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History | |
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Name | SMS Bayern |
Namesake | Bayern |
Builder | Howaldtswerke, Kiel |
Laid down | 20 August 1913 |
Launched | 18 February 1915 |
Commissioned | 18 March 1916 |
Fate | list error: <br /> list (help) Scuttled in Gutter Sound, Scapa Flow, 21 June 1919 Re-floated and broken up 1935 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 32,200 tons |
Length | 180 m (590 ft 7 in) |
Beam | 30 m (98 ft 5 in) |
Draught | 9.4 m (30 ft 10 in) |
Propulsion | 3 × Parsons steam turbines, three shafts, 55,967 shp |
Speed | 22 knots (41 km/h) |
Range | 5,000 miles (8,050 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h) |
Complement | 1,271 |
Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) 8 × 38 cm (15 in) guns 16 × 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 2 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns 5 × 60 cm (24 in) torpedo tubes |
Service record | |
Operations: | Operation Albion |
SMS Bayern[Note 1] was the lead ship of the Bayern class of battleships of the German Imperial Navy. She was named for Bavaria, then a kingdom within the German Empire. The vessel was launched in February 1915 and entered service in July 1916, too late to take part in the Battle of Jutland. Her main armament consisted of eight 38 cm (15 in) guns in four turrets, which was a significant improvement over the preceding König's ten 30.5 cm (12 inch) guns. The ship was to have formed the nucleus for a fourth battle squadron in the High Seas Fleet, along with three of her sister ships. However, only one of the other ships—Baden—was completed; the other two were canceled later in the war when production requirements shifted to U-boat construction.
As she had been commissioned late in the war, Bayern had a limited service career. The first operation in which the ship took part was an abortive fleet advance into the North Sea on 18–19 August 1916, just a month after she had been commissioned. The ship also participated in Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga in October 1917. However, shortly after the German attack began on 12 October, Bayern was mined and had to be withdrawn for repairs. She was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow in November 1918 following the end of World War I. On 21 June 1919, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the fleet be scuttled; Bayern sank at 14:30. In September 1934, the ship was raised and towed to Rosyth, where she was scrapped.
Construction
Bayern was ordered under the provisional name "T" in 1912,[1] under the fourth and final Naval Law, which was passed that year.[2] Construction began at the Howaldtswerke Dockyard in Kiel under construction number 590. The ship was laid down in 1913 and launched on 18 February 1915. After fitting out, sea trials were conducted; the ship was commissioned into on 15 July 1916, a month and a half too late for the ship to have participated in the Battle of Jutland. She had cost the Imperial German Government 49 million Goldmarks.[1] The first of what were eventually two ships in her class, Bayern would later be joined in service by Baden. Two other ships, Sachsen and Württemberg, were canceled before they were completed.[3]
Bayern was 179.4 m (589 ft) long at the waterline, and an even 180 m (590 ft) long overall. She had a draft of between 9.3–9.4 m (30.5–30.8 ft). Bayern displaced 28,530 metric tons at a standard displacement; at full combat load, she displaced up to 32,200 tons. Bayern was powered by three Parsons steam turbines, which was rated at 35,000 shaft horsepower, and on trials achieved 55,967 shp; she had a maximum speed of 22 knots.[1][Note 2]
She was armed with eight 38 cm (15 in) guns arranged in four twin gun turrets: two superfiring turrets each fore and aft. Bayern was the first German warship to feature guns of this caliber.[4] Her secondary armament consisted of sixteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns, six 8.8 cm (3.45 in) guns and five 60 cm (23.6 in) underwater torpedo tubes, one in the bow and two on each beam. Upon commissioning, she carried a crew of 42 officers and 1,129 enlisted men.[3]
Service history
Fleet advance of 18–19 August
Admiral Reinhard Scheer planned a fleet advance for 18–19 August 1916; the operation consisted of a bombardment conducted by the I Scouting Group. This was an attempt to draw out and destroy Admiral David Beatty's battlecruisers. As Moltke and Von der Tann were the only two remaining German battlecruisers still in fighting condition, three dreadnoughts were assigned to the unit for the operation: Bayern, and the two König class ships Markgraf and Großer Kurfürst. Admiral Scheer and the rest of the High Seas Fleet, with 15 dreadnoughts of its own, would trail behind and provide cover.[5] The British were aware of the German plans and sortied the Grand Fleet to meet them. By 14:35, Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet's approach and, unwilling to engage the whole of the Grand Fleet just 11 weeks after the decidedly close call at Jutland, turned his forces around and retreated to German ports.[6]
Operation Albion
In early September 1917, following the German conquest of the Russian port of Riga, the German navy decided to evict the Russian naval forces that still held the Gulf of Riga. To this end, the Admiralstab (the Navy High Command) planned an operation to seize the Baltic islands of Ösel, particularly the Russian gun batteries on the Sworbe peninsula.[7] On 18 September, the order was issued for a joint Army-Navy operation to capture Ösel and Moon islands; the primary naval component was to comprise the flagship, the battlecruiser Moltke, along with the III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. The V Division included the four Error: {{sclass}} invalid format code: 6. Should be 0–5, or blank (help)s, and had been by this time joined by Bayern. The VI Division consisted of the five Error: {{sclass}} invalid format code: 6. Should be 0–5, or blank (help)s. Along with 9 light cruisers, 3 torpedo boat flotillas, and dozens of mine warfare ships, the entire force numbered some 300 ships, and were supported by over 100 aircraft and 6 zeppelins. The invasion force amounted to approximately 24,600 officers and enlisted men.[8] Opposing the Germans were the old Russian pre-dreadnoughts Slava and Tsarevitch, the armored cruisers Bayan, Admiral Makarov, and Diana, 26 destroyers, and several torpedo boats and gunboats. The garrison on Ösel numbered some 14,000 men.[9]
The operation began on 12 October, when Bayern, along with Moltke and the four Königs began firing on the Russian shore batteries at Tagga Bay. Simultaneously, the Kaisers engaged the batteries on the Sworbe peninsula; the objective was to secure the channel between Moon and Dagö islands, which would block the only escape route of the Russian ships in the gulf. While moving into her bombardment position, Bayern struck a naval mine. The ship was severely damaged, and temporary repairs proved ineffective. Bayern had to be withdrawn to Kiel for repairs; the return trip took 19 days. Bayern's involvement with Operation Albion had come to an abrupt end.[9] During repairs, the forward torpedo tube room was removed and turned into a watertight compartment.[3]
On 16 October, two König class battleships and a number of smaller vessels were sent to engage the Russian battleships in the Gulf of Riga. The following day, König and Kronprinz engaged the Russian battleships—König dueled with Slava and Kronprinz fired on both Slava and the cruiser Bayan. The Russian vessels were hit dozens of times, until at 10:30 the Russian naval commander, Admiral Bakhirev, ordered their withdrawal. Slava had taken too much damage, and was unable to make good her escape; instead, she was scuttled and her crew was evacuated on a destroyer.[10] By 20 October, the naval operations were effectively over; the Russian fleet had been destroyed or forced to withdraw, and the German army held the islands in the gulf.[11]
Fate
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/SMS_Bayern_sinking.jpg/170px-SMS_Bayern_sinking.jpg)
Bayern was to have taken part in what would have amounted to the "death ride" of the High Seas Fleet shortly before the end of World War I. The bulk of the High Seas Fleet was to have sortied from its base in Wilhelmshaven to engage the British Grand Fleet. Scheer—by now the Großadmiral of the fleet—intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to obtain a better bargaining position for Germany, whatever the cost to the fleet.[12] While the fleet was consolidating in Wilhelmshaven, war-weary sailors began rioting.[13] On 24 October 1918, the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven. Starting on the night of 29 October, sailors on several battleships mutinied; three ships from the III Squadron refused to weigh anchors, and acts of sabotage were committed on board the battleships Thüringen and Helgoland. The order to sail was rescinded in the face of this open revolt.[14] In an attempt to suppress the mutiny, the battleship squadrons were dispersed.[13]
Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, the majority of the High Seas Fleet was to be interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow.[15] Bayern was listed as one of the ships to be handed over. On 21 November 1918, the ships to be interned, under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, sailed from their base in Germany for the last time. The fleet rendezvoused with the British light cruiser Cardiff, before meeting a massive flotilla of some 370 British, American, and French warships for the voyage to Scapa Flow.[16]
The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Versailles Treaty. It became apparent to Reuter that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty. Unaware that the deadline had been extended to the 23rd, Reuter ordered his ships be sunk. On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers; at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships.[17] Bayern sank at 14:30. The ship was raised on 1 September 1934 and was broken up the following year in Rosyth. The ship's bell was eventually delivered to the German Federal Navy and is on display at Kiel Fördeklub.[3][Note 3]
Notes
- ^ "SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German.
- ^ Parsons operated a branch in Germany named Turbinia, which provided British-built turbines to the German navy, as well as commercial shipping companies. See: Weir, p. 95
- ^ It is unknown when the bell was returned, but it is likely that it was some time between the late 1950s and mid 1960s. The British government returned the bell from SMS Hindenburg on 28 May 1959 and the bells from SMS Derfflinger and SMS Friedrich der Grosse on 30 August 1965. See: Gröner, pp. 26, 57
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Gröner, p. 28
- ^ Herwig, p. 81
- ^ a b c d Gröner, p. 30
- ^ Hore, p. 70
- ^ Massie, p. 682
- ^ Massie, p. 683
- ^ Halpern, p. 213
- ^ Halpern, pp. 214–215
- ^ a b Halpern, p. 215
- ^ Halpern, p. 218
- ^ Halpern, p. 219
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 280–281
- ^ a b Massie, p. 775
- ^ Tarrant, pp. 281–282
- ^ Tarrant, p. 282
- ^ Herwig, pp. 254–255
- ^ Herwig, p. 256
References
- Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870217909. OCLC 22101769.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1557503524.
- Herwig, Holger (1980). "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888-1918. Amherst, New York: Humanity Books. ISBN 9781573922869.
- Hore, Peter (2006). Battleships of World War I. London: Southwater Books. ISBN 978-1-84476-377-1.
- Massie, Robert K. (2003). Castles of Steel. New York City: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-40878-0.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1995). Jutland: The German Perspective. Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 0-304-35848-7.
- Weir, Gary E. (1992). Building the Kaiser's Navy: The Imperial Navy Office and German Industry in the Tirpitz Era, 1890-1919. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1557509291. OCLC 22665422.
Further reading
- Hore, Peter. The World Encyclopedia of Battleships. Hermes House, London, 2005. ISBN 0-681-06851-5
Media related to SMS Bayern at Wikimedia Commons