Project L 20 e α
| Large- line ship L 20 e α project | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ship data | ||
| Draft: | 1917-1918 | |
| Keel laying : | not happened | |
| Launching ( ship christening ): | not happened | |
| Commissioning: | not happened | |
| Builder: | Draft not allocated | |
| Crew: | unknown | |
| Building-costs: | unknown | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Displacement : | Standard: 43,797 t, use: 48,718 t |
|
| Length over all: | 238 m | |
| Width: | 33.5 m | |
| Draft : | 9 m | |
| Machinery: | 22 boilers on steam turbines (mixed oil and coal firing) | |
| Drive: | 4 propellers | |
| Power on the waves: | 100,000 PS (planned) | |
| Top speed: | 26 kn (planned) | |
| Range: | unknown | |
| Fuel supply: | maximum 3,000 t coal + 2,000 t oil | |
| Armament | ||
| Heavy artillery: | 8 × 42 cm L / 45 SK in 4 double towers | |
| Middle artillery: | 12 × 15 cm L / 45 in 12 individual mounts | |
| Air defense: | 8 × 8.8 or 10.5 cm flak | |
| Torpedo armament: | 3 underwater torpedo tubes (caliber unknown) | |
| vehicles | ||
| Airplanes: | no | |
| Armor | ||
| Heavy artillery: | 350 mm | |
| Middle artillery: | 170 mm | |
| Side armor: | 350 mm | |
| Deck armor: | 120 mm | |
| Command tower: | 400 mm | |
| Whereabouts | ||
| Didn't get beyond the drafting stage | ||
The L 20 e α project was the last large-line ship designed for construction by the German Imperial Navy and, in terms of size, armament and speed, represented a significant step in the development of the German naval forces. The design was completed on September 11, 1918 - two months before the end of the First World War - approved by Kaiser Wilhelm II for complete construction and thus as a definitive building project. However, none of the ships of this type got beyond the planning study; neither the number of planned units nor details of the shipyards are known. After the end of the war, all design work on the class was stopped.
Emergence
Although the development and construction of submarines had priority after the opening of the unrestricted submarine war in February 1917 , the design work on other capital ships continued. The Secretary of the Admiralty, Admiral Capelle , for example, stressed during a corresponding meeting in April that "the completion of the Great cruiser will not be postponed. [Should]" Capelle took here with respect to the stagnation in the construction of the Mackensen class , the result the resources focused on submarine construction progressed slowly. Subsequently, on August 21, 1917, the Navy's construction department submitted the basic designs for two essentially identical new large-line ships (L 20 and L 24), which differed only in the type of torpedo armament: L 20 carried underwater, L 24 on the other hand, surface -Pipe sets. A maximum displacement of 45,000 t was assumed for both types. The relatively low speed of only around 23 knots top, which was initially assumed for both types, turned out to be problematic: The fleet manager Admiral Scheer in particular did not agree with this performance. So it came about that when Capelles gave another lecture to the Kaiser on this subject on June 28, 1918, a decision was made, in addition to a draft based on L 20 based on L 20, which was based on L 20, which was designed for a higher speed - but not yet sufficient from the point of view of fleet management to plan a more lightly armed, but significantly faster ship (drafts GK 3521, 3021, 3022). The originally envisaged goal of creating a "unit type" superior in all aspects (armament, protection and speed) was thus off the table. On September 11, 1918, Wilhelm II ordered the implementation of the L 20 e α design as the successor to the Bayern class . The GK drafts for fast capital ships no longer reached this stage.
Technical specifications
The design of the type L 20 e α meant a quantum leap for large-scale shipbuilding in Germany in many ways. This becomes particularly clear when comparing the construction data of the immediately preceding Bavaria class:
| Type class | Length over everything | width | Caliber main armament | Performance / top speed | Maximum displacement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bavaria class | 180 m | 30 m | 38 cm | 35,000 hp / 22 kn | 32,200 t |
| L 20 e α | 238 m | 33.5 m | 42 cm | 100,000 hp / 26 kn | 48,800 t |
The significantly increased length and the significantly higher maximum speed are particularly noticeable. For the first time, with the ships of the L-20-e-α-class, the concept of a heavily armed but slow liner of the line was abandoned in favor of a capital ship capable of performing in all respects - even if the targeted 26 knots did not yet fully meet the planners' final ideas.
The increase in caliber to 42 cm was also new and unique in the history of German capital shipbuilding . For the first time, the Imperial Navy not only wanted to achieve a qualitative tie with the quantitatively superior British guns (cf. 28 cm vs. 30.5 cm for the large cruisers / battle cruisers), but also wanted to outdo the enemy in terms of caliber size. For the guns for L 20 e α, no details are known about performance, range or penetration power. Although the late drafts of the H-Class , which emerged during the Second World War , were to be armed with even more powerful guns (up to 50.8 cm), these drafts were never created with the claim to realization. With the approval of the L 20 e α draft, however, its 42 cm guns can be regarded as the most powerful German naval artillery ever commissioned in terms of caliber.
See also
literature
Friedrich Forstmeier , Siegfried Breyer: German capital ships 1915 to 1918 - The development of the question of types in the First World War. Bonn 2002.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Forstmeier, Breyer: German capital ships 1915-1918. Bonn 2002, p. 84.
- ↑ Forstmeier, Breyer, p. 44.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ L was the official internal name for draft L inienenschiffen
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Forstmeier, Breyer, p. 45.
- ↑ Forstmeier, Breyer, p. 46.
- ↑ GK was the official designation for internal projects of G Rossen K reuzern
- ↑ Forstmeier, Breyer, p. 50f.
- ↑ See Forstmeier, Breyer, p. 83.