SMS was a battlecruiser of the German (Imperial Navy) built in the early 1910s during the Anglo-German naval arms race. She was the lead ship of her class of three ships; her sister ships were and . The s were larger and featured significant improvements over the previous German battlecruisers, carrying larger guns in a more efficient superfiring arrangement. was armed with a main battery of eight guns, compared to the guns of earlier battlecruisers. She had a top speed of and carried heavy protection, including a thick armored belt.
was completed shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914; after entering service, she joined the other German battlecruisers in I Scouting Group of the High Seas Fleet, where she served for the duration of the conflict. As part of this force, she took part in numerous operations in the North Sea, including the Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914, the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, and the Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916. These operations culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where helped to sink the British battlecruisers and . was seriously damaged in the action and was out of service for repairs for several months afterward.
The ship rejoined the fleet in late 1916, though by this time the Germans had abandoned their strategy of raids with the surface fleet in favor of the U-boat campaign. As a result, and the rest of the High Seas Fleet saw little activity for the last two years of the war apart from patrol duty in the German Bight. The fleet conducted one final operation in April 1918 in an unsuccessful attempt to intercept a British convoy to Norway. After the end of the war in November 1918, the fleet was interned in Scapa Flow. On the order of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, the interned ships were scuttled on 21 June 1919 to prevent them from being seized by the Allied powers.
Design
The class was authorized for the 1911 fiscal year as part of the 1906 naval law; design work had begun in early 1910. After their British counterparts had begun installing guns in their battlecruisers, senior officers in the German naval command concluded that an increase in the caliber of the main battery guns from to would be necessary. To keep costs from growing too quickly, the number of guns was reduced from ten to eight, compared to the earlier , but a more efficient superfiring arrangement was adopted.
Characteristics
was long overall, with a beam of and a draft of . She displaced normally and up to at full load. The ship had a crew of 44 officers and 1,068 enlisted men. In early August 1915, a derrick was mounted amidships, and tests with Hansa-Brandenburg W seaplanes were conducted.
was propelled by two pairs of high- and low-pressure steam turbines that drove four screw propellers, with steam provided by fourteen coal-burning water-tube boilers ducted into two funnels. Her engines were rated to produce for a top speed of . She could steam for at a cruising speed of .
Mounting a main battery of eight 30.5 cm (12 in) guns, was the largest and most powerful German battlecruiser at the time. The ship's secondary battery consisted of twelve SK L/45 guns in single casemates in the superstructure, six per broadside. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried eight SK L/45 guns in individual pivot mounts on the superstructure, four of which were removed in 1916. An additional four 8.8 cm flak guns were installed amidships. Four submerged torpedo tubes were carried; one was located in the bow, two on the broadside, and one in the stern.
was protected by an armor belt that was thick in the central citadel of the ship where it protected the ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. Her deck was thick, with the thicker armor sloping down at the sides to connect to the lower edge of the belt. Her main battery turrets had thick faces. Her secondary casemates received of armor protection. The forward conning tower, where the ship's commander controlled the vessel, had 300 mm walls.