SMS Weissenburg
Lithograph of Weissenburg in 1902
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | Weissenburg |
Namesake | Battle of Weissenburg |
Builder | AG Vulcan Stettin |
Laid down | May 1890 |
Launched | 14 December 1891 |
Commissioned | 14 October 1894 |
Fate | Sold to the Ottoman Empire |
Ottoman Empire | |
Name | Turgut Reis |
Namesake | Turgut Reis |
Acquired | 12 September 1910 |
Fate | Broken up, 1950–1957 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Brandenburg-class battleship |
Displacement |
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Length | 115.7 m (379 ft 7 in) loa |
Beam | 19.5 m (64 ft) |
Draft | 7.9 m (25 ft 11 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
Range | 4,300 nautical miles (8,000 km; 4,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
SMS Weissenburg
Weissenburg served with I Division during the first decade of her service with the fleet. This period was generally limited to training exercises and goodwill visits to foreign ports. These training maneuvers were nevertheless very important to developing German naval tactical doctrine in the two decades before
In 1910, Weissenburg was sold to the
Design
Weissenburg was the third of four
Weissenburg, named for the
The ship was unusual for its time in that it possessed a
Weissenburg was protected with nickel-steel
Service history
In German service
Construction – 1897
Weissenburg was the third of four ships of the Brandenburg class. Ordered as battleship "C", she was
On 1 July, the German fleet began a major cruise into the Atlantic; on the return voyage in early August, the fleet stopped at the
Weissenburg and the rest of the fleet operated under the normal routine of individual and unit training in the first half of 1897.
1898–1900
From 20 to 28 February, Weissenburg briefly served as the divisional flagship.[4] The fleet followed the normal routine of individual and fleet training in 1898 without incident, and a voyage to the British Isles was also included. The fleet stopped in Queenstown, Greenock, and Kirkwall. The fleet assembled in Kiel on 14 August for the annual autumn exercises. The maneuvers included a mock blockade of the coast of Mecklenburg and a pitched battle with an "Eastern Fleet" in the Danzig Bay. A severe storm, striking the fleet as it steamed back to Kiel, caused significant damage to many ships and sank the torpedo boat S58. The fleet then transited the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and continued maneuvers in the North Sea. Training finished on 17 September in Wilhelmshaven.[12] Weissenburg again won the Kaiser's Schießpreis (Shooting Prize) during the maneuvers.[4] In December, I Division conducted artillery and torpedo training in Eckernförde Bay, followed by divisional training in the Kattegat and Skagerrak. During these maneuvers, the division visited Kungsbacka, Sweden, from 9 to 13 December. After returning to Kiel, the ships of I Division went into dock for their winter repairs.[12]
On 5 April 1899, the ship participated in the celebrations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the
In July, the fleet conducted squadron maneuvers in the North Sea, which included coast defense exercises with soldiers from the X Corps. On 16 August, the fleet assembled in Danzig once again for the annual autumn maneuvers.[13] The exercises started in the Baltic and on 30 August the fleet passed through the Kattegat and Skagerrak and steamed into the North Sea for further maneuvers in the German Bight, which lasted until 7 September. The third phase of the maneuvers took place in the Kattegat and the Great Belt from 8 to 26 September, when the maneuvers concluded and the fleet went into port for annual maintenance. The year 1900 began with the usual routine of individual and divisional exercises. In the second half of March, the squadrons met in Kiel, followed by torpedo and gunnery practice in April and a voyage to the eastern Baltic. From 7 to 26 May, the fleet went on a major training cruise to the northern North Sea, which included stops in Shetland from 12 to 15 May and in Bergen from 18 to 22 May.[14] On 8 July, Weissenburg and the other ships of I Division were reassigned to II Division.[15]
Boxer Uprising
During the
On 7 July, KAdm
Since the situation had calmed, the four battleships were sent to either Hong Kong or
1901–1910
Following her return from China, Weissenburg was taken into the drydocks at the
The four Brandenburg-class battleships were taken out of service for a major reconstruction.[30] During the modernization, a second conning tower was added in the aft superstructure, along with a gangway.[31] Weissenburg and the other ships had their boilers replaced with newer models, and also had their superstructure amidships reduced.[2] The work included increasing the ship's coal storage capacity and adding a pair of 10.5 cm guns. The plans had initially called for the center 28 cm turret to be replaced with an armored battery of medium-caliber guns, but this proved to be prohibitively expensive.[32] On 27 September 1904, Weissenburg was recommissioned, and replaced the old coastal defense ship Hildebrand in II Squadron.[27] The two squadrons of the fleet ended the year with the usual training cruise into the Baltic, which took place uneventfully. The first half of 1905 similarly passed without incident for Weissenburg. On 12 July, the fleet began its annual summer cruise to northern waters; the ships stopped in Gothenburg from 20 to 24 July and Stockholm from 2 to 7 August. The trip ended two days later, and was followed by the autumn fleet maneuvers later that month. In December, the fleet took its usual training cruise in the Baltic.[33]
The fleet conducted its normal routine of individual and unit training in 1906, interrupted only by a cruise to Norway from mid-July to early August. The annual autumn maneuvers occurred as usual.[34] After the conclusion of the maneuvers, Weissenburg had her crew reduced on 28 September and she was transferred to the Reserve Formation of the North Sea. She participated in the 1907 fleet maneuvers, but was decommissioned on 27 September, though she was still formally assigned to the Reserve Formation. She was reactivated on 2 August 1910 to participate in the annual maneuvers with III Squadron, though the sale of Weissenburg and Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm to the Ottoman Empire was announced just a few days later. On 6 August, she left the squadron and departed Wilhelmshaven on the 14th in company with Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm. They arrived in the Ottoman Empire on 1 September.[27]
In Ottoman service
In late 1909, the German military attache to the Ottoman Empire had begun a conversation with the
Italo–Turkish War
A year later, on 29 September 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire to seize
Since the fleet could not be used to challenge the significantly more powerful Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy), Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin were primarily kept at Nagara to support the coastal fortifications defending the Dardanelles in the event that the Italian fleet attempted to force the straits.[43] On 19 April 1912, elements of the Italian fleet bombarded the Dardanelles fortresses, but the Ottoman fleet did not mount a counterattack.[44] The negative course of the war led many naval officers to join a coup against the Young Turk government; the officers commanding the fleet at Nagara threatened to bring the ships to Constantinople if their demands were not met.[45] With tensions rising in the Balkans, the Ottoman government signed a peace treaty on 18 October, ending the war.[46]
Balkan Wars
After watching Italy successfully seize Ottoman territory, the
On 7 November, Turgut Reis shelled Bulgarian troops around Tekirdağ.[48] On 17 November, she supported the Ottoman III Corps by bombarding the attacking Bulgarian forces. The ship was aided by artillery observers ashore.[49] The battleship's gunnery was largely ineffective, though it provided a morale boost for the besieged Ottoman army dug in at Çatalca. By 17:00, the Bulgarian infantry had largely been forced back to their starting positions, in part due to the psychological effect of the battleships' bombardment.[50] On 22 November, Turgut Reis sortied from the Bosporus to cover the withdrawal of Hamidiye, which had been torpedoed by a Bulgarian torpedo boat earlier that morning.[51]
Battle of Elli
In December 1912, the Ottoman fleet was reorganized into an armored division, which included Barbaros Hayreddin as flagship, two destroyer divisions, and a fourth division composed of warships intended for independent operations.[51] Over the next two months, the armored division attempted to break the Greek naval blockade of the Dardanelles, which resulted in two major naval engagements.[52] The first, the Battle of Elli took place on 16 December 1912. The Ottomans attempted to launch an attack on Imbros.[53] The Ottoman fleet sortied from the Dardanelles at 09:30; the smaller craft remained at the mouth of the straits while the battleships sailed north, hugging the coast. The Greek flotilla, which included the armored cruiser Georgios Averof and three Hydra-class ironclads, sailing from the island of Lemnos, altered course to the northeast to block the advance of the Ottoman battleships.[54]
The Ottoman ships opened fire on the Greeks at 09:50, from a range of about 15,000 yd (14,000 m). Five minutes later, Georgios Averof crossed over to the other side of the Ottoman fleet, placing the Ottomans in the unfavorable position of being under fire from both sides. At 09:50 and under heavy pressure from the Greek fleet, the Ottoman ships completed a 16-point turn, which reversed their course, and headed for the safety of the straits. The turn was poorly conducted, and the ships fell out of formation, blocking each other's fields of fire. Around this time, Turgut Reis received several hits, though they inflicted only minor damage to the ship's superstructure and guns.[53] By 10:17, both sides had ceased firing and the Ottoman fleet withdrew into the Dardanelles. The ships reached port by 13:00 and transferred their casualties to the hospital ship Resit Paşa.[53]
Battle of Lemnos
The Battle of Lemnos resulted from an Ottoman plan to lure the faster Georgios Averof away from the Dardanelles. The protected cruiser Hamidiye evaded the Greek blockade and broke out into the Aegean Sea; the assumption was that the Greeks would dispatch Georgios Averof to hunt down Hamidiye. Despite the threat to Greek lines of communication posed by the cruiser, the Greek commander refused to detach Georgios Averof from its position.
A long-range artillery duel that lasted for two hours began at around 11:55, when the Ottoman fleet opened fire at a range of 8,000 m (26,000 ft). They concentrated their fire on Georgios Averof, which returned fire at 12:00. At 12:50, the Greeks attempted to cross the T of the Ottoman fleet, but the Ottoman line led by Barbaros Hayreddin turned north to block the Greek maneuver. The Ottoman commander detached the old ironclad Mesudiye after she received a serious hit at 12:55. After Barbaros Hayreddin suffered several hits that reduced her speed to 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph), Turgut Reis took the lead of the formation and Bey decided to break off the engagement. By 14:00, the Ottoman fleet reached the cover of the Dardanelles fortresses, forcing the Greeks to withdraw.[56] Between Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin, the ships fired some 800 rounds, mostly of their main battery 28 cm guns but without success. During the battle, barbettes on both Turgut Reis and her sister were disabled by gunfire, and both ships caught fire.[57]
Subsequent operations
On 8 February 1913, the Ottoman navy supported an amphibious assault at Şarköy. Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin, along with two small cruisers provided artillery support to the right flank of the invading force once it went ashore. The ships were positioned about a kilometer off shore; Turgut Reis was the second ship in the line, behind her sister Barbaros Hayreddin.[58] The Bulgarian army resisted fiercely, which ultimately forced the Ottoman army to retreat, though the withdrawal was successful in large part due to the gunfire support from Turgut Reis and the rest of the fleet. During the battle, Turgut Reis fired 225 rounds from her 10.5 cm guns and 202 shells from her 8.8 cm guns.[59]
In March 1913, the ship returned to the Black Sea to resume support of the Çatalca garrison, which was under renewed attacks by the Bulgarian army. On 26 March, the barrage of 28 and 10.5 cm shells fired by Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin assisted in the repelling of advance of the 2nd Brigade of the Bulgarian 1st Infantry Division.[60] On 30 March, the left wing of the Ottoman line turned to pursue the retreating Bulgarians. Their advance was supported by both field artillery and the heavy guns of Turgut Reis and the other warships positioned off the coast; the assault gained the Ottomans about 1,500 m (4,900 ft) by nightfall. In response, the Bulgarians brought the 1st Brigade to the front, which beat the Ottoman advance back to its starting position.[61] On 11 April, Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin, supported by several smaller vessels, steamed to Çanakkale to provide distant cover for a light flotilla conducting a sweep for Greek warships. The two sides clashed in an inconclusive engagement, and the main Ottoman fleet did not sortie before the two sides disengaged.[62]
World War I
In the summer of 1914, when World War I broke out in Europe, the Ottomans initially remained neutral. In early November, the
On 18 March, Turgut Reis was on station when the
On 19 January 1918, Yavuz and the light cruiser SMS Breslau, which had also been transferred to Ottoman service under the name Midilli, sailed from the Dardanelles to attack several British monitors stationed outside. The ships quickly sank HMS Raglan and HMS M28 before turning back to the safety of the Dardanelles. While en route, Midilli struck five mines and sank, while Yavuz hit three mines and began to list to port. The ship's captain gave an incorrect order to the helmsman, which caused the ship to run aground.[66] Yavuz remained there for almost a week, until Turgut Reis and several other vessels arrived on the scene on 22 January; the ships spent four days trying to free Yavuz from the sand bank, including using the turbulence from their propellers to clear sand away from under the ship. By the morning of 26 January, Yavuz came free from the sandbank and Turgut Reis escorted her back into the Dardanelles.[67]
Turgut Reis was laid up again on 30 October 1918, and was refitted at the Gölcük Naval Shipyard from 1924 to 1925. After returning to service, she served as a stationary training ship based at Gölcük.[68] At the time, she retained only two of her originally six 28 cm guns.[57] Two main turrets were removed and installed as a part of the heavy coastal battery Turgut Reis, situated at the Asian coast of the Dardanelles Strait. Both turrets are preserved with their guns (two L/40 and two L/35).[69] She was decommissioned in 1933 and was thereafter used as a barracks ship for dockyard workers, a role she filled until 1950, when she began to be broken up at Gölcük. By 1953, the ship had been broken down into two sections, and these were sold to be dismantled abroad.[68] Demolition work was finally completed between 1956 and 1957.[57]
Footnotes
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b c d e Gröner, p. 13.
- ^ a b c d Hore, p. 66.
- ^ Sondhaus Weltpolitik, pp. 179–181.
- ^ a b c d e Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 63.
- ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 175–176.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 176–177.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 178.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 179.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 180.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 180–181.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 181–183.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 183.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 184–185.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 186.
- ^ Bodin, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Bodin, p. 1.
- ^ Holborn, p. 311.
- ^ Bodin, p. 6.
- ^ Harrington, p. 29.
- ^ Bodin, p. 11.
- ^ Bodin, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Herwig, p. 106.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 186–187.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 187.
- ^ a b c d e f Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 64.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 188–189.
- ^ Herwig, p. 103.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 189.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 14.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 189–190.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 34–35.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 190.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Erickson, p. 131.
- ^ a b Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 17.
- ^ Childs, p. 24.
- ^ Beehler, pp. 5–6.
- ^ a b Beehler, pp. 23–24.
- ^ a b Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 15.
- ^ Beehler, p. 45.
- ^ Beehler, pp. 67–69.
- ^ Beehler, pp. 91–92.
- ^ Beehler, pp. 94, 100.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 25.
- ^ Hall, p. 36.
- ^ Erickson, p. 133.
- ^ a b Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 21.
- ^ Hall, pp. 64–65.
- ^ a b c Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 22.
- ^ a b c Fotakis, p. 50.
- ^ a b c Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 23.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, pp. 23–24.
- ^ a b c d Mach, p. 390.
- ^ Erickson, p. 264.
- ^ Erickson, p. 270.
- ^ Erickson, p. 288.
- ^ Erickson, p. 289.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Staff, p. 19.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, pp. 33, 35.
- ^ Bennett, p. 47.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 32.
- ^ a b Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 141.
- ^ Forrest, p. 218.
References
- Beehler, William Henry (1913). The History of the Italian–Turkish War: September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. OCLC 1408563.
- ISBN 978-1-84415-300-8.
- Bodin, Lynn E. (1979). The Boxer Rebellion. London: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85045-335-5.
- Childs, Timothy (1990). Italo-Turkish Diplomacy and the War Over Libya, 1911–1912. New York: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-09025-5.
- Erickson, Edward J. (2003). Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912–1913. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-97888-4.
- Forrest, Michael (2012). The Defence of Dardanelles. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-78159-052-2.
- Fotakis, Zisis (2005). Greek Naval Strategy and Policy, 1910–1919. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-35014-3.
- 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.
- Hall, Richard C. (2000). The Balkan Wars, 1912–1913: Prelude to the First World War. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-22946-3.
- Harrington, Peter (2001). Peking 1900: The Boxer Rebellion. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84176-181-7.
- 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. 5. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0456-9.
- 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. 8. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
- Holborn, Hajo (1982). A History of Modern Germany: 1840–1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00797-7.
- Hore, Peter (2006). The Ironclads. London: Southwater Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84476-299-6.
- Langensiepen, Bernd & Güleryüz, Ahmet (1995). The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828–1923. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-610-1.
- Mach, Andrzej V. (1985). "Turkey". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 387–394. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (2001). Naval Warfare, 1815–1914. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-21478-0.
- Staff, Gary (2006). German Battlecruisers: 1914–1918. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84603-009-3.
Further reading
- 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.
- 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.
- Nottelmann, Dirk (2002). Die Brandenburg-Klasse: Höhepunkt des deutschen Panzerschiffbaus [The Brandenburg Class: High Point of German Armored Ship Construction] (in German). Hamburg: Mittler. ISBN 978-3-8132-0740-8.
- Weir, Gary E. (1992). Building the Kaiser's Navy: The Imperial Navy Office and German Industry in the Tirpitz Era, 1890–1919. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-929-1.
External links
- Turgut Reis, in Turkey in the First World War web site.