Königsberg, Nürnberg, Stuttgart, Stettin The Königsberg class were a continuation of the 1902 Bremen class, inaugurating the “cities” serie, followed by the Dresden and Kolberg class, all relatively similar. Gradual improvements were made, and the four ships participated in WWI with various fortunes, also reflecting the German far-flung colonial Empire of the time: SMS Königsberg … Read more
German Empire (1897) Heavy cruiser The Kaiser’s first heavy cruiser: The Fürst Bismarck (“Prince Bismarck”) named after the Chancellor and statesman which unified Germany in 1870, was also the name of the first “Großer Kreuzer, 2nd Klasse”, the first German heavy cruiser. Why “heavy” and not “armoured cruiser” ? Previous denominations of German cruisers had … Read more
König class battleships (1913) Germany (1911-1914) König, Grosser Kurfurst, Markgraf, Kronprinz The four battleships of the König class were an evolution of the previous Kaiser, as their main innovation laid in the purely axial arrangement of their five turrets, of which with one was amidship and the others superimposed, as done in Great Britain and … Read more
German Empire – Irene, Prinzess Wilhelm The first German protected cruisers: Irene and Prinzessin Wilhelm (Prince William) were built respectively at Vulcan (Stettin) and Germaniawerft. They were the first cruisers (“Kreuzer”) in the German Navy. And the first protected cruisers in Germany. Still second class as they appeared, they were quite an improvement over the … Read more
Germany (1885-1918) 71 cruisers SMS Hertha in Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania). German cruisers – The Kaiserliches Marine’s cavalry: When the great war broke out, the situation of the Kaiserliches Marine was such that there were relatively few cruisers compared to battleships, and a part of them was far from home, in Asia, Egypt, or South … Read more
Kaiser class Battleships (1911) Germany – Kaiser, Friedrich der Grosse, Kaiserin, König Albert, Prinzregent Luitpold Kaiser class: A brave leap forward The second “Kaiser class” (the first dated back from 1899) was designed as an attempt to use turbine engines and superfiring turrets. However, they stuck with the 12-in caliber of the last class, already … Read more
Germany (1890-1919) 17 dreadnoughts, 20 pre-dreadnoughts ww1 german battleships in a nutshell In 1890, there was little concern for the German Navy, let alone for German battleships. There were only a few coastal vessels and old ironclads. However the situation changed dramatically in little more than 15 years, more than just raising eyebrows in the … Read more
Germany (1871-1918) – 177 TBs prewar, 96 WW1 (112 planned) Total: 273 TBs at the heart of a transition: From a coastal to a blue water navy – Until the Hochseetorpedoboats (see the earlier article) which were destroyer in all but name, German Torpedo-boats had the responsibility of defending territorial waters of Germany. They were … Read more
Moltke class Battlecruisers Germany (1910) Battlecruisers – SMS Moltke, SMS Goeben Development and Design A May 1907 conference already defined the path that would lead to the decision of building two ‘all big guns capital ships’ when the German Naval Office decided make a follow-up of the Von der Tann, with an enlarged design and … Read more
Germany (1907-1917) Von der Tann, Molkte, Goeben, Seydlitz, Derrflinger, Lützow, Hindenburg Foreword: German battlecruisers: The German Empire was the second country after the British Empire to massively invest in battlecruisers. Neither the US, caught late by the war, France, which naval plan of 1912 was halted, Italy, which preferred to focus on dreadnoughts missed the … Read more
