The SMS Kaiser Friedrich III. was the type ship of the Kaiser Friedrich III. class, which was built and commissioned as one-liners. 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 Mantelringkanonen. Although the caliber was reduced from 28cm to 24cm, the better grading performance in cadence, range and punch could more than balance the downgrade. 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 launch of the SMS Kaiser Friedrich III. took place on 1 July 1896, the commissioning on 7 October 1898.
Named after Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl of Prussia, called Friedrich III.
History of SMS Kaiser Friedrich III .:
After the commissioning and the test drives the ship was assigned as a flagship to the 1st squadron. After several maneuvers, the Kaiser Friedrich III. in December 1899 the imperial yacht Hohenzollern in representative tasks.
During the crossing from Danzig to Kiel came on 2 April 1901 to a ground touch of the ship, with over half of the ship's floor was torn open and broke the keel plate and the rudder post. During the emergency repair in the middle boiler room, the tar oil self-ignited, the ammunition chamber and the affected boiler room had to be flooded immediately to prevent an explosion. After the ship was made roadworthy again, it could come in for repair on its own in Kiel, which lasted until November 1901.
In the following years, the ship took part in several maneuvers and trips abroad, was taken out of service in 1907 to carry out the planned modernization measures. 1910 was then again commissioning and allocation to the reserve fleet.
Liner SMS Kaiser Friedrich III.
Liner SMS Kaiser Friedrich III.
Liner SMS Kaiser Friedrich III.
Use in the war:
With the outbreak of the First World War, the ships of the Kaiser Friedrich 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 the out of service of the Kaiser Friedrich III., Where the heavy and medium artillery was expanded immediately and was mainly used on the Western Front.
First in Kiel, later until the end of the war in Flensburg, the rest of the ship was used as a barge for prisoners of 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 Friedrich III. |
| Country: |
German Empire |
| Ship Type: |
Liner |
| Class: |
Kaiser-Friedrich-III.-Class |
| Boatyard: |
Imperial Shipyard Wilhelmshaven |
| Building-costs: |
21.472.000 Mark |
| Launched: |
July 1st, 1896 |
| Commissioning: |
October 7th, 1898 |
| Whereabouts: |
On December 6, 1919 painted as a warship and scrapped in 1920 |
| Length: |
125,3 meters |
| Width: |
20,4 meters |
| Draft: |
Max. 8,25 meters |
| Displacement: |
Max. 11.785 Tons |
| Crew: |
622 to 651 Men |
| Drive: |
4 Thornycroft steam boilers |
| Power: |
13.053 PS (9.600 kW) |
| Maximum speed: |
17,3 kn (32 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 × machine gun 3,7 cm 6 × torpedo tube ⌀ 45 cm (1 in the bow, 2 laterally, under water, 1 stern over water)
|
| Armor: |
Belt: 100-300 mm on 250 mm teak |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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