SMS Kaiser Wilhelm the Great
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| Ship data | ||
| Ship type | Ship of the line | |
| Ship class | Kaiser Friedrich III class | |
| Construction designation: | Replacement King Wilhelm | |
| Keel laying : | January 22, 1898 | |
| Launching ( ship christening ): | June 1, 1899 | |
| Commissioning: | May 5, 1901 | |
| Builder: |
Germania shipyard in Kiel, construction number 79 |
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| Crew: | 39 officers and 612 men | |
| Building-costs: | 20.254 million gold marks | |
| 4 sister ships | ||
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SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II. SMS Kaiser Friedrich III. |
SMS Kaiser Charlemagne SMS Kaiser Barbarossa |
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| Technical specifications | ||
| Construction displacement : | 11,097 t | |
| Maximum deployment displacement : | 11,785 t | |
| Length: | 125.30 m | |
| Width: | 20.40 m | |
| Draft : | 7.83 m | |
| Machinery: | 4 Marine Schulz water pipes and 6 transverse cylinder steam boilers with coal firing 3 vertical four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines |
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| Number of screws: | 3 three-winged (∅ 4.50 m) | |
| Shaft speed: | 120 / min | |
| Power: | Construction: 13,000 PSi Test drive: 13,658 PSi |
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| Top speed: | Construction: 17.5 kn Test drive: 17.2 kn |
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| Driving range: | approx. 3,400 nm at 10 kn | |
| Fuel supply: | Max. 1,070 tons of coal | |
| Armor | ||
| Belt armor: | 100–300 mm on 250 mm teak backing | |
| Deck: | 65 mm | |
| Towers: | 50-250 mm | |
| Front control station: | horizontal: 30 mm vertical: 250 mm |
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| Control station aft: | horizontal: 30 mm vertical: 150 mm |
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| Casemates: | 150 mm | |
| Pages: | Cork dams | |
| Armament | ||
| Guns 24 cm L / 40 C / 1894 : | 4 in 2 twin towers on turntable carriage C / 1898 | |
| Gun range 24 cm: | 16.9 km at 30 ° | |
| Guns 15 cm L / 40 C / 1896 : | 12 in casemates 6 in individual towers |
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| Gun range 15 cm: | 13.7 km at 20 ° | |
| Guns 8,8 cm L / 30 : | 12 in casemates | |
| Guns 3.7 cm : | up to 12 in individual installation | |
| Torpedo tubes ∅ 45 cm: | 5 under water (1 in the bow, 2 on each side) 1 over water (stern) |
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SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große was a ship of the line in the Imperial Navy . The ship was laid down as an ironclad first class replacement for King Wilhelm in 1898 at the Friedrich Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel under construction number 79. In 1899 it was reclassified as a ship of the line.
history
Their construction was supervised by August Müller . The launch was originally scheduled for April 29, 1899, but a fire at the shipyard delayed this so that the ship could not be launched until June 1, 1899. After the shipyard test run on February 17, 1901 and the subsequent acceptance run by the Navy, the Kaiser Wilhelm the Great was put into service with the I. Squadron on May 5, 1901. In this association, the ship provided its fleet service and took part in maneuvers and training trips. After an accident in 1905, the rudder was rebuilt and no longer had a hoe . In 1908 the ship was decommissioned and fundamentally rebuilt and modernized from 1908 to 1910. After that it belonged to the reserve formation of the North Sea.
With the outbreak of war in 1914, it was reactivated and assigned to the 5th Squadron. Its use was initially limited to coastal protection in the North Sea and sporadic activities in the Baltic Sea. From March 1915 the ship (together with the other ships of the Kaiser Friedrich III class ) was pulled out of the front and the crew was reduced. The final decommissioning took place on November 20, 1915, with the ship immediately disarmed (the 24 cm guns came as a railway battery to the western front) and assigned to the torpedo school as a ship . The demolition work began after the deletion from the fleet list in 1920 in Kiel-Nordmole.
modification
During the major renovation, the appearance was changed significantly. The midship superstructure, two decks high, was removed, and the chimney cladding was restricted to the lower half. The martial-looking battle masts were replaced by slender fore masts with rods. The four 15-cm casemate guns of the medium artillery in the battery deck were expanded, the light artillery was reinforced by two 8.8-cm guns and their placement was changed, whereas the twelve automatic cannons were no longer available. The swiveling 45 cm surface torpedo tube in the stern was also removed. The formerly clumsy and top-heavy ships made a pretty bare impression after the renovation.
literature
- Jochen Brennecke, Herbert Hader: Ironclad ships and ships of the line 1860-1910. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1976, ISBN 3-7822-0116-7 .
- Robert Gardiner: Conway's All the world's fighting ships 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, London 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
- Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 1. Armored ships, ships of the line, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, gunboats . Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 .
- Gerhard Koop, Klaus-Peter Schmolke: The liners of the Brandenburg to Germany class. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-7637-6211-6 (ship classes and ship types of the German Navy. Volume 10).
Web links
Individual evidence