SMS Schwaben
 SMS Schwaben's sister ship Wittelsbach
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Schwaben |
| Namesake | Duchy of Swabia |
| Builder | Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven |
| Laid down | 15 September 1900 |
| Launched | 19 August 1901 |
| Christened | Queen Charlotte of Württemberg |
| Commissioned | 13 April 1904 |
| Stricken | 8 March 1921 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Wittelsbach-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 126.8 m (416 ft 0 in) |
| Beam | 22.8 m (74 ft 10 in) |
| Draft | 7.95 m (26 ft 1 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Range | 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi); 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor | |
SMS Schwaben ("His Majesty's Ship
Schwaben spent most of her career as a gunnery training ship from 1904 to 1914, though she frequently participated in the large scale fleet exercises during this period. After the start of
Description
After the German
Schwaben was 126.8 m (416 ft 0 in)
Schwaben's armament consisted of a
Service history
Construction – 1905
Schwaben's
There was a dispute over where Schwaben should be assigned after her commissioning in April 1904. Admiral Hans von Koester, the fleet commander, wanted the ship to be assigned to the active duty squadron, but Tirpitz wanted to use the new battleship as a training vessel, since the Training Squadron only possessed cruisers and obsolescent ships. Tirpitz won the debate, and so Schwaben was to replace the ancient ironclad frigate Friedrich Carl in the Training Squadron. There, she was to serve as a torpedo training ship. On 18 May, Schwaben departed Wilhelmshaven and passed through the Skagerrak to the Baltic Sea, arriving in Kiel on 22 May.[7]
While on
1906–1914
Schwaben participated in exercises in the
In 1908, the training ships based in the Baltic were placed under the command of Rear Admiral Hugo von Pohl,[11] who would go on to command the High Seas Fleet in 1915 during World War I.[12] That year followed the same pattern as the previous year, but Schwaben did not participate in the autumn fleet maneuvers. She instead remained at Sonderburg and Alsen during the exercises. In 1909, after the autumn maneuvers, Schwaben was assigned as the flagship of the Reserve Fleet, again under the command of Admiral Zeye. During her yearly overhaul at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven, her guns were fitted with new motors produced in Germany to test their reliability over foreign-manufactured motors. The tests proved to be successful. While steaming in the Flensburg Firth on 10–12 December, she had to assist the training ship Württemberg in heavy fog.[10]
In 1910, after the normal training routine in the first half of the year, Schwaben was assigned to
World War I
After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Schwaben and the rest of her class were mobilized to serve in IV Battle Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt.[15] After it reached full combat readiness, the Squadron was employed both as a defense force in the German Bight—usually stationed in the mouth of the Elbe—and for operations in the Baltic.[10] Starting on 3 September, IV Squadron, assisted by the armored cruiser Blücher, conducted a sweep into the Baltic. The operation lasted until 9 September and failed to bring Russian naval units to battle.[16] In May 1915, IV Squadron, including Schwaben, was transferred to support the German Army in the Baltic Sea area.[17] Schwaben and her sisters were then based in Kiel.[18] During this period, she served as the flagship of the second command admiral of the Squadron, KAdm Alberts.[10]
On 6 May, the IV Squadron ships were tasked with providing support to the assault on
By late 1915, the increasing threat from British submarines in the Baltic convinced the German navy to withdraw the elderly Wittelsbach-class ships from active service.[20] On 20 November Schwaben steamed to Wilhelmshaven, where she replaced Kaiser Karl der Grosse as a training ship for engineers, a role she held for the remainder of the war.[8][21] After the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June, in which Schwaben did not take part, Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper, the commander of the German battlecruiser squadron,[22] sent his four surviving battlecruisers to dock for repairs. Hipper made Schwaben, which was stationed in Wilhelmshaven, his temporary command ship while his force was being repaired.[23] In 1916, Schwaben was partially disarmed; the four 24 cm guns were removed, her battery of 15 cm guns was reduced to six weapons, and only four 8.8 cm guns were left aboard.[24]
Postwar service
The ship was briefly retained by the Reichsmarine after the war, and was reactivated for service on 1 August 1919.[24] According to Articles 182 and 193 of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was obliged to keep sufficient vessels in commission to sweep mines from large areas in the North and Baltic Seas.[25] Schwaben was therefore converted into a depot ship for F-type minesweepers to assist in meeting Germany's treaty obligations,[26] which entailed removal of her remaining weaponry and construction of platforms to hold the minesweepers. She was assigned to the 6th Baltic Minesweeping Half-Flotilla, though this service did not last long, as the minesweeping work was completed by 19 June 1920. The old battleship was stricken from the naval register on 8 March 1921. She was sold for 3,090,000 marks and broken up for scrap that year in Kiel-Nordmole.[8][24]
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 calibers, meaning that the gun is 40 times as long as it is in diameter.[5]
Citations
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 180–189, 216–218, 221–225.
- ^ Herwig, p. 43.
- ^ Lyon, p. 248.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ a b c Gröner, p. 16.
- ^ a b c d Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 140.
- ^ a b c Gröner, p. 17.
- ^ "Germany", p. 1049.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 141.
- ^ "The German Fleet", p. 10.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 43.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 145–146.
- ^ Staff, pp. 11–14.
- ^ Scheer, p. 15.
- ^ Halpern, p. 185.
- ^ Scheer, pp. 90–91.
- ^ a b Halpern, p. 192.
- ^ Halpern, p. 197.
- ^ Herwig, p. 168.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 141–142.
- ^ Tarrant, p. 287.
- ^ Raeder, p. 77.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 142.
- ^ Treaty of Versailles Section II: Naval Clauses, Articles 182 and 193.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 141.
References
- 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.
- "Germany". Proceedings. 37. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute: 1044–1050. 1911. ISSN 0041-798X.
- 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.
- Lyon, Hugh (1979). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Raeder, Erich (1960). My Life. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. OCLC 883168.
- Scheer, Reinhard (1920). Germany's High Seas Fleet in the World War. London: Cassell and Company. OCLC 2765294.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.
- Staff, Gary (2010). German Battleships: 1914–1918 (1). 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 German Fleet". The Navy. Washington D.C.: Navy Publishing Co.: 10–11 1908. OCLC 7550453.
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.