SMS Prussia (1903)

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SMS Prussia
SMS Prussia
SMS Prussia
Ship data
flag German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge) German Empire
Ship type Ship of the line
class Braunschweig class
Shipyard AG Vulcan , Szczecin
Build number 256
Keel laying April 1902
Launch October 30, 1903
Commissioning July 12, 1905
Removal from the ship register April 5, 1929
Whereabouts 25 February 1931 sold for scrap
Machine system
machine
3 standing 3-cylinder triple expansion piston engines
14 oil / coal-fired steam boilers (6 of which are cylinder boilers)
8 cylinder boilers
2 standing 3-cylinder compound engines
1 rudder
Machine
performance 		16,980 PSi
Top
speed 		18.5 kn (34 km / h)
propeller 2, four-leaf, ∅ 4.5 m
Armament
  • 4 × 28 cm L / 40 Sk
  • 14 × 17 cm L / 40 Sk
  • 18 × 8.8 cm L / 35 Sk
  • 6 × 45 cm torpedo tubes

The SMS Preußen was a ship of the line of the Braunschweig class of the former Imperial Navy . It was named after the Kingdom of Prussia , which was then the largest part of the German Empire.

The Prussia ran in 1903 in the shipyard A.G. Vulcan launched in Szczecin . Her sister ships were SMS Braunschweig , SMS Elsass , SMS Hessen and SMS Lothringen .

The ships of the Braunschweig class had three funnels, were 127.7 meters long, displaced 13,208 tons, ran 18.7 knots with three triple expansion steam engines and had a crew of 35 officers and 708 men. The armament consisted of four 28 cm rapid loading cannons in twin turrets, fourteen 17 cm, eighteen 8.8 cm rapid loading cannons and six torpedo tubes.

The Prussia was in World War flagship of the Second Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. first under Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer then under Rear Admiral Franz Mauve . She did not take part in the sea ​​battle on the Skagerrak , but was assigned to guard the Øresund under Captain Frey .

After the end of the war, the ship of the line was taken over by the Reichsmarine .

At the beginning of 1919, the Prussia was converted in what is now the Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven into the mother ship for shallow minesweepers (FM boats). A total of twelve of these small boats could be carried along and launched using a crane. The Prussians differed from the also converted sister ship Lorraine in that they retained gooseneck cranes , as loading booms were installed on the Lorraine . In contrast to its sister ship, the Prussia was not used in this function due to its top-heaviness. However, it was not dismantled either.

The Prussia launched after the conversion to the mother ship for FM boats

On March 5, 1929, the ship was retired, on 25 February in 1931 for 216,800  RM sold for scrap and largely scrapped in the 1931st A 63 meter long midship section (jokingly referred to as SMS Vierkant in naval jargon ) was retained as an explosive target for torpedo and mine tests. This was sunk by bombs in Wilhelmshaven in April 1945 , lifted again at the end of 1954 and scrapped.

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