 Preussen in 1907 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Braunschweig class |
| Builders | |
| Operators | |
| Preceded by | Wittelsbach class |
| Succeeded by | Deutschland class |
| Built | 1901–1906 |
| In commission | 1904–1960 |
| Completed | 5 |
| Scrapped | 5 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 127.7 m (419 ft)loa |
| Beam | 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in) |
| Draft | 8.1–8.16 m (26 ft 7 in – 26 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 18knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Range | 5,200 nmi (9,600 km; 6,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
TheBraunschweig-class battleships were a group of fivepre-dreadnoughtbattleships of the GermanKaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) built in the early 1900s. They were the firstclass of battleships authorized under theSecond Naval Law, a major naval expansion program. The class comprised five ships—Braunschweig,Elsass,Hessen,Preussen, andLothringen—and they were an improvement over the precedingWittelsbach class. TheBraunschweigs mounted a more powerful armament of 28 cm (11 in) and 17 cm (6.7 in) guns (compared to 24 cm (9.4 in) and 15 cm (5.9 in) guns of theWittelsbachs). Less than two years after the first members of the class entered service, the ships were rendered obsolescent by the British all-big-gun battleshipDreadnought, which curtailed their careers.
During their early careers, the five ships served inII Battle Squadron, withPreussen itsflagship. The fleet was occupied primarily with routine peacetime training and foreign visits. In 1912,Braunschweig was placed in reserve and she was joined the following year byElsass.Lothringen andHessen were slated to bedecommissioned in 1914, but the outbreak ofWorld War I in July prevented this and they remained in service with theHigh Seas Fleet. They andPreussen took part in the fleet operations in the first two years of the war, whileBraunschweig andElsass went to the Baltic withIV Battle Squadron, where they eventually saw combat with theRussian battleship Slava during theBattle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915.Hessen took part in theBattle of Jutland in May 1916 and saw limited combat with Britishbattlecruisers late in the battle. All five of the ships were withdrawn from service starting in 1916, thereafter being used in subsidiary roles, including asbarracks andtraining ships.
After the war, the fiveBraunschweigs were among the vessels that the newReichsmarine was permitted to retain by theTreaty of Versailles.Lothringen andPreussen were converted into parent ships forminesweepers to clear the minefields in theNorth Sea that had been laid during the war, but the other three were modernized in the early 1920s and served with the fleet into the 1930s.Braunschweig andElsass were eventually stricken from theregister in 1931, and along withLothringen andPreussen were thereafterbroken up.Hessen remained in service until late 1934, when she was decommissioned and converted into a radio-controlledtarget ship, a role she filled throughWorld War II. Ceded as a war prize to theSoviet Union, she was commissioned asTsel and used as a target until 1960 when she was scrapped.
With the passage of theSecond Naval Law under the direction ofVizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral)Alfred von Tirpitz in 1900, funding was allocated for a new class of battleships to succeed theWittelsbach-class ships authorized under the 1898 Naval Law. The previous law had called for a total strength of nineteen battleships by 1 April 1904, which was reached with theWittelsbach class, but the new law increased the projected battle fleet to a total of thirty-eight. TheBraunschweig class was the first group of battleships built under this new plan, and they marked a significant advance in combat power over earlier German battleships.[1]
Discussions between the Design Department of theReichsmarineamt (Imperial Navy Office) and other elements of the naval command on the new class had begun in 1899, before the law had been passed and before work on theWittelsbachs had even begun. The most pressing issue to be settled was the caliber of the main battery. TheWittelsbach-class ships were armed with 24 cm (9.4 in) guns, far smaller than the standard in most other navies, which was 30.5 cm (12 in) caliber. The 24 cm guns were, however, the largest weapons for whichKrupp, the supplier of naval artillery to theKaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), had developedquick-firing technology. The German naval command typically favored high rates of fire rather than heavy shells, on the principal that a flurry of shells would wreck the guns andsuperstructure of enemy battleships faster than powerful but slow-firing guns. But by the time design work on theBraunschweig class began, Krupp had developed a quick-firing 28 cm (11 in) gun, and so the naval command decided to adopt it for the new ships.[1][2][3]
With the decision made to mount the 28 cm gun, the next issue was the arrangement of the guns. Previous designs had carried the 24 cm guns in the superstructure, directly abovecasemates for thesecondary battery guns, but the designers believed the greater muzzle blast effects from the 28 cm guns would make those casemates unworkable. Two solutions were proposed, both of which involved lowering the main batteryturrets to the upper deck level. The first involved placing all of the secondary guns in an armored battery at the main deck level; these guns would have been in individual pivot mounts in a series of casemates clusteredamidships. The second option arranged the guns in a mix of turrets on the upper deck and in a smaller battery in the main deck. The design staff ultimately settled on the second option, with four guns in turrets and eight in the casemate battery.[4]
At the same time, as many countries' navies improved the armor protection of their battleships, they were also increasing the caliber of their secondary batteries to counter the heavier armor, such as the AmericanConnecticut-class battleships that had a heavy secondary battery of 7 in (178 mm) and 8 in (203 mm) guns. The German design staff followed both trends by increasing the secondary battery for theBraunschweig design from 15 cm (5.9 in) to 17 cm (6.7 in) guns. And the armor layout was improved compared to theWittelsbachs, the primary changes being increasing the height of thebelt armor (to prevent it from being submerged atfull load) and increasing the thickness of the armor protecting the secondary battery casemates. The design staff considered increasing the anti-torpedo boat guns from 8.8 cm (3.5 in) to 10.5 cm (4.1 in), but decided against the change because the increased weight would have necessitated reducing the number of guns. The heavier shells would have also reduced the rate of fire.[4]
The British battleshipHMS Dreadnought—armed with ten 12-inch guns—wascommissioned in December 1906, less than two years after the firstBraunschweig-class ships entered service.[5]Dreadnought's revolutionary design rendered everycapital ship of the German navy obsolete, including theBraunschweigs.[6] Also, the 17 cm guns proved to be something of a disappointment in service, since the larger shells were significantly heavier and thus harder to load manually, which reduced their rate of fire.[1]
TheBraunschweig-class ships were 126 meters (413 ft 5 in)long at the waterline, and 127.7 m (419 ft)overall. The ships had abeam of 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in), and adraft of 8.1–8.16 m (26 ft 7 in – 26 ft 9 in).[7] The beam was constrained by logistical considerations, as it was the widest that could be accommodated by thelocks at the entrance to theKaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) inWilhelmshaven.[8] The ships had thirteenwatertight compartments and adouble bottom that extended for 60 percent of the length of thehull. The shipsdisplaced 13,208 t (12,999long tons) at their designed weight, and 14,394 t (14,167 long tons) at a full load.[7] The ships were fitted with a pair of heavy military masts that carriedsearchlights.[9]
Steering was controlled with a singlerudder. The ships were described as good sea-boats, but were prone to heavy pitching. The ships were responsive and had a tight turning radius at low speed, but at hard rudder of 12 degrees, the ships lost up to 70 percent speed. The ships had a crew of 35 officers and 708 men normally, and when serving as a squadron flagship, they had an additional 13 officers and 66 men. The ships carried a number of smaller boats aboard, including two picket boats, twolaunches, apinnace (later removed), twocutters, twoyawls, and twodinghies.[10] The boats were handled by two large goose-necked cranes located on either side of the rearfunnel.[9]
The ships of theBraunschweig-class were propelled by three-shafttriple-expansion steam engines that were rated at 16,000metric horsepower (15,781 ihp; 11,768 kW). The triple expansion engines were powered by eight Marine-type boilers and sixcylindrical boilers, all of which burned coal; these were trunked into three funnels amidships.[7] Three funnels were adopted because in earlier vessels, the two-funnel arrangement tended to obstruct views from the bridge, and by splitting the smoke into three funnels instead of two, the funnels could be thinner and thus less obtrusive.[8] At some point after 1915, oil-firing capability was added to supplement the coal-fired boilers.[a] The two outerpropellers were three-bladed, and 4.8 m (15 ft 9 in) in diameter, while the center screw was four-bladed and 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) in diameter.[7]
The ships' top speed was rated at 18knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). During trials, however, the engines produced between 16,478 and 16,980 metric horsepower (16,253 and 16,748 ihp; 12,120 and 12,489 kW), and a top speed between 18.2 and 18.7 knots (33.7 and 34.6 km/h; 20.9 and 21.5 mph). The ships of the class could steam 5,200nautical miles (9,600 km; 6,000 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), with the exception ofHessen.Hessen suffered from unstable steering, which increased fuel consumption and shortened her operational range to 4,530 nmi (8,390 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The first two ships—Braunschweig andElsass—had four generators that produced 230 kW (74 V), while three following ships—Hessen,Preussen, andLothringen—had four turbo-generators that provided 260 kW (110 V).[7]
Their main armament was increased from previous designs, but was still weaker than contemporary foreign battleships; the German Navy had a tendency to emphasize rapidity of fire rather than weight of shell, and smaller guns could generally be fired faster than larger ones.[1] The main armament comprised four28 cm SK L/40[b] quick-firing guns in hydraulically operated twin turrets. The turrets were placed on the centerline, one forward and one aft. The 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 amuzzle velocity of 820meters per second (2,700 ft/s).[13][14] The ships carried a total of 340 shells, 85 per gun.[10]
The secondary battery consisted of fourteen17 cm SK L/40 quick-firing guns, four of which were mounted in single turrets amidships, with the remaining ten in casemates around the superstructure. 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 turret-mounted guns could be elevated to 30 degrees, for a maximum range of 16,900 m (18,500 yd), while the casemated guns could only elevate to 22 degrees, and had a correspondingly lower range of 14,500 m (15,900 yd).[13][15] These guns had a total of 1,820 shells, for 130 rounds per gun. To transit theKiel Canal, the three central 17 cm casemated guns on each side had to be withdrawn into their housings, as they were unable to train fully flush with the sides of the ships. With the guns fully emplaced, the ships would have been too wide to fit in the canal.[10]
The ships also had fourteen8.8 cm SK L/35 quick-firing guns in casemates along the length of the ship. 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 a maximum range of 9,090 m (9,940 yd).[13] They were also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in)torpedo tubes, with a total of 16torpedoes.[10] One tube was in the bow, two were on eachbroadside, and the final tube was in the stern.[16]
The ships were protected withKrupp armor. The main armored belt was 225 mm (8.9 in) thick in the central portion of the ship where it protected the ammunitionmagazines and propulsion machinery spaces. Thedeck armor was 40 mm (1.6 in) thick on the horizontal; its edges sloped down to connect to the lower edge of the belt to protect from shells that passed over the belt. The thickness of the slopes ranged from 140 mm (5.5 in) fore and aft and 75 mm (2.95 in) amidships, where the upper belt armor afforded another layer of protection. Above the main belt, the upper belt of 140 mm steel extended between the fore and aft main-gun turrets. Anotherstrake of armor that was 140 mm thick protected the casemate guns at the main deck level. The casemate guns themselves received 70 mm (2.8 in)gun shields. The main battery turrets had 250 mm sides and 50 mm (1.97 in) thick roofs, while the secondary turrets had 150 mm (5.9 in) thick sides. The sides of the forwardconning tower were 300 mm (11.8 in) thick and the roof was 50 mm thick, while the aft conning tower received significantly less protection, with 150 mm thick sides and a 30 mm (1.2 in) roof.[7]
| Ship | Contract name[17] | Builder[18] | Laid down | Launched[18] | Commissioned[18] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braunschweig | H | Germaniawerft,Kiel | 21 October 1901[19] | 20 December 1902 | 15 October 1904 |
| Elsass | J | Schichau-Werke,Danzig | 26 May 1901[20] | 26 May 1903 | 29 November 1904 |
| Hessen | L | Germaniawerft, Kiel | 15 March 1902[21] | 18 September 1903 | 19 September 1905 |
| Preussen | K | AG Vulcan,Stettin | April 1902[22] | 30 October 1903 | 12 July 1905 |
| Lothringen | M | Schichau-Werke, Danzig | 1 December 1902[23] | 27 May 1904 | 18 May 1906 |
The ships' peacetime careers consisted of routine fleet training. Squadron and fleet training typically took place in April and May, a major fleet cruise generally followed in June and July, after which the fleet assembled for the annual fleet maneuvers in late August and September. The major fleet cruises typically went to Norwegian waters in company withKaiser Wilhelm II'syacht, though in 1908 and 1909, the fleet embarked on long-distance cruises out into the Atlantic, making visits to mainland Spain, theCanary Islands, and theAzores, Portugal. Interspersed in this routine were foreign visits, such as in November 1905, whenBraunschweig carriedPrince Heinrich to Norway for the coronation ofHaakon VII of Norway, and February 1906 whenPreussen carried Wilhelm II to Denmark for the funeral of KingChristian IX.[24] The ships were also involved in accidents; in 1911,Hessen collided with the Danish steamerSS Askesund and sank her,[21] and in March 1912,Elsass accidentally rammed and sank the merchant shipPollux.[25] Throughout this period,Preussen served as theflagship ofII Battle Squadron.[22]
The ship's active careers were very short as a result of the dreadnought revolution;Braunschweig andElsass were reduced to reserve in 1912 and 1913, respectively,[25][26] thoughLothringen,Hessen, andPreussen were still in active service in mid-1914.Lothringen was to be reduced to reserve in July andPreussen was slated to be decommissioned at the end of the year, but theJuly Crisis that followed theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June cancelled that plan. The fleet was on its summer cruise to Norway during the crisis, and word of the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum toSerbia forced the ships to return home early to prepare for the coming conflict.[27][28]
At the start ofWorld War I,Braunschweig andElsass were reactivated and assigned to IV Battle Squadron under the command of Vice AdmiralEhrhard Schmidt, tasked with coastal defense duties.[29] The squadron conducted several sorties into theBaltic Sea to patrol for Russian warships but it saw no action. The ships were also used to guard the mouth of theElbe in the North Sea in the first year of the war.[30]Braunschweig andElsass participated in the early portion of theBattle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915, where they kept the Russian pre-dreadnoughtSlava at bay while a Russian minefield in theIrben Strait was cleared, but the Russian forces put up a strong defense. Schmidt decided to withdraw his forces when it became apparent that the mine-clearing had taken too long, and there was not sufficient daylight left for the minelayerDeutschland to lay a minefield of its own inMoon Sound to block the northern entrance to the gulf.[31] Following the cancellation of the operation, the squadron saw little activity before being disbanded in December.[32]
In the meantime, the other three ships were still serving in II Battle Squadron, where they participated in the fleetsorties conducted in the first two years of the war. This series of operations culminated in theBattle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916; by that time, onlyHessen was still on active service with the squadron.Preussen was on rotation as theguard ship in theDanish straits (and had been replaced as flagship by the battleshipDeutschland) andLothringen was in poor condition and in dire need of repair.[23][27][28]Hessen saw limited action at Jutland, coming into contact with heavy British ships once. This encounter came late on 31 May, whenHessen and the other pre-dreadnoughts of II Battle Squadron briefly engaged Vice AdmiralDavid Beatty's1st Battlecruiser Squadron, in doing so covering the withdrawal of the battered German battlecruisers under the command ofFranz von Hipper.[33] The loss of the pre-dreadnoughtPommern during the battle highlighted the vulnerability of the older battleships, and coupled with their slow speed, convinced the German naval command to withdraw them from front-line service.Preussen,Lothringen, andHessen continued as guard ships in the Baltic in the aftermath of Jutland.[23][27][28]
Starting in 1916, the ships of theBraunschweig class began to be withdrawn from active service, primarily because of manpower shortages.[34]Elsass was reduced to abarracks ship based inKiel in July, andHessen was decommissioned and disarmed in December; she thereafter became adepot ship based inBrunsbüttel in 1917.Braunschweig was converted into atraining ship, and on 20 August, was reduced to a barracks ship, also in Kiel.Preussen became a depot ship in Wilhelmshaven also in 1917.Lothringen continued her guard ship duties until September 1917, when she too was withdrawn from service, thereafter being used as an engineer training ship in Wilhelmshaven.[10][23] Starting in 1916, guns removed from these ships were used by the Imperial Army asrailway guns; one of these guns was captured by the Australian Army and is preserved as theAmiens Gun at theAustralian War Memorial inCanberra, Australia.[35][36]
After the war, all of Germany's powerfuldreadnoughts had either beenscuttled in Scapa Flow or ceded to the Allies as war prizes, so theBraunschweig-class battleships were recommissioned into the newly reorganizedReichsmarine. TheTreaty of Versailles specifically stated inArticle 181 that theReichsmarine would be permitted to retain eight battleships of the "Lothringen orDeutschland types", six of which could be kept in commission.[34] Three of the ships—Braunschweig,Elsass, andHessen—saw active duty with the fleet while the other two vessels—Preussen andLothringen—were instead converted into parent ships forminesweepers, since Germany was required by the Treaty of Versailles to clear the extensive minefields that had been laid in the North Sea during the war. Those two ships were disarmed and modified to carry the minesweepers, butPreussen proved to be top-heavy and saw little actual use.Lothringen remained in service until 1920, by which time the minesweeping work had been completed, and she waslaid up in reserve.[10][23][28]
Braunschweig was modernized in 1919–1920 and served in theReichsmarine from 1921 to 1926, at which point she was withdrawn from active duty. During this period, she served as the flagship of theMarinestation der Nordsee (Naval Station of the North Sea) and later theLinienschiffsdivision (Battleship Division).Elsass was also rebuilt in the early 1920s and thereafter saw active duty in the fleet from 1924 until 25 February 1930, at which point she was removed from active service.Hessen returned to service in 1925. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, the fleet conducted a similar training routine to that of the pre-war period, including cruises into the Atlantic in the 1920s. On 31 May 1931,Braunschweig,Elsass, andLothringen were stricken from thenaval register. The first two vessels were converted intohulks at Wilhelmshaven and eventually scrapped, whileLothringen was simplybroken up immediately.Hessen remained in service until late 1934, by which time the newDeutschland class ofpanzerschiffe (armored ships) had begun to enter service.[37][38][39][40]
Hessen was thereafter converted into atarget ship. The work involved cutting away most of the superstructure, removing the armament, and replacing the old propulsion machinery withsteam turbines. Additionally, equipment to allow the ship to be operated via radio control was installed. Conversion work lasted from 31 March 1935 to 1 April 1937, when she was recommissioned as a target. She served in this capacity through 1945; duringWorld War II, she was also occasionally used as anicebreaker to clear paths in the Baltic. After the war, she was ceded to theSoviet Union and renamedTsel. The Soviets also used the ship as a target and eventually scrapped the vessel in the 1960s.[10][41] WhenPreussen was being dismantled in the 1930s, a 63 m (207 ft) length of her hull was retained for use as a target. The hulk was nicknamed "SMSVierkant" ("SMS Rectangle") and remained in use through World War II until Allied bombers attacked and sank it in April 1945.[28]
