The class was a group of four dreadnought battleships built for the German (Imperial Navy) in the early 1910s. The class comprised , the lead ship, , , and . The design for the ships was derived from the preceding , using the same basic hull but with the main battery of ten guns in five twin-gun turrets rearranged to improve the guns' firing arcs. Instead of the staggered wing turrets used in the s, the s placed their main guns all on the centerline using superfiring pairs fore and aft. Budgetary constraints and the need to begin construction quickly to compete with Britain in the Anglo-German naval arms race prevented any more radical changes. Diesel engines were planned for the ships, but they could not be readied in time, so all four vessels reverted to steam turbines for their propulsion system.
As tensions in Europe spiraled out of control during the July Crisis in 1914, work on the ships was accelerated; all four ships were completed in the early months of World War I and they were rushed into service to join III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. They took part in a number of operations in the North Sea as support for the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group, including the Raid on Yarmouth and the Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in late 1914. The year 1915 passed uneventfully, as a series of sweeps into the North Sea failed to bring contact with elements of the British Royal Navy. All four ships were present at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where they formed the front of the German line of battle. As a result, they received numerous hits, with the only member of the class to avoid being damaged in the action.
As the German fleet shifted priorities to the U-boat campaign after Jutland, the surface fleet declined in significance, though major fleet elements were sent to the Baltic Sea in September 1917 to wage Operation Albion to secure several islands in the Gulf of Riga from Russian forces. and took part in the Battle of Moon Sound there, where they damaged the Russian pre-dreadnought and forced her scuttling. The four -class ships saw little activity thereafter and plans for a final attack on the Royal Navy in October 1918 led to the Wilhelmshaven mutiny. All four ships were interned at Scapa Flow after the war, where they were scuttled on 21 June 1919. was raised in 1938 and broken up, but the other three vessels remain on the sea floor, where they remain popular diving sites.
Background
The -class battleships were authorized in the context of the early-20th-century Anglo-German naval arms race, under the Second Amendment to the Naval Law, which had been passed in 1908 as a response to the revolution in naval technology created with the launch of the British in 1906. Many of the world's navies began building their own dreadnought battleships, which were significantly larger—and correspondingly more expensive—than the old pre-dreadnought battleships. The Germans began their own, the , in 1907, followed by the in 1908. As a result, the funds that had been appropriated for the Navy in the First Amendment, passed in 1906, were going to be used up before they were scheduled to be replenished in 1911.
In the terms of the First Amendment to the Naval Law of 1906, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz had requested but failed to secure funding for new battleships; they had now been approved by the under the 1908 amendment. Along with appropriating funds to continue the pace of battleship construction prescribed under the Naval Law, the new amendment also increased the naval budget by an additional 1billion marks. Tirpitz had initially planned on building four new capital ships per year, including battlecruisers, but the increased cost of the new ships forced him to reduce the number of ships laid down per year to two beginning in the 1912 fiscal year and continuing through 1917.
Another effect of the 1908 amendment was to reduce the service life of all large warships from twenty-five years to twenty; this was done in an effort to force the to allocate more funds for additional ships, since vessels would then need to be replaced sooner than originally planned. In his effort to force the to pass the bill, Tirpitz threatened to resign from his post as the State Secretary for the Navy. As a result of Tirpitz's ultimatum, the bill was passed in March 1908 by a large margin. The reduction in service life necessitated the replacement of the coastal defense ships of the and es as well as the s. The followed the s and replaced the remaining coastal defense ships, leaving the s as the next vessels to be replaced. The four -class ships were ordered under the provisional names "S", , , and , the latter three as replacements for three of the four s.
Design
Conceptual work for the next class of battleship had already begun while the design for the class was still being finalized. During a meeting on 15 January 1910, Tirpitz mandated that the new class must adhere to the price per ship he had budgeted, owing to the financial problems that had already disrupted his plans. The (Construction Department, referred to as "K") was as that time occupied with work on the new battlecruiser , delaying the initiation of formal planning for what became the design. Nevertheless, the (General Navy Department, referred to as "A") began to make preparations in early 1910. (Vice Admiral) Adolf Paschen, the chief of "A", expressed a desire to rearrange the main battery guns to the centerline to maximize broadside fire, while Tirpitz reiterated his preference for diesel engines, though trials with the prototype engine for the center shaft of the -class ship were not yet completed.
During a series of three meetings in May 1910, further details were discussed, including adopting triple gun turrets for the main battery, following their adoption by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and other navies. They also examined the possibility of increasing the caliber of the guns to in response to the British adoption of weapons and the United States' increase to guns since 1909. Tirpitz again argued that at least one of the new ships should use a diesel engine. Hans Bürkner, the civilian "K" chief, preferred a simple development of as that would entail minimal cost increases in accordance with Tirpitz's wishes. By the third meeting, the question of increasing the caliber was set aside as cost prohibitive; while the naval command believed that the existing gun was sufficiently powerful at the expected battle ranges, they recognized that in the future, an increase in caliber would be unavoidable if Germany was to keep up with developments abroad. Owing to the pressing need to match British construction and keep costs within Tirpitz's budgetary constraints, the naval command decided to simply repeat the design for with some of the improvements.
The design staff used the hull form, but introduced several improvements, the most significant being the re-arrangement of the main battery. The two wing turrets were both moved to the centerline, one superfiring over the forward-most turret, and the other amidships between the funnels. The armor layout was also revised slightly to improve protection of the bow and stern. To offset the weight increase of these changes, a pair of secondary guns and the stern torpedo tube were to be removed. "K" considered the adoption of anti-roll tanks to help stabilize the ships, as the recently completed -class battleships initially suffered from severe rolling, though Tirpitz eventually decided against them. By December 1910, the decision was made to retain all fourteen of the 15 cm guns and instead remove two of the guns. Although initially intended to use diesel engines on their center shafts, delays in the completion of the prototype for forced the Navy to return to the traditional all-turbine arrangement for the first member of the class. Partial oil-firing was introduced, which provided greater power for the turbines.
The first three ships—, , and —were ordered for the 1911 program. Several shipyards, including AG Vulcan, AG Weser, and Schichau-Werke, submitted tenders to the (Imperial Naval Office) to build the vessels by 19 July 1911. Vulcan and Weser received contracts on 11 August, though the finalized orders were not issued until 12 October; final tinkering with the design continued, however, and Tirpitz's decision to abandon the anti-roll tanks came as late as 22 January 1912. The contract for the third ship—actually the first member of the class, —went to the (Imperial Shipyard), while Schichau received the contract for the battlecruiser as compensation. It was still hoped that the diesels could still be installed aboard and , but it was still not ready by the time work began on the vessels.
A fourth ship was authorized under the 1912 program, and the naval command again considered increasing the caliber, this time to . The increase in weight from the larger guns would be offset by reducing the secondary battery from 15 cm to guns. The proposal was ultimately rejected in favor of building another vessel identical to the 1911 ships to create a homogeneous four-ship division to simplify tactical command. The naval command again hoped that the diesel engine would be ready in time for this vessel, so her propulsion system was redesigned with larger, more powerful turbines than her sisters received. But before work began, it became clear that the diesel would not be ready, so the center engine room—which had been left empty in —was reconfigured to accept a third turbine. Only one significant change was introduced for the new ship, which became , was a larger tubular foremast that was capable of supporting a heavier fire direction top. This was later retrofitted to the other members of the class.
General characteristics
The -class ships were long at the waterline, and long overall. They had a beam of , a forward draft of , and a rear draft of . As designed, the s displaced normally, but at full load, they displaced . The hulls were constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames, over which the outer hull plates were riveted. The ships' hulls each contained eighteen watertight compartments and were equipped with a double bottom that ran for 88% of the length of the hull. A long forecastle deck ran from the stem to the aft superfiring barbette. The ships' superstructure was minimal, consisting of a set of forward and aft conning towers, though was built as a squadron flagship and accordingly received a larger bridge to accommodate an admiral's staff. In 1917, received an enlarged bridge similar to s as well. The first three ships were fitted with a pair of pole masts to support their spotting tops, though received a heavier tubular mast.
Steering was controlled by a pair of rudders placed side by side. German naval historian Erich Gröner said the German navy considered the ships to be "very good sea-boats", and that they possessed a gentle motion. They suffered a slight loss of speed in a swell, and with the rudders hard over, the ships lost up to 66% speed and heeled over 8 degrees. The battleships had a transverse metacentric height of . , , , and each had a standard crew of 41 officers and 1095 enlisted men; , which became the flagship of III Battle Squadron, had an additional crew of 14 officers and another 68 sailors. While serving as a deputy command flagship, the ships carried an additional 2 officers and 24 enlisted men. The ships carried several smaller boats, including one picket boat, three admiral's barges, two launches, two yawls, and two dinghies.
Propulsion