Nassau-class battleship
SMS Rheinland in 1910
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Class overview | |
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Name | Nassau |
Operators | Imperial German Navy |
Preceded by | Deutschland class |
Succeeded by | Helgoland class |
Built | 1907–1910 |
In commission | 1909–1919 |
Completed | 4 |
Retired | 4 |
Scrapped | 4 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Dreadnought battleship |
Displacement |
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Length | 146.1 m (479 ft 4 in) |
Beam | 26.9 m (88 ft 3 in) |
Draft | 8.76 m (28 ft 9 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | At 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph): 8,300 nmi (15,400 km; 9,600 mi) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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The Nassau class was a group of four
After entering service, the Nassau-class ships served as II Division, I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the duration of their careers. From 1910 to 1914, the ships participated in the normal peacetime routine of the German fleet, including various squadron exercises, training cruises, and fleet maneuvers every August–September. Following the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, the ships took part in numerous fleet operations intended to isolate and destroy individual elements of the numerically superior British Grand Fleet. These frequently consisted of sailing as distant support to the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group as they raided British coastal towns. These operations culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where the ships helped to sink the armored cruiser HMS Black Prince.
The ships also saw service in the
Design
Initial designs
Though the Nassau class is commonly cited as a response to the revolutionary
The Kaiser intervened again in February with a request for a 14,000 t (13,779 long tons) ship with
During deliberations in late April, "Project I" emerged as the favored design since it would be cheaper than "II" (which would also require widening of the
All-big-gun proposals
Variants with six 21 cm twin-turrets were submitted, along with the first German all-big-gun battleships; these featured a battery of eight 28 cm guns, four in standard twin turrets and the rest in single-gun turrets. Wilhelm approved the all-big-gun version on 18 March 1905, after which further design refinement was carried out, which included increasing the beam, rearranging the secondary battery of eight 17 cm (6.7 in) guns, and improved turrets for the main battery guns. The Kaiser again attempted to meddle in the design process after he learned of the Italian Regina Elena-class battleships, which were capable of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph); he pressed the navy to build a similar vessel, along the same lines as the type he had suggested in 1903. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz pointed out that merging the battleship and armored cruiser categories would not be possible under the Naval Law of 1900, and that the Construction Office was too busy with other projects to take on another one.[4]
During this period, Tirpitz worked to secure the passage of the next Naval Law; he had originally requested six new battleships and six armored cruisers, along with a number of miscellaneous smaller craft. As capital ship designs continued to grow in size and power, their cost spiraled upward. Opposition to budget increases in the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) forced Tirpitz to reduce his request to six armored cruisers—one of which was to have been placed in reserve—and 48 torpedo boats, dropping his request for new battleships completely; the reduced proposal was voted through on 19 May 1906 as the First Amendment to the Naval Law. A week after the amendment was passed, funds for two 18,000-ton battleships and a 15,000-ton armored cruiser were allocated to the Navy. Funds were also provided to widen the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and enlarge dock facilities to accommodate the larger ships.[1]
The design staff continued to refine the new ship, and by September 1905, several variants had been proposed, including "F", which replaced the four single-gun turrets with an equal number of twin-gun turrets. The 17 cm guns were also replaced with twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) guns on the basis that they offered a much higher rate of fire. An improved underwater protection system was adopted as well, resulting in the design finalized as "G", which was approved on 4 October. Internal rearrangements to the
Specifications
General characteristics
The ships were 146.1 m (479 ft 4 in) long, 26.9 m (88 ft 3 in) wide, and had a draught of 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in). The ships had a length to width ratio of 5.45, which was somewhat "stubby" compared to contemporary designs. To some extent, the greater than normal width was due to the four wing turrets, which necessitated a wider hull.
As designed, the ships did not handle particularly well, even in calm seas, and their motion was quite stiff. The ships experienced severe rolling due to the weight of the wing turrets.[8] The heavy wing turrets caused the ships to have a large metacentric height, which should have made them very stable gun platforms, but their roll period proved to coincide with that of the average North Sea swell.[9] Bilge keels were later added, which helped to reduce the rolling problem. Despite the tendency to roll, the Nassau-class ships were maneuverable and had a small turning radius. They suffered minor speed loss in heavy seas, but up to 70 percent at hard rudder. The roll keels that had been fitted to improve handling caused a portion of the speed loss at hard rudder.[7]
Propulsion
The Imperial German Navy was slow to adopt the advanced Parsons turbine engines used in the British Dreadnought, primarily due to the resistance of both Tirpitz and the Navy's construction department. In 1905, the latter stated that the "use of turbines in heavy warships does not recommend itself."[10] This decision was based solely on cost: at the time, Parsons held a monopoly on steam turbines and required a 1 million mark royalty fee for every turbine engine made. German firms were not ready to begin production of turbines on a large scale until 1910.[11]
The Nassau class therefore retained three vertical, 3-cylinder
The ships had a normal capacity of 950 t (930 long tons) of coal, though at full load they could carry up to 2,700 t (2,700 long tons). At a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), the ships could steam for 9,400 nautical miles (17,400 km; 10,800 mi); increasing speed to 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) reduced their range to 8,300 nmi (15,400 km; 9,600 mi), and at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) their radius of action fell significantly, to 4,700 nmi (8,700 km; 5,400 mi). While steaming at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), the ships could steam for 2,800 nmi (5,200 km; 3,200 mi). In 1915, the boilers were fitted with supplementary oil firing, along with storage for 160 t (160 long tons) of fuel oil; this allowed oil to be sprayed on the coal to improve combustion rates.[7][a]
Armament
The vertical triple expansion engines consumed large amounts of internal space that could otherwise have been used for magazines.
Each ship carried twelve 28 cm (11 in) SK L/45 guns.[b] The wing turrets were Drh LC/1906 mounts, as were the centerline turrets on the first two ships of the class, Nassau and Westfalen. Posen and Rheinland carried their centerline guns in Drh LC/1907 turrets, which had a longer trunk than the LC/1906 design.[16] The Drh LC/1906 turrets and 28 cm SK/L45 guns were designed specifically for the new German dreadnoughts in 1907. Both mountings allowed for elevation up to 20 degrees, but the LC/1907 mounts could depress an additional two degrees, down to −8. The main battery propellant magazines were placed above shell rooms, with the exception of the centerline turrets of Nassau and Westfalen. These guns fired 666 lb shells, with a 24 kg (52.9 lb) fore propellant charge in silk bags and a 75 kg (165.3 lb) main charge in a brass case. The guns fired the shells at a muzzle velocity of 855 m/s (2,810 ft/s) and they had a maximum range of 20,500 m (67,300 ft).[19][20]
The ships' secondary armament consisted of twelve
For close-range defense against torpedo boats, the ships also carried sixteen 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns, also in casemates. Four of these were in sponsons forward of the main battery, two on either side. Another four were in the forward superstructure, and the other four were in sponsons in the stern. These guns fired a 22-lb projectile at 2,133 ft/s (650 m/s), and could be trained up to 25 degrees for a maximum range of 10,500 yards (9,600 m). After 1915, two 8.8 cm guns were removed and replaced by two 8.8 cm Flak guns, and between 1916 and 1917, the remaining twelve 8.8 cm casemated guns were removed. These anti-aircraft guns fired a slightly lighter 21.2 lb shell at 2,510 ft/s (765 m/s). They could be elevated to 45 degrees and could hit targets 12,900 yards (11,800 m) away.[7][16]
The Nassau-class ships were also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) submerged torpedo tubes. One tube was mounted in the bow, another in the stern, and two on each broadside, on either ends of the torpedo bulkhead.[16] These were supplied with C/06D torpedoes; they had a range of 6,300 m (20,700 ft) with a speed of 26.5 knots (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph), and they carried a 122.6 kg (270 lb) warhead. The bow tube could be trained thirty degrees to either side and the broadside tubes could be aimed thirty degrees forward and sixty degrees aft.[22]
Armor
The Nassau-class ships were protected with
The main section of belt armor was 29 cm (11.5 in) for a height of 1.2 m (4 ft), increased to 30 cm (11.8 in) abreast the engine rooms, though it tapered to 17 cm (6.7 in) on the bottom edge, which was 1.60 m (5.25 ft) below the waterline. It also thinned at the top edge to 16 cm (6.3 in) at upper deck level. Toward the bow, it was reduced to 14 cm (5.5 in) and then to 10 cm (4 in). Aft of the citadel, the belt reduced to 13 cm (5 in) to 9 cm (3.5 in) before terminating at another transverse bulkhead that was also 9 cm thick. Behind the main belt was a torpedo bulkhead 3 cm (1.2 in) thick;[7][24] there was some difficulty mounting the torpedo bulkhead, due to the four wing turrets and their barbettes, which took up considerable space close to the edge of the hull.[6] The casemate battery, located directly above the central portion of the belt, was protected by a strake of armor that was 16 cm thick. This portion of the side armor was also capped on either end by a bulkhead that was 2 cm (0.8 in) thick.[24]
The ships' main armor deck was 3.8 cm (1.5 in) thick in the central citadel, and the sides of the deck sloped downward to connect to the bottom edge of the belt. The sloped portion increased in thickness to 5.8 cm (2.3 in), and the resulting compartment created was used as a coal bunker, which would provide additional protection for the ships' interiors when the bunkers were full. Compartments on either side of the torpedo bulkhead, which were set back about 4 m (13 ft), were similarly used to store coal. In the bow and stern sections, the deck was thickened to 5.6 cm (2.2 in); it was increased further to 8.1 cm (3.2 in) over the steering compartment. The forecastle deck was 2.5 to 3.0 cm (1 to 1.2 in) over the secondary battery and 2 to 3 cm above the torpedo bulkhead.[7][25]
The forward
Construction
Ship | Builder[12][26] | Laid down[12][26] | Launched[12][26] | Commissioned[12][26] |
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Nassau | Kaiserliche Werft, Wilhelmshaven
|
22 July 1907 | 7 March 1908 | 1 October 1909 |
Westfalen | AG Weser, Bremen | 12 August 1907 | 1 July 1908 | 16 November 1909 |
Rheinland | AG Vulcan, Stettin | 1 June 1907 | 26 September 1908 | 30 April 1910 |
Posen | Germaniawerft, Kiel | 11 June 1907 | 12 December 1908 | 31 May 1910 |
Service history
Pre-war service
After entering service in early 1910, Nassau and Westfalen joined I Battle Squadron, with the latter serving as the flagship. Later that year, they were joined by Posen and Rheinland as they were commissioned for service. Over the next four years, the ships took part in a routine of squadron and fleet maneuvers, gunnery practice, and training cruises. Each year typically culminated in a summer training cruise in July, frequently to Norwegian waters, followed by the annual fleet maneuvers held in late August and early September. The one exception to this was 1912, when the summer training cruise remained in the Baltic Sea owing to increased tensions with Britain and France as a result of the Agadir Crisis. The ships were in Norway during the July Crisis in 1914 and were hastily recalled to begin the mobilization for war when it became apparent that conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia would not be avoided.[27]
World War I
After the start of the war, the German fleet embarked on a campaign of raids of the British coast intended to draw out portions of the British
In August, I Battle Squadron and three battlecruisers were detached from the fleet to temporarily reinforce the German fleet in the Baltic Sea. The Germans planned to clear the Gulf of Riga to facilitate the capture of the city by the Imperial German Army. The Russian Baltic Fleet had stationed the pre-dreadnought Slava and a number of gunboats and destroyers in the gulf, the entrances to which were protected by a series of minefields. The first attempt during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga to breach the minefields and enter the gulf on 8 August was as it had taken too long to clear the Russian minefields to allow the minelayer Deutschland to lay a minefield of her own. They made another attempt beginning on 16 August, led by Nassau and Posen, along with four light cruisers and thirty-one torpedo boats. A minesweeper and destroyer were sunk that day, and the next day Nassau and Posen engaged in an artillery duel with Slava, forcing her to withdraw after scoring three hits. The remaining minesweepers cleared a path into the gulf, but reports of Allied submarines prompted a German withdrawal. The ships then returned to the High Seas Fleet in the North Sea.[31]
After returning to the North Sea, the fleet conducted another sortie in the hope of catching a British squadron in October, with further operations beginning in March 1916, now under the direction of VAdm Reinhard Scheer. These operations included the attack on Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April. Unknown to the Germans, the British were aware of their intentions before embarking on these raids; the German light cruiser Magdeburg had run aground in the Baltic in August 1914, and Russian forces had salvaged German code books from the wreck and passed a copy to their British allies. With the ability to decode German wireless signals, they could send forces to attack the High Seas Fleet under conditions favorable to themselves, as they had done at Dogger Bank. This led to the Battle of Jutland on 31 May, when the British sought to catch the German fleet far enough away from port that it could be cut off and destroyed.[32][33][34]
Battle of Jutland
The German fleet sortied in the early hours of 31 May, intending to make a
As the fleets converged close to 18:00, the German battleships, including the Nassaus, engaged British light cruisers and destroyers, with Posen contributing to the destruction of the destroyer Nestor. By 18:30, the Grand Fleet had arrived on the scene, and was deployed into a position that would cross Scheer's "T" from the northeast. To extricate his fleet from this precarious position, Scheer ordered a 16-point turn to the south-west. At 18:55, Scheer decided to conduct another 16-point turn to launch an attack on the British fleet but was quickly forced to break off and withdraw. The Germans then maneuvered to disengage from the Grand Fleet and return to port; as darkness fell, the High Seas Fleet attempted to pass astern of the Grand Fleet as the latter steamed south, before turning south themselves to reach Wilhelmshaven. At around 21:20, lookouts aboard Posen spotted a group of British battlecruisers and she opened fire, scoring a hit on Princess Royal and straddling Indomitable, though her sisters could not make out targets and held their fire. Shortly thereafter, Nassau and Westfalen engaged British light cruisers and forced them to withdraw.[38][39]
At around midnight on 1 June, Nassau came in contact with the British destroyer Spitfire, and in the confusion, attempted to ram her. Spitfire tried to evade, but could not maneuver away fast enough, and the two ships collided. Nassau fired her forward 11-inch guns at the destroyer, but they could not depress low enough for Nassau to be able to score a hit. Nonetheless, the blast from the guns destroyed Spitfire's bridge. At that point, Spitfire was able to disengage from Nassau, and took with her a 20-foot (6 m) portion of Nassau's side plating. The collision disabled one of her 5.9-inch guns, and left an 11.5-foot (3.5 m) gash above the waterline; this slowed the ship to 15 knots until it could be repaired.[40] At approximately the same time, Posen accidentally rammed the light cruiser Elbing and holed her below the waterline. Elbing was damaged so severely that her engine room was completely flooded and she was unable to move; the captain of the ship ordered Elbing be scuttled to prevent her capture by the British.[41]
Shortly after 01:00, Nassau and
Later operations
Less than three months after Jutland, Scheer embarked on another operation in the North Sea; in the resulting action of 19 August 1916, Westfalen was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS E23, but suffered minimal damage and was soon repaired. Further operations took place in September and October, though the fleet saw little activity in 1917. While the bulk of the fleet conducted Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga in October 1917, the four Nassaus patrolled the eastern Baltic to block a potential British incursion to support Russia. In February 1918, Westfalen and Rheinland were detached from the High Seas Fleet and ordered into the Baltic Sea. A civil war had broken out in the newly independent Finland between the German-aligned Whites and Russia-aligned Reds, and the two ships were to aid the Whites. Posen joined them there in early April. On 11 April, Rheinland ran aground off Åland. Approximately 6,000 tons of guns, belt armor, and coal were removed in order to lighten her enough to be refloated, which was not accomplished until 9 July. Rheinland was never repaired, and instead saw the remainder of her service as a barracks ship in Kiel. Westfalen and Posen participated in the Battle of Helsinki, transporting German troops and providing artillery support.[43][44]
In late 1917, German light forces had begun raiding British convoys to Norway, prompting the British to send heavy escorts. This provided the German fleet with the opportunity for which it had been waiting the entire war: a chance to destroy an isolated portion of the Grand Fleet. The Germans had mistaken intelligence about the timing of the convoys, however, and failed to intercept one when they sortied in April 1918; Nassau was the only member of the class to take part in the operation.
Following the end of the First World War in 1918, eleven battleships of the
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, in order to increase the burn rate.[14]
- ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun 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 is 45 as times long as it is in diameter.[18]
Citations
- ^ a b Campbell & Sieche, p. 134.
- ^ Dodson, p. 72.
- ^ Dodson, pp. 72–73.
- ^ a b Dodson, p. 73.
- ^ Dodson, p. 74.
- ^ a b c d Ireland, p. 30.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Gröner, p. 23.
- ^ Friedman 1985, p. 63.
- ^ Lyon, pp. 100–101.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Staff, pp. 23, 35.
- ^ a b c d e Campbell & Sieche, p. 145.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 21.
- ^ Philbin, p. 56.
- ^ a b c Breyer, p. 263.
- ^ a b c d e Campbell & Sieche, p. 140.
- ^ a b Campbell, p. 13.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 140, 145.
- ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 138–139.
- ^ Friedman 2011, p. 143.
- ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 336–337.
- ^ Dodson, p. 75.
- ^ a b c Campbell, p. 14.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 13–14.
- ^ a b c d e Gröner, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Staff, pp. 11, 23–26.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 31–33, 38.
- ^ Staff, pp. 26, 43.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 195–198.
- ^ Staff, p. 43.
- ^ Halpern, p. 36.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 150–151, 178.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 286.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 94–101, 110.
- ^ Campbell, p. 34.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 153, 165, 172.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 101, 254, 257.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 220.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 250.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 225, 263, 296.
- ^ Gröner, p. 24.
- ^ Staff, pp. 26, 31–33.
- ^ Massie, pp. 747–748.
- ^ Staff, p. 27.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 280–282.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 139.
References
- Breyer, Siegfried (1973). Battleships and Battle Cruisers 1905–1970: Historical Development of the Capital Ship. Garden City: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-07247-2.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1977). Preston, Antony (ed.). "German Dreadnoughts and Their Protection". Warship. I (4). London: Conway Maritime Press: 12–20. ISSN 0142-6222.
- 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 (1985). U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-715-9.
- 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.
- Ireland, Bernard (1996). Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century. New York: Harper Collins Publishing. ISBN 978-0-00-470997-0.
- Lyon, Hugh; Moore, John E. (1987) [1978]. The Encyclopedia of the World's Warships. New York: Crescent Books. ISBN 978-0-517-22478-6.
- ISBN 978-0-345-40878-5.
- Nottlemann, Dirk (2015). "From Ironclads to Dreadnoughts: The Development of the German Navy 1864–1918, Part VI-A: "The Great Step Forward" continued". Warship International. LII (2): 137–174. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Nottlemann, Dirk (2015). "From Ironclads to Dreadnoughts: The Development of the German Navy 1864–1918, Part VI-B: "The Great Leap Forward" continued". Warship International. LII (4): 304–321. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Philbin, Tobias R. III (1982). Admiral Hipper: The Inconvenient Hero. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-90-6032-200-0.
- Staff, Gary (2010). German Battleships: 1914–1918. Vol. 1: Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland Classes. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84603-467-1.
- Tarrant, V. E. (2001) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-304-35848-9.
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 (1999). Von der Nassau – zur König-Klasse [From the Nassau to König Class] (in German). Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7637-5994-1.