SMS Beowulf
 SMS Beowulf
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Beowulf |
| Namesake | Beowulf |
| Builder | AG Weser's works in Bremen |
| Laid down | January 1890 |
| Launched | 8 November 1890 |
| Commissioned | 1 April 1892 |
| Decommissioned | 31 August 1915 |
| Recommissioned | 12 December 1917 |
| Decommissioned | 30 November 1918 |
| Stricken | 17 June 1919 |
| Fate | Scrapped at Danzig , 1921 |
| General characteristics as built | |
| Class and type | coast defense ship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 79 m (259 ft 2 in) |
| Beam | 14.90 m (48 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 5.74 m (18.8 ft) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 15.1 knots (28.0 km/h; 17.4 mph) |
| Range | 4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
SMS Beowulf was the second vessel of the six-member
Design
In the late 1880s, the German
Beowulf was 79 meters (259 ft)
Her propulsion system consisted of two vertical 3-cylinder
The ship was armed with a
Modifications
In 1897, the ship had her anti-torpedo nets removed. Beowulf was extensively rebuilt between 1900 and 1902 in an attempt to improve her usefulness. The ship was lengthened to 86.13 m (282.6 ft), which increased displacement 4,320 t (4,250 long tons; 4,760 short tons) at full load. The lengthened hull space was used to install additional boilers; her old fire-tube boilers were replaced with more efficient water-tube boilers, and a second funnel was added. The performance of her propulsion machinery increased to 15.1 knots (28.0 km/h; 17.4 mph) from 5,078 metric horsepower (3,735 kW), with a maximum range of 3,400 nmi (6,300 km; 3,900 mi) at 10 knots. Her secondary battery was increased to ten 8.8 cm guns, and the 35 cm torpedo tubes were replaced with three 45 cm (17.7 in) tubes. Her crew increased to 20 officers and 287 enlisted men. Work was completed by 1900.[2]
Service history
Construction – 1894
Beowulf was
The ship then went to
Unlike in previous years, where the fleet was decommissioned over the winter months, Beowulf remained on active service through the winter of 1892–1893, when she and Siegfried joined the elderly ironclads
1895–1914
Beowulf remained out of service until 1 August 1895, when she was recommissioned for the annual fleet maneuvers with KK
She was recommissioned on 3 August 1897 to participate in the fleet maneuvers, this time in III Division, II Squadron. The ship suffered another breakdown on 13 September, forcing her to return to Wilhelmshaven; repair work lasted until 1 October. When she returned to service, she came under the command of KK Hugo Emsmann. Beowulf spent the rest of the year on training cruises; while cruising off Norway on 15 November, she was caught in a severe storm that forced her to take shelter in the port of Arendal for three days. On 31 May 1898, Beowulf got underway in company with Frithjof for a visit to Norway; the ships stopped in Molde, Ålesund, and Stavanger over the course of the voyage, which concluded in Wilhelmshaven on 11 June. She spent the rest of the year with the normal routine of training exercises with the fleet and individually. In July, KK Wilhelm Kindt temporarily replaced Emsmann as the ship's captain for the duration of the fleet maneuvers, when Emsmann returned to the vessel. KK Hermann Lilie took command of the ship in November. From 12 to 19 November, she visited Gravesend, Britain.[8]
The ship conducted her normal peacetime training exercises in the first half of 1899, thereafter joining III Division for the annual maneuvers from 1 August to 16 September. She was decommissioned in early 1900 for an extensive reconstruction, which was carried out at the
World War I
Following the outbreak of
In May 1915, Beowulf participated in a combined naval and ground assault on the port of
Work on the ship was completed on 8 September, allowing her to return to guard duties in the North Sea three days later. She largely operated off Borkum during this period. On 31 August, VI Squadron was disbanded, though Beowulf remained on patrol duty, now assigned to the Coastal Defense Division of the Ems, operating here until 28 February 1916. Having been withdrawn from front-line service, she had her crew reduced on 2 March, and she was thereafter employed as a target ship for U-boats and as a tender for the light cruiser Hamburg, the flagship of the Leader of U-boats. At that time, Kapitänleutnant (Captain Lieutenant) Franz Strauch relieved Ebert as the ship's commander. On 12 March 1917, Beowulf was decommissioned in Danzig.[13]
She was recommissioned on 12 December for use as an
Notes
- ^ Dodson, pp. 33–34.
- ^ a b c d Gröner, pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 11.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 52.
- ^ Lyon, p. 246.
- ^ a b Sondhaus, pp. 194–195.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 51–52.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 51–53.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 53–54, 161.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 142.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 191–193.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 54.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 52, 54.
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 978-1-84832-229-5.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Nottleman, Dirk (2012). "From Ironclads to Dreadnoughts: The Development of the German Navy 1864–1918- Part III: The von Caprivi Era". Warship International. LXIX (4): 317–355. ISSN 0043-0374.