SMS Empress
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SMS Kaiserin was the third ship in the Kaiser class , a class of five large-line ships of the Imperial Navy .
construction
The Howaldtswerke in Kiel began in July 1910 with the construction of the replacement Hagen , for the coastal armored ship of the same name, which was decommissioned. The ship was ready for launch on November 11, 1911 as the third unit in its class . According to one of Admiral Hans von Koester held naming ceremony speech, the new building was Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia in the name Empress baptized. The further expansion dragged on until May 1913.
Peace time
On May 13, 1913, the Empress was handed over to the Imperial Navy and officially put into service the next day. The ship initially carried out test drives, during which several engine damage forced them to stay at the shipyard. Only on December 13th was the liner able to complete the test drives and to the III. Squadron kick. After individual exercises, squadron and fleet maneuvers were held in the North Sea in February 1914, and in May in the North and Baltic Seas.
The Empress left the fleet on July 7th for the Norwegian voyage, but was ordered back early on July 22nd. As a result of the murder of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo , war became more and more likely, which is why the Imperial Navy Office wanted to test the usability of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal for capital ships . The canal, the expansion of which was almost complete, was of great strategic importance for the Imperial Navy. The empress entered the Brunsbüttel lock after a slight lightening on July 25th at 5 a.m. and reached the Holtenau lock at 4.30 p.m. after a smooth journey . Six days later, the ship and the squadron returned to the North Sea.
Use in the First World War
On August 1, 1914, the III. Squadron on Schillig - Reede lying the mobilization order . In the following years it was used in standby, outpost and security service. On November 2nd and 3rd and on December 15th and 16th the deep sea fleet carried out advances in which the Empress was also involved, but which did not come into contact with the enemy. From January 23 to 29, 1915, the ship was together with the III. Squadron for training in the Baltic Sea and was therefore not available to intervene in the battle on the Dogger Bank . From January 31 to February 20 the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven carried out an overhaul. The empress subsequently took part in the naval advances on March 29, 17, 18 and April 22. From April 24 to May 10, the ship was again on exercises in the Baltic Sea. Another five advances by the fleet followed by October, in which the Empress was involved. None of them led to combat. From December 5 to 20, the squadron again carried out exercises in the Baltic Sea.
After Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer , until then commander of the III. Geschwaders, which had taken command of the ocean-going fleet in January 1916, its activity increased. In both March and April, the fleet made several forays into the North Sea. Another advance on May 31st ultimately led to the sea battle off the Skagerrak . During this the empress remained undamaged, although the III. Squadron drove at the head of the German group during the main battle. However, she was able to achieve several heavy hits on the HMS Warspite .
After association exercises were carried out again in the Baltic Sea at the beginning of August, the Empress took part in another naval advance on August 18 and 19. Returning from renewed exercises in the North Sea, the ship was ordered to the level of Bovbjerg on November 2 to secure the submarines SM U 20 and SM U 30 that got stuck there . On December 1, the ocean-going fleet was restructured because the outdated liners of the 2nd Squadron were withdrawn from service at the front. The Empress belonged henceforth to the newly formed IV. Squadron whose commander Vice Admiral Franz Mauve was.
On March 14, 1917, the Empress got stuck in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and damaged a curling keel , which allowed 280 t of water to penetrate. This made a three-day stay at the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel necessary to repair the damage. On March 30, the ship was back in the North Sea. After another exercise from June 9th to July 2nd in the Baltic Sea, in September the Empress was assigned to the special association for the Albion company , headed by Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt , which aimed to conquer the Baltic islands of Ösel , Dagö and Moon . On September 24th the liner anchored in the Putziger Wiek and from there on October 10th started the march to Tagga Bay (Ösel), which it reached two days later and where it shelled the Hundsort battery . Bombardment of the Zerel battery followed on October 14th and 15th. On October 16, the Empress began the march back to Kiel, where she arrived eight days later and went on to the North Sea.
On November 17, the Kaiserin and the Kaiser were deployed to secure four small cruisers of the Second Reconnaissance Group under Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter . It came to the second sea battle at Heligoland . The Empress was able to score a hit, but the battle ended in a draw. Captain Graßhoff was subsequently replaced because the line-up of the security forces was viewed as inadequate. He became the commander of the submarines in the Mediterranean.
The Empress was in Kiel at the shipyard from December 22, 1917 to February 5, 1918 for repair work . On April 24th and 25th, the ship was involved in the next major naval advance, which however had to be canceled due to serious machine damage on the large cruiser (battle cruiser ) SMS Moltke . Exercises in the Baltic Sea took place from June 18 to July 10. In September, the Empress was briefly at the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven . From October 22 to 28, the ship was in the Baltic Sea for exercises for the last time. Then she was ready for the planned major operation of the deep sea fleet, which was however dropped due to the mutiny on the liner ships SMS Thuringia and SMS Helgoland .
Whereabouts
The Empress was one of the ships to be interned according to the armistice agreement . It was disarmed and left Wilhelmshaven on November 19, 1918 together with the transfer association and reached the Firth of Forth two days later . On November 25th, the trip to Scapa Flow continued. The ship remained there, initially with a crew of 175, the number of which was reduced again on June 17, 1919.
Since Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, commander of the interned ships, was only sparsely supplied with news from the British and had no contact with the Reich government, he assumed a German rejection of the Treaty of Versailles . This would have meant a resumption of the war. To make the German ships do not fall without a fight into British hands, commanded by Reuter on June 21, the self-absorption . The Empress capsized at 2 p.m. after the crew opened the sea valves and disembarked.
It was lifted on May 14, 1936. The wreck was towed to Rosyth and dismantled there in the course of 1936.
Commanders
| May 14, 1913 to July 25, 1917 | Sea captain Karl Sievers |
| July 26, 1917 to January 5, 1918 | Sea captain Kurt Graßhoff |
| January 6th to 24th, 1918 | Sea captain Walter Hildebrand |
| January 25 to November 8, 1918 | Sea captain Wilhelm Adelung |
| November 1918 to June 21, 1919 | Corvette Captain Arthur Quarter |
Known crew members
- Hellmuth Heye (1895–1970), was from 1961 to 1964 the second defense commissioner of the German Bundestag
literature
- Breyer, Siegfried: Battleships and battle cruisers 1905–1970 . JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-88199-474-2 , p. 293 f .
- Gröner, Erich / Dieter Jung / Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 1 : Armored ships, ships of the line, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, gunboats . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 , p. 49 f .
- Hildebrand, Hans H. / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 5 : Ship biographies from Kaiser to Lütjens . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 69-72 .
- Koop, Gerhard / Klaus-Peter Schmolke: Ship classes and ship types of the German Navy . tape 9 : Ships of the line: From the Nassau to the König class . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-7637-5994-8 , pp. 80-90 .