen and Hessen were slated to be decommissioned in 1914, but the outbreak of World War I in July prevented this and they remained in service with the High Seas Fleet. They and Preussen took part in the fleet operations in the first two years of the war, while Braunschweig and Elsass went to the Baltic with IV Battle Squadron, where they eventually saw combat with the Russian battleship Slava during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915. Hessen took part in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and saw limited combat with British battlecruisers late in the battle. All five of the ships were withdrawn from service starting in 1916, thereafter being used in subsidiary roles, including as barracks and training ships.
After the war, the five Braunschweigs were among the vessels that the new
Design
With the passage of the Second Naval Law under the direction of Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz in 1900, funding was allocated for a new class of battleships to succeed the Wittelsbach-class ships authorized under the 1898 Naval Law. The previous law had called for a total strength of nineteen battleships by 1 April 1904, which was reached with the Wittelsbach class, but the new law increased the projected battle fleet to a total of thirty-eight. The Braunschweig class was the first group of battleships built under this new plan, and they marked a significant advance in combat power over earlier German battleships.[1]
Discussions between the Design Department of the
With the decision made to mount the 28 cm gun, the next issue was the arrangement of the guns. Previous designs had carried the 24 cm guns in the superstructure, directly above
At the same time, as many countries' navies improved the armor protection of their battleships, they were also increasing the caliber of their secondary batteries to counter the heavier armor, such as the American
The British battleship HMS Dreadnought—armed with ten 12-inch guns—was commissioned in December 1906, less than two years after the first Braunschweig-class ships entered service.[5] Dreadnought's revolutionary design rendered every capital ship of the German navy obsolete, including the Braunschweigs.[6] Also, the 17 cm guns proved to be something of a disappointment in service, since the larger shells were significantly heavier and thus harder to load manually, which reduced their rate of fire.[1]
General characteristics and machinery
The Braunschweig-class ships were 126 meters (413 ft 5 in)
Steering was controlled with a single rudder. The ships were described as good sea-boats, but were prone to heavy pitching. The ships were responsive and had a tight turning radius at low speed, but at hard rudder of 12 degrees, the ships lost up to 70 percent speed. The ships had a crew of 35 officers and 708 men normally, and when serving as a squadron flagship, they had an additional 13 officers and 66 men. The ships carried a number of smaller boats aboard, including two picket boats, two launches, a pinnace (later removed), two cutters, two yawls, and two dinghies.[10] The boats were handled by two large goose-necked cranes located on either side of the rear funnel.[9]
The ships of the Braunschweig-class were propelled by three-shaft
The ships' top speed was rated at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). During trials, however, the engines produced between 16,478 and 16,980 metric horsepower (16,253 and 16,748 ihp; 12,120 and 12,489 kW), and a top speed between 18.2 and 18.7 knots (33.7 and 34.6 km/h; 20.9 and 21.5 mph). The ships of the class could steam 5,200 nautical miles (9,600 km; 6,000 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), with the exception of Hessen. Hessen suffered from unstable steering, which increased fuel consumption and shortened her operational range to 4,530 nmi (8,390 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The first two ships—Braunschweig and Elsass—had four generators that produced 230 kW (74 V), while three following ships—Hessen, Preussen, and Lothringen—had four turbo-generators that provided 260 kW (110 V).[7]
Armament and armor
Their main armament was increased from previous designs, but was still weaker than contemporary foreign battleships; the German Navy had a tendency to emphasize rapidity of fire rather than weight of shell, and smaller guns could generally be fired faster than larger ones.
The secondary battery consisted of fourteen 17 cm SK L/40 quick-firing guns, four of which were mounted in single turrets amidships, with the remaining ten in casemates around the superstructure. The guns fired 64-kilogram (141 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 850 meters per second (2,800 ft/s). These guns were chosen as they used the largest shell that could be reasonably handled without machinery. The turret-mounted guns could be elevated to 30 degrees, for a maximum range of 16,900 m (18,500 yd), while the casemated guns could only elevate to 22 degrees, and had a correspondingly lower range of 14,500 m (15,900 yd).[13][15] These guns had a total of 1,820 shells, for 130 rounds per gun. To transit the Kiel Canal, the three central 17 cm casemated guns on each side had to be withdrawn into their housings, as they were unable to train fully flush with the sides of the ships. With the guns fully emplaced, the ships would have been too wide to fit in the canal.[10]
The ships also had fourteen 8.8 cm SK L/35 quick-firing guns in casemates along the length of the ship. The guns fired 7 kg (15.4 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 770 m/s (2,526 ft/s), and could be elevated to 25 degrees for a maximum range of 9,090 m (9,940 yd).[13] They were also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, with a total of 16 torpedoes.[10] One tube was in the bow, two were on each broadside, and the final tube was in the stern.[16]
The ships were protected with
Ships
Ship | Builder[17] | Laid down | Launched[17]
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Completed[17] |
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Braunschweig | Germaniawerft, Kiel
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21 October 1901[18] | 20 December 1902 | 15 October 1904 |
Elsass | Danzig
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26 May 1901[19] | 26 May 1903 | 29 November 1904 |
Hessen | Germaniawerft, Kiel | 15 March 1902[20] | 18 September 1903 | 19 September 1905 |
Preussen | Stettin
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April 1902[21] | 30 October 1903 | 12 July 1905 |
Lothringen | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1 December 1902[22] | 27 May 1904 | 18 May 1906 |
Service history
The ships' peacetime careers consisted of routine fleet training. Squadron and fleet training typically took place in April and May, a major fleet cruise generally followed in June and July, after which the fleet assembled for the annual fleet maneuvers in late August and September. The major fleet cruises typically went to Norwegian waters in company with
The ship's active careers were very short as a result of the dreadnought revolution; Braunschweig and Elsass were reduced to reserve in 1912 and 1913, respectively,[24][25] though Lothringen, Hessen, and Preussen were still in active service in mid-1914. Lothringen was to be reduced to reserve in July and Preussen was slated to be decommissioned at the end of the year, but the July Crisis that followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June cancelled that plan. The fleet was on its summer cruise to Norway during the crisis, and word of the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia forced the ships to return home early to prepare for the coming conflict.[26][27]
World War I
At the start of
In the meantime, the other three ships were still serving in II Battle Squadron, where they participated in the fleet sorties conducted in the first two years of the war. This series of operations culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916; by that time, only Hessen was still on active service with the squadron. Preussen was on rotation as the guard ship in the Danish straits (and had been replaced as flagship by the battleship Deutschland) and Lothringen was in poor condition and in dire need of repair.[22][26][27] Hessen saw limited action at Jutland, coming into contact with heavy British ships once. This encounter came late on 31 May, when Hessen and the other pre-dreadnoughts of II Battle Squadron briefly engaged Vice Admiral David Beatty's 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, in doing so covering the withdrawal of the battered German battlecruisers under the command of Franz von Hipper.[32] The loss of the pre-dreadnought Pommern during the battle highlighted the vulnerability of the older battleships, and coupled with their slow speed, convinced the German naval command to withdraw them from front-line service. Preussen, Lothringen, and Hessen continued as guard ships in the Baltic in the aftermath of Jutland.[22][26][27]
Starting in 1916, the ships of the Braunschweig class began to be withdrawn from active service, primarily because of manpower shortages.[33] Elsass was reduced to a barracks ship based in Kiel in July, and Hessen was decommissioned and disarmed in December; she thereafter became a depot ship based in Brunsbüttel in 1917. Braunschweig was converted into a training ship, and on 20 August, was reduced to a barracks ship, also in Kiel. Preussen became a depot ship in Wilhelmshaven also in 1917. Lothringen continued her guard ship duties until September 1917, when she too was withdrawn from service, thereafter being used as an engineer training ship in Wilhelmshaven.[10][22] Starting in 1916, guns removed from these ships were used by the Imperial Army as railway guns; one of these guns was captured by the Australian Army and is preserved as the Amiens Gun at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia.[34][35]
Post-World War I
After the war, all of Germany's powerful
Braunschweig was modernized in 1919–1920 and served in the Reichsmarine from 1921 to 1926, at which point she was withdrawn from active duty. During this period, she served as the flagship of the
Hessen was thereafter converted into a target ship. The work involved cutting away most of the superstructure, removing the armament, and replacing the old propulsion machinery with steam turbines. Additionally, equipment to allow the ship to be operated via radio control was installed. Conversion work lasted from 31 March 1935 to 1 April 1937, when she was recommissioned as a target. She served in this capacity through 1945; during World War II, she was also occasionally used as an icebreaker to clear paths in the Baltic. After the war, she was ceded to the Soviet Union and renamed Tsel. The Soviets also used the ship as a target and eventually scrapped the vessel in the 1960s.[10][40] When Preussen was being dismantled in the 1930s, a 63 m (207 ft) length of her hull was retained for use as a target. The hulk was nicknamed "SMS Vierkant" ("SMS Rectangle") and remained in use through World War II until Allied bombers attacked and sank it in April 1945.[27]
Footnotes
Notes
- ^ Due to the wartime situation, Germany had limited access to high-quality coal, but was able to acquire lower-grade coal for its ships. The higher quality coal was generally reserved for the smaller craft, whose crews were less able to clean the boilers at the increased rate demanded by the low-quality coal. As a result, German capital ships were often supplied with poor coal, in the knowledge that their larger crews were better able to perform the increased maintenance. After 1915, the practice of spraying oil onto the low-quality coal was introduced to increase the burn rate.[11]
- ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while the L/40 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/40 gun is 40 caliber, meaning that the length of the gun is 40 times its bore.[12]
Citations
- ^ a b c d Dodson 2014, p. 49.
- ^ Dodson 2016, pp. 63–64.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 43–44.
- ^ a b Dodson 2016, p. 64.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Herwig, p. 57.
- ^ a b c d e f Gröner, p. 19.
- ^ a b Dodson 2016, p. 65.
- ^ a b Dodson 2014, p. 50.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gröner, p. 20.
- ^ Philbin, p. 56.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ a b c Campbell & Sieche, p. 140.
- ^ Friedman, pp. 137–138.
- ^ Friedman, p. 142.
- ^ Dodson 2014, p. 51.
- ^ a b c Gröner, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, p. 113.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, p. 34.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, p. 148.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7, p. 248.
- ^ a b c d e Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 235.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, pp. 113–114.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, p. 33.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, p. 114.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, p. 149.
- ^ a b c d e Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7, p. 249.
- ^ Halpern, p. 185.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, pp. 114–115.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 196–197.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, p. 36.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 195.
- ^ a b Campbell & Sieche, p. 141.
- ^ François, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Williams, p. 231.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 18, 20.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, pp. 116–118.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, pp. 36–37.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, pp. 150–151.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, p. 151.
References
- 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 978-1-59114-923-1.
- Dodson, Aidan (2016). The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871–1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5.
- François, Guy (2006). Eisenbahnartillerie: Histoire de l'artillerie lourd sur voie ferrée allemande des origines à 1945 [Railroad Artillery: The History of German Heavy Railroad Artillery from its Origins to 1945] (in French). Paris: Editions Histoire et Fortifications. ISBN 978-2-915767-08-7.
- 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.
- 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.
- Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 2. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8364-9743-5.
- Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 3. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0211-4.
- Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 4. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0382-1.
- Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 5. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0456-9.
- Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 7. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8364-9743-5.
- Philbin, Tobias R. III (1982). Admiral Hipper: The Inconvenient Hero. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-90-6032-200-0.
- Tarrant, V. E. (2001) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-304-35848-9.
- Williams, John Frank (1999). ANZACS, The Media and the Great War. Sydney: UNSW Press. ISBN 978-0-86840-569-8.
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.
- Koop, Gerhard & Schmolke, Klaus-Peter (2001). Die Panzer- und Linienschiffe der Brandenburg-, Kaiser Friedrich III-, Wittlesbach-, Braunschweig- und Deutschland-Klasse [The Armored and Battleships of the Brandenburg, Kaiser Friedrich III, Wittelsbach, Braunschweig, and Deutschland Classes] (in German). Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7637-6211-8.
- Weir, Gary E. (1992). Building the Kaiser's Navy: The Imperial Navy Office and German Industry in the Tirpitz Era, 1890–1919. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-929-1.