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SMS was a
battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...
of the German (Imperial Navy), built in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. She was ordered in 1910 and commissioned in May 1913, the fourth battlecruiser built for the
High Seas Fleet The High Seas Fleet () was the battle fleet of the German Empire, German Imperial German Navy, Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. In February 1907, the Home Fleet () was renamed the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpi ...
. She was named after Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, a Prussian general during the reign of King
Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...
and the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
. represented the culmination of the first generation of German battlecruisers, which had started with the in 1906 and continued with the pair of s ordered in 1907 and 1908. featured several incremental improvements over the preceding designs, including a redesigned propulsion system and an improved armor layout. The ship was also significantly larger than her predecessors—at , she was approximately 3,000 metric tons heavier than the -class ships. participated in many of the large fleet actions during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, including the battles of
Dogger Bank Dogger Bank ( Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. During the last ice age, the bank was part of a large landmass ...
and
Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...
in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
. The ship suffered severe damage during both engagements; during the Battle of Dogger Bank, a 13.5 in (34.3 cm) shell from the British battlecruiser struck s rearmost turret and nearly caused a
magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
explosion that could have destroyed the ship. At the Battle of Jutland she was hit twenty-one times by large-caliber shells, one of which penetrated the working chamber of the aft
superfiring Superfiring armament is a naval design technique in which two or more turrets are located one behind the other, with the rear turret located above ("super") the one in front so that it can fire over the first. This configuration meant that both ...
turret. Although the resulting fire destroyed the turret, the safety measures imposed after the battle of Dogger Bank prevented a catastrophe. The ship was also hit by a torpedo during the battle, causing her to take in over 5,300 metric tons of water and her freeboard was reduced to 2.5 m. She had to be lightened significantly to permit her crossing of the Jade Bar. The ship inflicted severe damage on her British opponents as well; early in the battle, salvos from both and the battlecruiser destroyed the battlecruiser in seconds. saw limited action in the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
, when she provided screening for the German flotilla that at Battle of the Gulf of Riga attempted to clear the gulf in 1915. As with the rest of the German battlecruisers that survived the war, the ship was interned in
Scapa Flow Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...
in 1918. The ship, along with the rest of the High Seas Fleet, was
scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...
in June 1919, to prevent her seizure by the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
. She was raised on 2 November 1928 and scrapped by 1930 in
Rosyth Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...
.


Development

Despite the success of the previous German
battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...
designs—those of and the —there was still significant debate as to how new ships of the type were to be designed. In 1909, the (Navy Department) requested Admiral
Alfred von Tirpitz Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (; born Alfred Peter Friedrich Tirpitz; 19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral and State Secretary of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperi ...
, the State Secretary for the navy, to provide them with the improvements that would be necessary for the next battlecruiser design. Tirpitz continued to push for the use of battlecruisers solely as fleet scouts and to destroy enemy cruisers, along the lines of the battlecruisers employed by the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
; this meant larger guns, higher speeds, and less armor protection. Kaiser
Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...
and the majority of the Navy Department argued that due to Germany's numerical inferiority compared to the Royal Navy, the ships would also have to fight in the
line of battle The line of battle or the battle line is a tactic in naval warfare in which a fleet of ships (known as ships of the line) forms a line end to end. The first example of its use as a tactic is disputed—it has been variously claimed for date ...
. This necessitated much heavier armor protection than that afforded to the Royal Navy's battlecruiser designs. Ultimately, the Kaiser and the Navy Department won the debate, and the battlecruiser for the 1909–1910 building year would continue in the pattern of the previous and -class designs. Financial constraints meant that there would have to be a trade-off between speed, battle capabilities, and
displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
. The initial design specifications mandated that speed was to have been at least as high as with the class, and that the ship was to have been armed with either eight guns or ten guns. The design staff considered three-
gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...
s, but these were discarded when it was decided that the standard 28 cm twin turret was sufficient. In August 1909, the (Imperial Diet) stated that it would tolerate no increases in cost over the -class battlecruisers, and so for a time, the Navy Department considered shelving the new design and instead to build a third -class ship. Tirpitz was able to negotiate a discount on armor plate from both
Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...
and Dillingen; Tirpitz also pressured the ship's builder,
Blohm & Voss Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...
, for a discount. These cost reductions freed up sufficient funds to make some material improvements to the design. On 27 January 1910, the Kaiser approved the design for the new ship, ordered under the provisional name "Cruiser J".


Design


General characteristics

was long at the
waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...
, and overall. The ship had a beam of , which was increased to with anti-torpedo nets equipped. She had a draft of forward and aft. displaced as designed, which increased to at full load. had a
double bottom A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some di ...
for 76 percent of the length of the hull. The ship carried a number of smaller boats, including one picket boat, three barges, two launches, two
yawl A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put. As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast ...
s, and two
dinghies A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...
. was described as having been a good sea boat with gentle motion. The ship lost up to 60 percent of her speed at a hard rudder, and would heel over to 9 degrees. The ship had a standard complement of 43 officers and 1025 men, and when serving as the flagship of I Scouting Group, this increased by an additional 13 officers and 62 men.


Propulsion

was propelled by four Parsons direct-drive
steam turbines A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...
that were arranged in two sets. Each set consisted of a high-pressure outboard turbine which exhausted into a low-pressure inboard turbine. Each turbine drove a 3-bladed
screw propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...
that was in diameter. Steam for the turbines was provided by twenty-seven small-tube Schulz- Thornycroft boilers that had two fire boxes per boiler. The boilers were divided into three boiler rooms, and they were ducted into a pair of widely spaced
funnels A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...
. Electrical power was provided by six turbo generators that produced 1,800 kW at 220 V. The engines were designed to produce and a top speed of . Using forced draft on trials, the engines provided up to and a top speed of . The ship carried up to of coal. With full fuel stores, could steam at a cruising speed of for . Steering was controlled by a pair of side-by-side
rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...
s.


Armament

mounted a nearly identical
main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a naval gun or group of guns used in volleys, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, th ...
to that of the preceding -class ships: ten SK L/50 guns in five twin-gun turrets. The guns were arranged similarly as well, with one turret fore, two staggered wing turrets amidships, and two super-firing turrets aft. They were placed in newer Drh. L C/1910 mountings, which enabled depression of the guns down to −8 degrees and elevation to 13.5 degrees—the same range of motion of the earlier Drh. L C/1908 turrets. At 13.5 degrees, the guns could be fired to . In 1916, had her main turrets modified to allow for elevation up to 16 degrees, for a maximum range of . Each turret was equipped with a
rangefinder A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to Length measurement, measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, suc ...
, apart from the rear turret, and an additional 3 m rangefinder was fitted in the gunnery control tower, which was located directly aft of the conning tower. The main battery was supplied with 87 
armor-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate armour protection, most often including naval armour, body armour, and vehicle armour. The first, major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the ...
rounds per gun, for a total of 870 shells. In addition to the shell, each gun chambered a fore
propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or another motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicle ...
charge in a silk bag and a main charge in a brass case. The guns fired the shells at a
muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately t ...
of . The guns were hand-rammed, which required the barrels to be returned to 0 degrees elevation for reloading. Training and elevation was controlled hydraulically. carried a similar
secondary battery A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of Accumulator (energy), energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a ...
to the preceding -class design. She mounted twelve SK L/45 quick-firing guns in single
casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...
s along the center of the ship. These guns fired
armor-piercing shell Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate armour protection, most often including naval armour, body armour, and vehicle armour. The first, major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat th ...
s at a rate of 4 to 5 per minute. The guns could depress to −7 degrees and elevate to 20 degrees, for a maximum range of , and after the 1916 refit, the range was extended to . The shells weighed and were fired at a muzzle velocity of . The guns were manually elevated and trained. For defense against
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s, the ship was also armed with twelve SK L/45 quick-firing guns, which were mounted in casemates as well. These guns fired at a muzzle velocity of 590 mps (1,936 fps). Their rate of fire was approximately 15 shells per minute; the guns could engage targets out to . The gun mounts were manually operated. Two of these guns were removed in 1916 and replaced with high-angle 8.8 cm Flak L/45
anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...
s. As was customary for all German capital ships of the time, was equipped with four submerged
torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s. The ship mounted one tube in the bow, one in the stern, and one was on each side of the vessel. The weapons were in diameter, and a total of eleven
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
es were stored. She was initially equipped with the G6 version, which carried a warhead and could be set at two speeds for different ranges. At , the torpedoes could reach and at , the range fell to . These were replaced beginning in 1913 by the G7 type, which carried a warhead. Their range increased significantly, to at 27 knots and at .


Armor

As was standard for German warships of the period, used Krupp cemented and nickel steel for her armor plating. The ship had an armored belt that was thick at its strongest area in the
citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...
, and tapered down to in the bow and stern. The main belt was reinforced by a
torpedo bulkhead A torpedo bulkhead is a type of naval armor common on the more heavily armored warships, especially battleships and battlecruisers of the early 20th century. It is designed to keep the ship afloat even if the hull is struck underneath the belt ...
that was thick. The forward
conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...
had of armor on the sides, and a thick roof. The turrets were protected by on the sides and armor ranging in thickness from on the turret roofs. The casemates had lighter armor protection, with on the sides and roofs. The deck armor ranged in thickness, depending on the area being protected. In the more vital areas, the deck armor was thick, while less important areas of the ship were covered by only . A 50 mm belt of sloping armor was placed under the main deck armor. The turret
barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...
s were protected by plating thick. The portions of the barbettes that were behind the main belt were thinner to save weight, which was a practice employed on most German and British ships of the period.


Service history

was launched on 30 March 1912, and was christened by Karl Wilhelm Heinrich von Kleist. On 22 May 1913 the ship was commissioned into the German fleet, her crew being taken from the old
armored cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...
, which had been recently transferred to the
reserve fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully Ship decommissioning, decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothba ...
. After
sea trials A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on o ...
, joined the rest of the
High Seas Fleet The High Seas Fleet () was the battle fleet of the German Empire, German Imperial German Navy, Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. In February 1907, the Home Fleet () was renamed the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpi ...
for maneuvers off
Helgoland Heligoland (; , ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , ) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. The islands were historically possessions of Denmark, then became possessions of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1890. Since 1890, the ...
. (Rear Admiral)
Franz von Hipper Franz Ritter von Hipper (born Franz Hipper; 13 September 1863 – 25 May 1932) was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy, (''Kaiserliche Marine'') who played an important role in the naval warfare of World War I. Franz von Hipper joined th ...
, the commander of I Scouting Group, raised his flag in the ship on 23 June 1914. The ship served as Hipper's
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
until 26 October 1917.


World War I


Battle of Heligoland Bight

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, a brief engagement between German light cruisers and a raiding force of British cruisers and battlecruisers took place on 28 August 1914. During the morning, British cruisers from the
Harwich Force The Harwich Force originally called Harwich Striking Force was a squadron of the Royal Navy, formed during the First World War and based in Harwich. It played a significant role in the war. History After the outbreak of the First World War, it ...
attacked the German destroyers patrolling the Heligoland Bight. Six German light cruisers—, , , , , and —responded to the attack and inflicted serious damage to the British raiders. The arrival at approximately 13:37 of the British 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral David Beatty, quickly put the German ships at a disadvantage. Along with the rest of the I Scouting Group battlecruisers, was stationed in the
Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...
Roads on the morning of the battle. By 08:50, Hipper had requested permission from Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, the commander in chief of the High Seas Fleet, to send his ships to relieve the beleaguered German cruisers. The battlecruisers and were ready to sail by 12:10, but the low
tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...
prevented the ships from being able to pass over the sand bar at the mouth of the Jade Estuary safely. At 14:10, and were able to cross the Jade bar; Hipper ordered the German light cruisers to fall back to his ships, while Hipper himself was about an hour behind in . At 14:25, the remaining light cruisers—, , , , and —rendezvoused with the battlecruisers. arrived on the scene by 15:10, while succumbed to battle damage and sank. Hipper ventured forth cautiously to search for the two missing light cruisers, and , which had already sunk. By 16:00, the German flotilla turned around to return to the Jade Estuary, arriving at approximately 20:23.


Bombardment of Yarmouth

On 2 November 1914, , followed by , , and the armored cruiser , along with four
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
s, left the Jade Estuary and steamed towards the English coast. The flotilla arrived off
Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...
at daybreak the following morning and bombarded the port, while the light cruiser laid a minefield. The British submarine responded to the bombardment, but struck one of the mines laid by and sank. Shortly thereafter, Hipper ordered his ships to turn back to German waters. While Hipper's ships were returning to German waters, a heavy fog covered the Heligoland Bight, so the ships were ordered to halt until visibility improved so they could safely navigate the defensive minefields. The armored cruiser made a navigational error that led the ship into one of the German minefields. struck two mines and quickly sank; the coastal defense ship was able to save 127 men of the crew.


Bombardment of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby

Ingenohl decided that another raid on the English coast should be carried out in the hopes of luring a portion of the
Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from th ...
into combat where it could be destroyed. At 03:20 on 15 December, , , , the new battlecruiser , and , along with the light cruisers , , , and , and two squadrons of torpedo boats left the Jade. The ships sailed north past the island of Heligoland, until they reached the Horns Reef lighthouse, at which point the ships turned west towards Scarborough. Twelve hours after Hipper left the Jade, the High Seas Fleet, consisting of 14
dreadnought The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...
s and 8
pre-dreadnought Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built from the mid- to late- 1880s to the early 1900s. Their designs were conceived before the appearance of in 1906 and their classification as "pre-dreadnought" is retrospectively appl ...
s and a screening force of 2 armored cruisers, 7 light cruisers, and 54 torpedo boats, departed to provide distant cover. On 26 August 1914, the German light cruiser had run aground in the
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...
; the wreck was captured by the Russian navy, which found code books used by the German navy, along with navigational charts for the North Sea. These documents were then passed on to the Royal Navy.
Room 40 Room 40, also known as 40 O.B. (old building; officially part of NID25), was the cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty during the First World War. The group, which was formed in October 1914, began when Rear-Admiral Henry Oliver, the ...
began decrypting German signals, and on 14 December, intercepted messages relating to the plan to bombard Scarborough. The exact details of the plan were unknown, and it was assumed that the High Seas Fleet would remain safely in port, as in the previous bombardment. Beatty's four battlecruisers, supported by the 3rd Cruiser Squadron and the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, along with the
2nd Battle Squadron The 2nd Battle Squadron was a Squadron (naval), naval squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 2nd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. After World War I the Grand Fleet was reverted to i ...
's six dreadnoughts, were to ambush Hipper's battlecruisers. During the night of 15 December, the main body of the High Seas Fleet encountered British destroyers. Fearing the prospect of a nighttime torpedo attack, Ingenohl ordered the ships to retreat. Hipper was unaware of Ingenohl's reversal, and so he continued with the bombardment. Upon reaching the British coast, Hipper's battlecruisers split into two groups. , , and went north to shell Hartlepool, while and went south to shell Scarborough and Whitby. During the bombardment of Hartlepool, was hit three times and was hit six times by the coastal battery. suffered only minimal damage, and no casualties. By 09:45 on the 16th, the two groups had reassembled, and they began to retreat eastward. By this time, Beatty's battlecruisers were in position to block Hipper's chosen egress route, while other forces were en route to complete the encirclement. At 12:25, the light cruisers of II Scouting Group began to pass through the British forces searching for Hipper. One of the cruisers in the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron spotted and signaled a report to Beatty. At 12:30, Beatty turned his battlecruisers towards the German ships. Beatty presumed that the German cruisers were the advance screen for Hipper's ships, but the battlecruisers were some ahead. The 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, which had been screening for Beatty's ships, detached to pursue the German cruisers, but a misinterpreted signal from the British battlecruisers sent them back to their screening positions. This confusion allowed the German light cruisers to escape and alerted Hipper to the location of the British battlecruisers. The German battlecruisers wheeled to the northeast of the British forces and made good their escape. Both the British and the Germans were disappointed that they failed to effectively engage their opponents. Ingenohl's reputation suffered greatly as a result of his timidity. The captain of was furious; he stated that Ingenohl had turned back "because he was afraid of eleven British destroyers which could have been eliminated ... under the present leadership we will accomplish nothing." The official German history criticized Ingenohl for failing to use his light forces to determine the size of the British fleet, stating: "He decided on a measure which not only seriously jeopardized his advance forces off the English coast but also deprived the German Fleet of a signal and certain victory."


Battle of Dogger Bank

In early January 1915, it became known that British ships were conducting reconnaissance in the
Dogger Bank Dogger Bank ( Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. During the last ice age, the bank was part of a large landmass ...
area. Ingenohl was initially reluctant to attempt to destroy these forces, because I Scouting Group was temporarily weakened while was in drydock for periodic maintenance. Richard Eckermann, the Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet, insisted on the operation, and so Ingenohl relented and ordered Hipper to take his battlecruisers to the Dogger Bank. On 23 January, Hipper sortied, with in the lead, followed by , , and , along with the light cruisers , , , and and 19 torpedo boats from V Flotilla and II and XVIII Half-Flotillas. and were assigned to the forward screen, while and were assigned to the starboard and port, respectively. Each light cruiser had a half-flotilla of torpedo boats attached. Again, interception and decryption of German wireless signals played an important role. Although they were unaware of the exact plans, the cryptographers of Room 40 were able to deduce that Hipper would be conducting an operation in the Dogger Bank area. To counter it, Beatty's 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, Rear Admiral Archibald Moore's 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron and Commodore
William Goodenough Admiral Sir William Edmund Goodenough (2 June 1867 – 30 January 1945) was a senior Royal Navy officer of World War I. He was the son of James Graham Goodenough. Naval career Goodenough joined the Royal Navy in 1882. He was appointed Comman ...
's 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron were to rendezvous with Commodore
Reginald Tyrwhitt Admiral of the Fleet Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, 1st Baronet, (; 10 May 1870 – 30 May 1951) was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he served as commander of the Harwich Force. He led a supporting naval force of 31 destroyers an ...
's Harwich Force at 8:00 on 24 January, approximately north of the Dogger Bank. At 08:14, spotted the light cruiser and several destroyers from the Harwich Force. ''Aurora'' challenged with a search light, at which point attacked ''Aurora'' and scored two hits. ''Aurora'' returned fire and scored two hits on in retaliation. Hipper immediately turned his battlecruisers towards the gunfire, when, almost simultaneously, spotted a large amount of smoke to the northwest of her position. This was identified as a number of large British warships steaming towards Hipper's ships. Hipper turned south to flee, but was limited to , which was the maximum speed of the older armored cruiser . The pursuing British battlecruisers were steaming at , and quickly caught up to the German ships. At 09:52, opened fire on from a range of approximately ; shortly thereafter, and began firing as well. At 10:09, the British guns made their first hit on . Two minutes later, the German ships began returning fire, primarily concentrating on ''Lion'', from a range of . At 10:28, ''Lion'' was struck on the waterline, which tore a hole in the side of the ship and flooded a coal bunker. At 10:30, , the fourth ship in Beatty's line, came within range of and opened fire. By 10:35, the range had closed to , at which point the entire German line was within the effective range of the British ships. Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to engage their German counterparts. Confusion aboard ''Tiger'' led the captain to believe he was to fire on , which left able to fire without distraction. was struck in her
forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...
at 10:25, by a shell from ''Lion'', but this hit did minor damage. At 10:40, ''Lion'' hit with another 13.5 in shell, which holed the deck and penetrated the rear barbette. The shell itself failed to enter the barbette, but the explosion flashed into the working chamber and detonated the propellant charges inside. The explosion killed 159 men, and destroyed both of the rear turrets. The fire was prevented from spreading to the shell magazines, which could have destroyed the ship, by the quick action of the executive officer, who ordered both magazines be flooded. The Wilhelm Heidkamp was severely injured when he turned the red-hot valves to flood the magazines. At 11:01, struck back at ''Lion'', and with a single 28 cm shell, knocked out two of ''Lion''s engines. Shortly thereafter, a pair of 30.5 cm shells fired by ''Derfflinger'' struck ''Lion'', one at the waterline. The penetration allowed water to enter the port feed tank—this hit eventually crippled ''Lion'', the sea water contamination forced the ship's crew to shut down the port engine. At 11:25, was struck on her armored belt amidships by a third and final shell, which did little damage. By this time, was severely damaged after having been pounded by heavy shells. The chase ended when there were several reports of U-boats ahead of the British ships; Beatty quickly ordered evasive maneuvers, which allowed the German ships to increase the distance to their pursuers. At this time, ''Lion''s last operational dynamo failed, which dropped her speed to . Beatty, in the stricken ''Lion'', ordered the remaining battlecruisers to "Engage the enemy's rear," but signal confusion caused the ships to solely target , allowing , , and to escape. By the time Beatty regained control over his ships, after having boarded ''Princess Royal'', the German ships had increased their lead to a distance too great for the British to reengage; at 13:50, he broke off the chase. was repaired at the (Imperial Shipyard) in Wilhelmshaven from 25 January to 31 March 1915, after which she rejoined the fleet.


Battle of the Gulf of Riga

On 3 August 1915, , , and were transferred to the Baltic with I Reconnaissance Group (AG) to participate in a planned foray into the Riga Gulf. The intention was to destroy the Russian naval forces in the area, including the pre-dreadnought , and to use the minelayer to block the entrance to Moon Sound with naval mines. The German forces, under the command of Hipper, included the four and four s, the battlecruisers , , and , and a number of smaller craft. Throughout the operation, and the other two battlecruisers remained in the Baltic and provided cover for the assault into the Gulf of Riga. Following the operation, and the other heavy units of the High Seas Fleet returned to the North Sea. On 11–12 September, and the rest of I Scouting Group covered a minefield laying operation off
Terschelling Terschelling (; ; Terschelling dialect: ''Schylge'') is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. It is situated between the islands of Vlieland and Ameland. ...
. On 24 November, the ship ran aground in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, but was quickly refloated. On 4 December, while exiting the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, became entangled in one of the net barriers. Divers had to remove the tangled nets from the starboard screws.


Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft

On 24–25 April 1916, I Scouting Group undertook another operation to bombard the English coast, this time, the towns of Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Hipper was on sick leave, so the German ships were under the command of Friedrich Boedicker, who flew his flag in . The German battlecruisers , , , and left the Jade Estuary at 10:55 on 24 April, and were supported by a screening force of 6 light cruisers and two torpedo boat flotillas. The heavy units of the High Seas Fleet sailed at 13:40, with the objective to provide distant support for Boedicker's ships. The British Admiralty was made aware of the German sortie through the interception of German
wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided transm ...
signals, and deployed the Grand Fleet at 15:50. By 14:00, Boedicker's ships had reached a position off
Norderney Norderney (; ) is one of the seven populated East Frisian Islands off the North Sea coast of Germany. The island is , having a total area of about and is therefore Germany's ninth-largest island. Norderney's population amounts to about 5,850 ...
, at which point he turned his ships northward to avoid the Dutch observers on the island of Terschelling. At 15:38, struck a mine, which tore a 15 m (50-foot) hole in her hull, just abaft of the starboard broadside torpedo tube. Eleven men were killed and of water entered the ship. The ship's draft increased at the bow of the ship. turned back with the screen of light cruisers at a speed of . The four remaining battlecruisers turned south immediately in the direction of Norderney to avoid further mine damage. By 16:00, was clear of imminent danger, so the ship stopped to allow Boedicker to disembark. The torpedo boat brought Boedicker to , and the operation continued as planned. After Boedicker departed the ship, , escorted by a pair of torpedo boats, withdrew southward to the Jade. She was out of service for over a month for repair work due to the mine damage.


Battle of Jutland


=Deployment

= Almost immediately after the Lowestoft raid, (Vice Admiral)
Reinhard Scheer Carl Friedrich Heinrich Reinhard Scheer (30 September 1863 – 26 November 1928) was an Admiral in the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''). Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet and progressed through the ranks, commandi ...
began planning another foray into the North Sea. He had initially intended to launch the operation in mid-May, but the mine damage to had proved difficult to repair—Scheer was unwilling to embark on a major raid without his battlecruiser forces at full strength. On 22 May, the Wilhelmshaven dockyard reported the ship to be fit for duty, but tests carried out that night showed that the broadside torpedo flat that had been damaged by the mine was still not watertight, and there were still leaks in the fore and aft transverse bulkheads. Further repairs were necessary, and so the operation was postponed another week, by which time the Wilhelmshaven dockyard assured Scheer that the ship would be ready. At noon on 28 May, the repairs to were finally completed, and the ship returned to I Scouting Group. On the night of 30 May 1916, and the other four battlecruisers of I Scouting Group lay in anchor in the Jade
roadstead A roadstead or road is a sheltered body of water where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5-360. Port Construction and Rehabilitation'. Washington: United States. Gove ...
. The following morning, at 02:00  CET, the ships slowly steamed out towards the
Skagerrak The Skagerrak (; , , ) is a strait running between the North Jutlandic Island of Denmark, the east coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea. The Skagerrak contains some of the busiest shipping ...
at a speed of . By this time, Hipper had transferred his flag from to the newer battlecruiser . took her place in the center of the line, to the rear of and ahead of . II Scouting Group, consisting of the light cruisers , Boedicker's flagship, , , and , and 30 torpedo boats of II, VI, and IX Flotillas, accompanied Hipper's battlecruisers. An hour and a half later, the High Seas Fleet under the command of Scheer left the Jade; the force was composed of 16 dreadnoughts. The High Seas Fleet was accompanied by IV Scouting Group, composed of the light cruisers , , , , and , and 31 torpedo boats of I, III, V, and VII Flotillas, led by the light cruiser . The six pre-dreadnoughts of II Battle Squadron had departed from the Elbe roads at 02:45, and rendezvoused with the battle fleet at 5:00.


=Run to the south

= Shortly before 16:00, Hipper's force encountered Beatty's battlecruiser squadron. The German ships were the first to open fire, at a range of approximately . The British rangefinders had misread the range to their German targets, and so the first salvos fired by the British ships fell a mile past the German battlecruisers. As the two lines of battlecruisers deployed to engage each other, began to duel with her opposite in the British line, ''Queen Mary''. By 16:54, the range between the ships decreased to , which enabled s secondary battery to enter the fray. She was close enough to the ships of the British 9th and 10th Destroyer Flotillas that her secondary guns could effectively engage them. The other four German battlecruisers employed their secondary battery against the British battlecruisers. Between 16:55 and 16:57, was struck by two heavy caliber shells from ''Queen Mary''. The first shell penetrated the side of the ship five feet above the main battery deck, and caused a number of small fires. The second shell penetrated the barbette of the aft superfiring turret. Four propellant charges were ignited in the working chamber; the resulting fire flashed up into the turret and down to the magazine. The anti-flash precautions that had been put in place after the explosion at Dogger Bank prevented any further propellant explosions. Regardless, the turret was destroyed and most of the gun crew had been killed in the blaze. By 17:25, the British battlecruisers were taking a severe battering from their German opponents. had been destroyed by a salvo from approximately 20 minutes before, and Beatty sought to turn his ships away by 2 points in order to regroup, while the s of the 5th Battle Squadron arrived on the scene and provided covering fire. As the British battlecruisers began to turn away, and were able to concentrate their fire on ''Queen Mary''. Witnesses reported at least 5 shells from two salvos hit the ship, which caused an intense explosion that ripped the ''Queen Mary'' in half. Shortly after the destruction of ''Queen Mary'', both British and German destroyers attempted to make torpedo attacks on the opposing lines. One British torpedo struck at 17:57. The torpedo hit the ship directly below the fore turret, slightly aft of where she had been mined the month before. The explosion tore a hole 40 feet long by 13 feet wide (12 m × 4.0 m), and caused a slight list. Despite the damage, the ship was still able to maintain her top speed, and kept position in the line. The leading ships of the German battle fleet had by 18:00 come within effective range of the British ships, and had begun trading shots with the British battlecruisers and ''Queen Elizabeth''-class battleships. Between 18:09 and 18:19, was hit by a shell from either or . This shell struck the face of the port wing turret and disabled the guns. A second 380 mm shell penetrated the already disabled aft superfiring turret and detonated the cordite charges that had not already burned. The ship also had two of her 150 mm guns disabled from British gunfire, and the rear turret lost its right-hand gun. As the evening wore on, visibility steadily decreased for the German ships. s commander, Moritz von Egidy, later remarked:


=Battlefleets engage

= At around 19:00, Beatty's forces were nearing the main body of the Grand Fleet, and to delay the discovery of the Grand Fleet's location by the German fleet, he turned his ships towards the German line, in order to force them to turn as well. This reduced the distance between the British and German battlecruisers from . Visibility continued to favor the British, and the German battlecruisers paid the price. Over the next several minutes, was hit six times, primarily on the forward section of the ship. A fire started under the ship's forecastle. The smothering fire from Beatty's ships forced Hipper to temporarily withdraw his battlecruisers to the southwest. As the ships withdrew, began taking on more water, and the list to starboard worsened. The ship was thoroughly flooded above the middle deck in the fore compartments, and had nearly lost all buoyancy. By 19:30, the High Seas Fleet, which was by that point pursuing the British battlecruisers, had not yet encountered the Grand Fleet. Scheer had been considering retiring his forces before darkness exposed his ships to torpedo boat attack. He had not yet made a decision when his leading battleships encountered the main body of the Grand Fleet. This development made it impossible for Scheer to retreat, for doing so would have sacrificed the slower pre-dreadnought battleships of II Battle Squadron, while using his dreadnoughts and battlecruisers to cover their retreat would have subjected his strongest ships to overwhelming British fire. Instead, Scheer ordered his ships to turn 16 points to starboard, which would bring the pre-dreadnoughts to the relative safety of the disengaged side of the German battle line. and the other battlecruisers followed the move, which put them astern of . Hipper's badly battered ships gained a temporary moment of respite, and uncertainty over the exact location and course of Scheer's ships led Admiral Jellicoe to turn his ships eastward, towards what he thought was the likely path of the German retreat. The German fleet was instead sailing west, but Scheer ordered a second 16-point turn, which reversed course and pointed his ships at the center of the British fleet. The German fleet came under intense fire from the British line, and Scheer sent , , , and at high speed towards the British fleet, in an attempt to disrupt their formation and gain time for his main force to retreat. By 20:17, the German battlecruisers had closed to within of , at which point Scheer directed the ships to engage the lead ship of the British line. managed to hit ''Colossus'' once, but caused only minor damage to the ship's superstructure. Three minutes later, the German battlecruisers turned in retreat, covered by a torpedo boat attack.


=Withdrawal

= A pause in the battle at dusk allowed and the other German battlecruisers to cut away wreckage that interfered with the main guns, extinguish fires, repair the fire control and signal equipment, and ready the searchlights for nighttime action. During this period, the German fleet reorganized into a well-ordered formation in reverse order, when the German light forces encountered the British screen shortly after 21:00. The renewed gunfire gained Beatty's attention, so he turned his battlecruisers westward. At 21:09, he sighted the German battlecruisers, and drew to within before opening fire at 20:20. In the ensuing melee, was hit several times; one shell struck the rear gun turret and other hit the ship's bridge. The entire bridge crew was killed and several men in the conning tower were wounded. The German ships returned fire with every gun available, and at 21:32 hit both ''Lion'' and ''Princess Royal'' in the darkness. The maneuvering of the German battlecruisers forced the leading I Battle Squadron to turn westward to avoid collision. This brought the pre-dreadnoughts of II Battle Squadron directly behind the battlecruisers, and prevented the British ships from pursuing the German battlecruisers when they turned southward. The British battlecruisers opened fire on the old battleships; the German ships turned southwest to bring all of their guns to bear against the British ships. By 22:15, Hipper was finally able to transfer to , and then ordered his ships to steam at towards the head of the German line. Only and were in condition to comply; and could make at most , and so these ships lagged behind. and were in the process of steaming to the front of the line when the ships passed close to , which forced the ship to drastically slow down to avoid collision. This forced , , and to turn to port, which led them into contact with the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron; at a range of , the cruisers on both sides pummeled each other.
Ludwig von Reuter Hans Hermann Ludwig von Reuter (9 February 1869 – 18 December 1943) was a German admiral who commanded the High Seas Fleet when it was interned at Scapa Flow in the north of Scotland at the end of World War I. On 21 June 1919 he ordered t ...
decided to attempt to lure the British cruisers towards and . Nearly simultaneously, the heavily damaged British cruisers broke off the attack. As the light cruisers were disengaging, a torpedo fired by struck , and the ship exploded. The German formation fell into disarray, and in the confusion, lost sight of . The ship was no longer able to keep up with s 22 knots, and so detached herself to proceed to the Horns Reef lighthouse independently. At 00:45, was attempting to thread her way through the British fleet, but was sighted by the dreadnought and noted as a "ship or Destroyer". ''Agincourt''s captain did not want to risk giving away his ship's position, and so allowed her to pass. By 01:12, had managed to slip through the British fleet, and she was able to head for the safety of Horns Reef. At approximately 03:40, she scraped over Horns Reef. Both of the ship's gyro-compasses had failed, so the light cruiser was sent to guide the ship home. By 15:30 on 1 June, was in critical condition; the bow was nearly completely submerged, and the only buoyancy that remained in the forward section of the ship was the broadside torpedo room. Preparations were being made to evacuate the wounded crew when a pair of pump steamers arrived on the scene. The ships were able to stabilize s flooding, and the ship managed to limp back to port. She reached the outer Jade river on the morning of 2 June, and on 3 June the ship entered Entrance III of the Wilhelmshaven Lock. At most, had been flooded by of water. Close to the end of the battle, at 03:55, Hipper transmitted a report to Scheer informing him of the tremendous damage his ships had suffered. By that time, and each had only two guns in operation, was flooded with 1,000 tons of water, and was severely damaged. Hipper reported: "I Scouting Group was therefore no longer of any value for a serious engagement, and was consequently directed to return to harbor by the Commander-in-Chief, while he himself determined to await developments off Horns Reef with the battlefleet." In the course of the battle, was hit 21 times by heavy-caliber shells, twice by secondary battery shells, and once by a torpedo. The ship suffered a total of 98 of her crew killed and 55 wounded. herself fired 376 main battery shells and scored approximately 10 hits.


Later operations

On 15 June 1916, repair work to began in the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven, and continued until 1 October. The ship then underwent individual training, and rejoined the fleet in November. With his previous flagship at the bottom of the North Sea, Hipper again raised his flag in . On 4 November, and , along with II Division, I Battle Squadron, III Battle Squadron, and the new battleship sailed to Bovbjerg on the Danish coast, in order to retrieve the stranded
U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
s and . Scheer had begun to use light surface forces to attack British convoys to Norway beginning in late 1917. As a result, the Royal Navy attached a squadron of battleships to protect the convoys, which presented Scheer with the possibility of destroying a detached squadron of the Grand Fleet. Scheer remarked that "A successful attack on such a convoy would not only result in the sinking of much tonnage, but would be a great military success, and would ... force the English to send more warships to the northern waters." Scheer instituted strict wireless silence in preparation for the planned attack. This denied the British the ability to intercept and decrypt German signals, which had previously been a significant advantage. The operation called for Hipper's battlecruisers to attack the convoy and its escorts on 23 April while the battleships of the High Seas Fleet stood by in support. At 05:00 on 23 April 1918, the High Seas Fleet left harbor with the intention of intercepting one of the heavily escorted convoys. Hipper's forces were west of Egerö, Norway, by 05:20 on 24 April. Despite the success in reaching the convoy route undetected, the operation failed due to faulty intelligence. Reports from U-boats indicated to Scheer that the convoys sailed at the start and middle of each week, but a west-bound convoy had left
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
on Tuesday the 22nd and an east-bound group left
Methil Methil () is a coastal town in Fife, Scotland. Methil has ancient origins: two Bronze Age cemeteries have been discovered which date the settlement as over 8,000 years old. The town was first recorded as "Methkil" in 1207, and belonged to ...
, Scotland, on the 24th, a Thursday. As a result, there was no convoy for Hipper to attack. The same day, one of screws slipped off, which caused serious damage to the power plant and allowed of water into the ship. was forced to break radio silence in order to inform Scheer of the ship's condition, which alerted the Royal Navy to the High Seas Fleet's activities. Beatty sortied with a force of 31 battleships and four battlecruisers, but was too late to intercept the retreating Germans. The Germans reached their defensive minefields early on 25 April, though approximately off Helgoland was torpedoed by the submarine , though she successfully returned to port.


Fate

was to have taken part in what would have amounted to the "death ride" of the High Seas Fleet shortly before the end of World War I. The bulk of the High Seas Fleet was to have sortied from their base in Wilhelmshaven to engage the British Grand Fleet; Scheer—by now the of the fleet—intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to retain a better bargaining position for Germany, whatever the cost to the fleet. While the fleet was consolidating in Wilhelmshaven, war-weary sailors began deserting en masse. As and passed through the locks that separated Wilhelmshaven's inner harbor and roadstead, some 300 men from both ships climbed over the side and disappeared ashore. On 24 October 1918, the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven. Many of the war-weary sailors felt the operation would disrupt the peace process and prolong the war. Starting on the night of 29 October, sailors on several battleships mutinied; three ships from III Squadron refused to weigh anchors, and acts of sabotage were committed on board the battleships and . The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation. Informed of the situation, the Kaiser stated "I no longer have a navy." The Wilhelmshaven mutiny spread to Kiel, and fueled a larger
German Revolution German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
that continued after the end of the war. Germany's military position was hopeless, and so Generals
Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German military and political leader who led the Imperial German Army during the First World War and later became President of Germany (1919� ...
and
Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (; 9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general and politician. He achieved fame during World War I (1914–1918) for his central role in the German victories at Battle of Liège, Liège and Battle ...
convinced the government to sign the
Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
to end the war. Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet, under the command of Reuter, were interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow. Prior to the departure of the German fleet, Admiral
Adolf von Trotha Adolf von Trotha (1 March 1868 – 11 October 1940) was a German admiral in the '' Kaiserliche Marine''. After the German revolution he briefly served as the first ''Chef der Admiralität'', which replaced the imperial '' Reichsmarineamt''. Afte ...
made clear to Reuter that he could not allow the Allies to seize the ships, under any conditions. The fleet rendezvoused with the British light cruiser , which led the ships to the Allied fleet that was to escort the Germans to Scapa Flow. The massive flotilla consisted of some 370 British, American, and French warships. Once the ships were interned, their guns were disabled through the removal of their breech blocks, and their crews were reduced to 200 officers and men. The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
. Reuter believed that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty. Unaware that the deadline had been extended by two days, Reuter ordered the ships to be sunk at the next opportunity. On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers, and at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships. slipped beneath the surface at 13:50. On her side and on the bottom in 22 meters of water the wreck was frequently mistaken for a small island, and was sold in this condition as scrap to the salvage firm of Cox and Danks, led by Ernest Cox, along with a battleship and twenty-six destroyers. Salvaging also proved difficult, as the ship sank again during the first attempt to raise her, wrecking most of the salvage equipment. Undaunted, Cox tried again, ordering that when she was next raised, news cameras would be there to capture him witnessing the moment. The plan nearly backfired when was accidentally refloated while Cox was holidaying in Switzerland. Cox told the workers to sink her again, then returned to Britain to be present as was duly refloated a third time. The ship was raised on 2 November 1928, and while still inverted was towed south to be scrapped in Rosyth by 1930. s bell is on display at the
Laboe Naval Memorial The Laboe Naval Memorial (a.k.a. ''Laboe Tower,'' German: ''Marine-Ehrenmal Laboe'') is a memorial located in Laboe, near Kiel, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Started in 1927 and completed in 1936, the monument originally commemorated the World ...
. One of the ship's 15 cm guns, which had been removed in 1916, was later mounted aboard the
commerce raider Commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. Privateering is a fo ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


Footnotes


Notes


Citations


References

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Further reading

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External links


DreadnoughtProject.org
three high resolution dockyard drawings. {{DEFAULTSORT:Seydlitz Battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy Ships built in Hamburg 1912 ships World War I battlecruisers of Germany World War I warships scuttled at Scapa Flow Maritime incidents in 1919