Linership SMS Braunschweig

The liner SMS Braunschweig belonged to the Braunschweig class and was the first ship of the Imperial Navy which was equipped with the new 28 cm SK L / 40 guns. Also the medium artillery was equipped for the first time with guns of the type 17 cm SK L / 40.

 

Launching and design:

The keel laying of Braunschweig took place on October 24, 1901 as a unit line ship of the Braunschweig class. The 5 mounted ships should replace the older ships of the Wittelsbach class and were in contrast to those due to the new armament significantly heavier.

For the first time, the 28 cm SK L / 40 guns developed by Krupp were used in double towers on bow and stern on ships. The medium artillery got also for the first time guns of the type 17 cm SK L / 40. Thus, the ships of the Braunschweig class belonged to the most heavily armed of the imperial navy in the time.

The launching took place on December 20, 1902, the commissioning on April 14, 1904.

 

 

 

 

History of SMS Braunschweig:

From its commissioning until December 1904, the Braunschweig conducted trial and practice rides until it was assigned to the 2nd Squadron.

By the end of July 1909, the ship was carrying out routine trips and taking part in some foreign trips, including visiting Las Palmas and La Coruna.

On July 31, 1912, the Braunschweig was withdrawn from the 2nd Squadron, reduced the team and assigned on 8 December 1912 the 5th Division.

On July 30, 1913, the Braunschweig was replaced by the SMS King Albert and assigned to the Reserve Division Baltic Sea.

 

 

 

Use in the war:

With the beginning of the First World War, Braunschweig was assigned to the 4th Squadron of the High Seas Fleet and ordered to the Baltic Sea. There she was mainly responsible for outpost services.

Braunschweig had its first and only major mission with the company in Riga Bay, where Russian mines had to be evacuated and their own mine locks placed. As escort for the minesweepers the Brunswick and the small cruiser SMS Bremen were used. It came to a firefight with the Russian gunboats Grosjaschtschi and Chrabry. Later, a gunfight followed with the battleship Slawa.

In October 1915, the transfer to Libau, in August 1916, the Braunschweig had to be relocated to Kiel, as due to lack of staff on the modern ships parts of the crew had to be deducted. In Kiel, she then served as a recruit training ship until 20 August 1917 was decommissioned and served as a housing ship.

 

 

 

 

Use in the Navy of the Weimar Republic (Reichsmarine):

Due to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty, the Weimar Republic was allowed to keep some older battleships. The Brunswick fell under this selection and was reactivated on December 1, 1921 for the Imperial Navy.

From March 1, 1922 she was the flagship of the Commander of the Naval Forces of the North Sea and led by June 1925 also some trips abroad.

 

 

 

Whereabouts:

On January 31, 1926 Braunschweig was replaced by the battleship Schlesweig -Holstein and decommissioned.

The deletion from the list of military ships took place on March 31, 1931, 1932 began with the scrapping.

 

 

 

Ship data:

Name:	SMS Braunschweig
Country:	German Empire
Ship Type:	Linership
Class:	Braunschweig-Class
Boatyard:	Germaniawerft, Kiel
Building-costs:	23.893.000 Mark
Launched:	December 20th, 1902
Commissioning:	April 14,1904
Whereabouts:	Scrapped in 1932
Length:	127,7 meters
Width:	22,2 meters
Draft:	Max. 8,16 meters
Displacement:	Max. 14.394 Tons
Crew:	742 Men
Drive:	3 standing 3-cylinder Triple expansion reciprocating engines 14 oil / coal fired steam boilers (of which 6 cylinder boilers)
Power:	16.809 PSi
Maximum speed:	18,7 kn
Armament:	4 × 28 cm Rapid Fire Cannon L / 40 in 2 double towers 14 × 17 cm rapid fire cannon L / 40 in casemates 18 × 8.8 cm SK L / 35 6 × torpedo tube 45 cm
Armor:	Belt: 225 mm Towers: 250 mm Citadel: 140 mm Deck: 40 mm Slope: 75 mm

 

 

 

 

 

You can find the right literature here:

 

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

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 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

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 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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