Kaiserliche Marine pre-dreadnaught Battleships
Pre-dreadnaught battleships: Brandenburg class (1892): SMS Brandenburg, SMS Wörth, SMS Weissenburg, SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm. (These battleships are recorded on a separate page on this website).
Pre-dreadnaught battleships: Wittelsbach class (1900): SMS Wittelsbach, SMS Wettin, SMS Zähringen, SMS Schwaben, SMS Mecklenburg.
Pre-dreadnaught battleships: Braunschweig class (1902): SMS Braunschweig, SMS Elsass, SMS Hessen, SMS Preussen, SMS Lothringen.
Pre-dreadnaught battleships: Kaiser Friedrich III class (1904): SMS Kaiser Friedrich III, SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II, SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, SMS Kaiser Barbarossa, SMS Kaiser Karl der Grosse.
Pre-dreadnaught battleships: Deutschland class (1905): SMS Deutschland, SMS Hannover, SMS Pommern, SMS Schlesien, SMS Schleswig-Holstein.
Kaiserliche Marine dreadnaught Battleships
Dreadnaught battleships: Nassau class (1906): SMS Nassau, SMS Westfalen, SMS Rheinland, SMS Posen.
Dreadnaught battleships: Helgoland class (1909): SMS Helgoland, SMS Ostfriesland, SMS Thüringen, SMS Oldenburg.
Dreadnaught battleships: Kaiser class (1911): SMS Kaiser, SMS Friedrich der Grosse, SMS Kaiserin, SMS Prinzregent Luitpold, SMS König Albert.
Dreadnaught battleships: König class (1913): SMS König, SMS Grosser Kurfürst, SMS Markgraf, SMS Kronprinz.
Dreadnaught battleships: Bayern class battleships (1916): SMS Bayern, SMS Baden, SMS Sachsen, SMS Württemberg.
Dreadnaught battleships: Sachsen class (launched): SMS Sachsen (1916), SMS Württemberg (1917).
Dreadnaught battleships: L20 Alpha (project): The L 20e α was a design for a class of battleships to be built in 1918 for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) during the First World War. Design work on the class of battleship to succeed the Bayern-class battleships began in 1914, but the outbreak of the First World War in July 1914 led to these plans being shelved. Work resumed in early 1916 and lessons from the Battle of Jutland, fought later that year, were incorporated into the design. Reinhard Scheer, the commander of the fleet, wanted larger main guns and a higher top speed than earlier vessels, to combat the latest ships in the British Royal Navy. A variety of proposals were submitted, with armament ranging from the same eight 38 cm (15 in) guns of the Bayern class to eight 42 cm (16.5 in) guns.
Work on the design was completed by September 1918, but by then there was no chance for them to be built. Germany’s declining war situation and the reallocation of resources to support the U-boat campaign meant the ships would never be built. The ships would have been significantly larger than the preceding Bayern-class battleships, at 238 m (780 ft 10 in) long, compared to 180 m (590 ft 7 in) for the preceding ships. The L 20e α class would have been significantly faster, with a top speed of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), compared to the 21-knot (39 km/h; 24 mph) maximum of the Bayerns and would have been the first German warships to have mounted guns larger than 38 cm.
Kaiserliche Marine Battlecruisers
SMS Blücher (1908), was the last armoured cruiser built for the Kaiserliche Marine beginning in 1907.
SMS Von der Tann (1909), was the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), as well as Germany’s first major turbine-powered warship. At the time of her construction, Von der Tann was the fastest dreadnought-type warship afloat, capable of reaching speeds in excess of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph).
Moltke class (1910): The Moltke class was a class of two “all-big-gun” battlecruisers of the German Imperial Navy built between 1909 and 1911. Named SMS Moltke and SMS Goeben, they were similar to the previous battlecruiser Von der Tann, but the newer design featured several incremental improvements. The Moltkes were slightly larger, faster, and better armored, and had an additional pair of 28 cm (11 in) guns.
SMS Seydlitz (1912): She was ordered in 1910 and commissioned in May 1913, the fourth battlecruiser built for the High Seas Fleet. Named after Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Seydlitz represented the culmination of the first generation of German battlecruisers, which had started with the Von der Tann in 1906 and continued with the pair of Moltke-class battlecruisers ordered in 1907 and 1908. Seydlitz featured several incremental improvements over the preceding designs, including a redesigned propulsion system and an improved armor layout. The ship was also significantly larger than her predecessors—at 24,988 metric tons (24,593 long tons; 27,545 short tons), she was approximately 3,000 metric tons heavier than the Moltke-class ships.
Derfflinger class (1913), three battlecruisers of the Kaiserliche Marine: SMS Derfflinger, SMS Lützow, SMS Hindenburg. All three of the ships saw active service with the High Seas Fleet during the First World War.
SMS Hindenburg (1915), the third ship of the Derfflinger class, built to a slightly modified design.
Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) battlecruisers: SMS Blücher (1908), SMS Von der Tann (1909), SMS Moltke (1910), SMS Goeben (1910), SMS Seydlitz (1912), SMS Derfflinger, SMS Lützow, SMS Hindenburg. (These battlecruisers are recorded on a separate page on this website).
Mackensen class (1917), the last class of battlecruisers to be built by Germany in the First World War. The design initially called for seven ships, but three of them were redesigned as the Ersatz Yorck class. Of the four ships of the Mackensen class, SMS Mackensen, SMS Graf Spee, and SMS Prinz Eitel Friedrich were launched, and SMS Fürst Bismarck was not. None, however, were completed, after wartime shipbuilding priorities were redirected towards U-boats, and the ships were broken up in the early 1920s
Ersatz Yorck class was a group of three battlecruisers ordered but not completed for the Kaiserliche Marine in 1916: SMS Ersatz Yorck, SMS Ersatz Gneisenau, and SMS Ersatz Scharnhorst.
German First World War Kaiserliche Marine Cruisers
Irene class | SMS Gefion | SMS Hela | SMS Kaiserin Augusta | Victoria Louise class | Prinz Adalbert class | SMS Prinz Heinrich | SMS Fürst Bismarck | Roon class | Scharnhorst class | SMS Blücher
Bussard class | Gazelle class | Bremen class | Kolberg class | Königsberg class | Nautilus class | Magdeburg class | Dresden class | Graudenz class | Karlsruhe class | Pillau class | Wiesbaden class | Karlsruhe class | Brummer class | Königsberg ii class | Cöln class
German First World War Kaiserliche Marine U-Boats
Brandtaucher | Forelle | U-1 | U-2 | U-3 class | U-5 class | U-9 class | U-13 class | U-17 class | U-19 class | U-23 class | U-27 class | U-31 class | U-43 class | U-51 class | U-57 class | U-63 class | U-66 class | U-71 class | U-81 class | U-87 class | U-93 class | U-139 class | U-142 class | U 151 class | UA | UB-I class | UB-II class | UB-III class | UC-I class | UC-II class | UC-III | UE-I class | UE-II class | U-Projects.
The Imperial Navy was the first to operate submarines successfully on a large scale in wartime, with 375 submarines commissioned by the end of the First World War, and it also operated zeppelins. Although it was never able to match the number of ships of the Royal Navy, it had technological advantages, such as better shells and propellant for much of the Great War, meaning that it never lost a ship to a catastrophic magazine explosion from an above-water attack,[citation needed] although the elderly pre-dreadnought SMS Pommern sank rapidly at Jutland after a magazine explosion was caused by an underwater attack.
German First World War Kaiserliche Marine Commerce Raiders
SMS Seeadler (1888)
German First World War Kaiserliche Marine Destroyers
German First World War Kaiserliche Marine Torpedo Boats
German First World War Kaiserliche Marine gunboats
German First World War Kaiserliche Marine minesweepers
German First World War Kaiserliche Marine MTBs
In 1890 there were 13 battleships, 23 Cruisers, 30 TBDs, 15 misc. ships. In 1914 these figures turned to 47 battleships, 57 cruisers, 143 destroyers, 91 TBDs, about 45 submarines and 6 misc. ships.
Bayern-class battleships
The Bayern class was a class of four dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The class comprised Bayern, Baden, Sachsen, and Württemberg. Construction started on the ships shortly before World War I; Baden was laid down in 1913, Bayern and Sachsen followed in 1914, and Württemberg, the final ship, was laid down in 1915. Only Baden and Bayern were completed, due to shipbuilding priorities changing as the war dragged on. It was determined that U-boats were more valuable to the war effort, and so work on new battleships was slowed and ultimately stopped altogether. As a result, Bayern and Baden were the last German battleships completed by the Kaiserliche Marine.
Bayern and Baden were commissioned into the fleet in July 1916 and March 1917, respectively. This was too late for either ship to take part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916. Bayern was assigned to the naval force that drove the Imperial Russian Navy from the Gulf of Riga during Operation Albion in October 1917, though the ship was severely damaged by a mine and had to be withdrawn to Kiel for repairs. Baden replaced Friedrich der Grosse as the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, but saw no combat.Both Bayern and Baden were interned at Scapa Flow following the Armistice in November 1918. Rear Admiral Ludwig 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 beach Baden to prevent her from sinking. The ship was expended as a gunnery target in 1921. Sachsen and Württemberg, 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. (Wikipedia)
SMS Bayern
(Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R17811)
SMS Bayern in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, while being commissioned for sea trials in 1915.
SMS Bayern was the lead ship of the Bayern class of dreadnought battleships in the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The vessel was launched in February 1915 and entered service in July 1916, too late to take part in the Battle of Jutland. Her main armament consisted of eight 38 cm (15 in) guns in four turrets, which was a significant improvement over the preceding König’s ten 30.5 cm (12 inch) guns. The ship was to have formed the nucleus for a fourth battle squadron in the High Seas Fleet, along with three of her sister ships. Of the other ships only one, SMS Baden, was completed; the other two were canceled later in the war when production requirements shifted to U-boat construction.
Bayern was commissioned midway through the war, and had a limited service career. The first operation in which the ship took part was an abortive fleet advance into the North Sea on 18–19 August 1916, a month after she had been commissioned. The ship also participated in Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga, but shortly after the German attack began on 12 October 1917, Bayern was mined and had to be withdrawn for repairs. She was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in November 1918 following the end of the First World War. On 21 June 1919, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the fleet to be scuttled; Bayern sank at 14:30. In September 1934, the ship was raised, towed to Rosyth, and scrapped. (Wikipedia)
(IWM Photo)
SMS Bayern, likely during her internment in Scapa Flow.
SMS Baden
SMS Baden was a Bayern-class dreadnought battleship of the German Imperial Navy built during the First World War. Launched in October 1915 and completed in March 1917, she was the last battleship completed for use in the war; two of her sisters, SMS Sachsen and SMS Württemberg, were incomplete when the war ended. The ship mounted eight 38-centimeter (15 in) guns in four twin turrets, displaced 32,200 metric tons (31,700 long tons; 35,500 short tons) at full combat load, and had a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Along with her sister Bayern, Baden was the largest and most powerfully armed battleship built by the Imperial Navy.
Upon commissioning into the High Seas Fleet, Baden was made the fleet flagship, replacing Friedrich der Grosse. Baden saw little action during her short career; the only major sortie in April 1918 ended without any combat. Following the German collapse in November 1918, Baden was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow by the Royal Navy. On 21 June 1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the scuttling of the fleet. However, British sailors in the harbour managed to board Baden and beach her to prevent her sinking. The ship was refloated, thoroughly examined, and eventually sunk in extensive gunnery testing by the Royal Navy in 1921. (Wikipedia)
(Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R17062)
SMS Baden, with her main battery trained to port, 1916.
(IWM Photo)
SMS Baden after being refloated at Scapa Flow.