SMS was the lead ship of the s of the German Imperial Navy, named after the 19th-century German Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke. Commissioned on 30 September 1911, the ship was the second battlecruiser of the Imperial Navy. , along with her sister ship , was an enlarged version of the previous German battlecruiser design, , with increased armor protection and two more main guns in an additional turret. Compared to her British rivals—the — and her sister were significantly larger and better armored.
The ship participated in most of the major fleet actions conducted by the German Navy during the First World War, including the Battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland in the North Sea in 1915 and 1916, respectively. She also took part in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in 1915 and Operation Albion in 1917 in the Baltic. was damaged several times during the war: the ship was hit by heavy-caliber gunfire at Jutland, and torpedoed twice by British submarines while on fleet advances.
After the war ended in 1918, , along with most of the High Seas Fleet, was interned at Scapa Flow pending a decision by the Allies as to the fate of the fleet. The ship met her end when she was scuttled, along with the rest of the High Seas Fleet in 1919 to prevent them from falling into Allied hands. The wreck of was raised in 1927 and scrapped at Rosyth from 1927 to 1929.
Design
As the German (Imperial Navy) continued in its arms race with the British Royal Navy in 1907, the (Imperial Navy Office) considered plans for the battlecruiser that was to be built for the following year. An increase in the budget raised the possibility of increasing the caliber of the main battery from the guns used in the previous battlecruiser, , to , but Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the State Secretary of the Navy, opposed the increase, preferring to add a pair of 28 cm guns instead. The Construction Department supported the change, and ultimately two ships were authorized for the 1908 and 1909 building years; was the first, followed by .
Characteristics
was long overall, with a beam of and a draft of fully loaded. The ship displaced normally, and at full load. She had a long forecastle deck that extended for most of the ship, stepping down to the main deck at the rearmost 27 cm gun turrets. The ship's superstructure consisted of a pair of conning towers, a larger one forward as the primary position, and a smaller, secondary position aft. She was fitted with a pair of pole masts for signaling and spotting purposes. Her crew consisted on 43 officers and 1,010 enlisted men.
was powered by four Parsons steam turbines that drove four screw propellers, with steam provided by twenty-four coal-fired Schulz-Thornycroft water-tube boilers. The boilers were vented through a pair of widely spaced funnels. The propulsion system was rated at and a top speed of . At , the ship had a range of .
The ship was armed with a main battery of ten SK L/50 guns mounted in five twin-gun turrets; of these, one was placed forward, two were amidships in an en echelon arrangement, and the other two were in a superfiring pair aft. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve SK L/45 guns placed in individual casemates in the central portion of the ship and twelve SK L/45 guns, also in individual mounts in the bow, the stern, and around the forward conning tower. She was also equipped with four submerged torpedo tubes, one in the bow, one in the stern, and one on each broadside.
The ship's armor consisted of Krupp cemented steel. The belt was thick in the citadel where it covered the ship's ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. The belt tapered down to on either end. The deck was thick, sloping downward at the side to connect to the bottom edge of the belt. The main battery gun turrets had faces, and they sat atop barbettes that were equally thick.
Service history
Pre-war The contract for "Cruiser G" was awarded on 17 September 1908, and the keel was laid on 23 January 1909. Her launching was scheduled for 22 March 1910, but work was delayed somewhat and the ceremony took place on 7 April 1910. At the launching of the ship on 7 April 1910, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger christened her after his uncle, Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the chief of staff of the Prussian and later German General Staff during the wars of German unification. On 11 September 1911, a crew composed of dockyard workers transferred the ship from Hamburg to Kiel through the Skagerrak. On 30 September, the ship was commissioned, under the command of (KzS—Captain at Sea) Ernst von Mann. She thereafter began sea trials, and though she had not yet formally entered service, the ship joined I Scouting Group, the fleet's main reconnaissance force. There she replaced the armored cruiser , which had been decommissioned on 22 September. In early November, the ships of I SG conducted a training cruise in the Kattegat; a serious storm forced to shelter in Uddevalla, Sweden, from 3 to 6 November. She spent the next several months completing her trials in the Danziger Bucht, and on 1 April 1912 the ship was pronounced ready for service.
The navy had intended to become the flagship of I SG upon entering active service, but she instead received orders for a special voyage. In mid-1911, an American squadron had visited Kiel, and the Germans wanted to reciprocate by sending a group of German vessels to the United States. They selected and the light cruisers and . The latter was already stationed in the waters off South America, and was to meet and at their destination, as part of a temporary cruiser division commanded by (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz. On 11 May, the two ships left Kiel, passed through the Canary Islands, and arrived off Cape Henry, Virginia, on 30 May, where joined them. The three ships then entered Hampton Roads on 3 June; the President of the United States, William Howard Taft, received the ships aboard the presidential yacht . Also present was a contingent from the Atlantic Fleet. On 8–9 June, the ships sailed to New York City, where the crews were well received by both local German clubs and the upper class. The ships departed New York on 13 June, sailing for Baltimore while and returned to Kiel. They arrived there on 24 June, and the following day, the cruiser squadron was dissolved. was the only German capital ship to ever visit the United States.
In July 1912, escorted Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht to Russia to meet Czar Nicholas II. The voyage lasted from 4 to 6 July. Upon returning, s commander was replaced by KzS Magnus von Levetzow, and the ship began her tenure as flagship of I SG, under the command of (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Gustav Bachmann. At that time, the unit consisted of , , the armored cruiser , the light cruisers , , , , , and , and the aviso , then serving as a tender. The ships took part in the annual fleet maneuvers held in August and September, which concluded with a naval review for Kaiser Wilhelm II in the German Bight. On 19 September, was awarded the Kaiser's (Shooting Prize) for large cruisers. visited Malmö, Sweden, and took part in training exercises later that year. In December, the ship was dry docked in Wilhelmshaven for periodic maintenance that lasted until February 1913.
While underwent maintenance, Bachmann transferred his flag to until 19 February, when he returned to . Upon returning to service, the ship took part in squadron and fleet training exercises in the Kattegat and the North Sea in February and March. On 14 March, Bachmann temporarily transferred back to before returning to on 1 May. By that time, and the new light cruiser had been sent to the Mediterranean Sea in response to the First Balkan War, was out of service for maintenance, had been decommissioned, and the new battlecruiser had not yet commissioned, leaving I SG under strength for the fleet maneuvers scheduled for May. The large armored cruiser , then serving as the artillery school training ship, was temporarily assigned to I SG to make up the shortfall. Following the maneuvers, the unit cruised with the rest of the High Seas Fleet from 15 July to 10 August, which included a lengthy visit to Norway. During this period, visited Lærdalsøyri, Norway, from 27 July to 3 August. After the unit returned home, joined it on 17 August. KAdm Franz Hipper replaced Bachmann as the unit commander on 30 September, though he did not arrive aboard the ship until 15 October, as he had been on vacation at the time.
In November, was present for fleet exercises in the Baltic Sea. The ships of I SG conducted unit maneuvers in February 1914 in the North and Baltic Seas. In late March, the fleet assembled for another period of training exercises that lasted into early May. On 23 June, Hipper transferred his flag to . There was some consideration given to deploying to the Far East in order to replace the armored cruiser , but the plan was abandoned when it became apparent that needed a major overhaul and would need to be replaced in the Mediterranean. was then scheduled to transfer to replace her sister ship, but this plan was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I in July.
World War I Battle of Heligoland Bight
Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, on 28 August 1914, participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight. During the morning, British cruisers from the Harwich Force 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. However, 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 Roads on the morning of the battle. By 08:50, Hipper had requested permission from Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, the commander of the High Seas Fleet, to send and to relieve the beleaguered German cruisers. was ready to sail by 12:10, but the low tide 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 cruisers to fall back to his ships, while Hipper himself was about an hour behind in the battlecruiser . At 14:25, the remaining light cruisers—, , , , and —rendezvoused with the battlecruisers. The two battlecruisers covered the light cruisers as they picked up survivors from the German vessels that had been sunk in the battle. 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.
Moltke went into drydock in Wilhelmshaven on 4 September for boiler and condenser repairs, which lasted until 20 September. The ship thereafter returned to patrol duties in the Heligoland Bight. She was briefly ordered to the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal on 25 September when reports indicated the British were attempting to break through the Danish Straits, but these proved to be false and she was soon recalled. Another period of boiler maintenance followed from 18 to 31 October, after which patrols resumed.
Bombardment of Yarmouth