SMS Posen
Posen underway, 1910
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Namesake | Province of Posen[1] |
Builder | Germaniawerft , Kiel |
Laid down | 11 June 1907 |
Launched | 12 December 1908 |
Commissioned | 31 May 1910 |
Decommissioned | 16 December 1918 |
Stricken | 5 November 1919 |
Fate | Ceded to Great Britain 1920. Scrapped 1922 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Nassau-class battleship |
Displacement |
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Length | 146.1 m (479 ft 4 in) |
Beam | 26.9 m (88 ft 3 in) |
Draft | 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | At 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph): 8,300 nmi (15,400 km; 9,600 mi) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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SMS Posen
The ship served with her three sister ships for the majority of World War I. She saw extensive service in the North Sea, where she took part in several fleet sorties. These culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where Posen was heavily engaged in night-fighting against British light forces. In the confusion, the ship accidentally rammed the light cruiser SMS Elbing, which suffered serious damage and was scuttled later in the night.
The ship also conducted several deployments to the
Description
Design work on the Nassau class began in late 1903 in the context of the Anglo-German naval arms race; at the time, battleships of foreign navies had begun to carry increasingly heavy secondary batteries, including Italian and American ships with 20.3 cm (8 in) guns and British ships with 23.4 cm (9.2 in) guns, outclassing the previous German battleships of the Deutschland class with their 17 cm (6.7 in) secondaries. German designers initially considered ships equipped with 21 cm (8.3 in) secondary guns, but erroneous reports in early 1904 that the British Lord Nelson-class battleships would be equipped with a secondary battery of 25.4 cm (10 in) guns prompted them to consider an even more powerful ship armed with an all-big-gun armament consisting of eight 28 cm (11 in) guns. Over the next two years, the design was refined into a larger vessel with twelve of the guns, by which time Britain had launched the all-big-gun battleship HMS Dreadnought.[3]
Posen was 146.1 m (479 ft) long, 26.9 m (88 ft 3.1 in) wide, and had a draft of 8.9 m (29 ft 2.4 in). She
Posen carried a main battery of twelve 28 cm (11 in) SK L/45[d] guns in an unusual hexagonal configuration. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns and sixteen 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns, all of which were mounted in casemates.[5] Later in her career, two of the 8.8 cm guns were replaced with high-angle Flak mountings of the same caliber for defense against aircraft.[9] The ship was also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) submerged torpedo tubes. One tube was mounted in the bow, another in the stern, and two on each broadside, on either ends of the torpedo bulkhead.[10] The ship's belt armor was 300 mm (11.8 in) thick in the central citadel, and the armored deck was 80 mm (3.1 in) thick. The main battery turrets had 280 mm (11 in) thick sides, and the conning tower was protected with 400 mm (15.7 in) of armor plating.[5]
Service history
Posen was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Baden, as a replacement for the
After completing her trials in August 1910, Posen left Kiel for Wilhelmshaven, where she arrived on 7 September. As the German Imperial Navy had chronic shortages of trained sailors,[13] many of the crew were then assigned to other ships.[1][e] These crewmembers were replaced with personnel from the old pre-dreadnought battleship Wittelsbach, which was decommissioned on 20 September. After their commissioning, all four Nassau-class ships served as a unit, II Division of I Battle Squadron, with Posen as the flagship.[1]
Posen participated in several training exercises with the rest of the fleet before the outbreak of war.
World War I
At midnight on 4 August, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany.
Battle of the Gulf of Riga
In August 1915, a special unit from the German fleet attempted to clear the Russian-held Gulf of Riga in order to assist the German Army, which was planning an assault on Riga. To do so, the German planners intended to drive off or destroy the Russian naval forces in the Gulf, which included the pre-dreadnought battleship Slava and some smaller gunboats and destroyers. The German battle fleet was accompanied by several mine-warfare vessels. These ships were tasked with clearing Russian minefields and laying a series of their own minefields in the northern entrance to the gulf, to prevent Russian naval reinforcements from reaching the area. The assembled German flotilla included Posen and her three sister ships, the four Helgoland-class battleships, the battlecruisers Von der Tann, Moltke, and Seydlitz, and several pre-dreadnoughts, operating under the command of Hipper, now a vice admiral. The eight battleships were to provide cover for the forces engaging the Russian flotilla. The first attempt on 8 August was unsuccessful, as it had taken too long to clear the Russian minefields to allow the minelayer Deutschland to lay a minefield of her own.[20]
On 16 August, Posen and Nassau led a second attempt to breach the defenses of the gulf, with Posen as Admiral Schmidt's flagship.[1] The two dreadnoughts were accompanied by 4 light cruisers and 31 torpedo boats. On the first day of the assault the Germans broke through the Russian forces, but two German light craft—the minesweeper T46 and the destroyer V99—were sunk.[21] Posen and Nassau engaged a pair of Russian gunboats, Sivuch and Korietz. Sivuch was sunk that day and Korietz was severely damaged; the ship managed to limp away but had to be scuttled the following day.[1] On the 17th, Posen and Nassau engaged Slava at long range; they scored three hits on the Russian ship and forced her to return to port. By 19 August, the Russian minefields had been cleared and the flotilla entered the Gulf. Reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted the Germans to call off the operation the following day.[22] Admiral Hipper later remarked, "To keep valuable ships for a considerable time in a limited area in which enemy submarines were increasingly active, with the corresponding risk of damage and loss, was to indulge in a gamble out of all proportion to the advantage to be derived from the occupation of the Gulf before the capture of Riga from the land side." In fact, the battlecruiser Moltke had been torpedoed that morning.[23] On 21 August, Schmidt had his flag hauled down from Posen and disbanded the special unit.[1]
Return to the North Sea
By the end of August Posen and the rest of the High Seas Fleet had returned to their anchorages in the North Sea. The next operation conducted was a sweep into the North Sea on 11–12 September, though it ended without any action. Another fleet sortie followed on 23–24 October without encountering any British forces. On 4 March 1916, Posen, Nassau, Westfalen, and Von der Tann steamed out to the Amrumbank to receive the
Another uneventful advance into the North Sea took place on 21–22 April. A bombardment mission followed two days later; Posen joined the battleship support for Hipper's battlecruisers while they attacked Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24–25 April.[24] During this operation, the battlecruiser Seydlitz was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely. Due to the poor visibility, the operation was soon called off, leaving the British fleet no time to intercept the raiders.[25]
Battle of Jutland
Admiral Reinhard Scheer, who had succeeded Admirals von Ingenohl and Hugo von Pohl as the fleet commander, immediately planned another attack on the British coast. The damage to Seydlitz and condenser trouble on several of the III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts delayed the plan until the end of May.[26] The German battlefleet departed the Jade at 03:30 on 31 May.[27] Posen was assigned to II Division of I Battle Squadron as the flagship of Rear Admiral W. Engelhardt. Posen was the first ship in the division, ahead of her three sisters. II Division was the last unit of dreadnoughts in the fleet; they were followed by only the elderly pre-dreadnoughts of II Battle Squadron.[2]
Between 17:48 and 17:52, Posen and ten other German battleships engaged the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, though the range and poor visibility prevented effective fire.[28] Shortly thereafter, two British destroyers—Nomad and Nestor—came under intense fire from the German line. Posen fired at Nestor with both her main battery and secondary guns. At 18:35, Nestor exploded and sank under the combined fire of eight battleships.[29] 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. Posen was now the fourth ship in the line, astern of her three sisters.[30]
At around 21:20, Posen and her sister ships were engaged by the battlecruisers of the
At about 00:30, the leading units of the German line encountered British destroyers and cruisers. A violent firefight at close range ensued; the leading German battleships, including Posen, opened fire on several British warships. In the confusion, the light cruiser Elbing passed through the German line directly in front of Posen and was rammed. Posen was undamaged, but both of Elbing's engine rooms were flooded and the ship came to a halt.[32] Two and a half hours later, Elbing spotted several approaching British destroyers, and her captain gave the order to scuttle the ship.[33]
Shortly before 01:00, the German line engaged a flotilla of British destroyers. Posen spotted the destroyers Fortune, Porpoise, and Garland at very close range; she opened fire on the first two ships at ranges between 800 and 1,600 m (870 and 1,750 yd), seriously damaging Porpoise. Fortune quickly sank under fire from Posen and several other battleships, but not before firing two torpedoes which Posen had to evade.[34] At 01:25, Westfalen illuminated the destroyer Ardent and opened fire; Posen joined her shortly thereafter and reported several hits at ranges of 1,000 to 1,200 m (1,100 to 1,300 yd).[35]
Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached
Beginning in June 1917, Wilhelm von Krosigk served as the ship's commanding officer; he held this position until the end of the war in November 1918.[9]
Expedition to Finland
In February 1918, the German navy decided to send an expedition to Finland to support German army units to be deployed there. The Finns were engaged in a civil war; the
On 31 March Posen and Westfalen left Danzig; the ships arrived at Russarö, which was the outer defense for Hanko, by 3 April. The German army quickly took the port. The task force then proceeded to Helsingfors; on 11 April the ship passed into the harbor at Helsingfors and landed the soldiers. This included a detachment from the ship which was landed two days later on 13 April. During the operation, Posen's crew suffered four men killed and twelve wounded. From 18 to 20 April, Posen assisted with the efforts to free Rheinland, which had been grounded. Two days later, Posen struck a sunken wreck in Helsingfors harbor, which caused minor damage. On 30 April the ship was detached from the Sonderverband Ostsee. The ship returned to Germany, reaching Kiel by 3 May, where she entered drydock. Repair work lasted until 5 May.[24]
Later actions in the North Sea
On 11 August 1918, Posen, Westfalen,
Fate
On 11 November 1918, the
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ Each eight-ship battle squadron had a flagship that also functioned as the flagship of the first four-ship division; a second command flagship served as the leader of the second division in each squadron. At the Battle of Jutland, Posen served as the second command flagship, flying the flag of Rear Admiral Walter Engelhardt.[2]
- Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship".
- ^ According to Erich Gröner, this figure is calculated as "25 to 50 percent full load...and [was] used in the German navy since 1882 as a basis for performance and speed calculations."[4]
- ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while "L/45" provides the length of the gun in terms of the diameter of the barrel. In this case, the L/45 gun is 45 calibers, which means that the gun is 45 times as long as its diameter.[8]
- ^ Of the problem, Admiral Oldekop stated in November 1912: "There is almost no more personnel on land. Garrison watch duty can no longer be conducted according to regulations...The Navy units [in Kiel] are equally exhausted as in Wilhelmshaven. Complaints concerning lack of personnel on land are the same."[13]
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Staff, p. 32.
- ^ a b Tarrant, p. 286.
- ^ Dodson, pp. 72–75.
- ^ Gröner, p. ix.
- ^ a b c d e Gröner, p. 23.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Staff, pp. 23, 35.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 239.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 140.
- ^ a b Staff, p. 20.
- ^ Hough, p. 26.
- ^ a b Herwig, p. 90.
- ^ Staff, p. 8.
- ^ Staff, p. 11.
- ^ Herwig, p. 144.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 31.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 31–33.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 196–197.
- ^ Halpern, p. 197.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 197–198.
- ^ Halpern, p. 198.
- ^ a b c d e f g Staff, p. 33.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 52–54.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 56–58.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 62.
- ^ Campbell, p. 54.
- ^ Campbell, p. 101.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 172.
- ^ Campbell, p. 254.
- ^ Campbell, p. 286.
- ^ Campbell, p. 295.
- ^ Campbell, p. 289.
- ^ Campbell, p. 290.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 263.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 292.
- ^ Ganz, pp. 85–86.
- ^ a b Staff, p. 27.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 280–281.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 139.
- ^ "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 42557. London. 2 November 1920. col D, p. 18.
- ^ Gröner, p. 24.
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.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5.
- Ganz, A. Harding (April 1980). "The German Expedition to Finland, 1918". Military Affairs. 44 (2): 84–91. JSTOR 1986604.
- 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: 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. 6. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0237-4.
- ISBN 978-1-904381-11-2.
- Staff, Gary (2010). German Battleships: 1914–1918. Vol. 1: Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland Classes. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84603-467-1.
- 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.