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SMS Fürst Bismarck (1896)
Encyclopedia
SMS Fürst Bismarck"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German. was Germany's first armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
, built for the Kaiserliche Marine
Kaiserliche Marine
The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
before the turn of the 20th century. She was named for the German statesman Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
. The design for the Fürst Bismarck was an improvement over the previous Victoria Louise-class
Victoria Louise class protected cruiser
The Victoria Louise class of protected cruisers was Germany's last class of ships of that type. They were designed for overseas cruiser duties. The class design introduced the clipper bow and blocky sides that typified later German armored cruisers....
protected cruiser
Protected cruiser
The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...
—Fürst Bismarck was significantly larger and better armed than her predecessors.
The ship was primarily intended for colonial duties, and she served in this capacity as part of the East Asia Squadron
German East Asia Squadron
The German East Asia Squadron was a German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the 1870s and 1914...
until she was relieved in 1909, at which point she returned to Germany. The ship was rebuilt between 1910 and 1914, and after the start of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, she was briefly used as a coastal defense ship. She proved inadequate to this task, and so she was withdrawn from active duty and served as a training ship for engineers until the end of the war. Fürst Bismarck was decommissioned in 1919 and sold for scrap.
Design
Fürst Bismarck was designed before the naval arms race between Germany and the United Kingdom had gotten under way. Admiral Hollmann was the State Secretary of the Naval Office at the time. Given the dominance of the British Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and the impossibility, as he saw it, of competing with it, Hollmann envisaged a small fleet consisting of torpedo boats and coastal defense ships to be based in German waters. This would be supplemented by a number of cruisers for overseas duties, including trade protection.
The first armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
to be designed by the German navy, Fürst Bismarck was an enlarged version of the s, at nearly twice the displacement and with a significantly more powerful armament. The ship was intended for overseas use, particularly in support of German colonies in Asia and the Pacific. Despite heavy political opposition, the new ship was approved by the Reichstag, and was laid down as Ersatz Leipzig in April 1896 at the Imperial Dockyard
Kaiserliche Werft Kiel
Kaiserliche Werft Kiel was a German shipbuilding company founded in 1867, first as Königliche Werft Kiel but renamed in 1871 with the proclamation of the German Empire...
in Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
. Fürst Bismarck, named after the famous German chancellor Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
, was completed on 1 April 1900, at a cost of 18,945,000 Marks
German gold mark
The Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...
.
Dimensions
Fürst Bismarck was 125.7 m (412.4 ft) at the waterline, with an overall length of 127 m (416.7 ft) and a beam of 20.4 m (66.9 ft). She had a draft of 7.8 m (25.6 ft) forward and 8.46 m (27.8 ft) aft. She displaced 10,690 metric tons at the designed load, and 11,461 tons at full load. Fürst Bismarck was described as being a very good sea-boat, and was highly responsive to commands from the helm. However, the ship suffered from serious roll problems and heavy vibration at higher speeds. Her metacentric heightMetacentric height
The metacentric height is a measurement of the static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre . A larger metacentric height implies greater stability against overturning...
was .72 m.
The ship was of transverse and longitudinal steel frame construction; the hull was a single layer of wooden planks covered by a Muntz metal
Muntz metal
Muntz metal is a form of alpha-beta brass with about 60% copper, 40% zinc and a trace of iron. It is named after George Fredrick Muntz, a metal-roller of Birmingham, England who commercialised the alloy following his patent of 1832....
sheath that extended up to 0.95 m (3.1 ft) above the waterline. The lower portions of the ship, including the stem and the stern, were covered with bronze plating. The ship had 13 watertight compartments and a double bottom
Double bottom
A double bottom is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom of the ship has two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is somewhat higher in the ship, perhaps a few feet, which forms a...
that ran for 59% of the length of the hull.
Machinery
Fürst Bismarck was propelled by three vertical four-cylinder, triple-expansion reciprocating engines. The engines were powered by four Thornycroft boilers—which had been built by AG Germania—and 8 cylindrical boilers. The Thornycroft boilers had two fire boxes apiece, for a total of eight, while the cylindrical boilers each had four fire boxes, for a total of 32. Each of the three engines drove a three-bladed screw. The center propeller was 4.4 m (14.4 ft) in diameter, while the two outer screws were slightly larger, at 4.8 m (15.7 ft) in diameter. The engines produced 13500 ihp and a top speed of 18.7 knots (36.6 km/h). On trials, the engines were pushed to 13622 ihp, but still only provided a top speed of 18.7 knots (36.6 km/h). Electrical power was supplied by five generators that provided 325 kilowatts at 110 volts.Armor
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
had 20 cm-thick sides and a 4 cm (1.6 in) thick roof, while the aft conning tower had 10 cm sides and a 3 cm roof. The main battery turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
sides were 20 cm thick and the roofs were 4 cm thick. The 15 cm turrets had 10 cm sides and 7 cm (2.8 in) gun shields. The casemate
Casemate
A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...
d guns had 10 cm shields.
By contrast, the following armored cruiser design, , had only had a 10 cm-thick armor belt and 15 cm (5.9 in) of armor on the turret sides. Even , Germany's last armored cruiser, only had a 18 cm (7.1 in) armored belt and 18 cm-thick turret faces, though her overall scale of protection was much more comprehensive than Fürst Bismarck's.
Armament
Fürst Bismarck's main armament consisted of four 24 cm (9.4 in) SK L/40 quick-firing gunsIn Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnellfeuerkanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while the L/40 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/40 gun is 40 calibers, meaning that the gun is 40 as times long as it is in diameter. in two Drh. L. C/98 twin turrets, fore and aft of the main superstructureSuperstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
. These guns could depress to −4 degrees and elevate to 30 degrees, for a maximum range of 16900 m (18,482 yd). The guns fired 140 kg (309 lb) armor piercing shells at a muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 690 metres per second (2,263.8 ft/s). The propellant
Propellant
A propellant is a material that produces pressurized gas that:* can be directed through a nozzle, thereby producing thrust ;...
charge weighed 41.35 kg (91 lb) and was stored in a brass case. The ship stored 312 rounds, for a total of 78 shells per gun.
The secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (6 in) SK L/40 quick-firing guns in MPL type casemates, and ten 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns in a combination of casemates and shielded mounts. The 15 cm guns could elevate to 20 degrees, and had a range of 13700 m (14,983 yd). The 15 cm guns could sustain a rate of fire
Rate of fire
Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. It is usually measured in rounds per minute , or per second .-Overview:...
of 4 to 5 rounds per minute, and stored 120 shells per gun. The 8.8 cm gun fired a 10 kg (22 lb) projectile at a muzzle velocity of 590 m/s (1,935.7 ft/s). Each gun was supplied with 250 shells.
Six 17.7 in (450 mm) torpedo tubes were also fitted, with a total of 16 torpedoes. One tube was fitted to a swivel mount on the stern of the ship, four were submerged on the broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
, and the sixth was placed in the bow, also submerged.
Service history
German East Asia Squadron
The German East Asia Squadron was a German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the 1870s and 1914...
. She arrived at Tsingtao in August 1900, under the command of Conter Admiral (Rear Admiral) Curt von Prittwitz und Gaffron, and participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
. The ship won the Kaiser's gold challenge cup for heavy-gun marksmanship in 1901 and 1903. When the new armored cruiser arrived at Tsingtao in 1909 to replace Fürst Bismarck as flagship of the East Asia Squadron, she was ordered back to Germany. Upon arriving in Kiel in June 1909, she was decommissioned and entered a lengthy modernization that lasted until 1914.
At the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the ship was reactivated for coast defense duties, but was quickly withdrawn from active service. Fürst Bismarck spent the remainder of the war as a stationary accommodation and engineering training ship in Kiel. In 1919, she was used for a short time as an office ship. Fürst Bismarck was struck from the navy register on 17 June 1919, sold for scrap, and broken up the following year at Audorf-Rendsburg.