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SMS Thüringen

May 04, 2023

SMS Thüringen[a] was the third vessel of the Helgoland class of dreadnought battleships of the German Imperial Navy. Thüringen's keel was laid in November 1908 at the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen. She was launched on 27 November 1909 and commissioned into the fleet on 1 July 1911. The ship was equipped with twelve 30.5 cm (12 in) guns in six twin turrets, and had a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Thüringen was assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career, including World War I.

SMS Thüringen, probably before the war
History
German Empire
NameThüringen
NamesakeThuringia
BuilderAG Weser, Bremen
Laid down2 November 1908
Launched27 November 1909
Commissioned1 July 1911
Decommissioned16 December 1918
Stricken5 November 1919
FateCeded to France in 1920, later used as target ship and sunk. Broken up for scrap, 1923–33
General characteristics
Class and typeHelgoland-class battleship
Displacement
Length167.20 m (548 ft 7 in)
Beam28.50 m (93 ft 6 in)
Draft8.94 m (29 ft 4 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed20.8 knots (38.5 km/h; 23.9 mph)
Range5,500 nautical miles (10,190 km; 6,330 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement
  • 42 officers
  • 1027 enlisted
Armament
Armor

Along with her three sister ships, Helgoland, Ostfriesland, and Oldenburg, Thüringen participated in all of the major fleet operations of World War I in the North Sea against the British Grand Fleet. This included the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916, the largest naval battle of the war. Thüringen was involved in the heavy night fighting at Jutland, including the destruction of the armored cruiser HMS Black Prince.[1] The ship also saw action against the Imperial Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea, where she participated in the unsuccessful first incursion into the Gulf of Riga in August 1915.

After the German collapse in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet was interned in Scapa Flow during the peace negotiations. The four Helgoland-class ships were allowed to remain in Germany and were therefore spared the destruction of the fleet in Scapa Flow. Thüringen and her sisters were eventually ceded to the victorious Allied powers as war reparations; Thüringen was transferred to France in April 1920 and used as a target ship for the French Navy. She was sunk off Gavres and broken up in situ in 1923–1933, though some sections of the ship remain.

Design

Main article: Helgoland-class battleship
 
Line drawing of the Helgoland class

The ship was 167.2 m (548 ft 7 in) long overall, had a beam of 28.5 m (93 ft 6 in) and a draft of 8.94 m (29 ft 4 in), and displaced 24,700 metric tons (24,310 long tons) at full load. She was powered by three triple-expansion steam engines and fifteen water-tube boilers. The engines were rated at 27,617 ihp (20,594 kW) and were capable of producing a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Thüringen stored up to 3,200 metric tons (3,100 long tons) of coal, which allowed her to steam for 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). After 1915, the boilers were modified to spray oil on the coal to increase its burn rate; the ship could carry up to 197 metric tons (194 long tons) of fuel oil.[2] She had a crew of 42 officers and 1,071 enlisted men.[3]

Thüringen was armed with a main battery of twelve 30.5 cm (12 in) SK L/50[b] guns in six twin gun turrets, with one turret fore, one aft, and two on each flank of the ship.[5] The ship's secondary battery consisted of fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns, all of which were mounted in casemates in the side of the upper deck. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried fourteen 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns.[2] After 1914, two of the 8.8 cm guns were removed and replaced by 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns. Thüringen was also armed with six 50 cm (19.7 in) submerged torpedo tubes; one was in the bow, one in the stern, and two on each broadside.

Her main armored belt was 300 mm (11.8 in) thick in the central citadel, and was composed of Krupp cemented armor (KCA). Her main battery gun turrets were protected by the same thickness of KCA on the sides and faces, as well as the barbettes that supported the turrets. Thüringen's deck was 63.5 mm (2.5 in) thick.[2]

Service history

Thüringen was ordered by the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) under the provisional name Ersatz Beowulf,[c] as a replacement for the old coastal defense ship Beowulf. The contract for the ship was awarded to the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen under construction number 166.[2] Work began on 2 November 1908 with the laying of her keel, and the ship was launched a year later on 27 November 1909.[6] She was christened by Duchess Adelheid von Sachsen-Altenburg, and Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst gave the speech.[7] Fitting-out, including completion of the superstructure and the installation of armament, lasted until June 1911. Following her completion, six pontoon barges were attached to the new battleship to reduce her draft to allow her to be towed down the Weser River to the North Sea.[1] Thüringen, named for Thuringia, a state in central Germany, was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 1 June 1911, less than three years after work commenced.[3]

After her commissioning on 1 July 1911, Thüringen conducted sea trials, which were completed by 10 September. On 19 September, she was assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet, alongside her sisters.[1] She then went on to conduct individual ship training exercises, which were followed by I Squadron exercises and then fleet maneuvers in November.[8] The annual summer cruise in July and August, which typically went to Norway, was interrupted by the Agadir Crisis. As a result, the cruise only went into the Baltic.[9] Thüringen and the rest of the fleet then fell into a pattern of individual ship, squadron, and full fleet exercises over the next two years.[1] In October 1913, William Michaelis became the ship's commanding officer; he held the post until February 1915.[10]

On 14 July 1914, the annual summer cruise to Norway began.[11] During the last peacetime cruise of the Imperial Navy, the fleet conducted drills off Skagen before proceeding to the Norwegian fjords on 25 July. The following day the fleet began to steam back to Germany, as a result of Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia. On 27 July, the entire fleet assembled off Cape Skudenes before returning to port, where they remained at a heightened state of readiness.[12] War between Austria-Hungary and Serbia broke out the following day, and within a week all the major European powers had joined the conflict.[13] By 29 July Thüringen and the rest of I Squadron were back in Wilhelmshaven.[14] During the first year of the war, the future anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller served aboard the ship as an officer.[15]

World War I

 
The High Seas Fleet's disposition on the morning of 16 December 1914, during the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby

Thüringen was present during the first sortie by the German fleet into the North Sea, which took place on 2–3 November 1914. No British forces were encountered during the operation. A second operation followed on 15–16 December.[8] This sortie was the initiation of a strategy adopted by Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, the commander of the High Seas Fleet. Admiral von Ingenohl intended to use the battlecruisers of Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group to raid British coastal towns to lure out portions of the Grand Fleet where they could be destroyed by the High Seas Fleet.[16] Early on 15 December the fleet left port to raid the towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby on the English coast. That evening, the German battle fleet of some twelve dreadnoughts—including Thüringen and her three sisters—and eight pre-dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) of an isolated squadron of six British battleships. Skirmishes between the rival destroyer screens in the darkness convinced von Ingenohl that he was faced with the entire Grand Fleet. Under orders from Kaiser Wilhelm II to avoid risking the fleet unnecessarily, von Ingenohl broke off the engagement and turned the battle fleet back toward Germany.[17]

The Battle of Dogger Bank, in which Vice Admiral David Beatty's 1st and 2nd Battlecruiser Squadrons ambushed the I Scouting Group battlecruisers, occurred on 24 January 1915.[18] Thüringen and the rest of I Squadron were sortied to reinforce the outnumbered German battlecruisers; I Squadron left port at 12:33 CET,[d] along with the pre-dreadnoughts of II Squadron. The High Seas Fleet was too late, so it failed to locate any British forces. By 19:05, the fleet had returned to the Schillig Roads outside Wilhelmshaven.[8] In the meantime, the armored cruiser Blücher had been overwhelmed by concentrated British fire and sunk, while the battlecruiser Seydlitz was severely damaged by an ammunition fire. As a result, Wilhelm II removed von Ingenohl from his post and replaced him with Admiral Hugo von Pohl on 2 February.[19]

 
Recognition drawing of a Helgoland-class battleship

The eight I Squadron ships went into the Baltic on 22 February 1915 for unit training, which lasted until 13 March. Following their return to the North Sea, the ships participated in a series of uneventful fleet sorties on 29–30 March, 17–18 April, 21–22 April, 17–18 May, and 29–30 May. Thüringen and the rest of the fleet then remained in port until 4 August, when I Squadron returned to the Baltic for another round of training maneuvers. From there, the squadron was attached to the naval force that attempted to sweep the Gulf of Riga of Russian naval forces in August 1915.[8] The assault force included the eight I Squadron battleships, the battlecruisers Von der Tann, Moltke, and Seydlitz, several light cruisers, 32 destroyers and 13 minesweepers. The plan called for channels to be swept in Russian minefields so that the Russian naval presence, which included the pre-dreadnought Slava, could be eliminated. The Germans would then lay minefields of their own to prevent Russian ships from returning to the Gulf.[20] Thüringen and the majority of the other big ships of the High Seas Fleet remained outside the Gulf for the entirety of the operation. The dreadnoughts Nassau and Posen were detached on 16 August to escort the minesweepers and to destroy Slava, though they failed to sink the old battleship. After three days, the Russian minefields had been cleared, and the flotilla entered the Gulf on 19 August; reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted a German withdrawal from the Gulf the following day.[21] By 26 August, I Squadron had returned to Wilhelmshaven.[8]

On 23–24 October, the High Seas Fleet undertook its last major offensive operation under the command of von Pohl, though it ended without contact with British forces.[8] By January 1916 hepatic cancer had weakened von Pohl to the point where he was no longer able to carry out his duties, and he was replaced by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer in January.[22] Scheer proposed a more aggressive policy designed to force a confrontation with the British Grand Fleet; he received approval from the Kaiser in February.[23] Scheer's first operation was a sweep into the North Sea on 5–7 March, followed by two more on 21–22 March and 25–26 March.[8] During Scheer's next operation, Thüringen supported a raid on the English coast on 24 April 1916 conducted by the German battlecruiser force. The battlecruisers left the Jade Estuary at 10:55 and the rest of the High Seas Fleet followed at 13:40. The battlecruiser Seydlitz struck a mine while en route to the target, and had to withdraw.[24] The other battlecruisers bombarded the town of Lowestoft unopposed, but during the approach to Yarmouth, they encountered the British cruisers of the Harwich Force. A short gun duel ensued before the Harwich Force withdrew. Reports of British submarines in the area prompted the retreat of I Scouting Group. At this point, Scheer, who had been warned of the sortie of the Grand Fleet from its base in Scapa Flow, also withdrew to safer German waters.[25]

Battle of Jutland

Main article: Battle of Jutland
 
Maps showing the maneuvers of the British (blue) and German (red) fleets on 31 May – 1 June 1916

Thüringen was present during the fleet operation that resulted in the battle of Jutland which took place on 31 May and 1 June 1916. The German fleet again sought to draw out and isolate a portion of the Grand Fleet and destroy it before the main British fleet could retaliate. During the operation, Thüringen was the second ship in I Division of I Squadron and the tenth ship in the line, directly astern of the squadron flagship Ostfriesland and ahead of another sister Helgoland. I Squadron was the center of the German line, behind the eight König- and Kaiser-class battleships of III Squadron. The six elderly pre-dreadnoughts of III and IV Divisions, II Battle Squadron, formed the rear of the formation.[26]

Shortly before 16:00, the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group encountered the British 1st Battlecruiser Squadron under the command of David Beatty. The opposing ships began an artillery duel that saw the destruction of Indefatigable, shortly after 17:00,[27] and Queen Mary, less than half an hour later.[28] By this time, the German battlecruisers were steaming south to draw the British ships toward the main body of the High Seas Fleet. At 17:30, the crew of the leading German battleship, König, spotted both I Scouting Group and the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron approaching. The German battlecruisers were steaming to starboard, while the British ships steamed to port. At 17:45, Scheer ordered a two-point turn to port to bring his ships closer to the British battlecruisers, and a minute later, the order to open fire was given.[29][e]

While the leading battleships engaged the British battlecruiser squadron, Thüringen and ten other battleships, too far out of range to attack the British battlecruisers, fired on the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. Thüringen and Kronprinz engaged the cruiser Dublin, though both ships failed to score a hit.[30] Thüringen fired for eight minutes at ranges of 18,600 to 20,800 yd (17,000 to 19,000 m), expending twenty-nine 30.5 cm shells.[31] The British destroyers Nestor and Nomad, which had been disabled earlier in the engagement, laid directly in the path of the advancing High Seas Fleet.[32] Thüringen and three other battleships destroyed Nestor with their primary and secondary guns while several III Squadron battleships sank Nomad.[33] Shortly after 19:15, the British dreadnought Warspite came into range; Thüringen opened fire at 19:25 with her main and secondary battery guns, at ranges of 10,600 to 11,800 yd (9,700 to 10,800 m). The ship fired twenty-one 30.5 cm and thirty-seven 15 cm shells in the span of five or six minutes, after which Thüringen's gunners lost sight of Warspite, without scoring any hits. They then shifted fire to Malaya.[34] Thüringen fired twenty main battery rounds at Malaya, also unsuccessfully, over seven minutes at a range of 14,100 yd (12,900 m) before conforming to a 180-degree turn ordered by Scheer to disengage from the British fleet.[35]

At around 23:30, the German fleet reorganized into the night-cruising formation. Thüringen was the seventh ship, stationed toward the front of the 24-ship line.[36] An hour later, the leading units of the German line encountered British light forces and a violent firefight at close range ensued. Sometime around 01:10, the armored cruiser Black Prince stumbled into the German line. Thüringen illuminated the vessel with her spotlights and poured salvos of 30.5 cm rounds into the ship at point-blank range. The first salvo struck near Black Prince's rear gun turret, which appears to have been blown overboard. Thüringen fired a total of ten 30.5 cm, twenty-seven 15 cm, and twenty-four 8.8 cm shells. She was joined by three other battleships, and Black Prince was soon destroyed by a huge ammunition explosion.[37] Around a half an hour later, Thüringen spotted what appeared to be a Birkenhead-class cruiser. She fired a star shell to illuminate the British cruiser and opened fire with her secondary guns. The ship was actually the destroyer Turbulent. Thüringen fired eighteen 15 cm and six 8.8 cm shells before launching another star shell. Turbulent appeared to be capsized to starboard, though she remained afloat and was dispatched later by the cruiser Regensburg and the destroyers V71 and V73.[38]

Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached Horns Reef by 04:00 on 1 June.[39] A few hours later, the fleet arrived in the Jade; Thüringen, Helgoland, Nassau, and Westfalen took up defensive positions in the outer roadstead and four undamaged III Squadron ships anchored just outside the entrance locks to Wilhelmshaven. The remaining eight dreadnoughts entered port, where those that were still in fighting condition restocked ammunition and fuel.[40] In the course of the engagement, Thüringen had fired one-hundred and seven 30.5 cm, one-hundred and fifteen 15 cm, and twenty-two 8.8 cm shells,[41] while she and her crew emerged from the battle unscathed.[1]

Subsequent operations

On 18 August, Admiral Scheer attempted to repeat the 31 May operation. The two serviceable German battlecruisers (Moltke and Von der Tann), supported by three dreadnoughts, would bombard Sunderland in an attempt to draw out and destroy Beatty's battlecruisers.[f] The rest of the fleet, including Thüringen, would trail behind and provide cover. British signals intelligence informed Jellicoe of the German departure later in the day, and he sent the Grand Fleet out to intercept the Germans.[44] On the approach to the English coast during the action of 19 August 1916, Scheer turned north after receiving a false report from a zeppelin about a British unit in the area.[45] As a result, the bombardment was not carried out, and by 14:35 on 19 August, Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet's approach and so turned his forces around and retreated to German ports.[46]

On 25–26 September, Thüringen and the rest of I Squadron covered an advance conducted by the second commander of the torpedo-boat flotillas (II Führer der Torpedoboote) to the Terschelling Bank.[47] Scheer conducted another fleet operation on 18–20 October in the direction of the Dogger Bank, though rudder damage prevented Thüringen from participating.[48] For the majority of 1917, Thüringen was assigned to guard duty in the German Bight. During Operation Albion, the amphibious assault on the Russian-held islands in the Gulf of Riga, Thüringen and her three sisters were moved to the Danish straits to block any possible British attempt to intervene. On 28 October the four ships arrived in Putzig Wiek, and from there steamed to Arensburg on the 29th. On 2 November the operation was completed and Thüringen and her sisters began the voyage back to the North Sea. A final abortive fleet sortie took place on 23–24 April 1918.[47] Thüringen, Ostfriesland, and Nassau were formed into a special unit for Operation Schlußstein, a planned occupation of St. Petersburg. The three ships reached the Baltic on 10 August, but the operation was postponed and eventually canceled.[8] The special unit was dissolved on 21 August and the battleships were back in Wilhelmshaven on the 23rd.[49]

Fate

Thüringen and her three sisters were to have taken part in a final fleet action at the end of October 1918, days before the Armistice was to take effect. The bulk of the High Seas Fleet was to have sortied from their base in Wilhelmshaven to engage the British Grand Fleet; Scheer—by now the Grand Admiral (Großadmiral) of the fleet—intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, to improve Germany's bargaining position, despite the expected casualties. But many of the war-weary sailors felt that the operation would disrupt the peace process and prolong the war.[50] On the morning of 29 October 1918, the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven the following day. Starting on the night of 29 October, sailors on Thüringen and then on several other battleships mutinied.[51] Stokers turned off the boilers and refused to work. The following day, the torpedo boats B110 and B112 came alongside and the U-boat U-135 pointed her guns at the ship. A significant portion of the crew, 314 sailors and 124 stokers, were arrested and taken off the ship. This was not enough to stop the mutiny, which quickly spread throughout the fleet.[48] The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation.[52] Informed of the situation, the Kaiser stated "I no longer have a navy".[53]

Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, was interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow.[52] Thüringen and her three sisters, along with the four Nassau-class battleships, were permitted to remain in Germany during the peace negotiations.[54] On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers, and in their absence Reuter ordered the crews to scuttle the ten battleships and five battlecruisers interned at Scapa Flow.[55] Thüringen was decommissioned on 16 December 1918 and used as a barracks ship while she remained in Germany.[48] She was stricken from the naval register on 5 November 1919 and placed out of commission.[3] The fate of the eight remaining German battleships was determined in the Treaty of Versailles, which stated that the ships were to be disarmed and surrendered to the governments of the principal Allied powers.[56] Thüringen was surrendered to the French Navy on 29 April 1920 under the name "L". A skeleton crew took the ship to Cherbourg for the official transfer.[3] Thüringen was briefly used as a target ship by the French Navy before sinking off Gavres. The ship was partially broken up in situ in 1923–1933, though significant portions of the ship remain off the French coast.[3][48]

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ^ "SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff" (German: His Majesty's Ship).
  2. ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while the L/50 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/50 gun is 50 calibers, meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as its diameter.[4]
  3. ^ German warships were ordered under provisional names. For new additions to the fleet, they were given a single letter; for those ships intended to replace older or lost vessels, they were ordered as "Ersatz (name of the ship to be replaced)".
  4. ^ The Germans were on Central European Time, which is one hour ahead of UTC, the time zone commonly used in British works.
  5. ^ The compass can be divided into 32 points, each corresponding to 11.25 degrees. A two-point turn to port would alter the ships' course by 22.5 degrees.
  6. ^ Derfflinger and Seydlitz had been seriously damaged at the Battle of Jutland, and Lützow had been sunk.[42][43]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e Staff (Volume 1), p. 44.
  2. ^ a b c d Gröner, p. 24.
  3. ^ a b c d e Gröner, p. 25.
  4. ^ Grießmer, p. 177.
  5. ^ Campbell & Sieche, p. 146.
  6. ^ Staff (Volume 1), p. 36.
  7. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 231.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Staff (Volume 1), pp. 43–44.
  9. ^ Staff (Volume 1), p. 8.
  10. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 230.
  11. ^ Staff (Volume 1), p. 11.
  12. ^ Staff (Volume 2), p. 14.
  13. ^ Heyman, p. xix.
  14. ^ Staff (Volume 1), pp. 11, 43.
  15. ^ Garland & Garland, p. 669.
  16. ^ Herwig, pp. 149–150.
  17. ^ Tarrant, pp. 31–33.
  18. ^ Tarrant, p. 38.
  19. ^ Tarrant, p. 43.
  20. ^ Halpern, p. 196.
  21. ^ Halpern, pp. 197–198.
  22. ^ Herwig, p. 161.
  23. ^ Tarrant, p. 50.
  24. ^ Tarrant, p. 53.
  25. ^ Tarrant, p. 54.
  26. ^ Tarrant, p. 286.
  27. ^ Tarrant, pp. 94–95.
  28. ^ Tarrant, pp. 100–101.
  29. ^ Tarrant, p. 110.
  30. ^ Campbell, p. 54.
  31. ^ Campbell, p. 99.
  32. ^ Tarrant, p. 114.
  33. ^ Campbell, p. 101.
  34. ^ Campbell, p. 154.
  35. ^ Campbell, p. 155.
  36. ^ Campbell, p. 275.
  37. ^ Campbell, p. 290.
  38. ^ Campbell, p. 293.
  39. ^ Tarrant, pp. 246–247.
  40. ^ Tarrant, p. 263.
  41. ^ Tarrant, p. 292.
  42. ^ Gröner, pp. 56–57.
  43. ^ Tarrant, p. 277.
  44. ^ Massie, p. 682.
  45. ^ Staff (Volume 2), p. 15.
  46. ^ Massie, p. 683.
  47. ^ a b Staff (Volume 1), pp. 43, 46.
  48. ^ a b c d Staff (Volume 1), p. 46.
  49. ^ Staff (Volume 1), pp. 44, 46.
  50. ^ Tarrant, pp. 280–281.
  51. ^ Tarrant, pp. 281–282.
  52. ^ a b Tarrant, p. 282.
  53. ^ Herwig, p. 252.
  54. ^ Staff (Volume 1), pp. 26–46.
  55. ^ Herwig, p. 256.
  56. ^ Treaty of Versailles Section II: Naval Clauses, Article 185.

References

  • Campbell, John (1998). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-1-55821-759-1.
  • Campbell, N. J. M. & Sieche, Erwin (1986). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 134–189. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5.
  • Garland, Henry B. & Garland, Mary (1986). The Oxford Companion to German Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866139-9.
  • Grießmer, Axel (1999). Die Linienschiffe der Kaiserlichen Marine: 1906–1918; Konstruktionen zwischen Rüstungskonkurrenz und Flottengesetz [The Battleships of the Imperial Navy: 1906–1918; Constructions between Arms Competition and Fleet Laws] (in German). Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7637-5985-9.
  • Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
  • Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7.
  • Herwig, Holger (1998) [1980]. "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Amherst: Humanity Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-286-9.
  • Heyman, Neil M. (1997). World War I. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-29880-6.
  • Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe (Band 7) [The German Warships (Volume 7)] (in German). Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0267-1.
  • Massie, Robert K. (2003). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-40878-5.
  • Staff, Gary (2010). German Battleships: 1914–1918. Vol. 1: Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland Classes. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84603-467-1.
  • Staff, Gary (2010). German Battleships: 1914–1918. Vol. 2: Kaiser, König And Bayern Classes. Oxford: Osprey Books. ISBN 978-1-84603-468-8.
  • Tarrant, V. E. (2001) [1995]. Jutland: The German Perspective, a New View of the Great Battle, 31 May 1916. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-304-35848-9.

Further reading

  • Dodson, Aidan; Cant, Serena (2020). Spoils of War: The Fate of Enemy Fleets after the Two World Wars. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4198-1.

May 04, 2023
thüringen, third, vessel, helgoland, class, dreadnought, battleships, german, imperial, navy, thüringen, keel, laid, november, 1908, weser, dockyard, bremen, launched, november, 1909, commissioned, into, fleet, july, 1911, ship, equipped, with, twelve, guns, t. SMS Thuringen a was the third vessel of the Helgoland class of dreadnought battleships of the German Imperial Navy Thuringen s keel was laid in November 1908 at the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen She was launched on 27 November 1909 and commissioned into the fleet on 1 July 1911 The ship was equipped with twelve 30 5 cm 12 in guns in six twin turrets and had a top speed of 21 knots 39 km h 24 mph Thuringen was assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career including World War I SMS Thuringen probably before the warHistoryGerman EmpireNameThuringenNamesakeThuringiaBuilderAG Weser BremenLaid down2 November 1908Launched27 November 1909Commissioned1 July 1911Decommissioned16 December 1918Stricken5 November 1919FateCeded to France in 1920 later used as target ship and sunk Broken up for scrap 1923 33General characteristicsClass and typeHelgoland class battleshipDisplacementNormal 22 808 t 22 448 long tons Full load 24 700 t 24 300 long tons Length167 20 m 548 ft 7 in Beam28 50 m 93 ft 6 in Draft8 94 m 29 ft 4 in Installed power15 water tube boilers 28 000 PS 28 000 ihp Propulsion3 triple expansion steam engines 3 screw propellersSpeed20 8 knots 38 5 km h 23 9 mph Range5 500 nautical miles 10 190 km 6 330 mi at 10 knots 19 km h 12 mph Complement42 officers 1027 enlistedArmament12 30 5 cm 12 in SK L 50 guns 14 15 cm 5 9 in SK L 45 guns 14 8 8 cm 3 5 in SK L 45 guns 6 50 cm 19 7 in torpedo tubesArmorBelt 300 mm 11 8 in Turrets 300 mm Deck 63 5 mm 2 50 in Along with her three sister ships Helgoland Ostfriesland and Oldenburg Thuringen participated in all of the major fleet operations of World War I in the North Sea against the British Grand Fleet This included the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916 the largest naval battle of the war Thuringen was involved in the heavy night fighting at Jutland including the destruction of the armored cruiser HMS Black Prince 1 The ship also saw action against the Imperial Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea where she participated in the unsuccessful first incursion into the Gulf of Riga in August 1915 After the German collapse in November 1918 most of the High Seas Fleet was interned in Scapa Flow during the peace negotiations The four Helgoland class ships were allowed to remain in Germany and were therefore spared the destruction of the fleet in Scapa Flow Thuringen and her sisters were eventually ceded to the victorious Allied powers as war reparations Thuringen was transferred to France in April 1920 and used as a target ship for the French Navy She was sunk off Gavres and broken up in situ in 1923 1933 though some sections of the ship remain Contents 1 Design 2 Service history 2 1 World War I 2 1 1 Battle of Jutland 2 1 2 Subsequent operations 2 2 Fate 3 Notes 3 1 Footnotes 3 2 Citations 4 References 5 Further readingDesign EditMain article Helgoland class battleship Line drawing of the Helgoland class The ship was 167 2 m 548 ft 7 in long overall had a beam of 28 5 m 93 ft 6 in and a draft of 8 94 m 29 ft 4 in and displaced 24 700 metric tons 24 310 long tons at full load She was powered by three triple expansion steam engines and fifteen water tube boilers The engines were rated at 27 617 ihp 20 594 kW and were capable of producing a top speed of 21 knots 39 km h 24 mph Thuringen stored up to 3 200 metric tons 3 100 long tons of coal which allowed her to steam for 5 500 nautical miles 10 200 km 6 300 mi at a speed of 10 knots 19 km h 12 mph After 1915 the boilers were modified to spray oil on the coal to increase its burn rate the ship could carry up to 197 metric tons 194 long tons of fuel oil 2 She had a crew of 42 officers and 1 071 enlisted men 3 Thuringen was armed with a main battery of twelve 30 5 cm 12 in SK L 50 b guns in six twin gun turrets with one turret fore one aft and two on each flank of the ship 5 The ship s secondary battery consisted of fourteen 15 cm 5 9 in SK L 45 guns all of which were mounted in casemates in the side of the upper deck For defense against torpedo boats she carried fourteen 8 8 cm 3 5 in SK L 45 guns 2 After 1914 two of the 8 8 cm guns were removed and replaced by 8 8 cm anti aircraft guns Thuringen was also armed with six 50 cm 19 7 in submerged torpedo tubes one was in the bow one in the stern and two on each broadside Her main armored belt was 300 mm 11 8 in thick in the central citadel and was composed of Krupp cemented armor KCA Her main battery gun turrets were protected by the same thickness of KCA on the sides and faces as well as the barbettes that supported the turrets Thuringen s deck was 63 5 mm 2 5 in thick 2 Service history EditThuringen was ordered by the German Imperial Navy Kaiserliche Marine under the provisional name Ersatz Beowulf c as a replacement for the old coastal defense ship Beowulf The contract for the ship was awarded to the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen under construction number 166 2 Work began on 2 November 1908 with the laying of her keel and the ship was launched a year later on 27 November 1909 6 She was christened by Duchess Adelheid von Sachsen Altenburg and Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst gave the speech 7 Fitting out including completion of the superstructure and the installation of armament lasted until June 1911 Following her completion six pontoon barges were attached to the new battleship to reduce her draft to allow her to be towed down the Weser River to the North Sea 1 Thuringen named for Thuringia a state in central Germany was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 1 June 1911 less than three years after work commenced 3 After her commissioning on 1 July 1911 Thuringen conducted sea trials which were completed by 10 September On 19 September she was assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet alongside her sisters 1 She then went on to conduct individual ship training exercises which were followed by I Squadron exercises and then fleet maneuvers in November 8 The annual summer cruise in July and August which typically went to Norway was interrupted by the Agadir Crisis As a result the cruise only went into the Baltic 9 Thuringen and the rest of the fleet then fell into a pattern of individual ship squadron and full fleet exercises over the next two years 1 In October 1913 William Michaelis became the ship s commanding officer he held the post until February 1915 10 On 14 July 1914 the annual summer cruise to Norway began 11 During the last peacetime cruise of the Imperial Navy the fleet conducted drills off Skagen before proceeding to the Norwegian fjords on 25 July The following day the fleet began to steam back to Germany as a result of Austria Hungary s ultimatum to Serbia On 27 July the entire fleet assembled off Cape Skudenes before returning to port where they remained at a heightened state of readiness 12 War between Austria Hungary and Serbia broke out the following day and within a week all the major European powers had joined the conflict 13 By 29 July Thuringen and the rest of I Squadron were back in Wilhelmshaven 14 During the first year of the war the future anti Nazi Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller served aboard the ship as an officer 15 World War I Edit The High Seas Fleet s disposition on the morning of 16 December 1914 during the raid on Scarborough Hartlepool and Whitby Thuringen was present during the first sortie by the German fleet into the North Sea which took place on 2 3 November 1914 No British forces were encountered during the operation A second operation followed on 15 16 December 8 This sortie was the initiation of a strategy adopted by Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl the commander of the High Seas Fleet Admiral von Ingenohl intended to use the battlecruisers of Konteradmiral Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper s I Scouting Group to raid British coastal towns to lure out portions of the Grand Fleet where they could be destroyed by the High Seas Fleet 16 Early on 15 December the fleet left port to raid the towns of Scarborough Hartlepool and Whitby on the English coast That evening the German battle fleet of some twelve dreadnoughts including Thuringen and her three sisters and eight pre dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi 19 km 12 mi of an isolated squadron of six British battleships Skirmishes between the rival destroyer screens in the darkness convinced von Ingenohl that he was faced with the entire Grand Fleet Under orders from Kaiser Wilhelm II to avoid risking the fleet unnecessarily von Ingenohl broke off the engagement and turned the battle fleet back toward Germany 17 The Battle of Dogger Bank in which Vice Admiral David Beatty s 1st and 2nd Battlecruiser Squadrons ambushed the I Scouting Group battlecruisers occurred on 24 January 1915 18 Thuringen and the rest of I Squadron were sortied to reinforce the outnumbered German battlecruisers I Squadron left port at 12 33 CET d along with the pre dreadnoughts of II Squadron The High Seas Fleet was too late so it failed to locate any British forces By 19 05 the fleet had returned to the Schillig Roads outside Wilhelmshaven 8 In the meantime the armored cruiser Blucher had been overwhelmed by concentrated British fire and sunk while the battlecruiser Seydlitz was severely damaged by an ammunition fire As a result Wilhelm II removed von Ingenohl from his post and replaced him with Admiral Hugo von Pohl on 2 February 19 Recognition drawing of a Helgoland class battleship The eight I Squadron ships went into the Baltic on 22 February 1915 for unit training which lasted until 13 March Following their return to the North Sea the ships participated in a series of uneventful fleet sorties on 29 30 March 17 18 April 21 22 April 17 18 May and 29 30 May Thuringen and the rest of the fleet then remained in port until 4 August when I Squadron returned to the Baltic for another round of training maneuvers From there the squadron was attached to the naval force that attempted to sweep the Gulf of Riga of Russian naval forces in August 1915 8 The assault force included the eight I Squadron battleships the battlecruisers Von der Tann Moltke and Seydlitz several light cruisers 32 destroyers and 13 minesweepers The plan called for channels to be swept in Russian minefields so that the Russian naval presence which included the pre dreadnought Slava could be eliminated The Germans would then lay minefields of their own to prevent Russian ships from returning to the Gulf 20 Thuringen and the majority of the other big ships of the High Seas Fleet remained outside the Gulf for the entirety of the operation The dreadnoughts Nassau and Posen were detached on 16 August to escort the minesweepers and to destroy Slava though they failed to sink the old battleship After three days the Russian minefields had been cleared and the flotilla entered the Gulf on 19 August reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted a German withdrawal from the Gulf the following day 21 By 26 August I Squadron had returned to Wilhelmshaven 8 On 23 24 October the High Seas Fleet undertook its last major offensive operation under the command of von Pohl though it ended without contact with British forces 8 By January 1916 hepatic cancer had weakened von Pohl to the point where he was no longer able to carry out his duties and he was replaced by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer in January 22 Scheer proposed a more aggressive policy designed to force a confrontation with the British Grand Fleet he received approval from the Kaiser in February 23 Scheer s first operation was a sweep into the North Sea on 5 7 March followed by two more on 21 22 March and 25 26 March 8 During Scheer s next operation Thuringen supported a raid on the English coast on 24 April 1916 conducted by the German battlecruiser force The battlecruisers left the Jade Estuary at 10 55 and the rest of the High Seas Fleet followed at 13 40 The battlecruiser Seydlitz struck a mine while en route to the target and had to withdraw 24 The other battlecruisers bombarded the town of Lowestoft unopposed but during the approach to Yarmouth they encountered the British cruisers of the Harwich Force A short gun duel ensued before the Harwich Force withdrew Reports of British submarines in the area prompted the retreat of I Scouting Group At this point Scheer who had been warned of the sortie of the Grand Fleet from its base in Scapa Flow also withdrew to safer German waters 25 Battle of Jutland Edit Main article Battle of Jutland Maps showing the maneuvers of the British blue and German red fleets on 31 May 1 June 1916 Thuringen was present during the fleet operation that resulted in the battle of Jutland which took place on 31 May and 1 June 1916 The German fleet again sought to draw out and isolate a portion of the Grand Fleet and destroy it before the main British fleet could retaliate During the operation Thuringen was the second ship in I Division of I Squadron and the tenth ship in the line directly astern of the squadron flagship Ostfriesland and ahead of another sister Helgoland I Squadron was the center of the German line behind the eight Konig and Kaiser class battleships of III Squadron The six elderly pre dreadnoughts of III and IV Divisions II Battle Squadron formed the rear of the formation 26 Shortly before 16 00 the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group encountered the British 1st Battlecruiser Squadron under the command of David Beatty The opposing ships began an artillery duel that saw the destruction of Indefatigable shortly after 17 00 27 and Queen Mary less than half an hour later 28 By this time the German battlecruisers were steaming south to draw the British ships toward the main body of the High Seas Fleet At 17 30 the crew of the leading German battleship Konig spotted both I Scouting Group and the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron approaching The German battlecruisers were steaming to starboard while the British ships steamed to port At 17 45 Scheer ordered a two point turn to port to bring his ships closer to the British battlecruisers and a minute later the order to open fire was given 29 e While the leading battleships engaged the British battlecruiser squadron Thuringen and ten other battleships too far out of range to attack the British battlecruisers fired on the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron Thuringen and Kronprinz engaged the cruiser Dublin though both ships failed to score a hit 30 Thuringen fired for eight minutes at ranges of 18 600 to 20 800 yd 17 000 to 19 000 m expending twenty nine 30 5 cm shells 31 The British destroyers Nestor and Nomad which had been disabled earlier in the engagement laid directly in the path of the advancing High Seas Fleet 32 Thuringen and three other battleships destroyed Nestor with their primary and secondary guns while several III Squadron battleships sank Nomad 33 Shortly after 19 15 the British dreadnought Warspite came into range Thuringen opened fire at 19 25 with her main and secondary battery guns at ranges of 10 600 to 11 800 yd 9 700 to 10 800 m The ship fired twenty one 30 5 cm and thirty seven 15 cm shells in the span of five or six minutes after which Thuringen s gunners lost sight of Warspite without scoring any hits They then shifted fire to Malaya 34 Thuringen fired twenty main battery rounds at Malaya also unsuccessfully over seven minutes at a range of 14 100 yd 12 900 m before conforming to a 180 degree turn ordered by Scheer to disengage from the British fleet 35 At around 23 30 the German fleet reorganized into the night cruising formation Thuringen was the seventh ship stationed toward the front of the 24 ship line 36 An hour later the leading units of the German line encountered British light forces and a violent firefight at close range ensued Sometime around 01 10 the armored cruiser Black Prince stumbled into the German line Thuringen illuminated the vessel with her spotlights and poured salvos of 30 5 cm rounds into the ship at point blank range The first salvo struck near Black Prince s rear gun turret which appears to have been blown overboard Thuringen fired a total of ten 30 5 cm twenty seven 15 cm and twenty four 8 8 cm shells She was joined by three other battleships and Black Prince was soon destroyed by a huge ammunition explosion 37 Around a half an hour later Thuringen spotted what appeared to be a Birkenhead class cruiser She fired a star shell to illuminate the British cruiser and opened fire with her secondary guns The ship was actually the destroyer Turbulent Thuringen fired eighteen 15 cm and six 8 8 cm shells before launching another star shell Turbulent appeared to be capsized to starboard though she remained afloat and was dispatched later by the cruiser Regensburg and the destroyers V71 and V73 38 Despite the ferocity of the night fighting the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached Horns Reef by 04 00 on 1 June 39 A few hours later the fleet arrived in the Jade Thuringen Helgoland Nassau and Westfalen took up defensive positions in the outer roadstead and four undamaged III Squadron ships anchored just outside the entrance locks to Wilhelmshaven The remaining eight dreadnoughts entered port where those that were still in fighting condition restocked ammunition and fuel 40 In the course of the engagement Thuringen had fired one hundred and seven 30 5 cm one hundred and fifteen 15 cm and twenty two 8 8 cm shells 41 while she and her crew emerged from the battle unscathed 1 Subsequent operations Edit On 18 August Admiral Scheer attempted to repeat the 31 May operation The two serviceable German battlecruisers Moltke and Von der Tann supported by three dreadnoughts would bombard Sunderland in an attempt to draw out and destroy Beatty s battlecruisers f The rest of the fleet including Thuringen would trail behind and provide cover British signals intelligence informed Jellicoe of the German departure later in the day and he sent the Grand Fleet out to intercept the Germans 44 On the approach to the English coast during the action of 19 August 1916 Scheer turned north after receiving a false report from a zeppelin about a British unit in the area 45 As a result the bombardment was not carried out and by 14 35 on 19 August Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet s approach and so turned his forces around and retreated to German ports 46 On 25 26 September Thuringen and the rest of I Squadron covered an advance conducted by the second commander of the torpedo boat flotillas II Fuhrer der Torpedoboote to the Terschelling Bank 47 Scheer conducted another fleet operation on 18 20 October in the direction of the Dogger Bank though rudder damage prevented Thuringen from participating 48 For the majority of 1917 Thuringen was assigned to guard duty in the German Bight During Operation Albion the amphibious assault on the Russian held islands in the Gulf of Riga Thuringen and her three sisters were moved to the Danish straits to block any possible British attempt to intervene On 28 October the four ships arrived in Putzig Wiek and from there steamed to Arensburg on the 29th On 2 November the operation was completed and Thuringen and her sisters began the voyage back to the North Sea A final abortive fleet sortie took place on 23 24 April 1918 47 Thuringen Ostfriesland and Nassau were formed into a special unit for Operation Schlussstein a planned occupation of St Petersburg The three ships reached the Baltic on 10 August but the operation was postponed and eventually canceled 8 The special unit was dissolved on 21 August and the battleships were back in Wilhelmshaven on the 23rd 49 Fate Edit Thuringen and her three sisters were to have taken part in a final fleet action at the end of October 1918 days before the Armistice was to take effect The bulk of the High Seas Fleet was to have sortied from their base in Wilhelmshaven to engage the British Grand Fleet Scheer by now the Grand Admiral Grossadmiral of the fleet intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy to improve Germany s bargaining position despite the expected casualties But many of the war weary sailors felt that the operation would disrupt the peace process and prolong the war 50 On the morning of 29 October 1918 the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven the following day Starting on the night of 29 October sailors on Thuringen and then on several other battleships mutinied 51 Stokers turned off the boilers and refused to work The following day the torpedo boats B110 and B112 came alongside and the U boat U 135 pointed her guns at the ship A significant portion of the crew 314 sailors and 124 stokers were arrested and taken off the ship This was not enough to stop the mutiny which quickly spread throughout the fleet 48 The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation 52 Informed of the situation the Kaiser stated I no longer have a navy 53 Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918 most of the High Seas Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter was interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow 52 Thuringen and her three sisters along with the four Nassau class battleships were permitted to remain in Germany during the peace negotiations 54 On the morning of 21 June the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers and in their absence Reuter ordered the crews to scuttle the ten battleships and five battlecruisers interned at Scapa Flow 55 Thuringen was decommissioned on 16 December 1918 and used as a barracks ship while she remained in Germany 48 She was stricken from the naval register on 5 November 1919 and placed out of commission 3 The fate of the eight remaining German battleships was determined in the Treaty of Versailles which stated that the ships were to be disarmed and surrendered to the governments of the principal Allied powers 56 Thuringen was surrendered to the French Navy on 29 April 1920 under the name L A skeleton crew took the ship to Cherbourg for the official transfer 3 Thuringen was briefly used as a target ship by the French Navy before sinking off Gavres The ship was partially broken up in situ in 1923 1933 though significant portions of the ship remain off the French coast 3 48 Notes Edit Battleships portalFootnotes Edit SMS stands for Seiner Majestat Schiff German His Majesty s Ship In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature SK Schnelladekanone denotes that the gun is quick firing while the L 50 denotes the length of the gun In this case the L 50 gun is 50 calibers meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as its diameter 4 German warships were ordered under provisional names For new additions to the fleet they were given a single letter for those ships intended to replace older or lost vessels they were ordered as Ersatz name of the ship to be replaced The Germans were on Central European Time which is one hour ahead of UTC the time zone commonly used in British works The compass can be divided into 32 points each corresponding to 11 25 degrees A two point turn to port would alter the ships course by 22 5 degrees Derfflinger and Seydlitz had been seriously damaged at the Battle of Jutland and Lutzow had been sunk 42 43 Citations Edit a b c d e Staff Volume 1 p 44 a b c d Groner p 24 a b c d e Groner p 25 Griessmer p 177 Campbell amp Sieche p 146 Staff Volume 1 p 36 Hildebrand Rohr amp Steinmetz p 231 a b c d e f g h Staff Volume 1 pp 43 44 Staff Volume 1 p 8 Hildebrand Rohr amp Steinmetz p 230 Staff Volume 1 p 11 Staff Volume 2 p 14 Heyman p xix Staff Volume 1 pp 11 43 Garland amp Garland p 669 Herwig pp 149 150 Tarrant pp 31 33 Tarrant p 38 Tarrant p 43 Halpern p 196 Halpern pp 197 198 Herwig p 161 Tarrant p 50 Tarrant p 53 Tarrant p 54 Tarrant p 286 Tarrant pp 94 95 Tarrant pp 100 101 Tarrant p 110 Campbell p 54 Campbell p 99 Tarrant p 114 Campbell p 101 Campbell p 154 Campbell p 155 Campbell p 275 Campbell p 290 Campbell p 293 Tarrant pp 246 247 Tarrant p 263 Tarrant p 292 Groner pp 56 57 Tarrant p 277 Massie p 682 Staff Volume 2 p 15 Massie p 683 a b Staff Volume 1 pp 43 46 a b c d Staff Volume 1 p 46 Staff Volume 1 pp 44 46 Tarrant pp 280 281 Tarrant pp 281 282 a b Tarrant p 282 Herwig p 252 Staff Volume 1 pp 26 46 Herwig p 256 Treaty of Versailles Section II Naval Clauses Article 185 References EditCampbell John 1998 Jutland An Analysis of the Fighting London Conway Maritime Press ISBN 978 1 55821 759 1 Campbell N J M amp Sieche Erwin 1986 Germany In Gardiner Robert amp Gray Randal eds Conway s All the World s Fighting Ships 1906 1921 London Conway Maritime Press pp 134 189 ISBN 978 0 85177 245 5 Garland Henry B amp Garland Mary 1986 The Oxford Companion to German Literature Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 866139 9 Griessmer Axel 1999 Die Linienschiffe der Kaiserlichen Marine 1906 1918 Konstruktionen zwischen Rustungskonkurrenz und Flottengesetz The Battleships of the Imperial Navy 1906 1918 Constructions between Arms Competition and Fleet Laws in German Bonn Bernard amp Graefe Verlag ISBN 978 3 7637 5985 9 Groner Erich 1990 German Warships 1815 1945 Vol I Major Surface Vessels Annapolis Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 0 87021 790 6 Halpern Paul G 1995 A Naval History of World War I Annapolis Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 1 55750 352 7 Herwig Holger 1998 1980 Luxury Fleet The Imperial German Navy 1888 1918 Amherst Humanity Books ISBN 978 1 57392 286 9 Heyman Neil M 1997 World War I Westport Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 29880 6 Hildebrand Hans H Rohr Albert amp Steinmetz Hans Otto 1993 Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe Band 7 The German Warships Volume 7 in German Ratingen Mundus Verlag ISBN 978 3 7822 0267 1 Massie Robert K 2003 Castles of Steel Britain Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea New York Ballantine Books ISBN 978 0 345 40878 5 Staff Gary 2010 German Battleships 1914 1918 Vol 1 Deutschland Nassau and Helgoland Classes Oxford Osprey Books ISBN 978 1 84603 467 1 Staff Gary 2010 German Battleships 1914 1918 Vol 2 Kaiser Konig And Bayern Classes Oxford Osprey Books ISBN 978 1 84603 468 8 Tarrant V E 2001 1995 Jutland The German Perspective a New View of the Great Battle 31 May 1916 London Cassell Military Paperbacks ISBN 978 0 304 35848 9 Further reading EditDodson Aidan Cant Serena 2020 Spoils of War The Fate of Enemy Fleets after the Two World Wars Barnsley Seaforth Publishing ISBN 978 1 5267 4198 1 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title SMS Thuringen amp oldid 1137241751, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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