SMS Thüringen

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SMS Thüringen, probably before the war
History
German Empire
NameThüringen
NamesakeThuringia
BuilderAG Weser, Bremen
Laid down2 November 1908
Launched27 November 1909
Commissioned1 July 1911
Decommissioned16 December 1918
Stricken5 November 1919
FateCeded to France in 1920, later used as target ship and sunk. Broken up for scrap, 1923–33
General characteristics
Class and typeHelgoland-class battleship
Displacement
Length167.20 m (548 ft 7 in)
Beam28.50 m (93 ft 6 in)
Draft8.94 m (29 ft 4 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 3 ×
    triple-expansion steam engines
  • 3 × screw propellers
Speed20.8 knots (38.5 km/h; 23.9 mph)
Range5,500 nautical miles (10,190 km; 6,330 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement
  • 42 officers
  • 1027 enlisted
Armament
Armor

SMS Thüringen

Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy}. Thüringen's keel was laid in November 1908 at the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen. She was launched on 27 November 1909 and commissioned into the fleet on 1 July 1911. The ship was equipped with twelve 30.5 cm (12 in) guns in six twin turrets, and had a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Thüringen was assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career, including World War I
.

Along with her three sister ships, Helgoland, Ostfriesland, and Oldenburg, Thüringen participated in all of the major fleet operations of World War I in the North Sea against the British Grand Fleet. This included the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916, the largest naval battle of the war. Thüringen was involved in the heavy night fighting at Jutland, including the destruction of the armored cruiser HMS Black Prince.[1] The ship also saw action against the Imperial Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea, where she participated in the unsuccessful first incursion into the Gulf of Riga in August 1915.

After the German collapse in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet was interned in

Gavres and broken up in situ
in 1923–1933, though some sections of the ship remain.

Design

Main article: Helgoland-class battleship
Plan and profile drawing of the Helgoland class

The ship was 167.2 m (548 ft 7 in)

triple-expansion steam engines and fifteen water-tube boilers. The engines were rated at 27,617 ihp (20,594 kW) and were capable of producing a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Thüringen stored up to 3,200 metric tons (3,100 long tons) of coal, which allowed her to steam for 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). After 1915, the boilers were modified to spray oil on the coal to increase its burn rate; the ship could carry up to 197 metric tons (194 long tons) of fuel oil.[2] She had a crew of 42 officers and 1,071 enlisted men.[3]

Thüringen was armed with a

bow, one in the stern, and two on each broadside
.

Her main

Krupp cemented armor (KCA). Her main battery gun turrets were protected by the same thickness of KCA on the sides and faces, as well as the barbettes that supported the turrets. Thüringen's deck was 63.5 mm (2.5 in) thick.[2]

Service history

Thüringen was ordered by the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) under the provisional name Ersatz Beowulf,

Weser River to the North Sea.[1] Thüringen, named for Thuringia, a state in central Germany, was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 1 June 1911, less than three years after work commenced.[3]

After her commissioning on 1 July 1911, Thüringen conducted sea trials, which were completed by 10 September. On 19 September, she was assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet, alongside her sisters.[1] She then went on to conduct individual ship training exercises, which were followed by I Squadron exercises and then fleet maneuvers in November.[8] The annual summer cruise in July and August, which typically went to Norway, was interrupted by the Agadir Crisis. As a result, the cruise only went into the Baltic.[9] Thüringen and the rest of the fleet then fell into a pattern of individual ship, squadron, and full fleet exercises over the next two years.[1] In October 1913, William Michaelis became the ship's commanding officer; he held the post until February 1915.[10]

On 14 July 1914, the annual summer cruise to Norway began.

ultimatum to Serbia. On 27 July, the entire fleet assembled off Cape Skudenes before returning to port, where they remained at a heightened state of readiness.[12] War between Austria-Hungary and Serbia broke out the following day, and within a week all the major European powers had joined the conflict.[13] By 29 July Thüringen and the rest of I Squadron were back in Wilhelmshaven.[14] During the first year of the war, the future anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller served aboard the ship as an officer.[15]

World War I

Map showing the locations of the British and German fleets; the German light cruisers pass between the British battleship and battlecruiser forces while the German battlecruisers steam to the northeast. The German battleships lie to the east of the other ships.
The High Seas Fleet's disposition on the morning of 16 December 1914, during the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby

Thüringen was present during the first sortie by the German fleet into the North Sea, which took place on 2–3 November 1914. No British forces were encountered during the operation. A second operation followed on 15–16 December.

Kaiser Wilhelm II to avoid risking the fleet unnecessarily, Ingenohl broke off the engagement and turned the battle fleet back toward Germany.[17]

The

Schillig Roads outside Wilhelmshaven.[8] In the meantime, the armored cruiser Blücher had been overwhelmed by concentrated British fire and sunk, while the battlecruiser Seydlitz was severely damaged by an ammunition fire. As a result, Wilhelm II removed Ingenohl from his post and replaced him with Admiral Hugo von Pohl on 2 February.[19]

A large gray warship steams at high speed in choppy water; thick black smoke pours from three tall smoke stacks in the middle of the ship
Recognition drawing of a Helgoland-class battleship

The eight I Squadron ships went into the Baltic on 22 February 1915 for unit training, which lasted until 13 March. Following their return to the North Sea, the ships participated in a series of uneventful fleet sorties on 29–30 March, 17–18 April, 21–22 April, 17–18 May, and 29–30 May. Thüringen and the rest of the fleet then remained in port until 4 August, when I Squadron returned to the Baltic for another round of training maneuvers. From there, the squadron was attached to the naval force that attempted to sweep the

minesweepers. The plan called for channels to be swept in Russian minefields so that the Russian naval presence, which included the pre-dreadnought Slava, could be eliminated. The Germans would then lay minefields of their own to prevent Russian ships from returning to the Gulf.[20] Thüringen and the majority of the other big ships of the High Seas Fleet remained outside the Gulf for the entirety of the operation. The dreadnoughts Nassau and Posen were detached on 16 August to escort the minesweepers and to destroy Slava, though they failed to sink the old battleship. After three days, the Russian minefields had been cleared, and the flotilla entered the Gulf on 19 August; reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted a German withdrawal from the Gulf the following day.[21] By 26 August, I Squadron had returned to Wilhelmshaven.[8]

On 23–24 October, the High Seas Fleet undertook its last major offensive operation under the command of Pohl, though it ended without contact with British forces.

Jade Estuary at 10:55 and the rest of the High Seas Fleet followed at 13:40. The battlecruiser Seydlitz struck a mine while en route to the target, and had to withdraw.[24] The other battlecruisers bombarded the town of Lowestoft unopposed, but during the approach to Yarmouth, they encountered the British cruisers of the Harwich Force. A short gun duel ensued before the Harwich Force withdrew. Reports of British submarines in the area prompted the retreat of I Scouting Group. At this point, Scheer, who had been warned of the sortie of the Grand Fleet from its base in Scapa Flow, also withdrew to safer German waters.[25]

Battle of Jutland

Main article: Battle of Jutland
The British fleet sailed from northern Britain to the east while the Germans sailed from Germany in the south; the opposing fleets met off the Danish coast
Maps showing the maneuvers of the British (blue) and German (red) fleets on 31 May – 1 June 1916

Thüringen was present during the fleet operation that resulted in the battle of Jutland which took place on 31 May and 1 June 1916. The German fleet again sought to draw out and isolate a portion of the Grand Fleet and destroy it before the main British fleet could retaliate. During the operation, Thüringen was the second ship in I Division of I Squadron and the tenth ship in the line, directly astern of the squadron flagship Ostfriesland and ahead of another sister Helgoland. I Squadron was the center of the German line, behind the eight König- and Kaiser-class battleships of III Squadron. The six elderly pre-dreadnoughts of III and IV Divisions, II Battle Squadron, formed the rear of the formation.[26]

Shortly before 16:00, the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group encountered the British 1st Battlecruiser Squadron under the command of David Beatty. The opposing ships began an artillery duel that saw the destruction of

two-point turn to port to bring his ships closer to the British battlecruisers, and a minute later, the order to open fire was given.[29][e]

While the leading battleships engaged the British battlecruiser squadron, Thüringen and ten other battleships, too far out of range to attack the British battlecruisers, fired on the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. Thüringen and Kronprinz engaged the cruiser Dublin, though both ships failed to score a hit.[30] Thüringen fired for eight minutes at ranges of 18,600 to 20,800 yd (17,000 to 19,000 m), expending twenty-nine 30.5 cm shells.[31] The British destroyers Nestor and Nomad, which had been disabled earlier in the engagement, laid directly in the path of the advancing High Seas Fleet.[32] Thüringen and three other battleships destroyed Nestor with their primary and secondary guns while several III Squadron battleships sank Nomad.[33] Shortly after 19:15, the British dreadnought Warspite came into range; Thüringen opened fire at 19:25 with her main and secondary battery guns, at ranges of 10,600 to 11,800 yd (9,700 to 10,800 m). The ship fired twenty-one 30.5 cm and thirty-seven 15 cm shells in the span of five or six minutes, after which Thüringen's gunners lost sight of Warspite, without scoring any hits. They then shifted fire to Malaya.[34] Thüringen fired twenty main battery rounds at Malaya, also unsuccessfully, over seven minutes at a range of 14,100 yd (12,900 m) before conforming to a 180-degree turn ordered by Scheer to disengage from the British fleet.[35]

At around 23:30, the German fleet reorganized into the night-cruising formation. Thüringen was the seventh ship, stationed toward the front of the 24-ship line.

star shell to illuminate the British cruiser and opened fire with her secondary guns. The ship was actually the destroyer Turbulent. Thüringen fired eighteen 15 cm and six 8.8 cm shells before launching another star shell. Turbulent appeared to be capsized to starboard, though she remained afloat and was dispatched later by the cruiser Regensburg and the destroyers V71 and V73.[38]

Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached

Horns Reef by 04:00 on 1 June.[39] A few hours later, the fleet arrived in the Jade; Thüringen, Helgoland, Nassau, and Westfalen took up defensive positions in the outer roadstead and four undamaged III Squadron ships anchored just outside the entrance locks to Wilhelmshaven. The remaining eight dreadnoughts entered port, where those that were still in fighting condition restocked ammunition and fuel.[40] In the course of the engagement, Thüringen had fired one-hundred and seven 30.5 cm, one-hundred and fifteen 15 cm, and twenty-two 8.8 cm shells,[41] while she and her crew emerged from the battle unscathed.[1]

Subsequent operations

On 18 August, Admiral Scheer attempted to repeat the 31 May operation. The two serviceable German battlecruisers (Moltke and Von der Tann), supported by three dreadnoughts, would bombard

Sunderland in an attempt to draw out and destroy Beatty's battlecruisers.[f] The rest of the fleet, including Thüringen, would trail behind and provide cover. British signals intelligence informed Jellicoe of the German departure later in the day, and he sent the Grand Fleet out to intercept the Germans.[44] On the approach to the English coast during the action of 19 August 1916, Scheer turned north after receiving a false report from a zeppelin about a British unit in the area.[45] As a result, the bombardment was not carried out, and by 14:35 on 19 August, Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet's approach and so turned his forces around and retreated to German ports.[46]

On 25–26 September, Thüringen and the rest of I Squadron covered an advance conducted by the second commander of the torpedo-boat flotillas (II Führer der Torpedoboote) to the

St. Petersburg. The three ships reached the Baltic on 10 August, but the operation was postponed and eventually canceled.[8] The special unit was dissolved on 21 August and the battleships were back in Wilhelmshaven on the 23rd.[49]

Fate

Main article: Kiel mutiny

Thüringen and her three sisters were to have taken part in a

mutinied.[51] Stokers turned off the boilers and refused to work. The following day, the torpedo boats B110 and B112 came alongside and the U-boat U-135 pointed her guns at the ship. A significant portion of the crew, 314 sailors and 124 stokers, were arrested and taken off the ship. This was not enough to stop the mutiny, which quickly spread throughout the fleet.[48] The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation.[52] Informed of the situation, the Kaiser stated "I no longer have a navy".[53]

Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral

Gavres. The ship was partially broken up in situ in 1923–1933, though significant portions of the ship remain off the French coast.[3][48]

Notes

Footnotes

  1. Seiner Majestät Schiff" (German
    : His Majesty's Ship).
  2. ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while the L/50 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/50 gun is 50 calibers, meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as its diameter.[4]
  3. ^ German warships were ordered under provisional names. For new additions to the fleet, they were given a single letter; for those ships intended to replace older or lost vessels, they were ordered as "Ersatz (name of the ship to be replaced)".
  4. ^ The Germans were on Central European Time, which is one hour ahead of UTC, the time zone commonly used in British works.
  5. ^ The compass can be divided into 32 points, each corresponding to 11.25 degrees. A two-point turn to port would alter the ships' course by 22.5 degrees.
  6. ^ Derfflinger and Seydlitz had been seriously damaged at the Battle of Jutland, and Lützow had been sunk.[42][43]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e Staff (Volume 1), p. 44.
  2. ^ a b c d Gröner, p. 24.
  3. ^ a b c d e Gröner, p. 25.
  4. ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
  5. ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 146.
  6. ^ Staff (Volume 1), p. 36.
  7. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 231.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Staff (Volume 1), pp. 43–44.
  9. ^ Staff (Volume 1), p. 8.
  10. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 230.
  11. ^ Staff (Volume 1), p. 11.
  12. ^ Staff (Volume 2), p. 14.
  13. ^ Heyman, p. xix.
  14. ^ Staff (Volume 1), pp. 11, 43.
  15. ^ Garland & Garland, p. 669.
  16. ^ Herwig, pp. 149–150.
  17. ^ Tarrant, pp. 31–33.
  18. ^ Tarrant, p. 38.
  19. ^ Tarrant, p. 43.
  20. ^ Halpern, p. 196.
  21. ^ Halpern, pp. 197–198.
  22. ^ Herwig, p. 161.
  23. ^ Tarrant, p. 50.
  24. ^ Tarrant, p. 53.
  25. ^ Tarrant, p. 54.
  26. ^ Tarrant, p. 286.
  27. ^ Tarrant, pp. 94–95.
  28. ^ Tarrant, pp. 100–101.
  29. ^ Tarrant, p. 110.
  30. ^ Campbell, p. 54.
  31. ^ Campbell, p. 99.
  32. ^ Tarrant, p. 114.
  33. ^ Campbell, p. 101.
  34. ^ Campbell, p. 154.
  35. ^ Campbell, p. 155.
  36. ^ Campbell, p. 275.
  37. ^ Campbell, p. 290.
  38. ^ Campbell, p. 293.
  39. ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
  40. ^ Tarrant, p. 263.
  41. ^ Tarrant, p. 292.
  42. ^ Gröner, pp. 56–57.
  43. ^ Tarrant, p. 277.
  44. ^ Massie, p. 682.
  45. ^ Staff (Volume 2), p. 15.
  46. ^ Massie, p. 683.
  47. ^ a b Staff (Volume 1), pp. 43, 46.
  48. ^ a b c d Staff (Volume 1), p. 46.
  49. ^ Staff (Volume 1), pp. 44, 46.
  50. ^ Tarrant, pp. 280–281.
  51. ^ Tarrant, pp. 281–282.
  52. ^ a b Tarrant, p. 282.
  53. ^ Herwig, p. 252.
  54. ^ Staff (Volume 1), pp. 26–46.
  55. ^ Herwig, p. 256.
  56. ^ Treaty of Versailles Section II: Naval Clauses, Article 185.

References

Further reading
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