Liner SMS Mecklenburg

The liner SMS Mecklenburg belonged to the Wittelsbach class, which were built shortly after the turn of the century for the imperial navy to equip the German high seas fleet with powerful warships can.

 

Launching and design:

The ships of the Wittelsbach class are based on the predecessor ships of the Kaiser Friedrich III class, whereby there are no significant differences among the classes.

The launch of the SMS Mecklenburg took place on 9 November 1901, the commissioning on 25 June 1903.

 

Liner SMS Mecklenburg

Liner SMS Mecklenburg

 

 

 

History of SMS Mecklenburg:

After commissioning the usual test drives took place, which lasted until December 1903 in. In January and beginning of February 1904, even minor repairs and modifications were made until the ship was assigned to the 1st Squadron and participated in individual and group exercises. From mid-December 1904 to early March 1905, further repairs were made in the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven.

On the subsequent crossing to Kiel, the ship stuck in the Great Beltes on a reef. Through the SMS Wittelsbach, the SMS Wettin and the small cruiser Ariadne, the ship could be towed free and go to Kiel on its own. The necessary repairs were completed on April 20, 1905.

Until July 31, 1911, the ship made its annual maneuvers until it was replaced by the large-scale ship Ostfriesland. Until 9 May 1912, the SMS Mecklenburg was assigned to the Reserve Division of the North Sea, then the Baltic Sea.

 

 

 

Use in the war:

With the outbreak of the First World War, the Mecklenburg was reactivated and assigned with their sister ships the newly formed IV Squadron.

Until July 1915, the ship took over predominantly securing tasks in the Baltic Sea, until it participated until 23 September 1915 in attacks in support of the army on the coast.

Until December 1915 Mecklenburg remained in Libau. At that time, however, the navy management became aware that the ships of the Wittelsbach class were already completely outdated and had no suitable armor against mines and torpedoes. Already in the months before the sister ships were taken out of service. At the end of 1915, Mecklenburg received the order to return to Kiel. On January 7, 1916, the ship arrived and on January 24, 1916, the out of service.

 

 

 

Whereabouts:

After the development of the guns, the ship was initially used as a prisoner housing ship until it was relocated to Kiel in early 1918 to serve there as a barge for the crews of the submarines which are there for repair.

Since the Mecklenburg after the surrender did not have to be delivered to the victorious powers, the ship was deleted on January 25, 1920 from the list of warships. On 16 August 1921, the sale then took place to a scrapping company, which had the ship scrapped in Kiel until the end of the year.

 

 

 

Ship data:

Name:  

SMS Mecklenburg

Country:  

German Empire

Ship Type:  

Liner

Class:  

Wittelsbach-Class

Boatyard:  

AG Vulcan, Szczecin

Building-costs:  

22.329.000 Mark

Launched:  

November 9th, 1901

Commissioning:  

June 25th, 1903

Whereabouts:  

Scrapped in late 1921

Length:  

126,8 meters

Width:  

20,8 meters

Draft:  

Max. 8,04 meters

Displacement:  

Max. 12.798 Tons

Crew:  

683 Men

Drive:  

6 Thornycroft Boiler
6 transverse cylinder boilers
3 standing 3-cylinder compound machines

Power:  

15.171 PS (11.158 kW)

Maximum speed:  

18,1 kn (34 km/h)

Armament:  

4 × 24 cm L / 40 Rapid Fire Gun (340 shots)

18 × 15 cm L / 40 Rapid Fire Gun (2.520 rounds)

12 × 8,8 cm L / 30 Rapid Fire Gun (1.800 rounds)

12 × 3,7 cm revolver cannon

6 × torpedo tube ⌀ 45 cm (4 sides, 1 bow, 1 stern, under water, 12 - 16 rounds)

 

Armor:  

Waterline: 100-225 mm on 100 mm teak
Deck: 50 mm
Slopes: 75-120 mm
Heavy Artillery:
Tower fronts: 250 mm
Tower ceilings: 50 mm
Medium artillery:
Shields: 150 mm
Casemates: 140 mm
Citadel: 140 mm
Front control station: 250 mm
Aft control station: 140 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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