SMS Rheinland
Rheinland shortly after entering service in 1910
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Namesake | Rhineland |
Builder | Stettin |
Laid down | 1 June 1907 |
Launched | 26 September 1908 |
Commissioned | 30 April 1910 |
Decommissioned | 4 October 1918 |
Stricken | 5 November 1919 |
Fate | Ceded to the Allies, later scrapped in 1921 |
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 kn (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 Rheinland
Rheinland's extensive service with the High Seas Fleet during World War I included several fleet advances into the North Sea, some in support of raids against the English coast conducted by the German battlecruisers of I Scouting Group. These sorties culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, in which Rheinland was heavily engaged by British destroyers in close-range night fighting.
The ship also saw duty in 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.[1]
The ship was 146.1 m (479 ft 4 in) long, 26.9 m (88 ft 3 in) wide, and had a draft of 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in). She
Rheinland carried a main battery of twelve 28 cm (11 in) SK L/45[b] 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.[2] 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 both ends of the torpedo bulkheads.[6] 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.[2]
Commanding officers
Rheinland was initially commanded by
Service history
Rheinland was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Württemberg, as a replacement for the old
At the conclusion of trials on 30 August 1910, Rheinland was taken to Wilhelmshaven, where a significant portion of the crew was transferred to the new battlecruiser Von der Tann. Following the autumn fleet maneuvers in September, the crew was replenished with crewmembers from the old pre-dreadnought battleship Zähringen, which was decommissioned at the same time. Rheinland was then assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. In October, the fleet went on the annual winter cruise, followed by fleet exercises in November. The ship took part in the summer cruises to Norway each August in 1911, 1913, and 1914.[11]
World War I
Rheinland participated in nearly all of the fleet advances throughout the war.[11] The first such operation was conducted primarily by the battlecruisers; the ships bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby on 15–16 December 1914.[12] During the operation, the German battle fleet of some 12 dreadnoughts and 8 pre-dreadnoughts, which was serving as distant support for the battlecruisers, came to within 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) of an isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer screens convinced the German commander, Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, that he was confronted with the entire Grand Fleet. He broke off the engagement and turned for home.[13] A fleet sortie to the Dogger Bank took place on 24 April 1915. During the operation, the high-pressure cylinder of Rheinland's starboard engine failed. Repair work lasted until 23 May.[14]
Battle of the Gulf of Riga
In August 1915, the German fleet attempted to clear the Russian-held Gulf of Riga in order to facilitate the capture of Riga by the German army. 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 a number of gunboats and destroyers. The German naval force would also lay a series of minefields in the northern entrance to the Gulf to prevent Russian naval reinforcements from reentering the area. The assembled German fleet included Rheinland and her three sister ships, the four Helgoland-class battleships, and the battlecruisers Von der Tann, Moltke, and Seydlitz. The force operated under the command of Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper. 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.[15]
On 16 August 1915, a second attempt was made to enter the Gulf: Nassau and Posen, four light cruisers, and 31 torpedo boats managed to breach the Russian defenses.[16] On the first day of the assault, the German minesweeper T46 was sunk, as was the destroyer V99. The following day, Nassau and Posen engaged in an artillery duel with Slava, resulting in three hits on the Russian ship that forced her to retreat. By 19 August, the Russian minefields had been cleared and the flotilla entered the Gulf. However, reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted the Germans to call off the operation the following day.[17] Admiral Hipper later remarked that "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."[18]
Return to the North Sea
By the end of August, Rheinland and the rest of the High Seas Fleet units were back in their bases on 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 sortie followed on 23–24 October during which the German fleet did not encounter any British forces. On 12 February 1916, Rheinland was sent to the dockyard for an extensive overhaul, which lasted until 19 April. Rheinland was back with the fleet in time to participate in another advance into the North Sea on 21–22 April. Another bombardment mission followed two days later; Rheinland was part of the battleship support for the I Scouting Group battlecruisers that attacked Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24–25 April.[19] 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.[20]
Battle of Jutland
Admiral
Between 17:48 and 17:52, 11 German dreadnoughts, including Rheinland, engaged and opened fire on the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, though the range and poor visibility prevented effective fire, which was soon checked.[24] Some ten minutes later Rheinland again opened fire on the British cruisers, targeting what was most likely HMS Southampton, though without success.[25] By 20:15, the German fleet had faced the deployed Grand Fleet for a second time and was forced to turn away; in doing so, the order of the German line was reversed, with Rheinland third from the front, behind Westfalen and Nassau.[26] At 21:22, crewmen aboard Rheinland and Westfalen, the two leading ships in the German line, spotted two torpedo tracks that turned out to be imaginary. The ships were then forced to slow down in order to allow the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group to pass ahead.[27] Around 22:00, Rheinland and Westfalen observed unidentified light forces in the gathering darkness. After flashing a challenge via searchlight that was ignored, the two ships turned away to starboard in order to evade any torpedoes that might have been fired. The rest of I Battle Squadron followed them.[28]
At about 00:30, the leading units of the German line encountered British destroyers and cruisers. A violent firefight at close range ensued; Rheinland pounded the armored cruiser HMS Black Prince with her secondary guns at a range of 2,200 to 2,600 m (2,400 to 2,800 yd). After a few minutes, Rheinland and the rest of the German battleships turned away to avoid torpedoes. At 00:36, Rheinland was hit by a pair of 6 in (15 cm) shells from Black Prince.[29] One of the shells cut the cables to the four forward searchlights and damaged the forward funnel. The second struck the side of the ship and exploded on the forward armored transverse bulkhead. Although the bulkhead was bent inward from the explosion, it was not penetrated.[30] About 45 minutes later, Rheinland opened fire on another destroyer, possibly Ardent, but she had to cease when a German cruiser came too close to the line of fire.[31] At the same time, Black Prince was obliterated by accurate fire from the battleship Ostfriesland.[32]
Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached
Later actions
Rheinland covered a sweep by torpedo boats into the North Sea on 25–26 September. She then participated in a fleet advance on 18–20 October. In early 1917, the ship was stationed on sentry duty in the German Bight. The crew became unruly due to poor quality food in July and August of that year. The ship did not take part directly in Operation Albion against the Russians, but remained in the western Baltic to prevent a possible incursion by the British to support their Russian ally.[19]
Expedition to Finland
On 22 February 1918, Rheinland and her sister Westfalen were tasked with a mission to Finland to support German army units to be deployed there. The ship arrived in
Fate
Following the German collapse in November 1918, a significant portion of the High Seas Fleet was interned in Scapa Flow according to the terms of the Armistice. Rheinland and her three sisters were not among the ships listed for internment, so they remained in German ports.[42] However, a copy of The Times informed Ludwig von Reuter, the commander of the interned fleet, 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.[d] To prevent this, he decided to scuttle his ships at the first opportunity. On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers; at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships.[44]
As a result of the scuttling at Scapa Flow, the Allies demanded replacements for the ships that had been sunk. This included Rheinland, which was struck from the German naval list on 5 November 1919 and subsequently handed over to the Allies.
Notes
Footnotes
- Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship".
- ^ 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 caliber, which means that the gun is 45 times as long as its diameter.[5]
- GMT, the time zone commonly used in British works.
- ^ By this time, the Armistice had been extended to 23 June, though there is some contention as to whether Reuter was aware of this. Admiral Sydney Fremantle stated that he informed Reuter on the evening of the 20th,[43] though Reuter claims he was unaware of the development.[44]
Citations
- ^ Dodson, pp. 72–75.
- ^ a b c d Gröner, p. 23.
- ^ Herwig, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Staff, pp. 23, 35.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 140.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 71.
- ^ a b Staff, p. 27.
- ^ Hough, p. 26.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 72.
- ^ a b c Staff, p. 30.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 31.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 31–33.
- ^ Staff, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 196–197.
- ^ Halpern, p. 197.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 197–198.
- ^ Halpern, p. 198.
- ^ a b c Staff, p. 31.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 52–54.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 56–58.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 62.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 286.
- ^ Campbell, p. 54.
- ^ Campbell, p. 99.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 172.
- ^ Campbell, p. 254.
- ^ Campbell, p. 257.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 286–287.
- ^ Campbell, p. 303.
- ^ Campbell, p. 289.
- ^ Campbell, p. 290.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 263.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 292.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 298.
- ^ Campbell, p. 336.
- ^ Massie, p. 682.
- ^ Massie, p. 683.
- ^ Staff, pp. 31–32.
- ^ a b Staff, p. 32.
- ^ Hore, p. 67.
- ^ Bennett, p. 307.
- ^ a b Herwig, p. 256.
- ^ a b c Gröner, p. 24.
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.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5.
- 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: 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. 7. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0267-1.
- Hore, Peter (2006). Battleships of World War I. London: Southwater Books. ISBN 978-1-84476-377-1.
- ISBN 978-1-904381-11-2.
- 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.
- 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.