SMS Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein in the late 1930s
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History | |
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Germany | |
Name | Schleswig-Holstein |
Namesake | Schleswig-Holstein[1] |
Ordered | 11 June 1904 |
Builder | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
Laid down | 18 August 1905 |
Launched | 17 December 1906 |
Commissioned | 6 July 1908 |
Recommissioned | 31 January 1926 |
Decommissioned | 2 May 1917 |
Fate | Sunk by bombs 1944; scuttled 21 March 1945; raised and beached for long-term use as target 1948; remains still exist. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Deutschland-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement |
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Length | 127.60 m (418 ft 8 in) |
Beam | 22.20 m (72 ft 10 in) |
Draft | 8.21 m (26 ft 11 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 19.1 knots (35.4 km/h; 22.0 mph) |
Range | 5,720 nmi (10,590 km; 6,580 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor | |
Service record | |
Commanders: |
SMS Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein fought in both World Wars. During
Schleswig-Holstein fired the first cannon shots of
Design
The passage of the Second Naval Law in 1900 under the direction of Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz secured funding for the construction of twenty new battleships over the next seventeen years. The first group, the five Braunschweig-class battleships, were laid down in the early 1900s, and shortly thereafter design work began on a follow-on design, which became the Deutschland class. The Deutschland-class ships were broadly similar to the Braunschweigs, featuring incremental improvements in armor protection. They also abandoned the gun turrets for the secondary battery guns, moving them back to traditional casemates to save weight.[2][3] The British battleship HMS Dreadnought—armed with ten 12-inch (30.5 cm) guns—was commissioned in December 1906.[4] Dreadnought's revolutionary design rendered every capital ship of the German navy obsolete, including the Deutschland class.[5]
Schleswig-Holstein had a length of 127.60 m (418 ft 8 in), a beam of 22.20 m (72 ft 10 in), and a draft of 8.21 m (26 ft 11 in). She displaced 13,200 metric tons (13,000 long tons) normally and up to 14,218 metric tons (13,993 long tons) at
The ship's
Service history
Schleswig-Holstein was laid down on 18 August 1905 at the
Upon completion, Schleswig-Holstein was commissioned for
Starting in September 1910, Friedrich Boedicker took command of the ship, a position he held for the next three years.[12] On 3 October 1911, the ship was transferred back to II Squadron. Due to the Agadir Crisis in July, the summer cruise only went into the Baltic.[11] In 1913, she won the Kaiser's Schiesspreis (Gunnery Award).[9] On 14 July 1914, the annual summer cruise to Norway began, but the threat of war in Europe cut the excursion short; within two weeks Schleswig-Holstein and the rest of II Squadron had returned to Wilhelmshaven.[11]
World War I
At the outbreak of war in July 1914, Schleswig-Holstein was assigned to guard duty in the mouth of the
Schleswig-Holstein then participated in a fleet advance to the Dogger Bank on 21–22 April 1915. On 11–12 September II Reconnaissance Group conducted a minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank with II Squadron in support. This was followed by another sweep by the fleet on 23–24 October that ended without result. II and III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts conducted an advance into the North Sea on 5–7 March 1916; Schleswig-Holstein 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.[10] 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.[14]
Battle of Jutland
The commander of the High Seas Fleet, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, immediately planned another advance into the North Sea, but the damage to Seydlitz delayed the operation until the end of May.[15] As the last ship assigned to IV Division of II Battle Squadron, the rearmost German formation, Schleswig-Holstein was the last battleship in the line. II Battle Squadron was commanded by Rear Admiral Franz Mauve .[16] During the "Run to the North", Scheer ordered the fleet to pursue the retreating battleships of the British 5th Battle Squadron at top speed. Schleswig-Holstein and her sisters were significantly slower than the dreadnoughts and quickly fell behind.[17] During this period, Admiral Scheer directed Hannover to place herself behind Schleswig-Holstein so he would have a flagship on either end of the formation.[18] By 19:30, the Grand Fleet had arrived on the scene and confronted Admiral Scheer with significant numerical superiority.[19] The German fleet was severely hampered by the presence of the slower Deutschland-class ships; if Scheer had ordered an immediate turn towards Germany, he would have had to sacrifice the slower ships to make his escape.[20]
Admiral Scheer decided to reverse the course of the fleet with the Gefechtskehrtwendung, a maneuver that required every unit in the German line to turn 180° simultaneously.[21][c] Having fallen behind, the ships of II Battle Squadron could not conform to the new course following the turn,[23] and fell to the disengaged side of the German line. Admiral 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 Hipper's battlecruisers. Instead, he attempted to place his ships at the head of the line.[24] But by the time II Squadron reached its position at the head of the line, Scheer had ordered another Gefechtskehrtwendung, which placed them at the rear of the German fleet.[25] By 21:00, Scheer had turned the fleet around a third time, but the slow speed of Schleswig-Holstein and her squadron mates caused them to fall out of position, to the disengaged side of the fleet.[26]
Later on the first day of the battle, Hipper's badly damaged battlecruisers were being engaged by their British rivals. Schleswig-Holstein and the other so-called "five-minute ships" came to their aid by steaming in between the opposing battlecruiser squadrons.[27][d] These ships were very briefly engaged, owing in large part to the poor visibility. The visibility was so bad, the gunners aboard Schleswig-Holstein could not make out a target, and she did not fire her main guns. At 21:35 a heavy caliber shell struck the ship on the port-side,[27][e] punching a hole approximately 40 cm (16 in) wide before exploding against the inner casemate armor. It tore apart 4.50 m (14.8 ft) of the superstructure deck and disabled one of the port side casemate guns.[30] Three men were killed and nine were wounded.[31] Admiral Mauve halted the fight against the much more powerful battlecruisers and ordered an 8-point turn to starboard.[32]
Late on the 31st, the fleet re-formed for the night voyage back to Germany, with Schleswig-Holstein towards the rear of the line, ahead of Hessen, Hannover, and the battlecruisers Von der Tann and Derfflinger.[33] Around 03:00, British destroyers conducted a series of attacks against the fleet, some of which were directed towards Schleswig-Holstein.[34] Shortly thereafter, Pommern was struck by at least one torpedo from the destroyer Onslaught; the hit detonated an ammunition magazine, destroying the ship in a tremendous explosion. During the attack, Schleswig-Holstein was forced to turn away to avoid the destroyers' torpedoes.[35] Shortly after 05:00, Hannover and several other ships fired repeatedly at what they falsely believed to be British submarines.[36]
Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached
Later actions
Schleswig-Holstein was put into dock for repairs 10–25 June 1916.[1] The Navy then decided to withdraw the four remaining Deutschland-class ships, owing to their obsolescence and vulnerability to underwater attacks, as demonstrated by the loss of Pommern.[40] Thereafter, the ship was used as a target for U-boats, except during 12–23 February 1917 when she was used as a guard ship. In April Schleswig-Holstein was sent to Altenbruch at the mouth of the Elbe; here she was decommissioned on 2 May. Schleswig-Holstein was then disarmed and assigned to the 5th U-boat Flotilla to be used as a barracks ship in Bremerhaven. In 1918 the ship was moved to Kiel, where she remained for the rest of the war.[1]
Inter-war years
Following the German defeat in World War I, the German navy was reorganized as the Reichsmarine according to the Treaty of Versailles. The new navy was permitted to retain eight pre-dreadnought battleships under Article 181—two of which would be in reserve—for coastal defense.[41] Schleswig-Holstein was among the ships that were retained, along with her sisters Hannover and Schlesien and several of the Braunschweig-class battleships.[42] Schleswig-Holstein was recommissioned as the new fleet flagship on 31 January 1926 following an extensive refit, with new fire controls and an enlarged aft superstructure for the admiral's staff. The secondary 17 cm guns were replaced with 15-centimeter (5.9 in) pieces and four 50 cm torpedo tubes were fitted in main deck casemates fore and aft, replacing the submerged tubes.[43]
Schleswig-Holstein and her sister Hannover went on a training cruise into the Atlantic that lasted from 14 May to 17 June 1926; while on the cruise, she visited
With the delivery of the new Deutschland-class Panzerschiffe (armored ships) beginning in 1933, the older battleships were gradually withdrawn from front-line service. In May 1935, the Reichsmarine was reorganized as the Kriegsmarine by the reforms instituted by Adolf Hitler that created the Wehrmacht.[46] Schleswig-Holstein ceased to be fleet flagship on 22 September 1935, and was refitted as a cadet training ship during January–March and May–July 1936. The changes included removing her remaining upper deck 15 cm guns and her torpedo tubes, and her two aft boiler rooms were converted to oil-firing models, although the forward boilers remained coal-fired. The ship's standard complement was also reduced from 35 officers and 708 enlisted men to 31 officers and 565 sailors. The crew was supplemented by 175 cadets,[47] who were taken on long cruises in Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein, the latter sailing in October 1936 on a six-month voyage to South America and the Caribbean. The following year, her cruise took her around Africa, and the 1938–1939 cruise went back to South American and Caribbean waters.[48] Gustav Kieseritzky served as the ship's commander from June 1938 until April 1939.[12]
In the mid-1930s, Hitler began pursuing an increasingly aggressive foreign policy; in 1936 he
World War II
Early on 1 September 1939, Germany launched an invasion of Poland. Schleswig-Holstein had been positioned in the port of Danzig, moored close to the Polish ammunition depot at Westerplatte under the guise of a ceremonial visit in August. Around 04:47 on 1 September, Schleswig-Holstein opened fire with her main battery at the Polish positions on the Westerplatte, and in doing so fired the first shots of World War II.[51] These shots were the signal for ground troops to begin their assault on the installation,[52] though the first German ground attack in the Battle of Westerplatte was repelled shortly thereafter.[53] A second assault began later that morning, again supported by Schleswig-Holstein, though it too had failed to break into the installation by around noon.[54]
Schleswig-Holstein was joined on 4 September by the torpedo boats T196 and Von der Gröben.[55] A force of German infantry and army engineers went ashore to take the depot, with heavy fire support from Schleswig-Holstein.[56] The Poles managed to hold off the Germans until they were forced to surrender on 7 September at 10:30.[57] Following the Polish surrender, Schleswig-Holstein began shelling Polish positions at Hel and Redłowo; these operations lasted until 13 September.[56] Between 25 and 27 September, the old battleship returned to Hel with her sister Schlesien; both vessels conducted further bombardments of Polish positions there.[58] On 25 September the Schleswig-Holstein was lightly damaged by Polish coastal batteries at Hel.[59]
The German military then turned its attention westward, and in April 1940
Following the Soviet capture of that city, the remaining crew detonated
Footnotes
Notes
- Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German.
- ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick loading, 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 its bore diameter.[7]
- ^ Gefechtskehrtwendung translates roughly as the "battle about-turn", and was a simultaneous 16-point turn of the entire High Seas Fleet. It had never been conducted under enemy fire before the Battle of Jutland.[22]
- ^ The men of the German navy referred to pre-dreadnoughts as "five-minute ships" because that was the length of time they were expected to survive if confronted by a dreadnought.[28]
- ^ Sources disagree on the caliber of shell and the ship that fired it; John Campbell states that it was a 12-inch (30 cm) shell from HMS New Zealand,[29] while V. E. Tarrant suggests it was a 13.5-inch (34 cm) shell, probably from HMS Princess Royal.[27]
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h Staff, p. 15.
- ^ a b c Staff, p. 5.
- ^ Hore, p. 69.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Herwig, p. 57.
- ^ Gröner, p. 21.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 20–21.
- ^ a b Hildebrand Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 131.
- ^ a b c Staff, p. 11.
- ^ a b c Staff, pp. 8–15.
- ^ a b Hildebrand Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 130.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 31–33.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 52–54.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 58.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 286.
- ^ London, p. 73.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 84.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 150.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 150–152.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 152–153.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 153–154.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 154.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 155.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 166.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 180.
- ^ a b c Tarrant, p. 195.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 62.
- ^ Campbell, p. 254.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 270–271.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 298.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 195–196.
- ^ Campbell, p. 275.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 242.
- ^ Campbell, p. 300.
- ^ Campbell, p. 314.
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 263.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 292.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 141.
- ^ Sieche, p. 218.
- ^ Schultz, p. 90.
- ^ a b Schultz, pp. 91–100.
- ^ Hildebrand Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 132.
- ^ Hildebrand Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 133.
- ^ Schultz, pp. 125–133.
- ^ Schultz, pp. 134–136.
- ^ Schultz, pp. 135–185.
- ^ Murray & Millet, pp. 5–12.
- ^ Bullock, p. 288.
- ^ Williamson, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Hargreaves, p. 102.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 2.
- ^ Hargreaves, p. 109.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 3.
- ^ a b Rohwer, p. 4.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 16.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 5.
- ISBN 978-1-57488-741-9.
- ^ a b Williamson, p. 6.
- ^ Evans, p. 119.
- ^ Nauck, p. 304.
- ^ Schultz, pp. 228–248.
- ^ a b c Gröner, p. 22.
- ^ Domarus, p. 3122.
- ^ Sieche, p. 222.
- ^ Schultz, pp. 248–253.
- ^ Breyer, p. 40.
- ^ Diver & May 2009.
References
- Breyer, Siegfried (1992). Linienschiffe Schleswig-Holstein und Schlesien: Die "Bügeleisen" der Ostsee (in German). Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas-Verlag GmbH. ISBN 3-7909-0463-5.
- ISBN 978-0-06-092020-3.
- 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.
- Domarus, Max (1990). Speeches and Proclamations, 1932–1945: The Chronicle of a Dictatorship. Wauconda: Bolchazy-Carducci. ISBN 0-86516-228-X.
- Evans, Richard J. (2009). The Third Reich at War. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1-59420-206-3.
- 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.
- Hargreaves, Richard (2010). Blitzkrieg Unleashed: The German Invasion of Poland, 1939. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books. ISBN 9780811707244.
- 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). The Ironclads. London: Southwater Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84476-299-6.
- London, Charles (2000). Jutland 1916: Clash of the Dreadnoughts. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-992-8.
- Murray, Williamson & Millet, Allan Reed (2000). A War to be Won. Cambridge: Harvard College. ISBN 978-0-674-00163-3.
- Nauck, Hans E. (1997). "Damage to German Warships at the End of WW II". Warship International. XXXIV (3). Toledo: International Naval Research Organization: 304. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.
- Schultz, Willi (1992). Linienschiff Schleswig-Holstein: Flottendienst in drei Marinen [Battleship Schleswig-Holstein: Fleet Service in Three Navies] (in German). Herford: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. ISBN 3-7822-0502-2.
- 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.
- Tarrant, V. E. (2001) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-304-35848-9.
- "The battleship that started World War Two". Diver. May 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- Williamson, Gordon (2003). German Battleships 1939–45. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-498-6.
Further reading
- 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.
- Rozsko, Janusz & Żebrowski, Jacek (1995). 4.47 – otworzyć ogień na Westerplatte! Dziennik działań bojowych pancernika "Schleswig-Holstein" od 25.08. do 7.09.1939 = 4.47 – Feuererlaubnis auf Westerplatte! Kriegstagebuch Linienschiff Schleswig-Holstein" für die Zeit von 24.08. bis 14.09.1939. Krakow: Sponsor. ISBN 978-83-85846-23-9.