SMS Wettin
SMS Wettin in 1907
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | Wettin |
Namesake | House of Wettin |
Builder | Danzig |
Laid down | 10 October 1899 |
Launched | 6 June 1901 |
Commissioned | 1 October 1902 |
Stricken | 11 March 1920 |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 21 November 1921 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Wittelsbach-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement |
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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 |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Range | 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi); 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
SMS Wettin ("His Majesty's Ship
Wettin saw service in
After the start of World War I in August 1914, the Wittelsbach-class ships were mobilized and designated IV Battle Squadron. She saw limited duty in the
Description
After the German
Wettin was 126.8 m (416 ft 0 in)
Wettin's armament consisted of a
Service history
Construction – 1905
Wettin's keel was laid on 10 October 1899, at the
Wettin and I Squadron participated in an exercise in the Skagerrak from 11 to 21 January 1904 and a further squadron exercise from 8 to 17 March. A major fleet exercise took place in the North Sea in May. In July, I Squadron and
Wettin took part in training cruises with I Squadron from 9 to 19 January and 27 February to 16 March 1905.[12] Wettin was sent to assist her sister ship, Mecklenburg, which had run aground in the Great Belt on 3 March.[7] Individual and squadron training followed, with an emphasis on gunnery drills. On 12 July, the fleet began a major training exercise in the North Sea. It then cruised through the Kattegat and stopped at Copenhagen and Stockholm. The summer cruise ended on 9 August. The autumn maneuvers would normally have followed shortly thereafter but were delayed by a visit from the British Channel Fleet that month. The British fleet stopped in Danzig, Swinemünde, and Flensburg, where it was greeted by units of the German Navy. Wettin and the main German fleet were anchored at Swinemünde for the occasion. The visit was strained by the Anglo-German naval arms race, and the 1905 autumn maneuvers were shortened considerably, to just a week of exercises in the North Sea in early September. The first exercise presumed a naval blockade in the German Bight; the second envisioned a hostile fleet attempting to force the defenses of the Elbe.[13][14] In October, I Squadron went on a cruise in the Baltic. In early December, I and II Squadrons went on their regular winter cruise, this time to Danzig, where they arrived on 12 December. On the return trip to Kiel, the fleet conducted tactical exercises.[15]
1906–1914
The fleet undertook a heavier training schedule in 1906 than in previous years. The ships were occupied with individual, division and squadron exercises throughout April. Starting on 13 May, major fleet exercises took place in the North Sea and lasted until 8 June, with a cruise around the
The ship participated in the uneventful winter cruise into the Kattegat and Skagerrak from 8 to 16 December. The first quarter of 1907 followed the previous pattern. On 16 February, the Active Battle Fleet was re-designated the
By the time of the training exercises conducted in April, May, and June 1911, Wettin was the oldest battleship still in front-line service with the fleet. On 30 June her place in the squadron was taken by the new
World War I
At the outbreak of
Two days later, the ships were transferred to the North Sea. They stayed there only briefly, returning to the Baltic on 20 September. From 22 to 26 September, the squadron took part in a sweep into the eastern Baltic in an unsuccessful attempt to find and destroy Russian warships.[20] From 4 December 1914 to 2 April 1915, the ships of IV Squadron were tasked with coastal defense duties along Germany's North Sea coast, to prevent incursions by the British Royal Navy. Ships of the squadron's VII Division, which included Wettin, Wittelsbach, Schwaben, and Mecklenburg, then participated in training exercises in the western Baltic.[22]
The
From 27 May to 4 July, Wettin was back in the North Sea, patrolling the mouths of the
Battle of the Gulf of Riga
The following month, the naval high command began an operation in the
During the action, the cruiser Thetis and the torpedo boat S144 were damaged by mines. The torpedo boats T52 and T58 were mined and sunk. Schmidt withdrew his ships to re-coal. Prince Heinrich debated making another attempt, as the German Army's advance toward Riga had stalled. Nevertheless, Prince Heinrich tried to force the channel a second time with two dreadnought battleships from I Squadron to cover the minesweepers. Wettin was left at Libau[25] largely due to the scarcity of escorts. Increased activity by British submarines forced the Germans to employ more destroyers to protect their capital ships.[26]
Subsequent activity
On 9 September 1915, Wettin and her four sisters sortied in an attempt to locate Russian warships off Gotland, but returned to port two days later without having engaged any opponents. By this point in the war, the Navy was encountering difficulties in manning more important vessels.[25] Additionally, the threat from submarines in the Baltic convinced the German navy to withdraw the elderly Wittelsbach-class ships from active service.[27] Wettin and most of the other IV Squadron ships left Libau on 10 November, bound for Kiel. Arriving the next day, they were designated the Reserve Division of the Baltic, commanded by Kommodore (Commodore) Walter Engelhardt. The ships were anchored off Schilksee, Kiel. On 31 January 1916, the division was dissolved, and the ships were dispersed for subsidiary duties.[25]
Wettin was used as a training ship for
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 caliber, 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 Gröner, p. 16.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 80.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 17.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 48–51.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 52.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 54.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 54–55.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 134.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 58.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 59.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 60.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 60–62.
- ^ Scheer, p. 15.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 92.
- ^ Halpern, p. 185.
- ^ a b c d e Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 93.
- ^ Scheer, pp. 90–91.
- ^ a b Halpern, p. 192.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 94.
- ^ Halpern, p. 197.
- ^ Herwig, p. 168.
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.
- 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. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.