List of coastal defense ships of Germany
In the 1880s, Germany built a series of
All eight of the ships were heavily modernized between 1898 and 1904; the reconstruction included lengthening the ships and equipping them with new boilers.
These coastal defense ships turned out to be a temporary diversion for the German fleet. In 1888, before any of the Siegfrieds or Odins had been laid down, Caprivi was selected to replace
Armament | The number and type of the primary armament |
---|---|
Armor | The thickness of the belt armor
|
Displacement | Ship displacement at full combat load[a] |
Propulsion | Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed generated |
Service | The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate |
Laid down | The date the keel began to be assembled |
Commissioned | The date the ship was commissioned |
Siegfried class
In 1883, when General Leo von Caprivi became the chief of the Imperial Navy, he discarded the fleet policy of his predecessor, Albrecht von Stosch, in favor of creating a fleet that could defend Germany's coast.[b] To that end, he called for the construction of new coastal defense ships that were larger than the unsuccessful Wespe-class gunboats but smaller than the Sachsen-class ironclads. They were to be sufficiently seaworthy to permit use in the North Sea, with armament and armor strong enough to allow them to engage larger, foreign battleships. Caprivi requested ten such vessels, though only eight would be built, the first six to the Siegfried design.[14]
The six Siegfried class ships were used in fleet maneuvers throughout the 1890s,[15] until they were reconstructed at the end of the decade. The modernization included re-boilering and lengthening, both of which improved the ships' speed. They were mobilized at the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but remained on active service for only a year; in August 1915, they were withdrawn and used for secondary roles, primarily as barracks ships. All of the ships, save Frithjof, were scrapped after the end of the war. Frithjof was converted into a merchant ship instead, and operated until 1930, when she too was broken up for scrap.[3][6]
Ship | Armament[16] | Armor[16] | Displacement[17] | Propulsion[17] | Service[3] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | |||||
Siegfried | 3 × 24 cm (9.4 in) guns | 240 mm (9.4 in) | 3,741 t (3,682 long tons) | 2 shafts, 2 ) | 1888 | 29 April 1890 | Scrapped, 1920 |
Beowulf | 1890 | 1 April 1892 | Scrapped, 1921 | ||||
Frithjof | 23 February 1893 | Scuttled, 1930 | |||||
Heimdall | 1891 | 7 April 1894 | Scrapped, 1921 | ||||
Hildebrand | 1890 | 28 October 1893 | Ran aground and sunk, 1919 | ||||
Hagen | 1891 | 2 October 1894 | Scrapped, 1919 |
Odin class
The Odin class, the seventh and eighth of Caprivi's proposed ten coastal defenders, was a modified version of the Siegfried design; the primary differences were a slightly improved armor layout, a second funnel, and two
The two Odin-class ships were also rebuilt, in 1901–1904, and received the same modifications as the Siegfried-class vessels.[4] Their service histories were largely identical to the Siegfrieds; they served with the fleet from their commissioning, and were mobilized at the outbreak of war in August 1914 before being relegated to secondary duties in August 1915.[6] Both ships were rebuilt as merchantmen after the end of the war; Odin served in this capacity until she was scrapped in 1935, while Ägir's career was cut short when she ran aground off the Swedish island of Gotland in December 1929.[20]
Ship | Armament[4] | Armor[4] | Displacement[4] | Propulsion[4] | Service[20] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | |||||
Odin | 3 × 24 cm guns | 240 mm | 3,754 t (3,695 long tons) | 2 shafts, 2 triple expansion engines, 15 kn | 1893 | 22 September 1896 | Scrapped, 1935 |
Ägir | 1892 | 15 October 1896 | Wrecked, 8 December 1929 |
See also
Footnotes
Notes
- ^ Historian Erich Gröner states that full load was defined as "[equal to] type displacement plus full load fuel oil, diesel oil, coal, reserve boiler feed water, aircraft fuel, and special equipment."[12]
- ^ Stosch had instead favored building an ocean-going fleet that could operate on the high seas; under his tenure, Germany had built the third-largest ironclad fleet in the world, behind only the British Royal Navy and the French Navy.[13]
Citations
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 160–165.
- ^ Lyon, pp. 242, 246.
- ^ a b c Gröner, pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b c d e f Gröner, pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b Lyon, p. 246.
- ^ a b c Campbell & Sieche, p. 142.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 10–12.
- ^ a b Sondhaus, p. 177.
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 179–180.
- ^ Lyon, pp. 247–249.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 145–149.
- ^ Gröner, p. ix.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 108.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 165.
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 194–195, 221.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 11.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 10.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 179.
- ^ Lyon, p. 242.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 12.
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 978-0-87021-790-6.
- Lyon, Hugh (1979). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5.