SMS Zähringen
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![]() SMS Zähringen , 1903 |
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Construction and service time | |
Shipyard | Germania shipyard in Kiel |
Ship type | Ship of the line |
Ship class | Wittelsbach class |
Sister ships | SMS Mecklenburg , SMS Schwaben , SMS Wittelsbach , SMS Wettin |
Keel laying | 1899 |
Launch | June 12, 1901 |
Commissioning | October 25, 1902 |
Whereabouts | Sunk by aerial bombs in Gdynia in 1944 |
Technical specifications | |
Displacement | Construction: 11,774 t Maximum: 12,798 t |
length | Water line: 125.2 m over all: 126.8 m |
width | Hull: 20.8 m over all: 22.8 m |
Draft | 7.95 - 8.04 m |
Armament | 4 Sk - 24 cm L / 40 in 2 double towers 18 Sk - 15 cm L / 40 in casemates 12 Sk - 8.8 cm L / 30 12 Rev - 3.7 cm 6 torpedo tubes 45 cm (1 bow, 4 sides, 1 Stern, all under water) |
Armor | Belt: 100 - 225 mm Citadel: 140 mm Deck: 50 mm Towers: 50 - 250 mm Embankments: 75 - 120 mm Casemates: 140 mm Command tower in front: 30 - 250 mm Command tower aft: 30 - 140 mm |
Machine system | 3 standing 3-cylinder triple expansion piston engines 6 coal-fired steam boilers and 6 transverse cylinder boilers 1 four-wing screw Ø 4.5 m and 2 three-wing screws Ø 4.8 m |
Drive power | 14,875 PSi |
Fuel supply | 1,800 tons of coal |
speed | 17.8 kn |
Driving range | 5,500 nm at 10 kn |
crew | 683 men |
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Siegelmarke_K._Marine_Kommando_S.M.S._Z%C3%A4hringen_W0337683.jpg/220px-Siegelmarke_K._Marine_Kommando_S.M.S._Z%C3%A4hringen_W0337683.jpg)
The SMS Zähringen was a ship of the line of the Imperial Navy , the third of a total of five ships of the Wittelsbach class . After the keel was laid in 1899, the ship was launched on June 12, 1901 at the Germania shipyard in Kiel and was put into service on October 25, 1902.
Sister ships
The sister ships were SMS Wittelsbach (launched in 1900 at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven ), as well as the SMS Wettin, launched in 1901 near Schichau in Danzig , SMS Schwaben at the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven and SMS Mecklenburg at AG Vulcan Stettin . Although obsolete with the appearance of the large line ships in the Imperial Navy from 1909, all five ships of the class were again in fleet service from 1914 to 1916, but were then decommissioned due to their insufficient speed and used as living or exercise ships. With the exception of the Zähringen , they were scrapped in 1921/22.
history
Their construction was supervised by August Müller .
Imperial Navy
The Zähringen served in the deep sea fleet until September 20, 1910, when it was transferred to the reserve fleet in the Baltic Sea. From May 1912 it was overhauled in Kiel and put back into service on August 14th. During fleet maneuvers on September 14, 1912, she accidentally rammed and sank the torpedo boat SMS G 171 . On September 28, 1912 she was decommissioned again, but reactivated after the outbreak of World War I and assigned to the IV Squadron with her sister ships. The squadron initially operated in the Baltic Sea, then from December 1914 to July 1915 in the North Sea, and then again in the Baltic Sea. In November 1915 the Zähringen was relocated to Kiel and disarmed to serve as a target ship for torpedo boats. Two of their 15 cm cannons were scaffolded on the U-cruiser SM U 155 in 1917 . Her conversion to a training ship, which began in July 1918, was not completed by the end of the war in November, and the ship was decommissioned on December 13, 1918.
Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine
The totally outdated Zähringen was of no value to the victorious powers and was used as a Hulk by the Reichsmarine until 1926 . 1927–1928 she was converted into a remote-controlled target ship and then put back into service. Almost all superstructures as well as the entire armament and large parts of the propulsion system were removed, and only the command post and a chimney remained. 1,700 tons of cork were packed into the hull to keep the ship buoyant after being hit. These measures reduced their water displacement to only 11,800 tons and the draft to 7.9 m. She received two radio-controlled oil- fired steam boilers . The two outer 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engines were also equipped with radio control, and the middle engine , including the shaft and propeller, was expanded. After that she only had the two side shafts with their screws. Her top speed was only 13.5 knots. The crew, when the ship was not a target, numbered 67 men.
Whereabouts
On December 18, 1944, the Zähringen was hit by bombs during an air raid in Gotenhafen / Gdingen and sank in the shallow harbor water. She was made floatable as a makeshift and sunk on March 26, 1945 in the port entrance as a block ship. The wreck was scrapped on the spot in 1949–1950.
Commanders
October 1902 to September 1904 | Captain Reinhold Brussatis |
September 1904 to September 1906 | Sea captain Georg Janke |
September 1906 to September 1907 | Sea Captain William Kutter |
October 1907 to September 1908 | Sea captain Wilhelm Sthamer |
October 1908 to September 1910 | Sea captain Georg Hebbinghaus |
May 1912 | Corvette Captain Müller-Palm |
August to September 1912 | Sea captain Herwarth Schmidt von Schwind |
August to September 1914 | Sea captain Herwarth Schmidt von Schwind |
September to December 1914 | Sea captain Georg Scheidt |
December 1914 to August 1915 | Sea captain Karl Seiferling |
August to November 1915 | Sea captain Ferdinand Bertram |
November 1915 to June 1918 | Sea captain Max Schlicht |
June to August 1918 | Sea captain Max Lutter |
August to December 1918 | Frigate Captain / Sea Captain Otto Mock |
Trivia
- In 1933, the ship was used as a prop for the feature film Three Blue Boys, a Blond Girl , in which the sailor Jäger ( Heinz Rühmann ) accidentally stays on board and comes under fire.
literature
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 1. Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 .
- Hans Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. Volume 8. Mundus Verlag, Ratingen o. J.