SMS Kaiser Barbarossa
 Kaiser Barbarossa
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Germany | |
| Name | Kaiser Barbarossa |
| Namesake | Frederick I Barbarossa |
| Builder | Danzig |
| Laid down | 3 August 1898 |
| Launched | 21 April 1900 |
| Commissioned | 10 June 1901 |
| Stricken | 6 December 1919 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Kaiser Friedrich III-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 125.3 m (411 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 20.4 m (66 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 7.89 m (25 ft 11 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) |
| Range | 3,420 nmi (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armor |
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SMS Kaiser Barbarossa
Kaiser Barbarossa served with the German navy from her commissioning in 1901, though her active career was limited by two lengthy stays in dry dock. The first was for repairs following damage to her rudder in 1903, which lasted until early 1905, and the second for a major modernization, which began immediately after the conclusion of repair work in 1905 and lasted until late 1907. She returned to service for another two years, before being decommissioned in 1909 and placed in the Reserve Division. She continued to participate in fleet training exercises for the next three years.
Following the outbreak of
Design
After the German
Kaiser Barbarossa was 125.3 m (411 ft 1 in)
The ship's armament consisted of a main battery of four
Service history
Peacetime career
Following her commissioning, Kaiser Barbarossa was assigned to I Squadron of the Heimatflotte (Home Fleet), which shortly thereafter went on a cruise to Spain. While moored in
In 1903 the fleet, which was composed of only one squadron of modern battleships, was reorganized as the "Active Battle Fleet". Kaiser Barbarossa remained in I Squadron along with her sister ships and the newest Wittelsbach-class battleships, while the older Brandenburg-class ships were placed in reserve in order to be rebuilt.[9] The first quarter of 1903 followed the usual pattern of training exercises. The squadron went on a training cruise in the Baltic, followed by a voyage to Spain that lasted from 7 May to 10 June. The ship suffered some damage to her rudder, which necessitated temporary repairs at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel from the end of July to 21 August. She thereafter took part in the autumn maneuvers and the winter cruise in the eastern Baltic and the Skagerrak.[10] The autumn maneuvers consisted of a blockade exercise in the North Sea, a cruise of the entire fleet first to Norwegian waters and then to Kiel in early September, and finally a mock attack on Kiel. The exercises concluded on 12 September. The winter training cruise began on 23 November in the eastern Baltic and continued into the Skagerrak in early December.[11] On 15 December, Kaiser Barbarossa was decommissioned for permanent repairs to her rudder, which lasted until January 1905. When the repairs were finished, she did not return to service, however, and instead began a major reconstruction.[5]
During the modernization, four of her 15 cm guns were removed and two 8.8 cm guns were added. All twelve 1-pounder guns were removed, as was the ship's stern-mounted torpedo tube.[2] Kaiser Barbarossa's superstructure was also cut down to reduce the ship's tendency to roll excessively and her military masts were replaced with lighter pole masts.[12] The ship's funnels were also lengthened.[13] Kaiser Barbarossa's modernization was completed by 1 October 1907, when she was recommissioned for service.[5] By that time, the newest Deutschland-class battleships were coming into service; along with the Braunschweig-class battleships, these provided enough modern battleships to create two full battle squadrons. Consequently, the Heimatflotte was renamed the Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet).[9] Kaiser Barbarossa returned to her place in I Squadron and she participated in the normal routine of divisional, squadron, and fleet maneuvers and cruises without incident over the next year. The summer fleet cruise in May that year went to the Azores and returned to Kiel on 13 August. The autumn maneuvers lasted from 27 August to 7 September. Divisional exercises in the Baltic immediately followed from 7 to 13 September.[14]
On 17 September 1909, Kaiser Barbarossa was decommissioned and assigned to the Reserve Division in the Baltic Sea.
World War I
As a result of the outbreak of World War I, Kaiser Barbarossa and her sisters were brought out of reserve and mobilized as
After returning to the Baltic, Prince Heinrich ordered a foray toward Gotland. On 26 December 1914, 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. The squadron returned to the North Sea for guard duties, but was withdrawn from frontline 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 Kaiser Barbarossa and her sisters.[19] Her crew was reduced on 5 March, only to be replaced on 11 April so the ship could be used as a torpedo target ship; this service lasted until 9 November. Ten days later, she was decommissioned for the last time, and in 1916 she was disarmed.[20] Kaiser Barbarossa was thereafter employed as a floating prison for prisoners of war in Wilhelmshaven.[21] In November 1918, Germany sought an end to the war and signed the First Armistice at Compiègne, which temporarily ended hostilities so a peace treaty could be negotiated. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war and was signed on 28 June 1919, Germany was permitted to retain only six battleships of the "Deutschland or Lothringen types".[22] Accordingly, the ship was struck from the naval list on 6 December 1919 and sold to ship breakers. Kaiser Barbarossa was broken up for scrap metal in Rüstringen in 1919 and 1920.[21]
Footnotes
Notes
- Seiner Majestät Schiff" (German: His Majesty's Ship).
- ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while the L/40 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/40 gun is 40 caliber, meaning that the gun is 40 times as long as it is in diameter.[3]
Citations
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 180–189, 216–218, 221–224.
- ^ a b c d Gröner, p. 15.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 24–26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 23.
- ^ R.U.S.I. Journal, Vol. 45, p. 1503.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 23, 47.
- ^ Brassey's Annual, pp. 155–160.
- ^ a b Herwig, p. 45.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 23, 49–51.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Burt, pp. 1–3.
- ^ Hore, p. 67.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 23, 62.
- ^ a b Campbell & Sieche, p. 141.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 62.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 62–63.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 63.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 24.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 16.
- ^ Treaty of Versailles Section II, Article 181.
References
- Burt, R. A. (1989). German Battleships: 1897–1945. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-0-85368-985-0.
- 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.
- "German Manoeuvres". Brassey's Annual: The Armed Forces Year-Book. 45. Portsmouth: J Griffin & Co.: 155–160 1903. ISSN 0068-0702.
- 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.
- 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: 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. 5. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0456-9.
- Hore, Peter (2006). The Ironclads. London: Southwater Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84476-299-6.
- "Naval Notes: Germany". R.U.S.I. Journal. 45. London: Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies: 1501–1508. 1901. ISSN 0035-9289.
- 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
- 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.