Liner SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große

The SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große was a battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III.-class that were still built as a unit line ships and indienst. For the first time German warships were equipped with the new fast-charging cannons as the main armament and the middle artillery began to gain in importance.

 

Launching and design:

The ships of the Kaiser Friedrich III class originated from the experiences of the preceding Brandenburg class. The vast difference was in the armament, which consisted for the first time of fast charging guns and replaced the previously installed casing ring guns. Although the caliber was reduced from 28cm to 24cm, the better shooting performance in cadence, range and penetration, the downgrading could be more than offset. The medium artillery was also significantly strengthened, as the Naval Office recognized the benefits that it had in shelling the less armored areas of enemy ships. For this purpose, the middle artillery fire should be specially focused on the bridge and other less armored structures.

Further improvements were the integration of continuous ammunition lifts the new towers of heavy artillery, the first two ships of the Kaiser Friedrich III class still had the old turrets C / 1897 and only later the new C / 1898 towers were installed. So the shot order could be increased from 2 to 5 per minute.

In addition, the improved KC steel (Krupp cemented) with a depth of up to 300mm was used to increase the armor.

The launching of the SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große took place on 1 June 1899, the commissioning on May 5, 1901.

 

The ship was named after Emperor Wilhelm the Great (Kaiser Wilhelm der Große)

The ship was named after Emperor Wilhelm the Great (Kaiser Wilhelm der Große)

 

 

 

History of SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große:

After the commissioning and the test drives the ship was assigned together with the other ships of the Kaiser Friedrich III.-Class the I. Squadron. In this, several maneuvers and training trips were carried out in the following years.

After the rudder system was damaged in 1905, the ship went to the shipyard for several weeks for the necessary repairs. The oars were rebuilt, so that the ship then no longer had a helm.

Like the other ships of this class, except for the SMS Kaiser Karl der Große, from 1908 to 1910 extensive modernization measures were also carried out at the Kaiser Wilhelm the Great. Subsequently, this ship was assigned to the reserve formation.

 

Liner SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große

Liner SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große

 

 

 

Use in the war:

With the outbreak of the First World War, the ships of the Kaiser Frederick III. Class were reactivated, assigned to the newly established 5th Squadron and tasked with securing tasks in the North Sea. Due to the old age and the low military value of the ship class was begun in March 1915 to deduct parts of the crews on more modern ships.

On November 20, 1915, then also went out of service the Kaiser Karl der Große, with the heavy and medium artillery was immediately expanded and found mainly on the Western Front use.

After the expansion of the armament, the ship was assigned as accompanying ship the Torpedo School in Kiel, where it remained until the end of the war.

 

 

 

Whereabouts:

Since the ship was uninteresting after the capitulation because of the age and the disarmament for the victorious powers, it remained in Germany, was deleted on December 6, 1919 from the list of warships and scrapped in 1920 in Kiel-Nordmole.

 

 

 

Ship data:

Name:  

SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große

Country:  

German Empire

Ship Type:  

Liner

Class:  

Kaiser-Friedrich-III.-Class

Boatyard:  

Germaniawerft in Kiel

Building-costs:  

20. 254.000 Mark

Launched:  

June 1st, 1899

Commissioning:  

May 5th, 1901

Whereabouts:  

On December 6, 1919 deleted from the list of warships and scrapped in 1920

Length:  

125,3 meters

Width:  

20,4 meters

Draft:  

Max. 7,83 meters

Displacement:  

Max. 11.785 Tons

Crew:  

651 Men

Drive:  

4 marine kettles
6 transverse cylinder boilers
3 standing 3-cylinder compound machines

Power:  

13.874 PS (10.204 kW)

Maximum speed:  

17,5 kn (30 km/h)

Armament:  

4 × Rapid Fire Gun 24,0 cm L / 40 (300 shots)

18 × Rapid Fire Gun 15,0 cm L / 40 (2.160 rounds)

12 × Rapid Fire Gun 8,8 cm L / 30 (3.000 rounds)

12 × Revolver cannon 3,7 cm

6 × torpedo tube ∅ 45 cm (4 sides, 1 bow, under water, 1 stern over water, 16 shots)

 

Armor:  

Waterline: 100-300 mm on 250 mm teak
Deck: 65 mm
Heavy Artillery:
Tower fronts: 250 mm
Tower ceilings: 50 mm
Medium artillery:
Towers: 150 mm
Shields: 70 mm
Casemates: 150 mm
Front control station: 250 mm
Aft control station: 150 mm

 

 

 

 

 

You can find the right literature here:

 

German Battleships 1914–18 (1): Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland classes (New Vanguard)

German Battleships 1914–18 (1): Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland classes (New Vanguard) Paperback – February 23, 2010

Supported by official documents, personal accounts, official drawings and specially commissioned artwork, this volume is an enlightening history of the Deutschland to Osfriesland classes. Detailing the last of the pre-dreadnaught battleship classes, this book goes on to explain the revolutionary developments that took place within the German Imperial Navy as they readied themselves for war. This included creating vessels with vast increases in size and armament. This account of design and technology is supplemented by individual ship histories detailing combat experience complete with first-hand accounts. The specially commissioned artwork also brings this history to life with recreations of the battleship Pommern fighting at Jutland and ships of the Osfriesland class destroying HMS Black Prince in a dramatic night-time engagement.

Click here!

 

 

The Imperial German Navy of World War I, Vol. 1 Warships: A Comprehensive Photographic Study of the Kaiser’s Naval Forces

The Imperial German Navy of World War I, Vol. 1 Warships: A Comprehensive Photographic Study of the Kaiser’s Naval Forces Hardcover – December 28, 2016

The Imperial German Navy of WWI is a series of books (Warships, Campaigns, & Uniforms) that provide a broad view of the Kaiser's naval forces through the extensive use of photographs. Every effort has been made to cover all significant areas during the war period. In addition to the primary use of photographs, technical information is provided for each warship along with its corresponding service history; with a special emphasis being placed on those warships that participated in the Battle of Skagerrak (Jutland). Countless sources have been used to establish individual case studies for each warship; multiple photos of each warship are provided. The entire series itself is unprecedented in its coverage of the Kaiser's navy.

Click here!

 

 

German Battlecruisers of World War One: Their Design, Construction and Operations

German Battlecruisers of World War One: Their Design, Construction and Operations Hardcover – November 4, 2014

This is the most comprehensive, English-language study of the German Imperial Navy's battlecruisers that served in the First World War. Known as Panzerkreuzer, literally "armored cruiser," the eight ships of the class were to be involved in several early North Sea skirmishes before the great pitched battle of Jutland where they inflicted devastating damage on the Royal Navy's battlecruiser fleet. This book details their design and construction, and traces the full service history of each ship, recounting their actions, drawing largely from first-hand German sources and official documents, many previously unpublished in English.

Click here!

 

 

The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918

The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918 Hardcover – March 15, 2016

The battleships of the Third Reich have been written about exhaustively, but there is little in English devoted to their Second Reich predecessors. This new book fills an important gap in the literature of the period by covering these German capital ships in detail and studying the full span of battleship development during this period. The book is arranged as a chronological narrative, with technical details, construction schedules, and ultimate fates tabulated throughout, thus avoiding the sometimes disjointed structure that can result from a class-by-class approach. Heavily illustrated with line drawings and photographs, many from German sources, the book offers readers a fresh visual look at these ships. A key objective of the book is to make available a full synthesis of the published fruits of archival research by German writers found in the pre-World War II books of Koop & Schmolke, Großmer's on the construction program of the dreadnaught era, Forstmeier & Breyer on World War I projects, and Schenk & Nottelmann's papers in Warship International. As well as providing data not available in English-language books, these sources correct significant errors in standard English sources.

Click here!

 

 

 

 

 

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