King class
 The SMS Crown Prince Wilhelm in Scapa Flow , 1919
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The König class was a class of four large-scale ships of the German Imperial Navy , named after the historical titles of the Brandenburg-Prussian Hohenzollern dynasty.
draft
The biggest changes compared to the previous Kaiser class were in the area of armament and propulsion.
Armament
The five towers of the heavy artillery were erected in the ship's center line for the first time, with the same caliber as compared to the Kaiser class. As early as April 1910, the General Marine Department had submitted a memorandum in which a departure from the wing towers that had been customary up to now was recommended. This was made possible because as a result of the introduction of propulsion turbines instead of piston steam engines with the Kaiser class, less space was required for the propulsion equipment. Admiral Tirpitz , State Secretary in the Reichsmarineamt, decided in August 1910 that the upcoming new buildings should be built according to the design of the Kaiser class, i.e. still with wing towers. Immediately afterwards, however, the General Marine Department submitted a new memorandum to which a draft from the Construction Department was attached, which provided for a ship of the line with a purely midship installation. Tirpitz gave in, and on September 24, 1910, a decision was made in favor of this new design. Already three days later the approval from the emperor followed.
Other countries had meanwhile switched to larger calibers, a change that was only realized in Germany with the following Bavaria class . A change in the König class would have led to significant increases in costs, especially since Krupp in Essen had already started work on the 30.5 cm guns intended for the newbuildings.
Armor
The more favorable arrangement of the heavy towers and their barbeds made it possible to reduce the size of the armored surfaces. With the weight saved, the thickness of the armor was increased, the belt armor remained at 350 mm. The following class no longer had thicker belt armor. A newly available nickel steel was used for the side torpedo bulkheads and the horizontal armored deck.
drive
Originally, all four ships of the class twelve boilers, including the associated two turbines and a diesel engine of 12,000 wPS on the medium shaft. Because the technical advances in the development of the engine could not be realized quickly enough, the diesel engine was only planned for the last two ships to be awarded. When further-reaching delays became apparent in the progress in engine development (cf. SMS Prinzregent Luitpold ), a pure turbine drive was ultimately planned and installed for all ships. Three of the total of 15 boilers were fired for the first time on ships of the line, after initial use from 1908 on torpedo boats, instead of coal with oil. Despite the great advantages of oil firing, the naval command could not bring itself to an exclusive oil firing on capital ships until 1918. The reasons for this were not of a technical nature, but were feared, and rightly so, that they would be cut off from sufficient oil supplies in the event of war. In contrast, there was enough coal in Germany.
Ships of the class
| Surname | Shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | Whereabouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMS king | Imperial shipyard, Wilhelmshaven | October 1911 | March 1, 1913 | August 9, 1914 | Sunk in Scapa Flow on June 21, 1919 |
| SMS Great Elector | AG Vulcan , Hamburg | October 1911 | May 5, 1913 | July 30, 1914 | Sunk in Scapa Flow on June 21, 1919 |
| SMS Markgraf | AG Weser, Bremen | November 1911 | June 4, 1913 | October 1, 1914 | Sunk in Scapa Flow on June 21, 1919 |
| SMS Crown Prince | Germania shipyard, Kiel | November 1911 | February 21, 1914 | November 8, 1914 | Sunk in Scapa Flow on June 21, 1919 |
literature
- René Greger: The Russian Fleet 1914–1917. JFLehmann Verlag, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-469-00303-3 , pp. 28-31.
- Siegfried Breyer: The battleships of the König class. In: Naval Arsenal. Volume 26, Podzun-Pallas Verlag GmbH, 61169 Friedberg (Dornheim), 1994.
- Erwin Strohbusch: Warship building since 1848. German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven 1984.
- Axel Grießmer: ships of the line of the Imperial Navy 1906–1918. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-7637-5985-9 .
