Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleship

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SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II
Class overview
Builders
  • Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven
  • Germaniawerft
  • Blohm & Voss
  • Schichau-Werke
Operators Imperial German Navy
Preceded byBrandenburg class
Succeeded byWittelsbach class
Built1895–1901
In commission1898–1920
Completed5
Scrapped5
General characteristics
TypePre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement
Length125.3 m (411 ft 1 in) o/a
Beam20.4 m (66 ft 11 in)
Draft7.89 m (25 ft 11 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 3 ×
    triple-expansion steam engines
  • 3 × screw propellers
Speed17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range3,420 nmi (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement
  • 39 officers
  • 612 enlisted
Armament
Armor

The Kaiser Friedrich III class consisted of five

Krupp cemented armor
.

On entering service, the ships were assigned to I Squadron, of which Kaiser Friedrich III served as the flagship, while Kaiser Wilhelm II served as the flagship for the overall fleet commander. The ships conducted routine training exercises and cruises in the early 1900s and Kaiser Friedrich III was badly damaged in a grounding accident while steaming in the Baltic Sea in 1901. As newer battleships entered service later in the decade, the ships of the class were moved to II Squadron in 1905 and all of the ships except Kaiser Karl der Grosse were rebuilt between 1907 and 1910. Thereafter they were reduced to reserve status beginning in 1908, since more powerful dreadnought battleships had begun to be commissioned; the rest of their peacetime careers consisted of periodic reactivations to participate in annual fleet training maneuvers.

At the start of World War I in July 1914, the ships were recommissioned and assigned to V Squadron; they were tasked with coastal defense in the North Sea but were quickly transferred to the Baltic to support German operations against the Russian Empire. They saw limited activity during this period, and they returned to the North Sea for guard duties in early 1915. The increasing threat of modern weapons, particularly the British submarines that had begun to operate in the area, combined with shortages of crews for more valuable vessels, led the navy to decommission all five members of the class in March 1915. They were used in a variety of secondary roles. They were all discarded in the early 1920s as Germany disarmed under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Design

Top and profile drawing of the Brandenburg class; the center turret was not repeated in the Kaiser Friedrich III design

In the early 1890s, the

Kaiser Wilhelm Canal then under construction, constrained the size of the new ship. To keep the new ship within the displacement limit, the center turret that had been used on the Brandenburgs would have to be sacrificed if a heavier secondary battery was to be incorporated. Five different design sketches were prepared, the first four incorporating a secondary armament of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and eight 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns and the fifth replacing the 10.5 cm guns with eight 15 cm (5.9 in) guns. All five variants carried a main armament of four 28 cm (11 in) guns. Wilhelm II contributed his own proposal, but it suffered from serious stability problems and was not a serious option.[1]

Work continued on the ships' design while the navy pushed for funding in the Reichstag, which was finally approved in March 1894, placing pressure on the design staff to complete their work so construction could begin. By May, the design staff had produced sketch XVI, which discarded the traditional two-

Battle of Yalu later in 1894. The smaller, faster-firing guns were intended to inflict serious damage on the superstructures of enemy battleships and demoralize the crew.[2]

Top and profile drawing of the Kaiser Friedrich III class

During the design process, the commander of the Maneuver Squadron, Hans von Koester, suggested that the 28 cm guns be discarded in favor of 24 cm (9.4 in) guns, since they could be fired 2.5 times as fast as the larger guns and they were large enough that they could still be used to penetrate heavy armor at the close battle ranges envisioned at the time. Koester convinced Wilhelm II to overrule the naval high command, who wished to retain the heavier guns. This decision set a pattern of German naval construction for the next two decades that favored lighter, faster-firing guns instead of larger, more powerful ones. Though the decision was criticized at the time on the basis that the 24 cm gun was smaller and thus weaker than the 28 cm, the larger gun offered little substantive advantage at close range, and the much greater rate of fire allowed it to produce a heavier broadside over time.[1]

In August 1894, the navy settled on an 11,000-

Thornycroft boilers, so the first vessel, Kaiser Friedrich III, was completed with just four of the new types, with the remaining eight being older fire-tube boilers.[3][4]

After the first vessel was begun, the next member of the class was authorized for the 1896/1897 program; during the intervening two years, consideration was given to re-designing the second ship to match foreign developments, most significantly the adoption of 30.5 cm (12 in) guns like those on the British Majestic-class battleship. The change would have necessitated halving the main battery and the removal of four of the 15 cm guns to offset the weight of the larger guns. Additionally, it would have left Kaiser Friedrich III with no counterparts, which would have complicated tactical control. The sacrifices were deemed to be too severe, and so the decision was made to go ahead with the 24 cm gun, as successful proof-firing of the new gun had by then been completed.[5]

General characteristics and machinery

military masts
and small bridge that distinguished the last three members of the class from the first two vessels

The Kaiser Friedrich III-class ships were 120.9 meters (396 ft 8 in)

mainmast. The other four vessels were fitted with short military masts for both masts. In 1901, Kaiser Friedrich III's foremast was shortened. Kaiser Friedrich III and Kaiser Wilhelm II, both intended to serve as flagships, were completed with large bridges, with a two-story bridge aboard the former and a single-story bridge on the latter. The remaining three vessels received smaller, open bridges.[7]

The German navy regarded them as having excellent seakeeping. They had a tight turning circle and were very responsive. The ships rolled up to 15° and had a roll period of 12 seconds. They suffered only minor speed loss in heavy seas, but up to 40 percent with the rudder hard over. Their metacentric heights were between 0.917 to 1.18 m (3 ft 0 in to 3 ft 10 in). The ships carried a number of smaller boats, including two picket boats, two launches, one pinnace, two cutters, two yawls, and two dinghies. The crew numbered 39 officers and 612 enlisted men. When serving as a squadron flagship, a ship had its crew augmented by another 12 officers and between 51 and 63 enlisted men.[6]

The Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleships were powered by three 3-cylinder vertical

triple-expansion steam engines that drove three screws. Kaiser Friedrich III, Kaiser Barbarossa, and Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse were equipped with three 3-bladed screws that were 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) in diameter. Kaiser Karl der Grosse and Kaiser Wilhelm II were equipped with two of the 3-bladed screws on the outer shafts and a four-bladed screw that was 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in) in diameter on the center shaft. The ships received different boiler arrangements owing to concerns among the naval high command about the reliability of the new water-tube boilers. Kaiser Wilhelm II had an arrangement similar to Kaiser Friedrich III, except the Thornycroft boilers were replaced by Marine-type fire-tube boilers. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and Kaiser Karl der Grosse were equipped with four Marine and six cylindrical fire-tube boilers, while Kaiser Barbarossa had four Thornycroft and six cylindrical fire-tube boilers. All of the ships' boilers were ducted into two funnels, but Kaiser Friedrich III and Kaiser Wilhelm II had thinner aft funnels while those of the other three ships were identical.[6][8]

The powerplants were rated at 13,000

kW), but on trials could produce up to 13,950 metric horsepower (13,760 ihp; 10,260 kW). This generated a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph). The ships carried 650 metric tons (640 long tons) of coal, although the use of additional spaces within the ships increased fuel capacity to 1,070 metric tons (1,050 long tons). This provided a maximum range of 3,420 nautical miles (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Electrical power was supplied by five 320 kW 74 volt generators in Kaiser Friedrich III and Kaiser Wilhelm II, and four 240 kW 74 volt generators in the other three ships.[6]

Armament

Forward guns on one of the Kaiser Friedrich III-class ships

The primary armament consisted of a battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) SK L/40 guns in twin-gun turrets,[a] one fore and one aft of the central superstructure. The guns were mounted in hydraulically-operated Drh.L. C/98 turrets, which allowed elevation to +30 degrees and depression to −5 degrees. At maximum elevation, the guns could hit targets out to 16,900 meters (18,500 yd). The guns fired 140-kilogram (310 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 835 meters per second (2,740 ft/s). Each gun was supplied with 75 shells, for a total of 300.[10][11]

Secondary armament included eighteen 15 cm (5.9 inch) SK L/40 guns. Six were mounted in single turrets amidships and the rest were mounted in MPL casemates; all were manually operated and elevated.[b] Most of these guns were mounted at upper-deck level, with only four of the casemates at main deck level, which kept them high enough in the ship to avoid a common problem with battleships of the period where heavy seas could make the guns unworkable. According to the historian Aidan Dodson, the arrangement was "perhaps the best of the period."[12] These guns fired armor-piercing shells at a rate of 4 to 5 per minute. The ships carried 120 shells per gun, for a total of 2,160 rounds total. The guns could depress to −7 degrees and elevate to +20 degrees, for a maximum range of 13,700 m (14,990 yd). The shells weighed 51 kg (112 lb) and were fired at a muzzle velocity of 735 m/s (2,410 ft/s).[11][13]

The ships also carried twelve

3.7 cm (1.5 in) Maxim machine cannon.[6]

The ships were also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in)

TNT warhead. They could be set at two speeds for different ranges. At 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), the torpedoes had a range of 800 m (870 yd). At an increased speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), the range was reduced to 500 m (550 yd).[15]

Armor

The Kaiser Friedrich III-class ships were armored with steel produced by

compound armor required a significant amount of steel to resist large-caliber shellfire, which meant that little of the ship could be covered with armor owing to its weight. Krupp's new steel was much stronger, but the design staff did not take advantage of the reduced weight to provide more comprehensive protection, which would arrive with the subsequent Wittelsbach class.[1]

They had an armor belt that was 300 millimeters (11.8 in) thick in the central portion of the hull at the waterline. It tapered to 150 mm (5.9 in) in the forward section and 200 mm (7.9 in) in the rear, although the belt did not extend fully aft. The lower portion of the belt ranged in thickness from 100 to 180 mm (3.9 to 7.1 in). The entire belt was backed with 250 mm (9.8 in) of teak. The main armored deck was 65 mm (2.6 in) thick,[6] but the thickness was increased to 75 mm (3 in) aft of the rear main battery barbette, where the stern was not protected by the belt. This portion of the deck curved down at the sides to offer a measure of protection against shell hits.[16]

The conning tower was protected by armored sides that were 250 mm thick and a roof that was 30 mm (1.2 in) thick. Each main-battery turret had a 50 mm (2 in) thick roof and 250 mm thick sides. The 15 cm guns mounted in turrets were protected by 150 mm thick sides and 70 mm (2.8 in) thick gun shields. Those in the casemates also had 150 mm worth of armor protection.[6]

Construction

Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse at her launching

The five ships of the Kaiser Friedrich class were built by a combination of government and private shipyards. Three of the ships—Kaiser Friedrich III, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, and Kaiser Karl der Grosse—were delayed during construction; Kaiser Friedrich III had to wait for her main guns to be completed before entering service. Kaiser Karl der Grosse was damaged by an accidental grounding by the shipyard crew when they were moving the ship from Hamburg to Wilhelmshaven, and a fire at the shipyard slowed work on Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.[6][17]

Construction data
Ship Builder[18] Namesake[18] Laid down[18] Launched[18] Commissioned[18]
Kaiser Friedrich III
Kaiserliche Werft, Wilhelmshaven
Kaiser Friedrich III 5 March 1895 1 July 1896 7 October 1898
Kaiser Wilhelm II Kaiser
Wilhelm II
26 October 1896 14 September 1897 13 February 1900
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse Germaniawerft, Kiel Kaiser Wilhelm I 22 January 1898 1 June 1899 5 May 1901
Kaiser Karl der Grosse
Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Emperor Charlemagne 17 September 1898 18 October 1899 4 February 1902
Kaiser Barbarossa Schichau-Werke, Danzig
Frederick I
3 August 1898 21 April 1900 10 June 1901

Service history

Prewar careers

Lithograph
of Kaiser Friedrich III in 1902

On entering service, Kaiser Friedrich III became the flagship of

lightship in the area, which was out of position. While she was out of service for repairs, her crew was transferred to Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which had just been completed. Over the course of the next four years, the ships of the class operated together in I Squadron, conducting training cruises, fleet maneuvers every August and September, and visits to foreign ports.[19]

By 1905, as several new classes of battleships—the Wittelsbach, Braunschweig, and Deutschland classes—had either entered service or were approaching completion, the members of the Kaiser Friedrich III class began to be transferred to II Squadron. In 1906, Kaiser Wilhelm II was replaced as the fleet flagship by the new battleship Deutschland. The normal peacetime training routine continued for the next several years, interrupted by a reconstruction program in the mid to late-1900s. Kaiser Barbarossa was the first to be rebuilt in 1905, a result of having been decommissioned for repairs to her rudder for damage incurred on a cruise to Spain in 1903. Kaiser Friedrich III was rebuilt in 1907, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse were reconstructed in 1909–1910.[20] The work involved cutting down their superstructure to reduce topweight, removing four of the 15 cm guns and one of the torpedo tubes, and moving the 8.8 cm guns to the upper deck.[21] Kaiser Karl der Grosse was not modernized, however.[6]

Beginning in 1908, the members of the class transitioned out of front-line service, their place having been taken by the Deutschland class and the first

dreadnought battleships of the Nassau class. Kaiser Karl der Grosse was the first to be moved to the Reserve Squadron in 1908, followed by Kaiser Barbarossa and Kaiser Friedrich III in 1909 and Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse the next year. For the rest of their peacetime careers, they spent much of the year out of service but were reactivated for the annual fleet maneuvers every August and September. For the exercises, they formed III Squadron, with Kaiser Wilhelm II serving as the squadron flagship.[22]

World War I

Kaiser Barbarossa after her reconstruction

Following the outbreak of

Windau in late September, but false rumors of British warships having entered the Baltic led to the operation being cancelled. They made a sweep into the northern Baltic in December but did not encounter any Russian warships. In January 1915, they were moved back to the North Sea for guard duties, but they were quickly decommissioned the next month. The ships were by then thoroughly obsolete and were far too vulnerable to modern weapons, particularly the British submarines that had begun operating in the Baltic. In addition, the navy was facing severe crew shortages and decided that older vessels of limited combat use like the Kaiser Friedrich III class could not be maintained in service.[23]

On 5 March, the ships were dispersed to various ports, had their crews reduced, and were eventually disarmed. Kaiser Wilhelm II was stationed in Wilhelmshaven as a

Footnotes

Notes

  1. ^ 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 gun is 40 times as long as it is in diameter.[9]
  2. ^ MPL stands for Mittel-Pivot-Lafette (Central pivot mounting).[9]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Dodson, p. 45.
  2. ^ Ropp, p. 297.
  3. ^ Dodson, pp. 45–47.
  4. ^ Herwig, p. 26.
  5. ^ Dodson, pp. 47–48.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Gröner, p. 15.
  7. ^ Dodson, pp. 49–50.
  8. ^ Dodson, pp. 48–49.
  9. ^ a b Grießmer, p. 177.
  10. ^ a b Friedman, p. 141.
  11. ^ a b c Campbell & Sieche, p. 140.
  12. ^ Dodson, p. 47.
  13. ^ Friedman, p. 143.
  14. ^ Friedman, p. 146.
  15. ^ Friedman, p. 336.
  16. ^ Dodson, p. 75.
  17. ^ Dodson, p. 48.
  18. ^ a b c d e Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 23, 28, 39, 41, 66.
  19. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 28–34, 41–58.
  20. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 23, 35, 60–61, 66.
  21. ^ Lyon, p. 247.
  22. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 23, 36, 39, 62, 66.
  23. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 63.
  24. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 37, 39, 63–64, 67.
  25. ^ a b Gröner, p. 16.

References

Further reading