SMS Hannover

She was assigned to II Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet, joining her sisters Deutschland and Pommern; she replaced the older battleship Brandenburg. From May to June 1908, Hannover took part in maneuvers in the North Sea. From the following month until August, the fleet conducted a training cruise into the Atlantic. During the cruise, Hannover stopped in Ponta Delgada in the Azores, part of Portugal, from 23 July to 1 August. The annual autumn exercises began in September; after these were completed, Hannover was transferred to I Squadron, where she served as the flagship for two years. At the time, the squadron commander was VAdm Henning von Holtzendorff, and the unit consisted of the battleships Schlesien, Mecklenburg, Zähringen, Wettin, Wittelsbach, Kaiser Karl der Grosse, and Kaiser Barbarossa, along with the old aviso Blitz in use as a tender. In November, fleet and unit exercises were conducted in the Baltic Sea.^[10]

The training regimen in which Hannover participated followed a similar pattern over the next five years. This included another cruise into the Atlantic, from 7 July to 1 August 1909, followed immediately by the annual autumn maneuvers in August and September. On 1 October, VAdm

Krosigk was replaced by KAdm Karl Zimmerman in January 1911. Hannover took part in fleet maneuvers in the North Sea in May, a fleet cruise to Norwegian waters in July and early August, and the annual maneuvers in August and September. The dreadnought Posen, which had by then joined the squadron, replaced Hannover as the deputy command flagship on 3 October, and the dreadnought Helgoland took her place in the squadron, allowing Hannover to be transferred back to II Squadron, based in Kiel. She took part in training with II Squadron in November and from February through April 1912. She then took Braunschweig's place as the deputy command flagship on 27 April, and KAdm Ehrhard Schmidt hoisted his flag aboard the ship that day. Fleet maneuvers in the North and Baltic Seas followed. Because of the Agadir Crisis with Britain and France, the summer cruise in July went only to the Baltic to avoid exposing the fleet to a possible attack. The autumn maneuvers took place as usual in August and September, after which KAdm Wilhelm von Souchon replaced Schmidt.^[12]

The year 1913 followed a pattern similar to 1912, though the summer cruise returned to Norway that year. After the autumn maneuvers, Souchon was relieved by

Hannover put to sea during the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915 to support the beleaguered German battlecruisers, but quickly returned to port. On 17–18 April, Hannover supported a minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank by the light cruisers of II Reconnaissance Group. A fleet advance to the Dogger Bank followed on 21–22 April. On 16 May, Hannover was sent to Kiel to have one of her 28 cm guns replaced. The ship returned to Kiel on 28 June to have supplemental oil firing installed for her boilers; work lasted until 12 July. KzS Gottfried von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels replaced Mauve on 11 August, raising his flag aboard Hannover on the 20th. On 11–12 September, II Reconnaissance Group conducted another minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank with Hannover and the rest of II Squadron in support. This was followed by another fruitless sweep by the fleet on 23–24 October. During the fleet advance of 5–7 March 1916, Hannover and the rest of II Squadron remained in the German Bight, ready to sail in support. They then rejoined the fleet during the operation to bombard Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24–25 April.^[13][14] During this operation, the battlecruiser Seydlitz was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely. Visibility was poor, so the operation was quickly called off before the British fleet could intervene.^[17]

Battle of Jutland

Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the commander of the German fleet, immediately planned another advance into the North Sea, but the damage to Seydlitz delayed the operation until the end of May.^[18] Hannover was the flagship in IV Division of II Battle Squadron, which was positioned at the rear of the German line. II Battle Squadron was commanded by Mauve.^[19] On 31 May, at 02:00 CET, Hipper's battlecruisers steamed out towards the Skagerrak, followed by the rest of the High Seas Fleet an hour and a half later.^[20] During the "Run to the North", Scheer ordered the fleet to pursue the retreating battleships of the British V Battle Squadron at top speed. Hannover and her sisters were significantly slower than the faster dreadnoughts and quickly fell behind.^[21] During this period, Scheer directed Hannover to place herself at the rear of the German line, so he would have a flagship on either end of the formation.^[22] By 19:30, the Grand Fleet had arrived on the scene and confronted Scheer with significant numerical superiority.^[23] The German fleet was severely hampered by the presence of the slower Deutschland-class ships; if Scheer ordered an immediate turn towards Germany, he would have to sacrifice the slower ships to make good his escape.^[24]

Scheer decided to reverse the course of the fleet with the Gefechtskehrtwendung (battle about turn), a maneuver that required every unit in the German line to turn 180° simultaneously.^[25] As a result of their having fallen behind, the ships of II Battle Squadron could not conform to the new course following the turn.^[26] Hannover and the other five ships of the squadron were, therefore, located on the disengaged side of the German line. Mauve considered moving his ships to the rear of the line, astern of III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts, but decided against it when he realized the movement would interfere with the maneuvering of Admiral Franz von Hipper's battlecruisers. Instead, he attempted to place his ships at the head of the line.^[27]

Later on the first day of the battle, the hard-pressed battlecruisers of I Scouting Group were being pursued by their British opponents. Hannover and the other so-called "five-minute ships" came to their aid by steaming in between the opposing battlecruiser squadrons.^[28][c] The ships were only very briefly engaged, owing in large part to the poor visibility. Hannover fired eight rounds from her 28 cm guns during this period.^[28] The British battlecruiser HMS Princess Royal fired on Hannover several times until the latter was obscured by smoke. Hannover was struck once by fragments from one of the 13.5-inch (34 cm) shells fired by Princess Royal.^[29] Mauve decided it would be inadvisable to continue the fight against the much more powerful battlecruisers, and so ordered an 8-point turn to starboard.^[30]

Late on the 31st, the fleet organized for the night voyage back to Germany; Deutschland, Pommern, and Hannover fell in behind König and the other dreadnoughts of III Battle Squadron towards the rear of the line.^[31] Hannover was then joined by the other members of her unit: Hessen, Schlesien, and Schleswig-Holstein.^[32] Hessen situated herself between Hannover and Pommern, while the other two ships fell in at the rear of the line.^[33] Shortly after 01:00, the leading ships of the German line came into contact with the armored cruiser HMS Black Prince, which was quickly destroyed in a hail of gunfire from the German dreadnoughts. Nassau was forced to fall out of line to avoid the sinking British ship, and an hour later rejoined the formation directly ahead of Hannover.^[34] At around 03:00, British destroyers conducted a series of attacks against the fleet, some of which targeted Hannover.^[35] Shortly thereafter, Pommern was struck by at least one torpedo from the destroyer Onslaught; the hit detonated an ammunition magazine which destroyed the ship in a tremendous explosion. Hannover was astern of Pommern and was forced to turn hard to starboard to avoid the wreck. Simultaneously, a third torpedo from Onslaught passed closely astern of Hannover, which forced the ship to turn away.^[36] Shortly after 04:00, Hannover and several other ships fired repeatedly at what were thought to be submarines; in one instance, the firing from Hannover and Hessen nearly damaged the light cruisers Stettin and München, which prompted Scheer to order them to cease firing.^[37] Hannover and several other ships again fired at imaginary submarines shortly before 06:00.^[38]

Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached

The experience at Jutland convinced Scheer that the pre-dreadnoughts of II Squadron could no longer be used as front-line battleships. Accordingly, they were detached from the High Seas Fleet and returned to guard duty in the Elbe. Now-KAdm Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels hauled down his flag on 30 November and a replacement was not appointed, though II Squadron remained in at least administrative existence until 15 August 1917. In the meantime, Hannover went to Kiel for maintenance on 4 November 1916 before resuming guard ship duties in the Elbe. From 10 February to 23 April 1917, she served as the flagship for VAdm Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz. During this period, on 21 March, the ship had some of her guns removed. From 25 June to 16 September, she was rebuilt to serve as a guard ship in the Danish straits; she began serving in this role on 27 September, replacing the battleship Lothringen.^[42]

Acts of insubordination began aboard the ship on 4 November 1918, as a wider

In 1923, Hannover visited Örnsköldsvik and Karlskrona in Sweden. She lost her role as flagship on 22 September, and the fleet was reorganized from North Sea and Baltic Sea commands to create the Battleship Division, to which Hannover was assigned. In mid-1924, the Battleship Division made its first major overseas cruise to Spain, and Hannover stopped in Portugalete from 6 to 13 July. Paul Behncke, the commander of the Reichsmarine, came aboard the ship during the autumn maneuvers in August and September, which concluded with a fleet review off Hel, Poland, on 10 September. While en route from Wilhelmshaven to Kiel in December, Hannover collided with a tugboat that had been torn from its moorings. Hannover was damaged in the accident and water flooded the engine room, forcing her to return to Wilhelmshaven for repairs that lasted until February 1925. The fleet cruised Norwegian waters during the summer cruise and visited Oslo and Ulvik, and in September the ships conducted training in the North Sea. On 1 October, Hannover once again became a flagship, this time for the 2nd Admiral of the Battleship Division, KzS und Kommodore Wilhelm Prentzel. At that time, the active German fleet consisted of Hannover, Braunschweig, the light cruiser Amazone, and II Torpedo-boat Flotilla.^[47]

Hannover took part in several major cruises in 1926, the first of which, from 13 May to 18 June, went to Spain and the

Argostolion, Palma de Mallorca, and Cádiz before arriving back in Wilhelmshaven on 18 June.^[48]

Hannover took part in a large fleet parade in the Baltic on 20 May 1931 for President

Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.^[51]

Footnotes

Notes

Citations

1. ^ Staff, p. 5.
2. ^ Hore, p. 69.
3. ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 21–22.
4. ^ Herwig, p. 57.
5. ^ Gröner, p. 20.
6. ^ Gröner, p. 21.
7. ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
8. ^ Gröner, pp. 20–21.
9. ^ Staff, p. 6.
10. ^ ^{a b} Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 73.
11. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 73–74.
12. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 74–75.
13. ^ ^{a b} Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 75.
14. ^ ^{a b c d} Staff, p. 11.
15. ^ Herwig, p. 144.
16. ^ Tarrant, pp. 31–33.
17. ^ Tarrant, pp. 52–54.
18. ^ Tarrant, p. 58.
19. ^ Tarrant, p. 286.
20. ^ ^{a b} Tarrant, p. 62.
21. ^ London, p. 73.
22. ^ Tarrant, p. 84.
23. ^ Tarrant, p. 150.
24. ^ Tarrant, pp. 150–152.
25. ^ Tarrant, pp. 152–153.
26. ^ Tarrant, p. 154.
27. ^ Tarrant, p. 155.
28. ^ ^{a b} Tarrant, p. 195.
29. ^ Campbell, p. 254.
30. ^ Tarrant, pp. 195–196.
31. ^ Tarrant, p. 241.
32. ^ Campbell, p. 275.
33. ^ Campbell, p. 294.
34. ^ Campbell, p. 290.
35. ^ Tarrant, p. 242.
36. ^ Campbell, p. 300.
37. ^ Campbell, p. 314.
38. ^ Campbell, p. 315.
39. ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
40. ^ Tarrant, p. 263.
41. ^ Tarrant, p. 292.
42. ^ ^{a b c d} Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 76.
43. ^ Armistice, Chapter V.
44. ^ Staff, p. 12.
45. ^ Sieche, p. 218.
46. ^ Williamson, pp. 5–6.
47. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 76–77.
48. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 77–78.
49. ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 141.
50. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 78.
51. ^ Gröner, p. 22.

References

• Campbell, John (1998). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. London: Conway Maritime Press.
  ISBN 978-1-55821-759-1
  .
• 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
  .
• 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
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• Herwig, Holger (1998) [1980]. "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Amherst: Humanity Books.
  ISBN 978-1-57392-286-9
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• 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. 4. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
  ISBN 978-3-7822-0382-1
  .
• Hore, Peter (2006). The Ironclads: An Illustrated History of Battleships From 1860 Through to The First World War. London: Southwater Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1-84476-299-6
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• London, Charles (2000). Jutland 1916: Clash of the Dreadnoughts. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1-85532-992-8
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• Sieche, Erwin (1992). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 218–254.
  ISBN 978-0-85177-146-5
  .
• Staff, Gary (2010). German Battleships: 1914–1918. Vol. 1: Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland Classes. Oxford: Osprey Books.
  ISBN 978-1-84603-467-1
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• Tarrant, V. E. (2001) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks.
  ISBN 978-0-304-35848-9
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• Williamson, Gordon (2003). German Battleships 1939–45. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1-84176-498-6
  .
• Armistice between the Allied Governments and Germany, Chapter V.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SMS Hannover (ship, 1905).

• ISBN 978-1-59114-923-1
  .
• 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 (2001). Die Panzer- und Linienschiffe der Brandenburg-, Kaiser Friedrich III-, Wittlesbach-, Braunschweig- und Deutschland-Klasse [The Armored and Battleships of the Brandenburg, Kaiser Friedrich III, Wittelsbach, Braunschweig, and Deutschland Classes] (in German). Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag.
  ISBN 978-3-7637-6211-8
  .