The II Battle Squadron was a unit of the German High Seas Fleet before and during World War I . The squadron saw action throughout the war, including the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where it formed the rear of the German line .
139-631: The II Battle Squadron was divided into the III Division and the IV Division; the divisions initially were composed of eight of the ten Deutschland and Braunschweig -class battleships . At the time, SMS Deutschland was the flagship of the High Seas Fleet and was also assigned to the II Battle Squadron, though only for tactical purposes—the ship was not otherwise subordinate to
278-461: A main battery of very heavy guns upon the weather deck, in large rotating mounts either fully or partially armoured over, and supported by one or more secondary batteries of lighter weapons on broadside. The similarity in appearance of battleships in the 1890s was underlined by the increasing number of ships being built. New naval powers such as Germany , Japan , the United States , and to
417-414: A 147.5 kg (325 lb) TNT warhead. They could be set at two speeds for different ranges. At 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), the weapons had a range of 3,000 m (9,800 ft). At an increased speed of 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph), the range was reduced to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). The Deutschland -class ships were equipped with Krupp cemented armor . Deutschland had
556-555: A brief skirmish with the British battlecruiser squadron. The squadron consisted of only six ships at the time, as Preussen had been transferred temporarily to the Baltic for guard duty and SMS Lothringen was in such poor condition that Scheer removed the ship from the squadron. In the night fighting against the British destroyer flotillas, Pommern was torpedoed and sunk, killing her entire crew. The loss of Pommern highlighted
695-448: A central fire-control position; Pommern received the same conning tower, but the other three ships had shorter towers without the fire-control room. All five members of the class were fitted with short military masts with lighter poles atop them that were fitted with spotting tops . The ships handled less easily than the preceding Braunschweig -class ships, though they suffered less marked weather helm . Their metacentric height
834-617: A clash between Chinese battleships and a Japanese fleet consisting of mostly cruisers. The Spanish–American War of 1898 was also a mismatch, with the American pre-dreadnought fleet engaging Spanish shore batteries at San Juan and then a Spanish squadron of armoured cruisers and destroyers at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba . Not until the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 did pre-dreadnoughts engage on an equal footing. This happened in three battles:
973-476: A harbour-defence vessel; she fired at extreme range (13,500 yards, 12,300 m) on the German cruiser SMS Gneisenau , and while the only hit was from an inert practice shell which had been left loaded from the previous night (the "live" shells of the salvo broke up on contact with water; one inert shell ricocheted into one of Gneisenau ' s funnels), this certainly deterred Gneisenau . The subsequent battle
1112-628: A lesser extent Italy and Austria-Hungary , began to establish themselves with fleets of pre-dreadnoughts. Meanwhile, the battleship fleets of the United Kingdom, France , and Russia expanded to meet these new threats. The last decisive clash of pre-dreadnought fleets was between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Russian Navy at the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905. These battleships were abruptly made obsolete by
1251-503: A maximum range of 9,090 m (9,940 yd). The ammunition allotment for each gun was 130 shells. The ships were temporarily fitted with four 3.7 cm (1.5 in) machine cannon , but these were quickly removed. They were also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes , and 16 torpedoes . The tubes were all placed below the waterline , one in the bow, one in the stern, and two on each broadside . These torpedoes were 5.15 m (16.9 ft) long and carried
1390-400: A number of innovations to increase the rate of fire. The propellant was provided in a brass cartridge, and both the breech mechanism and the mounting were suitable for rapid aiming and reloading. A principal role of the secondary battery was to damage the less armoured parts of an enemy battleship; while unable to penetrate the main armour belt, it might score hits on lightly armoured areas like
1529-404: A pair of 8.8 cm guns in anti-aircraft mountings were installed. Beginning in 1917, some of the ships began to be partially or fully disarmed so the guns could be used ashore during the war. Deutschland was completely disarmed in late 1917 and Schleswig-Holstein was reduced to just four 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns and four 8.8 cm SK L/30 guns in 1918. Schlesien
SECTION 10
#17328439468431668-510: A pre-dreadnought was not necessarily the equal of even a modern armoured cruiser, and was totally outclassed by a modern dreadnought battleship or battlecruiser. Nevertheless, the pre-dreadnought played a major role in the war. This was first illustrated in the skirmishes between British and German navies around South America in 1914. While two German cruisers menaced British shipping, the Admiralty insisted that no battlecruisers could be spared from
1807-449: A series of changes to their armament, particularly to their anti-aircraft batteries. Schleswig-Holstein received another eight 2 cm guns that year. In February 1940, Schlesien received four 3.7 cm (1.5 in) L/83 anti-aircraft guns . In April, the ship had her remaining ten 15 cm guns removed, while Schleswig-Holstein lost three of hers. In August, Schlesien had her 3.7 cm guns taken off to strengthen
1946-522: A shipwreck in the Gulf of Riga , forcing a return to Gotenhafen for repairs. The ship was thereafter reduced to training duties. Hannover was broken up in Bremerhaven between 1944 and 1946. In mid-1944, Schlesien ' s and Schleswig-Holstein ' s anti-aircraft armament was considerably strengthened to allow them to be used as air defense ships in the port of Gotenhafen. Schleswig-Holstein
2085-496: A similar armament before Dreadnought , but were unable to complete them before the British ship. It was felt that because of the longer distances at which battles could be fought, only the largest guns were effective in battle, and by mounting more 12-inch guns Dreadnought was two to three times more effective in combat than an existing battleship. The armament of the new breed of ships was not their only crucial advantage. Dreadnought used steam turbines for propulsion, giving her
2224-548: A similar rebuilding in 1935–1936. The two ships spent the rest of the decade training naval cadets , including a lengthy voyage to North and South America for Schlesien in 1936–1937. During this period, Germany came under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party , which set upon a rearmament strategy and an aggressive foreign policy that led to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. Schleswig-Holstein steamed to
2363-439: A slightly different arrangement in the belt armor and the citadel in the superstructure. Deutschland ' s belt was 225 mm (8.9 in) at the waterline and tapered to 140 mm (5.5 in) on the lower edge. Her sister ships' belts were increased in thickness to 240 mm (9.4 in) at the waterline and down to 170 mm (6.7 in) on the bottom edge. In all five ships, this section of armor extended from
2502-427: A top speed of 21 knots, against the 18 knots typical of the pre-dreadnought battleships. Able both to outgun and outmaneuver their opponents, the dreadnought battleships decisively outclassed earlier battleship designs. Nevertheless, pre-dreadnoughts continued in active service and saw significant combat use even when obsolete. Dreadnoughts and battlecruisers were believed vital for the decisive naval battles which at
2641-407: A training ship numbered 31 officers and 565 men and up to 175 cadets . Deutschland and her sisters carried several smaller vessels, including two picket boats, one admiral's barge, two launches , one pinnace , two cutters , two yawls , and two dinghies . The boats were handled with a pair of large cranes amidships ; Deutschland had hers located further forward than the other members of
2780-465: A trajectory close to horizontal) was a much greater threat than had been thought. Gunboat diplomacy was typically conducted by cruisers or smaller warships. A British squadron of three protected cruisers and two gunboats brought about the capitulation of Zanzibar in 1896; and while battleships participated in the combined fleet Western powers deployed during the Boxer Rebellion , the naval part of
2919-488: A variety of ways; sometimes carried in turrets, they were just as often positioned in fixed armoured casemates in the side of the hull, or in unarmoured positions on upper decks. Some of the pre-dreadnoughts carried an "intermediate" battery, typically of 8-to-10-inch (203 to 254 mm) calibre. The intermediate battery was a method of packing more heavy firepower into the same battleship, principally of use against battleships or at long ranges. The United States Navy pioneered
SECTION 20
#17328439468433058-480: The Braunschweig s, a series of minor improvements were incorporated into subsequent designs. By the time work began on the second vessel of the 1903 fiscal year, which became SMS Deutschland , a more significantly altered design had been prepared. A series of changes were made to the secondary and tertiary batteries for what became Deutschland , the lead ship of the new class. The designers discarded
3197-604: The Deutschland s spent the rest of 1916 on coastal defense duty in the Elbe and occasionally in the Danish straits . In August 1917, II Battle Squadron was disbanded and most of the ships were reduced to secondary duties, being partially disarmed to free up guns for use ashore. Deutschland and Schleswig-Holstein became barracks ships and Schlesien served as a training ship. Hannover remained in active service for guard duty in
3336-575: The Lord Nelson class, carried ten 9.2-inch guns as secondary armament. Ships with a uniform, heavy secondary battery are often referred to as "semi-dreadnoughts". Pre-dreadnought battleships carried a considerable weight of steel armour, providing them with effective defence against the great majority of naval guns in service during the period. 'Medium' calibre guns up to 8-9.4 inch would generally prove incapable of piercing their thickest armour, while it still provided some measure of defence against even
3475-620: The Virginia class laid down in 1901–02. Nevertheless, it was these earlier ships that ensured American naval dominance against the antiquated Spanish fleet—which included no pre-dreadnoughts—in the Spanish–American War, most notably at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. The final two classes of American pre-dreadnoughts (the Connecticut s and Mississippi s ) were completed after the completion of
3614-620: The 1898 and 1900 Navy Laws . This increase was due to the determination of the navy chief Alfred von Tirpitz and the growing sense of national rivalry with the UK. Besides the Brandenburg class, German pre-dreadnoughts include the ships of the Kaiser Friedrich III , Wittelsbach , and Braunschweig classes—culminating in the Deutschland class , which served in both world wars. On the whole,
3753-586: The Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1904, the Russian and Japanese fleets fought at ranges of 3.5 miles (5.5 km). The increase in engagement range was due in part to the longer range of torpedoes, and in part to improved gunnery and fire control. In consequence, shipbuilders tended towards heavier secondary armament, of the same calibre that the "intermediate" battery had been; the Royal Navy's last pre-dreadnought class,
3892-583: The Borodino class. The weakness of Russian shipbuilding meant that many ships were built overseas for Russia; the best ship, the Retvizan , being largely constructed in the United States. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 was a disaster for the Russian pre-dreadnoughts; of the 15 battleships completed since Petropavlovsk , eleven were sunk or captured during the war. One of these, the famous Potemkin , mutinied and
4031-556: The Dreadnought and after the start of design work on the USN's own initial class of dreadnoughts. The US Great White Fleet of 16 pre-dreadnought battleships circumnavigated the world from 16 December 1907, to 22 February 1909. Japan was involved in two of the three major naval wars of the pre-dreadnought era. The first Japanese pre-dreadnought battleships, the Fuji class , were still being built at
4170-661: The Free City of Danzig in late August 1939, and was moored off the Polish military depot at Westerplatte on the morning of 1 September. She opened fire on the base in Westerplatte , firing the first shots of World War II. The initial German attack was repulsed, leading to heavy fighting that Schleswig-Holstein supported for the next week, and culminating in the Polish garrison's surrender on 7 September. Later that month, Schlesien joined her sister in bombarding Polish positions along
4309-611: The I Scouting Group as they bombarded the British coast in attempts to lure out part of the British Grand Fleet , such as the raids on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914 and on Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916. At the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, the ships formed the rear of the German line, though they saw relatively little combat during the daylight action apart from
II Battle Squadron - Misplaced Pages Continue
4448-617: The III Battle Squadron . KAdm Franz Mauve [ de ] , formerly the IV Division commander, replaced Funke in August 1915. He held the role until November 1916, when he was promoted to Vizeadmiral ( VAdm —Vice Admiral) and given command of the IV Battle Squadron . Mauve was replaced by VAdm Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz , who was the final commander of the unit. As part of his program of naval expansion to rival
4587-665: The Kaiser Wilhelm Canal . Widening the canal and improving harbor facilities would be excessively expensive and Tirpitz sought to avoid another budgetary fight with the Reichstag so soon after the passage of the 1900 law. As a result, the Deutschland -class battleships were rendered obsolescent almost immediately by the commissioning of the British HMS ; Dreadnought in December 1906. The Deutschland -class ships were 125.9 m (413 ft 1 in) long at
4726-561: The Majestic class onwards carried 12-inch weapons, as did French battleships from the Charlemagne class, laid down in 1894. Japan, importing most of its guns from Britain, used this calibre also. The United States used both 12-inch and 13-inch (330 mm) guns for most of the 1890s until the Maine class , laid down in 1899 (not the earlier Maine of Spanish–American War notoriety), after which
4865-542: The wing turrets that the Braunschweig s had used for some of their secondary guns; the turrets had required support structures whose elimination saved weight and allowed the designers to place the secondary battery entirely in casemates in a more efficient arrangement. Removing the turrets freed up deck space that was used to add another pair of 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns and place the forward set of four in protective embrasures . Deutschland and her sister ship Hannover were designed for use as flagships for
5004-508: The "new naval powers" of Germany, Japan and the United States. The new ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy and to a lesser extent the U.S. Navy supported those powers' colonial expansion. While pre-dreadnoughts were adopted worldwide, there were no clashes between pre-dreadnought battleships until the very end of their period of dominance. The First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–95 influenced pre-dreadnought development, but this had been
5143-405: The 'heavy' guns of the day which were considered capable of piercing these plates. Experience with the first generations of ironclads showed that rather than giving the ship's entire length uniform armour protection, it was best to concentrate armour in greater thickness over limited but critical areas. Therefore the central section of the hull, which housed the boilers and engines, was protected by
5282-512: The 12-inch gun was universal. The Russians used both 12 and 10-inch (254 mm) guns as their main armament; the Petropavlovsk class , Retvizan , Tsesarevich , and Borodino class had 12-inch (305 mm) main batteries while the Peresvet class mounted 10-inch guns. The first German pre-dreadnought class used an 11-inch (279 mm) gun but decreased to a 9.4-inch (239 mm) gun for
5421-545: The 1880s because of the influence of the Jeune École doctrine, which favoured torpedo boats to battleships. After the Jeune École's influence faded, the first French battleship laid down was Brennus , in 1889. Brennus and the ships which followed her were individual, as opposed to the large classes of British ships; they also carried an idiosyncratic arrangement of heavy guns, with Brennus carrying three 13.4-inch (340 mm) guns and
5560-694: The 1880s used compound engines , and by the end of the 1880s the even-more efficient triple expansion compound engine was in use. Some fleets, though not the British, adopted the quadruple-expansion steam engine. The main improvement in engine performance during the pre-dreadnought period came from the adoption of increasingly higher pressure steam from the boiler. Scotch marine boilers were superseded by more compact water-tube boilers , allowing higher-pressure steam to be produced with less fuel consumption. Water-tube boilers were also safer, with less risk of explosion, and more flexible than fire-tube types. The Belleville-type water-tube boiler had been introduced in
5699-580: The Admirals continued the trend of ironclad warships mounting gigantic weapons. The guns were mounted in open barbettes to save weight. Some historians see these ships as a vital step towards pre-dreadnoughts; others view them as a confused and unsuccessful design. The subsequent Royal Sovereign class of 1889 retained barbettes but were uniformly armed with 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns ; they were also significantly larger (at 14,000 tons displacement ) and faster (because of triple-expansion steam engines) than
II Battle Squadron - Misplaced Pages Continue
5838-567: The Admirals. Just as importantly, the Royal Sovereign s had a higher freeboard, making them unequivocally capable of the high-seas battleship role. The pre-dreadnought design reached maturity in 1895 with the Majestic class . These ships were built and armoured entirely of steel, and their guns were now mounted in fully-enclosed rotating turrets. They also adopted 12-inch (305 mm) main guns , which, because of advances in gun construction and
5977-454: The Baltic. The Kaiser Wilhelm Canal through Schleswig-Holstein connected the Baltic and North Seas and allowed the German Navy to quickly shift naval forces between the two seas. Konteradmiral ( KAdm —Rear Admiral) Reinhard Scheer served as the commander of the squadron from January 1913 to 26 December 1914, when he traded commands with KAdm Felix Funke , who had commanded
6116-557: The British Battle Cruiser Fleet . In the growing darkness, the Germans had difficulty making out their targets and failed to score any hits; the British managed to hit three of the Deutschland s. Pommern was forced briefly to haul out of line. Mauve then disengaged his ships, ending their only clash with British capital ships during the battle. As the German fleet withdrew overnight, II Squadron took up positions toward
6255-483: The British Royal Navy , Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz projected the need for a second squadron of eight battleships in his 1898 Naval Law . By 1907, enough new battleships had been completed to stand the new squadron up at full strength. The ships of the II Battle Squadron took part in all of the major fleet actions in the first three years of the war. These included the support missions for the battlecruisers of
6394-400: The British, the Royal Navy had 50 pre-dreadnought battleships ready or being built by 1904, from the 1889 Naval Defence Act's ten units onwards. Over a dozen older battleships remained in service. The last two British pre-dreadnoughts, the "semi-dreadnought" Lord Nelson s, appeared after Dreadnought herself. France, Britain's traditional naval rival, had paused its battleship building during
6533-569: The French fleet as early as 1879, but it took until 1894 for the Royal Navy to adopt it for armoured cruisers and pre-dreadnoughts; other water-tube boilers followed in navies worldwide. The engines drove either two or three screw propellers . France and Germany preferred the three-screw approach, which allowed the engines to be shorter and hence more easily protected; they were also more maneuverable and had better resistance to accidental damage. Triple screws were, however, generally larger and heavier than
6672-429: The German fleet adopted a strategy of raids on the British coast, which the five Deutschland -class ships supported. These operations culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where all five ships saw action, despite their marked inferiority to British dreadnoughts. Regardless, they intervened to protect the battered German battlecruisers from their British counterparts, allowing them to escape. In
6811-535: The German ships were less powerful than their British equivalents but equally robust. Russia equally entered into a programme of naval expansion in the 1890s; one of Russia's main objectives was to maintain its interests against Japanese expansion in the Far East. The Petropavlovsk class begun in 1892 took after the British Royal Sovereign s; later ships showed more French influence on their designs, such as
6950-506: The Imperial government. Hannover was decommissioned in September 1931 and saw no further service, though there were plans to convert her into a target ship . Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien remained on active duty into the early 1930s, but by 1933, the new heavy cruiser Deutschland had been commissioned, and so Schlesien was decommissioned to be converted into a dedicated training ship. Schleswig-Holstein followed for
7089-512: The Russian tactical victory during the Battle of Port Arthur on 8–9 February 1904, the indecisive Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August 1904, and the decisive Japanese victory at the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905. These battles upended prevailing theories of how naval battles would be fought, as the fleets began firing at one another at much greater distances than before; naval architects realized that plunging fire (explosive shells falling on their targets largely from above, instead of from
SECTION 50
#17328439468437228-581: The Turkish battlecruiser lurking on the other side of the straits, the operation had failed. Pre-dreadnoughts were also used to support the Gallipoli landings, with the loss of three more: HMS Goliath , HMS Triumph and HMS Majestic . In return, a pair of Ottoman pre-dreadnoughts, the ex-German Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin , bombarded Allied forces during the Gallipoli campaign until
7367-421: The action was performed by gunboats, destroyers and sloops. European navies remained dominant in the pre-dreadnought era. The Royal Navy remained the world's largest fleet, though both Britain's traditional naval rivals and the new European powers increasingly asserted themselves against its supremacy. In 1889, Britain formally adopted a "two-power standard" committing it to building enough battleships to exceed
7506-584: The annual large-scale maneuvers in late August and September. The major fleet cruises typically went to Norwegian waters in company with Kaiser Wilhelm II 's yacht , though in 1908 and 1909, the fleet embarked on long-distance cruises out into the Atlantic, making visits to mainland Spain, the Canary Islands , and the Azores . These came at the insistence of the fleet commander of the time, Prince Heinrich , who foresaw
7645-415: The anti-aircraft defenses of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein was almost completely disarmed, retaining only her 28 cm guns. The following year, Schlesien received four 8.8 cm guns, four 3.7 cm guns, and three 2 cm guns. By 1943, Hannover had been reconstructed for her planned role as a target ship, which involved removing most of her superstructure and all of her guns, though
7784-417: The appearance of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 and their classification as "pre-dreadnought" is retrospectively applied. In their day, they were simply known as "battleships" or else more rank-specific terms such as "first-class battleship" and so forth. The pre-dreadnought battleships were the pre-eminent warships of their time and replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. In contrast to
7923-466: The arrival of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. Dreadnought followed the trend in battleship design to heavier, longer-ranged guns by adopting an "all-big-gun" armament scheme of ten 12-inch guns . Her innovative steam turbine engines also made her faster. The existing battleships were decisively outclassed, with no more being designed to their format thereafter; the new, larger and more powerful, battleships built from then on were known as dreadnoughts . This
8062-565: The battle, the pre-dreadnoughts risked themselves by turning on the British battlefleet as dark set. Nevertheless, only one of the pre-dreadnoughts was sunk: SMS Pommern went down in the confused night action as the battlefleets disengaged. Following the November 1918 Armistice, the U.S. Navy converted fifteen older battleships, eight armoured cruisers and two larger protected cruisers for temporary service as transports. These ships made one to six trans-Atlantic round-trips each, bringing home
8201-410: The bridge, or start fires. Equally important, the secondary armament was to be used against smaller enemy vessels such as cruisers , destroyers , and even torpedo boats . A medium-calibre gun could be expected to penetrate the light armour of smaller ships, while the rate of fire of the secondary battery was important in scoring a hit against a small, manoeuvrable target. Secondary guns were mounted in
8340-531: The centerline, one forward and one aft. The DrL C/01 turrets allowed the guns to depress to −4 degrees, and elevate to +30 degrees, which enabled a maximum range of 18,800 meters (61,700 ft). The guns fired 240-kilogram (530 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 820 meters per second (2,700 ft/s ). Ammunition storage amounted to 85 shells per gun. The secondary battery consisted of fourteen 17 cm SK L/40 quick-firing guns , all of which were mounted in casemates. Five were placed on either side in
8479-421: The class were fitted with cork cofferdams , a common practice at the time intended to prevent uncontrolled flooding in the event of shell hits. All five ships had an armored deck that was 40 mm (1.6 in) thick. The deck sloped downward at the sides to connect with the lower edge of the belt, which provided a second layer to contain shell fragments from hits that penetrated the belt. The sloped section
SECTION 60
#17328439468438618-470: The class. Deutschland and her sisters were equipped with three triple-expansion steam engines that each drove a screw propeller ; the outer screws were three-bladed and 4.80 m (15 ft 9 in) in diameter, while the center shaft used a four-bladed screw that was 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) in diameter. Each engine was placed in its own engine room . Deutschland was fitted with eight water-tube boilers and six fire-tube boilers, but
8757-588: The coast, including the Hel Fortified Area . The ships returned to training duties after the Polish campaign , and in early 1940, Schlesien was used as an icebreaker in the Baltic Sea. Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien then participated in the occupation of Denmark and invasion of Norway , respectively, in April 1940. Neither vessel saw action during the operations. Afterward, Schleswig-Holstein
8896-640: The concept of the battlecruiser . The Austro-Hungarian Empire also saw a naval renaissance during the 1890s, though of the nine pre-dreadnought battleships ordered only the three of the Habsburg class arrived before Dreadnought made them obsolete. The United States started building its first battleships in 1891. These ships were short-range coast-defence battleships that were similar to the British HMS Hood except for an innovative intermediate battery of 8-inch guns. The US Navy continued to build ships that were relatively short-range and poor in heavy seas, until
9035-522: The confused night actions, Pommern was torpedoed and sunk by a British destroyer. After the battle, the four surviving ships were removed from front-line service and used for coastal defense through mid-1917. Thereafter, Hannover alone remained on patrol duty, while the rest were used as barracks or training ships . After Germany's defeat, the Treaty of Versailles permitted the postwar navy to retain several old battleships for coastal defense, including
9174-489: The core of the fleet which twice engaged the numerically superior Russian fleets at the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima. After capturing eight Russian battleships of various ages, Japan built several more classes of pre-dreadnoughts after the Russo-Japanese War. In 1906, the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought brought about the obsolescence of all existing battleships. Dreadnought , by scrapping
9313-643: The end of the war. In 1900, Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz , the State Secretary for the Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Naval Office), secured the passage of the Second Naval Law , an amendment to the First Naval Law of 1898. The previous law had called for a total strength of nineteen battleships by 1 April 1904, which was reached with the five Wittelsbach -class battleships , but
9452-406: The extremities would greatly aid the ship's defensive qualities. Thus, the main belt armour would normally taper to a lesser thickness along the side of the hull towards bow and stern; it might also taper up from the central citadel towards the superstructure. The main armament and the magazines were protected by projections of thick armour from the main belt. The beginning of the pre-dreadnought era
9591-513: The flagship on her recommissioning in 1926. Hannover was modernized again in the late 1920s after Schlesien recommissioned to take her place. Throughout the 1920s, the ships took part in a training routine similar to that of the prewar years, including training exercises throughout the year and long-range training cruises that went as far as the Mediterranean Sea . The ships frequently went to Norwegian waters, as they had done under
9730-446: The fleet and a squadron , respectively, which required additional accommodation spaces. After Deutschland , which mixed sets of fire-tube and water-tube boilers , the remaining four members of the class received a uniform set of water-tube boilers. These were lighter, and the weight savings were passed on to the armor layout in the form of a slightly thicker armor belt and a strengthened upper deck . The Deutschland design
9869-414: The forward barbette to the aft one. On either end, the belt was reduced to 100 mm (3.9 in). In all ships, the belt was backed by a layer of teak that was 80 mm (3.1 in) thick. Above the belt was a strake of armor that protected the casemate guns; in Deutschland , this was 160 mm (6.3 in) thick, while on the other four ships the armor was 170 mm thick. All members of
10008-413: The four Deutschland -class ships. Deutschland was broken up in 1920–1922, but the remainder were modernized and returned to active service in the mid-1920s. Their activities mirrored those of the pre-war period, including overseas training cruises and extensive fleet maneuvers. Hannover was decommissioned in 1931 and was to be converted into a target vessel, although this was never done. She
10147-508: The front. On 3 May she struck a mine outside Swinemünde; the following day she was scuttled by her crew in shallow water. Both ships were broken up in situ after the war. See also : List of ships of the Imperial German Navy Pre-dreadnought battleship Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built from the mid- to late- 1880s to the early 1900s . Their designs were conceived before
10286-539: The intermediate battery concept in the Indiana , Iowa , and Kearsarge classes, but not in the battleships laid down between 1897 and 1901. Shortly after the USN re-adopted the intermediate battery, the British, Italian, Russian, French, and Japanese navies laid down intermediate-battery ships. Almost all of this later generation of intermediate-battery ships finished building after Dreadnought , and hence were obsolescent before completion. The pre-dreadnought's armament
10425-536: The late 1880s, for instance the Royal Sovereign class, were armoured with iron and steel compound armour. This was soon replaced with more effective case-hardened steel armour made using the Harvey process developed in the United States. First tested in 1891, Harvey armour was commonplace in ships laid down from 1893 to 1895. However, its reign was brief; in 1895, the German Kaiser Friedrich III pioneered
10564-405: The latter was torpedoed and sunk by a British submarine in 1915. A squadron of German pre-dreadnoughts was present at the Battle of Jutland in 1916; German sailors called them the "five-minute ships", which was the amount of time they were expected to survive in a pitched battle. In spite of their limitations, the pre-dreadnought squadron played a useful role. As the German fleet disengaged from
10703-471: The launch of the revolutionary British all-big-gun battleship HMS Dreadnought in 1906. As a result, they were obsolescent before entering service. The ships nevertheless saw extensive service in the High Seas Fleet , Germany's primary naval formation, through the late 1900s and early 1910s, when they were used for training, which included overseas cruises. Following the start of World War I in July 1914,
10842-399: The main belt, which ran from just below the waterline to some distance above it. This "central citadel" was intended to protect the engines from even the most powerful shells. Yet the emergence of the quick-firing gun and high explosives in the 1880s meant that the 1870s to early 1880s concept of the pure central citadel was also inadequate in the 1890s and that thinner armour extensions towards
10981-468: The main fleet and sent to the other side of the world to deal with them. Instead the British dispatched a pre-dreadnought of 1896 vintage, HMS Canopus . Intended to stiffen the British cruisers in the area, in fact her slow speed meant that she was left behind at the disastrous Battle of Coronel . Canopus redeemed herself at the Battle of the Falkland Islands , but only when grounded to act as
11120-511: The mid-1920s, which included the re-installation of their 28 cm batteries, but in place of their 17 cm guns they each received fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns , along with eight 8.8 cm guns as on Hannover . They had large tubular fore masts installed, which had large spotting tops. Schlesien had her two forward funnels merged, while Schleswig-Holstein had hers similarly modified in 1928. Schlesien had her forward sponsons plated over. In 1930 and 1931,
11259-549: The most from the dreadnought revolution, with four ships of the Liberté class still building when Dreadnought launched, and a further six of the Danton class begun afterwards. Germany's first pre-dreadnoughts, the Brandenburg class , were laid down in 1890. By 1905, a further 19 battleships were built or under construction, thanks to the sharp increase in naval expenditure justified by
11398-555: The multifarious development of ironclads in preceding decades, the 1890s saw navies worldwide start to build battleships to a common design as dozens of ships essentially followed the design of the Royal Navy 's Majestic class . Built from steel, protected by compound , nickel steel or case-hardened steel armour, pre-dreadnought battleships were driven by coal -fired boilers powering compound reciprocating steam engines which turned underwater screws . These ships distinctively carried
11537-489: The need to operate at greater distances. During the summer cruise in July 1914, the fleet remained off Norway owing to the July Crisis that resulted in the start of World War I. Following the start of the war, the German fleet adopted a strategy of raids on the British coast to try to draw out portions of the British Grand Fleet where they could be defeated in detail . The battlecruisers of I Scouting Group conducted
11676-601: The new dreadnought Friedrich der Grosse took her place. With the commissioning of the rest of the class, the Home Fleet was reorganized as the High Seas Fleet in 1907. The vessels were assigned to I Battle Squadron and II Battle Squadron during this period, ultimately being concentrated in II Squadron along with three of the Braunschweig -class ships by the early 1910s as the Nassau and Helgoland -class battleships filled
11815-523: The new law increased the projected battle fleet to a total of thirty-eight. The first tranche of vessels—the Braunschweig class —introduced the 28 cm (11 in) gun , marking a significant increase in firepower over earlier German battleships. The naval command had intended to build ten battleships of the Braunschweig type, starting with the 1901 fiscal year with two ships built per year, but they ultimately only built five. During construction of
11954-439: The next year. Also in 1936, Schleswig-Holstein had her sponsons removed. As part of her conversion into a training ship , Schlesien had her remaining coal-burning boilers removed in 1938 and the boiler room became an accommodation space and training room for the cadets. The uptake from that boiler room was removed, leaving just two straight funnels. After the start of World War II in September 1939, both ships underwent
12093-582: The only class of turbine powered pre-dreadnought battleships, the Danton class of 1907. The pre-dreadnought battleship in its heyday was the core of a very diverse navy. Many older ironclads were still in service. Battleships served alongside cruisers of many descriptions: modern armoured cruisers which were essentially cut-down battleships, lighter protected cruisers , and even older unarmoured cruisers, sloops and frigates whether built out of steel, iron or wood. The battleships were threatened by torpedo boats; it
12232-453: The only guns heavy enough to penetrate the thick armour which protected the engines, magazines, and main guns of enemy battleships. The most common calibre for this main armament was 12-inch (305 mm), although earlier ships often had larger-calibre weapons of lower muzzle velocity (guns in the 13-inch to 14-inch range) and some designs used smaller guns because they could attain higher rates of fire. All British first-class battleships from
12371-480: The operation, the ships were commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Franz Mauve . Being significantly slower than the rest of the German line of battle , the ships of II Squadron saw no action during the first stages of the engagement. Toward the end of the fleet battle on the evening of 31 May, the five Deutschland -class ships came to the aid of the mauled battlecruisers of I Scouting Group, when Mauve placed his ships between them and their counterparts in
12510-527: The other four vessels. This provided a maximum range of 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Electrical power was supplied from four turbo generators that provided 260 kilowatts (350 hp) each at 110 volts . The ships carried the same main battery as the preceding Braunschweig class. The primary armament comprised four 28 cm SK L/40 quick-firing guns in hydraulically operated twin turrets. The turrets were placed on
12649-664: The outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, which saw Japanese armoured cruisers and protected cruisers defeat the Chinese Beiyang Fleet , composed of a mixture of old ironclad battleships and cruisers, at the Battle of the Yalu River . Following their victory, and facing Russian pressure in the region, the Japanese placed orders for four more pre-dreadnoughts; along with the two Fuji s these battleships formed
12788-506: The raids while the battle squadrons of the High Seas Fleet stood by in support; these included the raid on Yarmouth in November 1914, the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December, and bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916. All five members of the class operated with the fleet during this period, though the anticipated battle failed to materialize during these operations. While not conducting fleet operations,
12927-467: The ranks of I Squadron. Hannover served as the flagship of I Squadron and later as the flagship of the deputy commander of II Squadron. The ships' peacetime careers were fairly uneventful, consisting primarily of routine fleet training. Squadron and fleet exercises typically took place in April and May every year, a major fleet cruise generally followed in June and July, after which the fleet assembled for
13066-404: The rear of the German line. British light forces repeatedly clashed with the German fleet, and in one of these night actions, Pommern was hit by a torpedo from the destroyer HMS Onslaught , detonating one of her ammunition magazines and destroying the ship. The German experience at Jutland demonstrated that pre-dreadnoughts had no place in a fleet action with dreadnoughts, and so
13205-430: The rest of the vessels received twelve water-tube models, all of which were coal-fired. These were divided into three boiler rooms , each of which was ducted into a funnel . Deutschland ' s engines were rated at 16,000 metric horsepower (15,781 ihp ; 11,768 kW ), while the other four ships' engines were rated at 17,000 metric horsepower (16,767 ihp; 12,503 kW). The design speed for all of
13344-505: The same calibre of shell. Between the Majestic class and Dreadnought , the length of the British 12-inch gun increased from 35 calibres to 45 and muzzle velocity increased from 706 metres (2,317 ft) per second to 770 metres (2,525 ft) per second. Pre-dreadnoughts also carried a secondary battery of smaller guns, typically 6-inch (152 mm), though calibres from 4 to 9.4 inches (102 to 240 mm) were used. Virtually all secondary guns were " quick firing ", employing
13483-433: The secondary battery, was able to carry ten 12-inch (305 mm) guns rather than four. She could fire eight heavy guns broadside, as opposed to four from a pre-dreadnought; and six guns ahead, as opposed to two. The move to an "all-big-gun" design was a logical conclusion of the increasingly long engagement ranges and heavier secondary batteries of the last pre-dreadnoughts; Japan and the United States had designed ships with
13622-552: The ships of II Squadron also patrolled the mouth of the river Elbe to support the light forces defending the German Bight ; they also conducted training exercises in the relative safety of the Baltic Sea . In February 1915, Deutschland became the flagship of II Squadron. In late May 1916, the Germans planned another operation to draw out the British fleet, which resulted in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June. During
13761-469: The ships was 18 knots (33 km/h ; 21 mph ), though on trials all five ships exceeded both figures, Deutschland reaching 17,000 metric horsepower (17,000 ihp; 13,000 kW) for 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h; 21.4 mph) and the other members of the class making 17,696 to 19,330 metric horsepower (17,454 to 19,066 ihp; 13,015 to 14,217 kW) for 18.5 to 19.1 knots (34.3 to 35.4 km/h; 21.3 to 22.0 mph). Schleswig-Holstein
13900-693: The ships were modified again. Hannover had a pair of above-water 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes fitted and four of her 8.8 cm guns were replaced with 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns. A tubular mast like her sisters' was installed, and she had her bow sponsons plated over. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein each lost two of their 15 cm guns, received four of the 50 cm torpedo tubes, and exchanged all of their 8.8 guns for four 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns. Both ships had another pair of 15 cm guns removed in 1935; Schlesien received four 2 cm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft guns at that time and Schleswig-Holstein received four
14039-413: The ships which followed carrying two 12-inch and two 10.8-inch guns in single turrets. The Charlemagne class, laid down 1894–1896, were the first to adopt the standard four 12-inch (305 mm) gun heavy armament. The Jeune École retained a strong influence on French naval strategy, and by the end of the 19th century France had abandoned competition with Britain in battleship numbers. The French suffered
14178-553: The squadron commander. The II Battle Squadron operated from one of the two primary bases of the German fleet. The first, in the North Sea , was Wilhelmshaven on the western side of the Jade Bight . The island of Heligoland provided a fortified forward position in the German Bight . The second major naval installation was at Kiel , and it was the most important base in the Baltic. Pillau and Danzig housed forward bases further east in
14317-417: The straits. Following Germany's defeat in the war, the fleet was significantly reduced in size by the Treaty of Versailles , which permitted the Germans to retain six battleships of the Braunschweig and Deutschland classes, and another two in reserve . Deutschland was discarded in 1920 and was broken up by 1922, but the other three members of the class were kept by the postwar navy, which
14456-634: The superior Krupp armour . Europe adopted Krupp plate within five years, and only the United States persisted in using Harvey steel into the 20th century. The improving quality of armour plate meant that new ships could have better protection from a thinner and lighter armour belt; 12 inches (305 mm) of compound armour provided the same protection as just 7.5 inches (190 mm) of Harvey or 5.75 inches (133 mm) of Krupp. Almost all pre-dreadnoughts were powered by reciprocating steam engines . Most were capable of top speeds between 16 and 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h). The ironclads of
14595-455: The time all nations expected, hence they were jealously guarded against the risk of damage by mines or submarine attack, and kept close to home as much as possible. The obsolescence and consequent expendability of the pre-dreadnoughts meant that they could be deployed into more dangerous situations and more far-flung areas. During World War I, a large number of pre-dreadnoughts remained in service. The advances in machinery and armament meant that
14734-479: The turrets remained. Schlesien had the 3.7 cm guns returned that year, and in 1944, a pair of 4 cm (1.6 in) Bofors guns were added, along with sixteen more 2 cm guns, bringing the total to twenty barrels. Later that year, the 8.8 cm guns were replaced with six 10.5 cm anti-aircraft guns, her 4 cm battery was increased to seven or ten guns, and her 2 cm battery altered to either eighteen or twenty-two guns. Schleswig-Holstein
14873-542: The turrets were armored with 250 mm (9.8 in) thick steel. The ships of the Deutschland class were modified several times over their long careers. Modifications to the ships' masts were made between 1909 and 1914, shifting positions for searchlights and adding a fully enclosed spotting top to the fore mast. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein had eight oil-fired boilers installed in place of eight of their coal-fired boilers in late 1915. Deutschland had two of her 8.8 cm guns removed in late 1916 and
15012-449: The twin-screw arrangements preferred by most other navies. Coal was the almost exclusive fuel for the pre-dreadnought period, though navies made the first experiments with oil propulsion in the late 1890s. An extra knot or two of speed could be gained for short bursts by applying a 'forced draught' to the furnaces, where air was pumped into the furnaces, but this risked damage to the boilers if used for prolonged periods. The French built
15151-431: The two following classes and returned to 11-inch guns with the Braunschweig class . While the calibre of the main battery remained generally constant, the performance of the guns improved as longer barrels were introduced. The introduction of slow-burning nitrocellulose and cordite propellant allowed the employment of a longer barrel, and therefore higher muzzle velocity —giving greater range and penetrating power for
15290-455: The two largest other navies combined; at the time, this meant France and Russia, which became formally allied in the early 1890s. The Royal Sovereign and Majestic classes were followed by a regular programme of construction at a much quicker pace than in previous years. The Canopus , Formidable , Duncan and King Edward VII classes appeared in rapid succession from 1897 to 1905. Counting two ships ordered by Chile but taken over by
15429-448: The upper deck and the remaining four were located a deck above in the superstructure, one on each corner. The guns fired 64-kilogram (141 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 850 meters per second (2,800 ft/s). These guns were chosen as they used the largest shell that could be reasonably handled without machinery. The guns could elevate to 22 degrees, which allowed a maximum range of 14,500 m (15,900 yd). Their rate of fire
15568-742: The use of cordite propellant, were lighter and more powerful than the previous guns of larger calibre. The Majestic s provided the model for battleship building in the Royal Navy and many other navies for years to come. Pre-dreadnoughts carried guns of several different calibres, for different roles in ship-to-ship combat. Very few pre-dreadnoughts deviated from what became the classic arrangement of heavy weaponry: A main battery of four heavy guns mounted in two centre-line gunhouses fore and aft (these could be either fully enclosed barbettes or true turrets but, regardless of type, were later to be universally referred to as 'turrets'). These main guns were slow-firing, and initially of limited accuracy; but they were
15707-414: The vulnerability of the other pre-dreadnoughts to underwater attack, and the II Battle Squadron thereafter remained in port when the High Seas Fleet sortied. On 15 August 1917, the II Battle Squadron was disbanded; the former members of the squadron were thereafter decommissioned and used in subsidiary roles or employed as guard ships. Deutschland-class battleship The Deutschland class
15846-469: The waterline and 127.6 m (418 ft 8 in) overall . They had a beam of 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in) and a draft of 8.21 m (26 ft 11 in) forward. The ships were designed to displace 13,191 metric tons (12,983 long tons) normally , and displaced up to 14,218 metric tons (13,993 long tons) at full load . Their hulls were built with transverse and longitudinal steel frames, to which steel hull plates were riveted . The hull
15985-460: The waterline. By the pre-dreadnought era the torpedo was typically 18-inch (457 mm) in diameter and had an effective range of several thousand metres. However, it was virtually unknown for a battleship to score a hit with a torpedo. During the ironclad age, the range of engagements increased; in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 battles were fought at around 1 mile (1.6 km), while in
16124-617: The working of her guns. Navies worldwide continued to build masted, turretless battleships which had sufficient freeboard and were seaworthy enough to fight on the high seas. The distinction between coast-assault battleship and cruising battleship became blurred with the Admiral-class ironclads , ordered in 1880. These ships reflected developments in ironclad design, being protected by iron-and-steel compound armour rather than wrought iron . Equipped with breech-loading guns of between 12-inch and 16 ¼-inch (305 mm and 413 mm) calibre,
16263-576: Was 0.98 m (3 ft 3 in). Steering was controlled with a single rudder . The ships' crews numbered 35 officers and 708 enlisted men. When one of them was a flagship, the crew was augmented with an admiral's staff. A squadron commander's staff consisted of 13 officers and 66 enlisted men, while a divisional commander had a staff of 2 officers and 23 enlisted men. After she became a training ship in 1935, Schlesien ' s crew consisted of 29 officers and 559 enlisted men, plus up to 214 cadets. Schleswig-Holstein differed somewhat; her crew as
16402-524: Was 97 mm (3.8 in) in the bow and stern sections where the belt was thinner, and reduced to 67 mm (2.6 in) behind the main section of belt. Their forward conning towers were protected by 300 mm (12 in) on the sides and 80 mm on the roofs, while the rear conning towers had 140 mm (5.5 in) worth of armor on the sides. The main battery gun turrets had armored sides that were 280 mm (11 in) thick and roofs that were 50 mm (2 in) thick. The barbettes that held
16541-601: Was a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the last vessels of that type to be built in Germany. The class comprised Deutschland , the lead ship , Hannover , Pommern , Schlesien , and Schleswig-Holstein . The ships closely resembled those of the preceding Braunschweig class , but with stronger armor and a rearranged secondary battery . Built between 1903 and 1908, they were completed after
16680-513: Was affirmed by British, French and German navies in subsidiary theatres of war. The German navy used its pre-dreadnoughts frequently in the Baltic campaign. However, the largest number of pre-dreadnoughts was engaged at the Gallipoli campaign. Twelve British and French pre-dreadnoughts formed the bulk of the force which attempted to " force the Dardanelles " in March 1915. The role of the pre-dreadnoughts
16819-501: Was again removed from front-line service and used as a training ship, while Schlesien resumed her ice-breaking duties. In March 1941, Schlesien escorted mine-layers in the Baltic. After returning from this operation at the end of the month, she became a stationary training ship in Gotenhafen . Schleswig-Holstein was briefly reactivated in early 1942 for ice-breaker service in the Baltic, and in May she accidentally collided with
16958-484: Was approximately one shot every nine to ten seconds, and each gun was supplied with 130 shells. For defense against torpedo boats , the ships carried a tertiary battery of twenty-two 8.8 cm SK L/35 quick-firing guns . These were placed in casemates in hull sponsons , in embrasures in the superstructure, or in open mounts. The guns fired 7 kg (15.4 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 770 m/s (2,526 ft/s), and could be elevated to 25 degrees for
17097-484: Was attacked by RAF bombers in December 1944, and although she was sunk in shallow water, her weapons could still be used. After a fire permanently disabled the ship, her crew was sent ashore to assist in the defense of Marienburg . Schlesien provided fire support for German troops in the vicinity of Gotenhafen between 15 and 21 March 1945. In April, Schlesien was moved to Swinemünde to restock her ammunition supply as well as evacuate 1,000 wounded soldiers from
17236-565: Was briefly taken over by Romania at the end of the mutiny. However, she was soon recovered and recommissioned as Panteleimon . After the war, Russia completed four more pre-dreadnoughts after 1905. Between 1893 and 1904, Italy laid down eight battleships; the later two classes of ship were remarkably fast, though the Regina Margherita class was poorly protected and the Regina Elena class lightly armed. In some ways, these ships presaged
17375-411: Was completed by a tertiary battery of light, rapid-fire guns, of any calibre from 3-inch (76 mm) down to machine guns . Their role was to give short-range protection against torpedo boats, or to attack the deck and superstructure of a battleship. In addition to their gun armament, many pre-dreadnought battleships were armed with torpedoes , fired from fixed tubes located either just above or below
17514-498: Was criticized in Germany at the time the ships were being built, as the trend in all the major navies pointed to battleships armed with all-big-gun batteries; indeed, work on what would become the design for the Nassau class of dreadnought battleships had already begun in 1903. Tirpitz insisted on building the Deutschland s because they were the largest design that could fit in Germany's existing naval infrastructure, most significantly
17653-570: Was decided by the two Invincible -class battlecruisers which had been dispatched after Coronel. In the Black Sea five Russian pre-dreadnoughts saw brief action against the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim during the Battle of Cape Sarych in November 1914. Two of the Russian pre-dreadnoughts briefly engaged Yavus Sultan Selim again in May 1915. The principle that disposable pre-dreadnoughts could be used where no modern ship could be risked
17792-442: Was divided into twelve watertight compartments , although Pommern had thirteen compartments. Their hulls included a double bottom that ran for 84 percent of the length of the ship. Because Deutschland and Hannover were completed as flagships, they had an enlarged superstructure aft to house the larger command staffs they typically carried. Deutschland had a larger forward conning tower that incorporated
17931-410: Was during the pre-dreadnought era that the first destroyers were constructed to deal with the torpedo-boat threat, though at the same time the first effective submarines were being constructed. The pre-dreadnought age saw the beginning of the end of the 19th century naval balance of power in which France and Russia vied for competition against the massive Royal Navy , and saw the start of the rise of
18070-429: Was eventually broken up in 1944–1946. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein remained in service for training duties through the 1930s into the Nazi -era Kriegsmarine (War Navy). Both ships saw limited duty during World War II , including bombardment of Polish forces during the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the occupation of Denmark and invasion of Norway in April 1940. Both ships were sunk near
18209-479: Was intended for the use of the command staff during battle. This was protected by a vertical, full height, ring of armour nearly equivalent in thickness to the main battery gunhouses and provided with observation slits. A narrow armoured tube extended down below this to the citadel; this contained & protected the various voice-tubes used for communication from the CT to various key stations during battle. The battleships of
18348-451: Was launched in 1868, followed in 1871 by HMS Devastation , a turreted ironclad which more resembled a pre-dreadnought than the previous, and its contemporary, turretless ironclads. Both ships dispensed with masts and carried four heavy guns in two turrets fore and aft. Devastation was the first ocean-worthy breastwork monitor; because of her very low freeboard , her decks were subject to being swept by water and spray, interfering with
18487-417: Was marked by a move from mounting the main armament in open barbettes to an all-enclosed, turret mounting. The deck was typically lightly armoured with 2 to 4 inches of steel. This lighter armour was to prevent high-explosive shells from wrecking the superstructure of the ship. The majority of battleships during this period of construction were fitted with a heavily-armoured conning tower, or CT, which
18626-564: Was reorganized as the Reichsmarine (Navy of the Realm). All three ships were heavily modernized in the early 1920s to prepare them for active service. Hannover was the first member of the class to return to service, in 1921, becoming the fleet flagship, a role she alternated with Braunschweig . Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein remained out of service until the middle of the decade, when they were rearmed; Schleswig-Holstein became
18765-525: Was similarly re-armed for training duties. As the ships were returned to active service in the early 1920s, they received a series of modernizations and alterations to their armament. Hannover , which had not been disarmed, carried her original battery of 28 cm and 17 cm guns, though her 8.8 cm battery had been reduced to eight weapons by the time she was recommissioned in 1921. All six of her torpedo tubes were removed at that time. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein were modernized in
18904-436: Was the fastest member of the class on her trials. Deutschland was designed to carry 700 t (690 long tons; 770 short tons) of coal and the other members could carry 850 t (840 long tons; 940 short tons), though other spaces could be utilized as fuel storage, which increased fuel capacity to 1,540 t (1,520 long tons; 1,700 short tons) for Deutschland and 1,750 t (1,720 long tons; 1,930 short tons) for
19043-475: Was the point at which the ships that had been laid down before were redesignated "pre-dreadnoughts". The pre-dreadnought developed from the ironclad battleship . The first ironclads—the French Gloire and HMS Warrior —looked much like sailing frigates , with three tall masts and broadside batteries, when they were commissioned in the early 1860s. HMVS Cerberus , the first breastwork monitor ,
19182-446: Was to support the brand-new dreadnought HMS Queen Elizabeth engaging the Turkish shore defences. Three of the pre-dreadnoughts were sunk by mines, and several more badly damaged. However, it was not the damage to the pre-dreadnoughts which led to the operation being called off. The two battlecruisers were also damaged; since Queen Elizabeth could not be risked in the minefield, and the pre-dreadnoughts would be unable to deal with
19321-401: Was under refit to be similarly equipped, but work was not completed before her loss; she was slated to receive six of the 10.5 cm guns, ten 4 cm guns, and twenty-six of the 2 cm guns in addition to the four 3.7 cm weapons. After Deutschland entered service in 1906, she replaced the battleship Kaiser Wilhelm II as the fleet flagship, a role she held until 1913, when
#842157