SMS Kaiser (1911)
SMS Kaiser
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | Kaiser |
Builder | Kaiserliche Werft, Kiel |
Laid down | December 1909 |
Launched | 22 March 1911 |
Commissioned | 1 August 1912 |
Fate | Scuttled at Scapa Flow, 21 June 1919 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Kaiser-class battleship |
Displacement |
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Length | 172.40 m (565 ft 7 in) |
Beam | 29 m (95 ft 2 in) |
Draft | 9.10 m (29 ft 10 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 23.4 knots (43.3 km/h; 26.9 mph) |
Range | 7,900 nmi (14,600 km; 9,100 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Crew |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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SMS Kaiser
In 1913, Kaiser and her sister König Albert conducted a cruise to South America and South Africa. The ship participated in most of the major fleet operations during the war. She fought at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, during which she was hit twice and suffered negligible damage. The ship was also present during Operation Albion in the Baltic Sea in September and October 1917, and at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917.
During peace negotiations after the end of the war in 1918, she was interned with other ships of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow. On 21 June 1919 the commander of the interned fleet, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, ordered the fleet to be scuttled to ensure that the British would not be able to seize the ships. The wreck was raised in 1929 and broken up in Rosyth in 1930.
Design
The ship was 172.40 m (565 ft 7 in) long
Kaiser was armed with a
Her main
Service history
Ordered under the contract name Ersatz Hildebrand as a replacement for the obsolete
After joining the active fleet in December 1912, Kaiser was stationed in Kiel. The ship then conducted individual training. In February 1913, Kaiser was transferred to
Kaiser was selected to participate in a long-distance cruise to test the reliability of the new turbine propulsion system. The ship was joined by her sister
On 11 April, the ships departed Valparaiso for the long journey back to Germany. On the return trip, the ships visited several more ports, including
World War I
The High Seas Fleet, including Kaiser, conducted a number of sweeps and advances into the North Sea. The first occurred on 2–3 November 1914, though no British forces were encountered. Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, the commander of the High Seas Fleet, adopted a strategy in which the battlecruisers of Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group raided British coastal towns to lure out portions of the Grand Fleet where they could be destroyed by the High Seas Fleet.[10] The raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 15–16 December 1914 was the first such operation.[11] On the evening of 15 December, the German battle fleet of some twelve dreadnoughts—including Kaiser and her four sisters—and eight pre-dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) of an isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer screens in the darkness convinced Ingenohl that he was faced with the entire Grand Fleet. Under orders from Kaiser Wilhelm II to avoid risking the fleet unnecessarily, Ingenohl broke off the engagement and turned the battlefleet back toward Germany.[12]
Following the loss of
On 12 January 1916, Admiral Reinhard Scheer replaced Pohl as the fleet commander.[14] Kaiser was present during the fleet advance on 5–7 March, though this too ended without action. While in port in Kiel, the old pre-dreadnought Hannover accidentally collided with Kaiser, though neither ship was seriously damaged. Scheer continued the series of fleet operations practiced by his predecessors; the fleet conducted sweeps of the North Sea on 26 March, 2–3 April, and 21–22 April. The battlecruisers conducted another raid on the English coast on 24–25 April, during which Kaiser and the rest of the fleet provided distant support.[8] Scheer planned another raid for mid-May, but the battlecruiser Seydlitz had struck a mine during the previous raid and the repair work forced the operation to be pushed back until the end of the month.[15]
Battle of Jutland
Almost immediately after the Lowestoft raid, Scheer began planning another foray into the North Sea. He had initially intended to launch the operation in mid-May, by which time the mine damage to Seydlitz was scheduled to be repaired—Scheer was unwilling to embark on a major raid without his battlecruiser forces at full strength. On 9 May, however, several battleships developed problems with their engines, which delayed the operation further, to 23 May.[16] On 22 May, Seydlitz was still not fully repaired, and the operation was again postponed, this time to 29 May.[15] At noon on 29 May, the repairs to Seydlitz were finally completed, and the ship returned to I Scouting Group.[17] The plan called for Hipper's battlecruisers to steam north to the Skagerrak, with the intention of luring out a portion of the British fleet so it could be destroyed by Scheer's waiting battleships.[18]
Kaiser and the rest of III Battle Squadron were the leading unit of the High Seas Fleet; the four
Shortly before 16:00 CET,[d] the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group encountered the British 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, under the command of David Beatty. The opposing ships began an artillery duel that saw the destruction of Indefatigable, shortly after 17:00,[20] and Queen Mary, less than half an hour later.[21] By this time, the German battlecruisers were steaming south in order to draw the British ships towards the main body of the High Seas Fleet. At 17:30, König's crew spotted both I Scouting Group and the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron approaching. The German battlecruisers were steaming to starboard, while the British ships steamed to port. At 17:45, Scheer ordered a two-point turn to port to bring his ships closer to the British battlecruisers, and a minute later at 17:46, the order to open fire was given.[22]
Between 17:48 and 17:52, Kaiser, Kronprinz, Friedrich der Grosse, and all eight battleships of I Squadron opened fire on several ships of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron; Kaiser, Ostfriesland, and Nassau engaged HMS Southampton, though only Nassau managed to score a hit on the cruiser.[23] In the span of eight minutes, Kaiser fired eleven salvos at Southampton without success.[24] The 2nd LCS then moved back out of range, having largely escaped unscathed.[23] At 17:58, Scheer ordered the fleet to maximum speed; the greater speed of the Königs caused the distance between Kaiser and König to rapidly increase. At 18:05, Southampton again came into range, and Kaiser opened fire. Kaiser fired four salvos at a range of 12,000 m (13,000 yd), though again without scoring any hits. After three minutes of firing, Kaiser's guns again fell silent.[25]
Starting at 18:10, Kaiser began firing on the 5th Battle Squadron battleship Malaya; in the span of 25 minutes, Kaiser fired 27 salvos at an average range of 17,300 m (18,900 yd).[26] The British destroyers Nestor and Nomad, which had been disabled earlier in the engagement, lay directly in the path of the advancing High Seas Fleet.[27] Shortly before 18:30, Kaiser and her three sister ships opened fire on Nomad with their secondary batteries. The hail of 15-cm shells smothered the ship; a fire was started and one shell detonated the ship's forward ammunition magazine. Nomad sank stern first at 18:30. Nestor was meanwhile destroyed by the battleships of I Squadron.[28]
Shortly after 19:00, the German cruiser Wiesbaden had become disabled by a shell from the British battlecruiser Invincible; Rear Admiral Behncke in König attempted to maneuver III Squadron to cover the stricken cruiser.[29] Simultaneously, the British 3rd and 4th Light Cruiser Squadrons began a torpedo attack on the German line; while advancing to torpedo range, they smothered Wiesbaden with fire from their main guns. The eight III Squadron battleships fired on the British cruisers, but even sustained fire from the battleships' main guns failed to drive off the British cruisers.[30] The armored cruisers Defence, Warrior, and Black Prince joined in the attack on the crippled Wiesbaden.[31] Between 19:14 and 19:17, Kaiser and several other battleships and battlecruisers opened fire on Defence and Warrior.[32] Defence was struck by several heavy caliber shells from the German dreadnoughts. One salvo penetrated the ship's ammunition magazines and, in a massive explosion, destroyed the cruiser.[33]
As Warrior limped away to the west, the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships of the 5th Battle Squadron joined the Grand Fleet as it entered the battle from the north. However, Warspite was forced to haul out of line to the south, towards the oncoming German fleet.[34] Warspite came under intense fire from the approaching German battleships; Kaiser scored a hit on Warspite that damaged her steering gear and forced her to steam in a circle, out of control.[35] After completing two full circles and sustaining 13 heavy hits, Warspite came back under control and rejoined the squadron. However, by 20:00 the steering gear had again failed, so the ship was forced to withdraw from the engagement.[36]
By 20:15, the German fleet had faced the Grand Fleet for a second time and was forced to turn away; in doing so, the order of the German line was reversed. Kaiser was now the fifth ship from the rear of the German line, ahead of only the four König-class battleships.
Shortly before 21:30, Kaiser, Prinzregent Luitpold, and Markgraf spotted British light forces approaching. The German ships opened fire at a range of around 7,300 m (8,000 yd) with both their main and secondary armament. The light cruiser Calliope was badly damaged, which forced the British ships to withdraw.[40] At around 23:30, the German fleet reorganized into the night cruising formation. Kaiser was the twelfth ship, in the center of the 24-ship line.[41]
After a series of night engagements between the leading battleships and British destroyers, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British light forces and reached Horns Reef by 04:00 on 1 June.[42] The German fleet reached Wilhelmshaven a few hours later; the I Squadron battleships took up defensive positions in the outer roadstead and Kaiser, Kaiserin, Prinzregent Luitpold, and Kronprinz stood ready just outside the entrance to Wilhelmshaven.[43] The remainder of the battleships and battlecruisers entered Wilhelmshaven, where those that were still in fighting condition replenished their stocks of coal and ammunition.[44] The two shell hits suffered by Kaiser had been largely ineffectual, wounding only one crewmember.[45]
Subsequent operations
On 18 August, Admiral Scheer attempted a repeat of the 31 May operation; the two serviceable German battlecruisers—
Another fleet advance followed on 18–20 October, though it ended without encountering any British units. Two weeks later, on 4 November, Kaiser took part in an expedition to the western coast of Denmark to assist two U-boats—U-20 and U-30—that had become stranded there. On 1 December, the High Seas Fleet was reorganized; Kaiser and her sisters were transferred to the newly created IV Battle Squadron, with Kaiser as the flagship. In 1917, the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare was reinstated; the surface units of the German navy were therefore tasked with covering the departures and arrivals of the U-boats. As a result, Kaiser spent most of the year on picket duty in the German Bight. In May 1917, Kaiser went into the dock for periodic maintenance.[8]
Operation Albion
In early September 1917, following the German Army's conquest of the Russian port of
On 24 September, Kaiser left Kiel, bound for the
By 20 October, the fighting on the islands was winding down; Moon, Ösel, and Dagö were in German possession. The previous day, the Admiralstab had ordered the cessation of naval actions and the return of the dreadnoughts to the High Seas Fleet as soon as possible.[52] On 31 October Kaiser and the rest of the Special Unit were detached from the operation and sent back to Kiel, which they reached by 2 November. Kaiser was back in the North Sea on 7 November.[51]
Final operations
Kaiser and Kaiserin were assigned to security duty in the Bight on 17 November; they were tasked with providing support to II Scouting Group (II SG) and several minesweepers.
On 2 February 1918, the light cruiser Stralsund struck a mine; Kaiser was among those ships that sortied to escort the damaged cruiser back to port. The ship was also present during the fleet advance on 23–24 April.[51] The operation was intended to intercept a heavily escorted British convoy to Norway on 23–25 April, though the operation was canceled when the battlecruiser Moltke suffered mechanical damage.[55] In the final months of the war, Captain Hermann Bauer took command of the ship; his period in command lasted from August to November.[6]
Kaiser was to have taken part in a
Fate
Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, most of their fleet ships were interned in the British naval base in
A copy of The Times informed Reuter that the Armistice was to expire at noon on 21 June 1919, the deadline by which Germany was to have signed the peace treaty. Reuter came to the conclusion that the British intended to seize the German ships after the Armistice expired. Unaware that the deadline had been extended to the 23rd, Reuter ordered the ships to be sunk.[e] On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers, and at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships.[59] Kaiser sank at 13:24; the ship was raised in 1929 and broken up for scrap in Rosyth starting in 1930.[1]
Notes
Footnotes
- Seiner Majestät Schiff" (German: His Majesty's Ship).
- ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick loading, while the L/50 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/50 gun is 50 calibers, meaning that the gun is 45 times as long as it is in bore diameter.[2]
- ^ German warships were ordered under provisional names. For new additions to the fleet, they were given a single letter; for those ships intended to replace older or lost vessels, they were ordered as "Ersatz (name of the ship to be replaced)".
- ^ The times mentioned in this section are in CET, which is congruent with the German perspective. This is one hour ahead of UTC, the time zone commonly used in British works.
- ^ There is some contention as to whether Reuter was aware that the Armistice had been extended. Admiral Sydney Fremantle stated that he informed Reuter on the evening of the 20th, though Reuter claims he was unaware of the development. For Fremantle's claim, see Bennett, p. 307. For Reuter's statement, see Herwig, p. 256.
Citations
- ^ a b c d e Gröner, p. 26.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ a b Staff (Vol. 2), p. 4.
- ^ a b c Staff (Vol. 2), p. 10.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 18.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 17.
- ^ Staff (Vol. 2), pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b c d e f g Staff (Vol. 1), p. 11.
- ^ Herwig, p. 144.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 31.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 31–33.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 43–44.
- ^ a b c Staff (Vol. 2), p. 15.
- ^ a b Tarrant, p. 58.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 55–56.
- ^ a b Tarrant, p. 62.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 61.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 286.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 94–95.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 100–101.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 110.
- ^ a b Campbell, p. 54.
- ^ Campbell, p. 99.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Campbell, p. 104.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 114.
- ^ Campbell, p. 101.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 137.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 138.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 139.
- ^ Campbell, p. 152.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 140.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 141.
- ^ Staff (Vol. 2), pp. 11–12.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 143.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 172.
- ^ Campbell, p. 206.
- ^ Campbell, p. 245.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 191.
- ^ Campbell, p. 275.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
- ^ Campbell, p. 320.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 263.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 298.
- ^ Massie, p. 682.
- ^ Massie, p. 683.
- ^ Halpern, p. 213.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 214–215.
- ^ Halpern, p. 215.
- ^ a b c d e f Staff (Vol. 2), p. 12.
- ^ Halpern, p. 219.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 60.
- ^ Konstam, p. 35.
- ^ Massie, pp. 748–749.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 280–281.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 281–282.
- ^ a b Tarrant, p. 282.
- ^ a b c Herwig, p. 256.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 254–255.
- ^ Herwig, p. 255.
References
- ISBN 978-1-84415-300-8.
- 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.
- 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.
- Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe (Band 5) [The German Warships (Volume 5)] (in German). Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0456-9.
- Konstam, Angus (2003). British Battlecruisers 1939–45. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84176-633-1.
- ISBN 978-0-345-40878-5.
- Staff, Gary (2010). German Battleships: 1914–1918. Vol. 1: Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland Classes. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84603-467-1.
- Staff, Gary (2010). German Battleships: 1914–1918. Vol. 2: Kaiser, König And Bayern Classes. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84603-468-8.
- 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.