SMS Brandenburg

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Lithograph
of SMS Brandenburg in 1902
History
German Empire
NameBrandenburg
NamesakeProvince of Brandenburg
BuilderAG Vulcan Stettin
Laid downMay 1890
Launched21 September 1891
Commissioned19 November 1893
FateScrapped in 1920
General characteristics
Class and typeBrandenburg-class battleship
Displacement
Length115.7 m (379 ft 7 in) loa
Beam19.5 m (64 ft)
Draft7.6 m (24 ft 11 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 2 × screw propellers
  • 2 ×
    triple-expansion steam engines
Speed16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Range4,300 nautical miles (8,000 km; 4,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement
  • 38 officers
  • 530 enlisted men
Armament
Armor

SMS Brandenburg

launched on 21 September 1891, and commissioned into the German Navy on 19 November 1893. Brandenburg and her three sisters were unique for their time in that they carried six heavy guns instead of the four that were standard in other navies. She was named after the Province of Brandenburg
.

Brandenburg served with

Danzig
, after the war, in 1920.

Design

Line drawing for this type of ship; the vessel had three large gun turrets on the centerline and two thin smoke stacks.
As depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1902

Brandenburg was the first

coastal defense ships in the 1880s.[2] In August 1888, the Kaiser, who had a strong interest in naval matters, replaced Caprivi with Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Alexander von Monts and instructed him to include four battleships in the 1889–1890 naval budget. Monts, who favored a fleet of battleships over the coastal defense strategy emphasized by his predecessor, cancelled the last four coastal defense ships authorized under Caprivi and instead ordered four 10,000-metric-ton (9,800-long-ton) battleships. Though they were the first modern battleships built in Germany, presaging the Tirpitz-era High Seas Fleet, the authorization for the ships came as part of a construction program that reflected the strategic and tactical confusion of the 1880s caused by the Jeune École (Young School).[3]

Brandenburg and her sister ships—

metric horsepower (9,900 ihp) and a top speed of 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph). She had a maximum range of 4,300 nautical miles (8,000 km; 4,900 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Her crew numbered 38 officers and 530 enlisted men.[1]

The ship was unusual for its time in that it possessed a

amidships turret mounted a pair of 28 cm (11 in) guns with shorter L/35 barrels. Her secondary armament consisted of eight 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 quick-firing guns mounted in casemates and eight 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns, also casemate mounted. Brandenburg's armament system was rounded out with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, all in above-water swivel mounts.[1] Although the main battery was heavier than other capital ships of the period, the secondary armament was considered weak in comparison to other battleships.[2]

The ship was protected with

compound armor. Her main belt armor was 400 millimeters (15.7 in) thick in the central citadel that protected the ammunition magazines and machinery spaces. The deck was 60 mm (2.4 in) thick. The main battery barbettes were protected with 300 mm (11.8 in) thick armor.[1]

Service history

Construction to 1896

A large gray warship with two tall masts and two thin smoke stacks sits motionless offshore
Illustration of Brandenburg by William Frederick Mitchell, c. 1894

Ordered as battleship A, Brandenburg was

Sea trials began four days later; on the first day of trials, Wilhelm II and a delegation from the Brandenburg provincial government came aboard the ship to observe. On 27 December, the ship received a flag bearing the coat of arms of Brandenburg, which was flown on special occasions. At the end of the month, Brandenburg was formally assigned to II Division of the Maneuver Squadron.[5]

Trials continued into 1894, and while conducting

Prince Henry, aboard the nearby transport ship Pelikan, immediately ordered the ship to come to Brandenburg's aid, and took off the dead and wounded men. Brandenburg then put into Wiker Bucht, and was later towed to Kiel, where she entered the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) for repairs. The accident caused a minor political incident after the press criticized Wilhelm II for failing to send Prince Henry to the funerals for the sailors. Additionally, VAdm Friedrich von Hollmann, the State Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Naval Office) stated before the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) that "such accidents could occur again and again", which increased parliamentary resistance to further increases in naval budgets; this led to an initial rejection of funds for the first armored cruiser, Fürst Bismarck. Admirals Eduard von Knorr and Hans von Koester criticized the comment, forcing Hollmann to publicly apologize.[5]

Germany is bordered in the northwest by the North Sea, across which is Great Britain, and in the northeast by the Baltic Sea and its rival Russia
Map of the North and Baltic Seas in 1911

Repair work was completed by 16 April, allowing Brandenburg to return to trials which lasted until the middle of August, and included a cruise through the

Oscar II held a reception for the visiting German delegation. Thereafter, further exercises were conducted in the Baltic before the ships had to put into their home ports for repairs.[7]

The year 1895 began with what became the normal training cruises to

Cowes Regatta while the rest of the fleet stayed off the Isle of Wight.[9]

Illustration of Brandenburg

On 10 August, the fleet returned to Wilhelmshaven and began preparations for the autumn maneuvers later that month. The first exercises began in the

Nieuwediep. Further maneuvers, which lasted from the end of May to the end of July, took the squadron further north in the North Sea, frequently into Norwegian waters where the ships visited Bergen from 11 to 18 May. During the maneuvers, Wilhelm II and the Chinese viceroy Li Hongzhang observed a fleet review off Kiel.[14] On 9 August, the training fleet assembled in Wilhelmshaven for the annual autumn fleet training.[11]

1897–1900

Brandenburg and the rest of the fleet operated under the normal routine of individual and unit training in the first half of 1897. Early in the year, the naval command considered deploying I Division to another naval demonstration off Morocco to protest the murder of two German nationals there, but a smaller squadron of sailing frigates was sent instead. The typical routine was interrupted in early August when Wilhelm II and

line-ahead formation led to a great deal of rigidity in the tactics. Thomsen's emphasis on shooting created the basis for the excellent German gunnery during World War I. The maneuvers were completed by 22 September in Wilhelmshaven.[15]

An illustration of a large warship steaming at high speed and creating a large bow wave
Brandenburg underway

In early December, I Division conducted maneuvers in the Kattegat and the Skagerrak, though they were cut short due to shortages in officers and men.[16] Additionally, while steaming through the Great Belt, Brandenburg collided with the ironclad Württemberg, damaging both vessels and forcing them to put into Kiel for repairs. After temporary repairs to Brandenburg were completed, she moved to Wilhelmshaven, where a new ram bow had to be installed.[12] The fleet followed the typical routine of individual and fleet training in 1898 without incident, though a voyage to the British Isles was also included and the fleet stopped in Queenstown, Greenock, and Kirkwall. The fleet assembled in Kiel on 14 August for the annual autumn exercises: the maneuvers included a mock blockade of the coast of Mecklenburg and a pitched battle with an "Eastern Fleet" in the Danzig Bay. While steaming back to Kiel, a severe storm hit the fleet, causing significant damage to many ships and sinking the torpedo boat S58. The fleet then transited the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and continued the maneuvers in the North Sea. Training finished on 17 September in Wilhelmshaven. In December, I Division conducted artillery and torpedo training in Eckernförde Bay, followed by divisional training in the Kattegat and Skagerrak. During these maneuvers, the division visited Kungsbacka, Sweden, from 9 to 13 December. After returning to Kiel, the ships of I Division went into dock for their winter repairs.[17]

During a snowstorm on 22 March 1899, the anchor chain for the ironclad

naval review celebrating Queen Victoria's 80th birthday. The fleet returned to Kiel on 31 May.[18]

In July, the fleet conducted squadron maneuvers in the North Sea, which included coast defense exercises with soldiers from the X Corps. On 16 August, the fleet assembled in Danzig once again for the annual autumn maneuvers.[18] The exercises started in the Baltic and on 30 August the fleet passed through the Kattegat and Skagerrak and steamed into the North Sea for further maneuvers in the German Bight, which lasted until 7 September. After a third phase of the maneuvers in the Kattegat and the Great Belt from 8 to 26 September, the fleet went into port for annual maintenance. The year 1900 began with the usual routine of individual and divisional exercises. In the second half of March, the squadrons met in Kiel, followed by torpedo and gunnery practice in April and a voyage to the eastern Baltic. From 7 to 26 May, the fleet went on a major training cruise to the northern North Sea, which included stops in Shetland from 12 to 15 May and in Bergen from 18 to 22 May.[19] On 8 July, the ships of I Division were reassigned to II Division.[20]

Boxer Uprising

During the

Edward Seymour, these men attempted to reach Beijing but were forced to stop in Tianjin due to heavy resistance.[27] As a result, the Kaiser determined an expeditionary force would be sent to China to reinforce the East Asia Squadron. The expedition included Brandenburg and her three sisters, six cruisers, ten freighters, three torpedo boats, and six regiments of marines, under the command of Generalfeldmarschall (General Field Marshal) Alfred von Waldersee.[28]

Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory

On 7 July, KAdm

Colombo, Ceylon, and on 14 August they passed through the Strait of Malacca. They arrived in Singapore on 18 August and departed five days later, reaching Hong Kong on 28 August. Two days later, the expeditionary force stopped in the outer roadstead at Wusong, downriver from Shanghai.[29]

By the time the German fleet had arrived, the siege of Beijing had already been lifted by forces from other members of the Eight-Nation Alliance that had formed to deal with the Boxers.

Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory, where she took part in training exercises with the rest of the expeditionary force.[12]

On 26 May, the German high command recalled the expeditionary force to Germany. The fleet took on supplies in Shanghai and departed Chinese waters on 1 June. The ships stopped in Singapore from 10 to 15 June and took on coal before proceeding to Colombo, where they stayed from 22 to 26 June. Steaming against the

1901–1914

A large warship moored to a buoy, with a group of sailors crowded together on the bow
Brandenburg sometime after 1895

Upon their return, Brandenburg and her sisters were assigned to I Squadron. On 21 August, the annual fleet maneuvers began; these were interrupted on 11 September when Nicholas II visited the fleet while on another visit to Germany. The ships conducted a

German Army in joint exercises in West Prussia that included the ships' Seebataillon (marines), and I Corps and XVII Corps. Later in the year, Brandenburg took part in a winter cruise, followed by a period in the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven for periodic maintenance. The year 1902 followed the routine pattern of individual, unit, and fleet training, along with a major cruise to Norway and Scotland, which concluded by passing through the English Channel. After completing the fleet maneuvers in August and September, Brandenburg was decommissioned on 23 October. The ship's crew were sent to man the newly commissioned battleship Zähringen, which took her place in I Squadron.[34]

In the early 1900s, the four Brandenburgs were taken into the drydocks at the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven for major reconstruction. Brandenburg was modernized between 1903 and 1904.[1] During the modernization, a second conning tower was added in the aft superstructure, along with a gangway.[35] Brandenburg and the other ships had their boilers replaced with newer models, and also had the hamper amidships reduced.[2] She was recommissioned on 4 April 1905 and was assigned to II Squadron of what was now renamed the Active Battlefleet, though she remained in service only briefly. She participated in the normal routine of training exercises through 1905, 1906, and 1907, before being decommissioned again on 30 September 1907. During this period, the only noteworthy incident involving Brandenburg was a minor grounding outside Stockholm that did not inflict any damage on the ship. Upon her second decommissioning, her crew was again sent to staff a new battleship, this time Hannover. Brandenburg was thereafter assigned to the Reserve Formation of the North Sea.[36]

By 1910, the first

dreadnought battleships began to enter service with the German fleet, rendering older vessels like Brandenburg obsolescent.[37] That year, she temporarily returned to service with III Squadron to take part in the annual fleet maneuvers. After the exercises ended, she returned to what was now the Reserve Division of the North Sea, where she conducted further training. In mid-1911, she was transferred to the Training and Experimental Ships Unit, where she participated in training exercises in the Baltic. Brandenburg again temporarily returned to III Squadron for the fleet maneuvers in August and September, and on 16 October she was again decommissioned. In 1912, she was allocated to the Marinestation der Ostsee (Baltic Sea Naval Station), where she remained inactive for the following two years.[36]

World War I and subsequent activity

Illustration of a Brandenburg-class battleship with torpedo boats in the foreground

At the outbreak of

Windau, but a shortage of transports forced a revision of the plan. Instead, V Squadron was to carry the landing force, but this too was cancelled after Heinrich received false reports of British warships having entered the Baltic on 25 September.[38] Brandenburg and the rest of the squadron returned to Kiel the following day, disembarked the landing force, and then proceeded to the North Sea, where they resumed guard ship duties. Before the end of the year, V Squadron was once again transferred to the Baltic. Prince Henry next ordered a foray toward Gotland. On 26 December, the battleships rendezvoused with the Baltic cruiser division in the Bay of Pomerania and then departed on the sortie. Two days later, the fleet arrived off Gotland to show the German flag, and was back in Kiel by 30 December.[39]

The squadron returned to the North Sea for guard duties, but was withdrawn from front-line service in February 1915. Shortages of trained crews in the High Seas Fleet, coupled with the risk of operating older ships in wartime, necessitated the deactivation of the V Squadron ships.[39] Brandenburg had her crew reduced in Kiel, and she was briefly assigned to the reserve division in the Baltic. From July to December, she underwent shipyard maintenance, before being transferred to Libau. On 20 December, she was decommissioned there, for use as a water distillation and barracks ship. Her heavy guns were removed for use in the Ottoman Empire, but there is no record of them ever having been shipped to the Ottomans. Near the end of the war, Brandenburg was taken back to Danzig, where work began to convert her into a target ship, but the war ended before the reconstruction was completed.[36] Brandenburg was struck from the naval register on 13 May 1919 and sold for scrapping.[40] The ship was purchased by Norddeutsche Tiefbaugesellschaft, a shipbreaking firm headquartered in Berlin, and she was then broken up for scrap in Danzig.[35]

Footnotes

Notes

  1. Seiner Majestät Schiff
    ", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German.
  2. ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "K" stands for Kanone (cannon), 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 barrel is 40 times the bore diameter.[4]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e Gröner, p. 13.
  2. ^ a b c d Hore, p. 66.
  3. ^ Sondhaus Weltpolitik, pp. 179–181.
  4. ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
  5. ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, p. 109.
  6. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, pp. 109–110.
  7. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 175.
  8. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 175–176.
  9. ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 176.
  10. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 75.
  11. ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 179.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, p. 110.
  13. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 176–178.
  14. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 178.
  15. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 180–181.
  16. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 181.
  17. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 181–183.
  18. ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 183.
  19. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 184–185.
  20. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 186.
  21. ^ Bodin, pp. 5–6.
  22. ^ Bodin, p. 1.
  23. ^ Holborn, p. 311.
  24. ^ Bodin, p. 6.
  25. ^ Harrington, p. 29.
  26. ^ Bodin, p. 11.
  27. ^ Bodin, pp. 11–12.
  28. ^ Herwig, p. 106.
  29. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 186–187.
  30. ^ Sondhaus Naval Warfare, p. 186.
  31. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 187.
  32. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 188–189.
  33. ^ Herwig, p. 103.
  34. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, pp. 110–111.
  35. ^ a b Gröner, p. 14.
  36. ^ a b c d Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, p. 111.
  37. ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 141, 144–145.
  38. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 62–63.
  39. ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 63.
  40. ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 141.

References

Further reading