 SMSBayern | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | |
| Operators |  Imperial German Navy |
| Preceded by | König class |
| Succeeded by |
|
| Built | 1913–1917 |
| In commission | 1916–1919 |
| Planned | 4 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Scrapped | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 30 m (98 ft 5 in) |
| Draft | 9.39 m (30 ft 10 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
| Range | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
TheBayern class was aclass of fourdreadnoughtbattleships built for theGermanKaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The class comprisedBayern,Baden,Sachsen, andWürttemberg. Construction started on the ships shortly beforeWorld War I;Baden was laid down in 1913,Bayern andSachsen followed in 1914, andWürttemberg, the final ship, was laid down in 1915. OnlyBaden andBayern were completed, due to shipbuilding priorities changing as the war dragged on. It was determined thatU-boats were more valuable to the war effort, and so work on new battleships was slowed and ultimately stopped altogether. As a result,Bayern andBaden were the last German battleships completed by theKaiserliche Marine.[1]
Bayern andBaden were commissioned into the fleet in July 1916 and March 1917, respectively. This was too late for either ship to take part in theBattle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916.Bayern was assigned to the naval force that drove theImperial Russian Navy from theGulf of Riga duringOperation Albion in October 1917, though the ship was severely damaged by amine and had to be withdrawn toKiel for repairs.Baden replacedFriedrich der Grosse as theflagship of theHigh Seas Fleet, but saw no combat.
BothBayern andBaden were interned atScapa Flow following theArmistice in November 1918. Rear AdmiralLudwig von Reuter, the commander of the interned German fleet,ordered his ships be sunk on 21 June 1919;Bayern was successfully scuttled, though British guards managed to beachBaden to prevent her from sinking. The ship was expended as a gunnery target in 1921.Sachsen andWürttemberg, both at various stages of completion when the war ended, were broken up for scrap metal.Bayern was raised in 1934 and broken up the following year.
Design work on the class began as early as 1910, with great consideration given to the armament of the new vessels. It had become clear that other navies were moving to guns larger than 30.5 cm (12 in), and so the next German battleship would also have to incorporate larger guns. The Weapons Department suggested a 32 cm (12.6 in) gun, but during a meeting on 11 May 1910, AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitz, the State Secretary of theReichsmarineamt (Imperial Naval Office), decided that budgetary constraints precluded the adoption of larger weapons. The following year, in the aftermath of theAgadir Crisis, Tirpitz quickly seized on public outcry over the British involvement in the crisis to pressure theReichstag (Imperial Diet) into appropriating additional funds for the Navy. This provided the opening for more powerful battleships, so Tirpitz requested funds for ships armed with 34 cm (13.4 in) guns in mid-1911.[2][3]
In August that year, the design staff prepared studies for ships armed with 35 cm (13.8 in), 38 cm (15 in), and 40 cm (15.7 in) guns; the 40 cm caliber was set as the maximum, since it was (incorrectly) assumed that British wire-wound guns larger than that could not be built. During a meeting the following month, the preferred designs were a ship armed with ten 35 cm guns in fiveturrets or eight 40 cm guns in four turrets. The Weapons Department advocated the 35 cm gun ship, pointing out that it would have a 25% greater chance of hitting its target. Tirpitz inquired about a mixed battery of twin and triple turrets,[2][3] but after examining the gun turrets of the Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts of theTegetthoff class, it was determined that the triple gun turrets still had too many problems. Among these deficiencies were increased weight, reduced ammunition supply and rate of fire, and loss of fighting capability if one of the turrets was disabled.[1]
Design studies suggested that the 35 cm ship woulddisplace around 29,000 t (28,540long tons; 31,970short tons) and cost around 59.7 millionmarks, while the 40 cm proposal would cost approximately 60 million marks and displace 28,250 t (27,800 long tons), but both of these ships were deemed to be too expensive. The Construction Department proposed a 28,100 t (27,700 long tons) ship armed with eight 38 cm guns, which reduced the cost to 57.5 million marks per vessel. This design was adopted as the basis for the next class of battleship on 26 September, and the decision to adopt the 38 cm gun was formally taken on 6 January 1912.[2] Work continued on the design into 1912, and included further developing the armor layout that had been adopted in the previousKönig class. The ships were originally projected to be armed with eight 8.8 cm (3.5 in) anti-aircraft guns, though they were not completed with any. Since the development ofdiesel engines was proving to be problematic, the design staff adopted traditionalsteam turbines for the ships, though it was hoped that by the time the third member of the class was ready to begin construction, reliable diesel engines would be available.[4]
Funding for the vessels was allocated under the fourthNaval Law, which was passed in 1912. The Fourth Naval Law secured funding for three new dreadnoughts, twolight cruisers, and an increase of an additional 15,000 officers and men in the ranks of the Navy for 1912.[5] The capital ships laid down in 1912 were theDerfflinger-class battlecruisers; funding forBayern andBaden was allocated the following year.[6][7] Funding forSachsen was allocated in the 1914 budget, whileWürttemberg was funded in the War Estimates.[8] The last remainingBrandenburg-classpre-dreadnought,Wörth, was to be replaced, as well as two elderlyKaiser Friedrich III-class pre-dreadnoughts,Kaiser Wilhelm II andKaiser Friedrich III.Baden was ordered asErsatz Wörth,Württemberg asErsatz Kaiser Wilhelm II, andSachsen asErsatz Kaiser Friedrich III;Bayern was regarded as an addition to the fleet, and was ordered under the provisional name "T".[9][a]
Bayern andBaden were 179.4 m (588 ft 7 in)long at the waterline, and an even 180 m (590 ft 7 in)long overall.Sachsen andWürttemberg were slightly longer: 181.8 m (596 ft 5 in) at the waterline and 182.4 m (598 ft 5 in) overall. All four ships had a beam of 30 m (98 ft 5 in), and had adraft of between 9.3 and 9.4 m (30 ft 6 in and 30 ft 10 in).Bayern andBaden were designed to displace 28,530 t (28,080 long tons; 31,450 short tons) at a normal displacement; atfull combat load, the ships displaced up to 32,200 t (31,700 long tons; 35,500 short tons).Württemberg andSachsen were slightly heavier, at 28,800 t normal and 32,500 t fully laden. The ships were constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames, over which the outer hull plates wereriveted. Thehull was divided into 17watertight compartments, and included adouble bottom that ran for 88 percent of the length of the hull.[9]
Bayern andBaden were regarded as exceptional sea boats by the German navy.Bayern and her sisters were stable and very maneuverable. The ships suffered slight speed loss in heavy seas; with therudders hard over, the ships lost up to 62% speed and heeled over 7 degrees. With ametacentric height of 2.53 m (8 ft 4 in),[10] larger than that of their British equivalents, the vessels were stable gun platforms for the confined waters of the North Sea.[11][b] The ships of theBayern class had a standard crew of 42 officers and 1,129 enlisted men; when serving as a squadron flagship, an additional 14 officers and 86 men were required. The vessels carried several smaller craft, including onepicket boat, three barges, twolaunches, twoyawls, and twodinghies.[10]
Bayern andBaden were equipped with eleven coal-fired Schulz-Thornycroftboilers and three oil-fired Schulz-Thornycroft boilers in nine boiler rooms. Three sets of Parsons turbines drove three-bladedscrews that were 3.87 m (12.7 ft) in diameter.Bayern's andBaden's power plant was designed to run at 34,521shaft horsepower (25,742 kW) at 265 revolutions per minute; on trials the ships achieved 55,201 shp (41,163 kW) and 55,505 shp (41,390 kW), respectively. Both ships were capable of a maximum speed of 22knots (41 km/h; 25 mph). The first two ships were designed to carry 900 t (890 long tons; 990 short tons) of coal and 200 t (200 long tons; 220 short tons) of oil, though the use of additional spaces in the hull increased the total bunkerage to 3,400 t (3,300 long tons; 3,700 short tons) of coal and 620 t (610 long tons; 680 short tons) of oil. This enabled a range of 5,000nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). At 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), the range decreased to 4,485 nmi (8,306 km; 5,161 mi), at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) the range fell to 3,740 nmi (6,930 km; 4,300 mi), and at 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph) the ships could steam for only 2,390 nmi (4,430 km; 2,750 mi). The ships carried eight diesel generators; these supplied each ship with a total of 2,400 kilowatts of electrical power at 220 volts.[9]
Sachsen andWürttemberg were intended to be one knot faster than the earlier pair of ships.[12]Württemberg received more powerful machinery that would have produced 47,343 shp (35,304 kW) for a designed speed of 22 knots. OnSachsen, aMAN diesel engine producing 11,836 bhp (8,826 kW) was to be installed on the center shaft, while steam turbines powered the outboard shafts, but the diesel engine was not ready by the end of the war, and it was only completed in 1919 for testing by theNaval Inter-Allied Control Commission. The combined power plant would have produced 53,261 shp (39,717 kW) for a designed speed of 22.5 knots.[9][13]
TheBayern-class battleships were armed with a main battery of eight38 cm (15 in) SK L/45 guns[c] in four Drh LC/1913 twin gun turrets. These turrets allowed for depression of the guns to −8 degrees and elevation to 16 degrees. The guns had to be returned to 2.5 degrees to reload them. The gun mountings forBayern were later modified to allow elevation up to 20 degrees, though the changes reduced depression to −5 degrees. As originally configured, the guns had a maximum range of 20,250 m (66,440 ft), butBayern's modified guns could reach 23,200 m (76,100 ft). Each turret was fitted with a stereorangefinder. The main battery was supplied with a total of 720 shells or 90 rounds per gun; these were 750-kilogram (1,650 lb) shells that were light for guns of their caliber. The shell allotment was divided betweenarmor piercing andhigh explosive versions, with 60 of the former and 30 of the latter. At a range of 20,000 m (66,000 ft), the armor-piercing shells could penetrate up to 336 mm (13.2 in) of steel plate. The guns had arate of fire of around one shell every 38 seconds.Muzzle velocity was 805 meters per second (2,640 ft/s).[10][14][15]
Post-war tests conducted by the BritishRoyal Navy showed that the guns onBaden could be ready to fire again 23 seconds after firing; this was significantly faster than their British contemporaries, theQueen Elizabeth class, which took 36 seconds between salvos. While the German guns were faster to reload, the British inspectors found German anti-flash precautions to be significantly inferior to those that had been adopted by the Royal Navy after 1917, though this was to some degree mitigated by the brass propellant cases, which were far less susceptible to flash detonations than the silk-bagged Britishcordite. The guns that had been constructed for the battleshipsSachsen andWürttemberg were used as long-range, heavy siege guns on the Western Front, ascoastal guns in occupied France and Belgium, and a few asrailway guns; these guns were referred to as "Langer Max"".[16]
The ships were also armed with asecondary battery of sixteen15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 quick-firing guns, each mounted in armoredcasemates in the side of the top deck. These guns were intended for defense against torpedo boats, and were supplied with a total of 2,240 shells. The guns could engage targets out to 13,500 m (44,300 ft), and after improvements in 1915, their range was extended to 16,800 m (55,100 ft). The guns had a sustained rate of fire of 5 to 7 rounds per minute. The shells were 45.3 kg (99.8 lb), and were loaded with a 13.7 kg (31.2 lb) RPC/12 propellant charge in a brass cartridge. The guns fired at a muzzle velocity of 835 meters per second (2,740 ft/s). The guns were expected to fire around 1,400 shells before they needed to be replaced.Bayern andBaden were also equipped with a pair of8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45flak guns, which were supplied with 800 rounds.[10] The guns were emplaced in MPL C/13 mountings, which allowed depression to −10 degrees and elevation to 70 degrees. These guns fired 9 kg (19.8 lb) shells, and had an effective ceiling of 9,150 m (30,020 ft) at 70 degrees.[17][18]
As was customary on capital ships of the period, theBayern-class ships were armed with five 60 cm (24 in) submergedtorpedo tubes. One tube was mounted in the bow and two on eachbroadside. A total of 20 torpedoes were carried per ship. When bothBayern andBaden struck mines in 1917, the damage incurred revealed structural weaknesses caused by the torpedo tubes and both ships had their lateral tubes removed.[10] Thetorpedoes were the H8 type, which were 9 m (30 ft) long and carried a 210 kg (463 lb)Hexanite warhead. The torpedoes had a range of 8,000 m (8,700 yd) when set at a speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph); at a reduced speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), the range increased significantly to 15,000 m (16,000 yd).[19][20]
TheBayern-class ships were protected withKruppcemented steel armor, as was the standard for German warships of the period. They had anarmor belt that was 350 mm (14 in) thick in the centralcitadel of the ship, where the most important parts of the ship were located. This included the ammunition magazines and the machinery spaces. The belt was reduced in less critical areas, to 200 mm (7.9 in) forward and 170 mm (6.7 in) aft. Thebow andstern were not protected by armor at all. A 50 mm (2 in)-thicktorpedo bulkhead ran the length of the hull, several meters behind the main belt. The main armored deck was 60 mm (2.4 in) thick in most places, though the thickness of the sections that covered the more important areas of the ship was increased to 100 mm (3.9 in).[9]
The forwardconning tower was protected with heavy armor: the sides were 400 mm (16 in) thick and the roof was 170 mm thick. The rear conning tower was less well armored; its sides were only 170 mm thick and the roof was covered with 80 mm (3.1 in) of armor plate. The main battery gun turrets were also heavily armored: the turret sides were 350 mm thick and the roofs were 200 mm thick. The 15 cm guns had 170 mm thick armor plating on the casemates; the guns themselves had 80 mm thick shields to protect their crews from shell splinters.[9]
Sachsen's armor layout was modified slightly as a result of the planned diesel engine, which was significantly taller than a turbine. Aglacis over the diesel was added that was 200 mm thick on the sides, 140 mm (5.5 in) thick on either end, and 80 mm thick on top. Her belt was also slightly modified, with 30 mm (1.2 in) extending past the forward 200 mm thick section all the way to thestem.[21]
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The class was planned to include four ships.Bayern was built byHowaldtswerke inKiel under construction number 590; she was laid down in 1913, launched on 18 February 1915, and completed on 15 July 1916.Baden was built by theSchichau shipyard inDanzig, under construction number 913. The ship was launched on 30 October 1915 and commissioned into the fleet on 14 March 1917.Sachsen was laid down at theGermaniawerft dockyard in Kiel, under construction number 210. She was launched on 21 November 1916, but not completed.[22]Sachsen was by then 9 months from completion.[23]Württemberg was constructed byAG Vulcan shipyard inHamburg under construction number 19. She was launched on 20 June 1917, but she too was not completed and scrapped in 1921.[22] At the time of cancellation,Württemberg was approximately 12 months from completion.[23]
| Ship | Contract name[24] | Builder | Namesake | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayern | T | Howaldtswerke,Kiel[10] | Bavaria | 22 December 1913[25] | 18 February 1915[10] | 15 July 1916[10] | Scuttled atScapa Flow, 21 June 1919[10] |
| Baden | ErsatzWörth | Schichau-Werke,Danzig[10] | Baden | 20 December 1913[25] | 30 October 1915[10] | 14 March 1917[10] | Sunk as target, August 1921[10] |
| Sachsen | ErsatzKaiser Friedrich III | Germaniawerft,Kiel[10] | Saxony | 15 April 1914[26] | 21 November 1916[10] | Cancelled prior to completion, scrapped in 1921[10] | |
| Württemberg | ErsatzKaiser Wilhelm II | AG Vulcan,Hamburg[10] | Württemberg | 4 January 1915[27] | 20 June 1917[10] | ||
During thefleet sortie on 18–19 August 1916,I Scouting Group, which was thebattlecruiser reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet and commanded by AdmiralFranz von Hipper, was to bombard the coastal town ofSunderland in an attempt to draw out and destroy Beatty's battlecruisers. AsMoltke andVon der Tann were the only two remaining German battlecruisers still in fighting condition after theBattle of Jutland, three dreadnoughts were assigned to the unit for the operation:Bayern, and the twoKönig-class shipsMarkgraf andGrosser Kurfürst. Admiral Scheer and the rest of the High Seas Fleet, with 15 dreadnoughts of its own, would trail behind and provide cover.[28] The British were aware of the German plans and sortied theGrand Fleet to meet them. By 14:35, Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet's approach and, unwilling to engage the whole of the Grand Fleet just 11 weeks after the decidedly close call at Jutland, turned his forces around and retreated to German ports.[29]
In early September 1917, following the German conquest of the Russian port ofRiga, the German navy decided to evict the Russian naval forces that still held theGulf of Riga. To this end, theAdmiralstab (the Navy High Command) planned an operation to seize the Baltic islands ofÖsel, particularly the Russian gun batteries on theSworbe peninsula.[30] On 18 September, the order was issued for a joint Army-Navy operation to capture Ösel andMoon islands; the primary naval component was to comprise theflagship, the battlecruiserMoltke, along withIII Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. V Division included the fourKönig-class battleships, and was by this time augmented withBayern. VI Division consisted of the fiveKaiser-class battleships. Along with nine light cruisers, 3 torpedo boat flotillas, and dozens ofmine warfare ships, the entire force numbered some 300 ships, and were supported by over 100 aircraft and 6 zeppelins. The invasion force amounted to approximately 24,600 officers and enlisted men.[31] Opposing the Germans were the old Russian pre-dreadnoughtsSlava andTsesarevich, thearmored cruisersBayan,Admiral Makarov, andDiana, 26 destroyers, and several torpedo boats and gunboats. The garrison on Ösel numbered some 14,000 men.[32]
The operation began on 12 October, whenMoltke,Bayern, and theKönigs began firing on the Russian shore batteries at Tagga Bay. Simultaneously, theKaisers engaged the batteries on the Sworbe peninsula; the objective was to secure the channel between Moon andDagö islands, which would block the only escape route of the Russian ships in the gulf. BothGrosser Kurfürst andBayern struck mines while maneuvering into their bombardment positions; damage to the former was minimal, and the ship remained in action.Bayern was severely damaged, and temporary repairs proved ineffective. The ship had to be withdrawn to Kiel for repairs; the return trip took 19 days.[32]
In late 1917, the High Seas Fleet began to conduct anti-convoy raids with light craft in the North Sea between Britain and Norway. On 17 October, the German light cruisersBrummer andBremse intercepted a convoy of twelve ships escorted by a pair of destroyers and destroyed it; only three transports managed to escape. On 12 December, four German destroyers intercepted and annihilated another convoy of five ships and two escorting destroyers. This prompted AdmiralDavid Beatty, the Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, to detach several battleships and battlecruisers to protect the convoys in the North Sea.[33] This presented to Admiral Scheer the opportunity for which he had been waiting the entire war: the chance to isolate and eliminate a portion of the Grand Fleet.[34]
At 05:00 on 23 April 1918, the entire High Seas Fleet, includingBayern andBaden, left harbor with the intention of intercepting one of the heavily escorted convoys. Wireless radio traffic was kept to a minimum to prevent the British from learning of the operation. At 05:10 on 24 April, the battlecruiserMoltke suffered severe mechanical problems and had to be towed back to Wilhelmshaven. By 14:10, the convoy had still not yet been located, and so Scheer turned the High Seas Fleet back towards German waters. In fact, there was no convoy sailing on 24 April; German naval intelligence had miscalculated the sailing date by one day.[34]
In October 1918, Admiral Hipper, now the commander of the entire High Seas Fleet, planned for a final battle with the Grand Fleet. AdmiralReinhard Scheer, the Chief of the Naval Staff, approved the plan on 27 October; the operation was set for the 30th.[35] When the fleet was ordered to assemble in Wilhelmshaven on 29 October, war-weary crews began to desert or openly disobey their orders. Crews aboard the battleshipsKönig,Kronprinz, andMarkgraf demonstrated for peace. The crew aboardThüringen was the first to openly mutiny;Helgoland andKaiserin joined as well.[36] By the evening of the 29th, red flags of revolution flew from the masts of dozens of warships in the harbor. In spite of this, Hipper decided to hold a last meeting aboardBaden—his flagship—to discuss the operation with the senior officers of the fleet. The following morning, it was clear the mutiny was too far gone to permit a fleet action. In an attempt to suppress the revolt, he ordered one of the battle squadrons to depart for Kiel.[37] By 5 November, red flags had been raised on every battleship in the harbor exceptKönig, though it too was commandeered by a sailors' council on 6 November.[38]
Following thearmistice with Germany in November 1918, the majority of the High Seas Fleet was to be interned in the British naval base atScapa Flow.[39]Bayern was listed as one of the ships to be handed over, thoughBaden initially was not. The battlecruiserMackensen, which the British believed to be completed, was requested instead. When it became apparent to the Allies thatMackensen was still under construction,Baden was ordered to replace it.[40] On 21 November 1918, the ships to be interned, under the command of Rear AdmiralLudwig von Reuter, sailed from their base in Germany for the last time. The fleet rendezvoused with the light cruiserHMS Cardiff, before meeting a massive flotilla of some 370 British, American, and French warships for the voyage to Scapa Flow.[41]Baden arrived at Scapa Flow separately on 14 December 1918.[42]
When the ships were interned, they had their guns disabled through the removal of their breech blocks.[40] The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced theVersailles Treaty. It became apparent to Reuter that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty.[d] To prevent this, he decided to scuttle his ships at the first opportunity. On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers; at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships.[43]Bayern sank at 14:30, butBaden was run aground by British guards; she was the only capital ship that was not sunk. After being refloated and thoroughly examined,Baden was expended as a gunnery target, finally being sunk on 16 August 1921 to the southwest of Portsmouth.Bayern was raised for scrapping on 1 September 1934 and broken up over the following year inRosyth.[10]
The uncompletedSachsen andWürttemberg were stricken from the German Navy under the terms ofArticle 186 of the Versailles Treaty.Sachsen was sold for scrapping in 1920 to ship breakers at the Kiel Arsenal.Württemberg was sold the following year, and broken up in Hamburg.[10]
