König class battleship
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The four German König class battleships were built on the eve of World War I and were the most powerful warships of the German High Seas Fleet going into the war and in the Battle of Jutland, in which they all participated. They survived the war and were scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919.
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[edit] Overview
The König class bore a strong resemblance to the earlier Kaiser class, including carrying the same main armament. The most visible change was the movement of one of the main turrets forward of the bridge, doubling the forward firepower, while also placing all main turrets along the ship's centerline. The most significant internal change was the design's objective of employing a diesel engine in place of one of the three turbines, allowing for better performance. This was not done due to lack of availability of an appropriate engine (one producing around 12,000 shp), resulting instead in the ships mounting three steam turbine powerplants like the preceding class.
Construction of the class was part of Germany's ambitious naval build up in which the country was engaged in to challenge the general hegemony of the Royal Navy, and specifically to challenge that navy's control of the North Sea. All of the vessels were laid down in 1911 and launched in 1913. With tensions rapidly rising, they were pushed through final trials and commissioned in the first months of World War I, comprising half of the 3rd Battleship Squadron. The vessels would take a major role in the Battle of Jutland, suffering damage but all surviving. The four remaining together as a group when they were surrendered to the Allies at Scapa Flow where a few months later they participated in the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet there, all sinking.
[edit] Units
- SMS König - Nameship of the class, König was commissioned 9 August 1914, participated in the Battle of Jutland, was involved in many operations in 1916, and sank the Russian pre-Dreadnought Slava in 1917.
- SMS Großer Kurfürst - The second ship was commissioned before König herself, on 30 July 1914, and participated in many of the same operations as her classmates. The ship was prone to both accidents and receipt of damage from enemy forces, although she remained active through the end of the war.
- SMS Markgraf - Commissioned 1 October 1914, had one of the less auspicious careers of the class. She participated in a number of actions with little damage, surviving the war .
- SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm - Originally namedKronprinz, commissioned 8 November 1914 and the only one of the class to escape Jutland unscathed, but later in 1916 was torpedoed by a British submarine. She survived that attack, as well as a later mine hit, only to be surrendered and sunk by her own crew at Scapa Flow.
[edit] Trivia
"Königs Klasse" (König class) is also a German term used to describe the highest league of a sport divided in classes, for example Formula 1 in motor racing. König is literally "king" in German.
