German battleship Schlesien
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 Schlesien transiting the Panama Canal in 1938. |
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| Career (German Empire) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Schlesien |
| Namesake: | Schlesien |
| Builder: | Schichau, Danzig |
| Laid down: | 1905 |
| Launched: | 28 May 1906 |
| Commissioned: | 5 May 1908 |
| Fate: | Blown up by her crew at Swinemünde in 1945 or sunk by Soviet bombers |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Deutschland class |
| Displacement: | 13,200t normal; 14,218t full load |
| Length: | 127.6 m (419 ft) |
| Beam: | 22.2 m (73 ft) |
| Draught: | 7.7 m (25 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 19,330 hp, three shafts = 19.1 knots (35 km/h) |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,000 nautical miles (9,000 km); 10 knots (20 km/h) |
| Complement: | 743 |
| Armament: |
At construction:
Armament in 1939:
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| Armor: | 230 mm in belt 280 mm in turrets 76 mm in deck |
SMS Schlesien was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Deutschland class, commissioned in 1908 into the German Imperial Navy. Her sisters were Deutschland, Hannover, Pommern and Schleswig-Holstein.
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[edit] Design
[edit] Dimensions and machinery
Schlesien was 413 ft (126 m) at the waterline, and 418.66 ft (127.61 m) overall. She had a beam of 73 ft (22 m) and a draft of 27 ft (8.2 m), and displaced 13,993 tons fully laden. Schlesien was powered by 3 shaft triple expansion engines, which produced 19,000 ihp, and a top speed of 18 knots.
[edit] Armament
Schlesien's main armament consisted of four 11 in (28 cm) guns in twin turrets, one fore and one aft of the superstructure. Her secondary battery was composed of fourteen 6.7 in (17 cm) guns and twenty-two 3.4 in (8.6 cm) inch guns, all casemated along the length of the ship, concentrated particularly amidships. Deutschland also mounted six 17.7 in (45 cm) inch torpedo tubes.
[edit] Armor
Schlesien had an armored belt that was 9 in (23 cm) inches thick at its strongest points, those which covered the ship's vitals, and tapered to 4 in (10 cm) inches thick in less critical areas, such as the bow and stern. The turrets had 11 in (28 cm) inches of armor protection, a full inch thicker than the preceding Braunschweig class. The deck was covered by 3 in (7.6 cm) inches of armor plate.
[edit] Service history
The start of World War I saw Schlesien serving alongside her sisterships in the II Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. She participated in the Battle of Jutland alongside her class-mates, as well as the Braunschweig class battleship Hessen.
Being thoroughly obsolete, she was one of three old ships of the line, along with Schleswig-Holstein and Hessen, that Germany was permitted to retain after the end of World War I, under the terms of Versailles Treaty. She was used thereafter mainly as a training ship, but did see some action in World War II providing artillery support to German land forces in the Baltic. She took part in the attack against Poland on 1 September 1939, along with her sister Schleswig-Holstein. She was mined and scuttled at the end of World War II, used as a target by the Soviets after the war, and finally broken up between 1949-56, although remnants of her were still visible until the 1980s.
[edit] External links
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