The liner SMS Wettin belonged to the Wittelsbach class, which were built shortly after the turn of the century for the imperial navy to equip the German high seas fleet with powerful warships can.
Launching and design:
The ships of the Wittelsbach class are based on the predecessor ships of the Kaiser Friedrich III class, whereby there are no significant differences among the classes.
The launch of SMS Wettin took place on 6 June 1901, the commissioning on 1 October 1902.
Liner SMS Wettin
History of SMS Wettin:
After commissioning and completion of the test drives the ship was assigned in January 1903 the 1st Squadron and participated in the coming years in the annual maneuvers.
From 1 December 1911, the SMS Wettin was used as artillery training ship in the ship artillery inspection, previously it was converted according to the new requirements.
Use in the war:
With the outbreak of the First World War, the SMS Wettin was assigned to the newly formed IV Squadron and exercised in the North Sea and the Baltic until July 5, 1915 security services. Subsequently, the squadron from the German high-sea fleet was loosened and relocated to the Baltic Sea.
From August 8, 1915, the attack took place in the Gulf of Riga. The SMS Wettin was used as well as her sister ships. Among other things, was banned by the Wettin in the Pernauer harbor. Following the ship was relocated to Libau for security.
Since the ships of the Wittelsbach class were already obsolete at the beginning of the war and were now completely inferior to the new Russian battleships of the Gangut class in the Baltic Sea, the German naval leadership decided to withdraw the ships from the Baltic Sea and allocate the readiness division. Together with the SMS Schwaben, the SMS Wittelsbach and the large cruiser SMS Prinz Heinrich left the SMS Wettin on 10 November 1915 Libau direction Kiel. There, most of the crew was withdrawn and distributed to the more modern warships.
When the division was dissolved on January 31, 1916, the I. Navy Inspection took over the ship and used it as a training and training ship. From May 1916, began with the expansion of heavy weapons, on July 17, 1916 then took the off duty.
Until the end of the war, the SMS Wettin was used as a residential and office ship in Kiel as well as in Cuxhaven.
Whereabouts:
After the surrender of the German Empire, the ship remained in Germany and had to be interned neither interned.
On October 1, 1919 it was put into service for the last time and served until 11 February 1920 as a mothership for minesweeper.
On 11 March 1920, the ship was finally decommissioned, sold and scrapped in 1922 in Rönnebeck near Bremen.
Ship data:
| Name: |
SMS Wettin |
| Country: |
German Empire |
| Ship Type: |
Liner |
| Class: |
Wittelsbach-Class |
| Boatyard: |
Ferdinand Schichau, Gdansk |
| Building-costs: |
22.597.000 Mark |
| Launched: |
June 6th, 1901 |
| Commissioning: |
October 1st, 1902 |
| Whereabouts: |
Scrapped in 1922 near Bremen |
| Length: |
126,8 meters |
| Width: |
20,8 meters |
| Draft: |
Max. 8,04 meters |
| Displacement: |
Max. 12.798 Tons |
| Crew: |
683 Men |
| Drive: |
6 Thornycroft water tube boiler
|
| Power: |
15.530 PS (11.422 kW) |
| Maximum speed: |
18,1 kn (34 km/h) |
|
Armament: |
4 × Rapid Fire Gun 24,0 cm L / 40 (340 shots) 18 × Rapid Fire Gun 15,0 cm L / 40 (2.520 shots) 12 × Rapid Fire Gun 8,8 cm L / 30 (1.800 shots) 12 × Revolver cannon 3,7 cm 6 × Torpedo tube ∅ 45 cm (4 sides, 1 bow, 1 stern, under water, 12 - 16 rounds) |
| Armor: |
Waterline: 100-225 mm on 100 mm teak |
You can find the right literature here:
German Battleships 1914–18 (1): Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland classes (New Vanguard)
German Battleships 1914–18 (1): Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland classes (New Vanguard) Paperback – February 23, 2010
Supported by official documents, personal accounts, official drawings and specially commissioned artwork, this volume is an enlightening history of the Deutschland to Osfriesland classes. Detailing the last of the pre-dreadnaught battleship classes, this book goes on to explain the revolutionary developments that took place within the German Imperial Navy as they readied themselves for war. This included creating vessels with vast increases in size and armament. This account of design and technology is supplemented by individual ship histories detailing combat experience complete with first-hand accounts. The specially commissioned artwork also brings this history to life with recreations of the battleship Pommern fighting at Jutland and ships of the Osfriesland class destroying HMS Black Prince in a dramatic night-time engagement.
The Imperial German Navy of World War I, Vol. 1 Warships: A Comprehensive Photographic Study of the Kaiser’s Naval Forces
The Imperial German Navy of World War I, Vol. 1 Warships: A Comprehensive Photographic Study of the Kaiser’s Naval Forces Hardcover – December 28, 2016
The Imperial German Navy of WWI is a series of books (Warships, Campaigns, & Uniforms) that provide a broad view of the Kaiser's naval forces through the extensive use of photographs. Every effort has been made to cover all significant areas during the war period. In addition to the primary use of photographs, technical information is provided for each warship along with its corresponding service history; with a special emphasis being placed on those warships that participated in the Battle of Skagerrak (Jutland). Countless sources have been used to establish individual case studies for each warship; multiple photos of each warship are provided. The entire series itself is unprecedented in its coverage of the Kaiser's navy.
German Battlecruisers of World War One: Their Design, Construction and Operations
German Battlecruisers of World War One: Their Design, Construction and Operations Hardcover – November 4, 2014
This is the most comprehensive, English-language study of the German Imperial Navy's battlecruisers that served in the First World War. Known as Panzerkreuzer, literally "armored cruiser," the eight ships of the class were to be involved in several early North Sea skirmishes before the great pitched battle of Jutland where they inflicted devastating damage on the Royal Navy's battlecruiser fleet. This book details their design and construction, and traces the full service history of each ship, recounting their actions, drawing largely from first-hand German sources and official documents, many previously unpublished in English.
The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918
The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918 Hardcover – March 15, 2016
The battleships of the Third Reich have been written about exhaustively, but there is little in English devoted to their Second Reich predecessors. This new book fills an important gap in the literature of the period by covering these German capital ships in detail and studying the full span of battleship development during this period. The book is arranged as a chronological narrative, with technical details, construction schedules, and ultimate fates tabulated throughout, thus avoiding the sometimes disjointed structure that can result from a class-by-class approach. Heavily illustrated with line drawings and photographs, many from German sources, the book offers readers a fresh visual look at these ships. A key objective of the book is to make available a full synthesis of the published fruits of archival research by German writers found in the pre-World War II books of Koop & Schmolke, Großmer's on the construction program of the dreadnaught era, Forstmeier & Breyer on World War I projects, and Schenk & Nottelmann's papers in Warship International. As well as providing data not available in English-language books, these sources correct significant errors in standard English sources.
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