SMS Mecklenburg
Encyclopedia
SMS Mecklenburg ("His Majesty's Ship Mecklenburg
") was fifth ship of the Wittelsbach-class
of pre-dreadnought
battleship
s of the German Imperial Navy
. Laid down in 1899 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, she was finished in May 1903. Her sisters were , , , and ; they were the first capital ships built under the Navy Law of 1898, brought about by Admiral
Alfred von Tirpitz
.
Mecklenburg spent the first period of her active duty career in the I Squadron of the German fleet. After the start of World War I
in August 1914, the ship was mobilized with her sisters as the IV Battle Squadron. She saw limited duty in the Baltic Sea against Russian forces, though the threat from British submarines forced the ship to withdraw in 1916. For the remainder of her career, Mecklenburg served as a prison ship and as a barracks ship based in Kiel
. The ship was stricken from the navy list in January 1920 and sold for scrapping in the following year
in Danzig, under construction number 676. She was ordered under the contract name "D", as a new unit for the fleet. The vessel was a member of the first class of battleships built under the direction of State Secretary Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
, according to the terms of the Navy Law of 1898. Mecklenburg was launched on 9 November 1901, the last ship of her class to be launched. Fitting out work proceeded faster on Mecklenburg than on her sister , and so the former was commissioned first, on 25 May 1903, a full year before Schwaben. The ship's cost totaled 22,329,000 marks
.
The ship was 126.8 m (416 ft) long overall and had a beam
of 22.8 m (74.8 ft) and a draft
of 7.95 m (26.1 ft) forward. The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that drove three screws. Steam was provided by six naval and six cylindrical coal-fired boilers. Mecklenburgs powerplant was rated at 14000 ihp, which gave her a top speed of 18 knots (9.8 m/s).
Mecklenburgs armament consisted of a main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) SK L/40 guns in twin gun turret
s,In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnellfeuerkanone) denotes that the gun 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. one fore and one aft of the central superstructure
. Her secondary armament consisted of eighteen 15 cm (5.9 inch) SK L/40 guns and twelve 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns. The armament system was rounded out with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, all in above-water swivel mounts.
s and six protected cruiser
s. In 1909, Mecklenburg and the newer battleship won the annual Kaiser's Prize for accurate shooting. Mecklenburg had by this time been transferred to the I Division of the I Squadron. The latest s had entered service, which provided enough ships to increase the size of the fleet to four divisions of four vessels each.
After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Mecklenburg and the rest of her class were mobilized to serve in the IV Battle Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt. Starting on 3 September, the IV Squadron, assisted by the armored cruiser
, conducted a sweep into the Baltic. The operation lasted until 9 September and failed to bring Russian naval units to battle. In May 1915, IV Squadron, including Mecklenburg, was transferred to support the German Army in the Baltic Sea area. Mecklenburg and her sisters were then based in Kiel
.
On 6 May, the IV Squadron ships were tasked with providing support to the assault on Libau
. Mecklenburg and the other ships stood off Gotland
in order to intercept any Russian cruisers that might try to intervene in the landings, which the Russians did not attempt. On 10 May, after the invasion force had entered Libau, the British submarines and spotted the IV Squadron, but were too far away to make an attack. Mecklenburg and her sisters were not included in the German fleet that assaulted the Gulf of Riga
in August 1915, due to the scarcity of escorts. The increasingly active British submarines forced the Germans to employ more destroyers to protect the capital ships.
By 1916, the increasing threat from British submarines in the Baltic convinced the German navy to withdraw the elderly Wittelsbach class ships from active service. She and her sisters were subsequently disarmed and used in secondary roles. Mecklenburg was initially based in Kiel and used as a floating prison. In 1918, she became a barracks ship for U-boat
crews stationed in Kiel. The ship was briefly retained after the German defeat at the end of World War I, but on 25 January 1920, Mecklenburg was stricken from the naval register. She was sold to Deutsche-Werke, a ship-breaking firm based in Kiel, on 16 August 1921 for 1,750,000 Marks. The ship was broken up for scrap metal that year in Kiel-Nordmole.
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
") was fifth ship of the Wittelsbach-class
Wittelsbach class battleship
The Wittelsbach-class battleships were a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the German Kaiserliche Marine . They were the first battleships produced under the Navy Law of 1898. The class was composed of the lead ship, , , , and . All five ships were laid down between 1899 and 1900, and...
of pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...
battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s of the German Imperial Navy
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...
. Laid down in 1899 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, she was finished in May 1903. Her sisters were , , , and ; they were the first capital ships built under the Navy Law of 1898, brought about by Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz was a German Admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871...
.
Mecklenburg spent the first period of her active duty career in the I Squadron of the German fleet. 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...
in August 1914, the ship was mobilized with her sisters as the IV Battle Squadron. She saw limited duty in the Baltic Sea against Russian forces, though the threat from British submarines forced the ship to withdraw in 1916. For the remainder of her career, Mecklenburg served as a prison ship and as a barracks ship based 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...
. The ship was stricken from the navy list in January 1920 and sold for scrapping in the following year
Construction
Mecklenburgs keel was laid in 1899, at the Schichau-WerkeSchichau-Werke
The Schichau-Werke was a German engineering works and shipyard based in Elbing, formerly part of the German Empire, and which is today the town of Elbląg in northern Poland. It also had a subsidiary shipyard in Danzig .-Early years:...
in Danzig, under construction number 676. She was ordered under the contract name "D", as a new unit for the fleet. The vessel was a member of the first class of battleships built under the direction of State Secretary Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz was a German Admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871...
, according to the terms of the Navy Law of 1898. Mecklenburg was launched on 9 November 1901, the last ship of her class to be launched. Fitting out work proceeded faster on Mecklenburg than on her sister , and so the former was commissioned first, on 25 May 1903, a full year before Schwaben. The ship's cost totaled 22,329,000 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...
.
The ship was 126.8 m (416 ft) long overall and had a beam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 22.8 m (74.8 ft) and a draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
of 7.95 m (26.1 ft) forward. The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that drove three screws. Steam was provided by six naval and six cylindrical coal-fired boilers. Mecklenburgs powerplant was rated at 14000 ihp, which gave her a top speed of 18 knots (9.8 m/s).
Mecklenburgs armament consisted of a main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) SK L/40 guns in twin gun 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...
s,In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnellfeuerkanone) denotes that the gun 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. one fore and one aft of the central superstructure
Superstructure
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...
. Her secondary armament consisted of eighteen 15 cm (5.9 inch) SK L/40 guns and twelve 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns. The armament system was rounded out with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, all in above-water swivel mounts.
Service history
Following her commissioning in 1903, Mecklenburg was assigned to the II Division of the I Squadron, alongside the battleships and . By 1905, the German Navy had been increased to four squadrons of three battleships each, with two squadrons per division. This was supported by a cruiser division, composed of two armored cruiserArmored 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...
s and six 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...
s. In 1909, Mecklenburg and the newer battleship won the annual Kaiser's Prize for accurate shooting. Mecklenburg had by this time been transferred to the I Division of the I Squadron. The latest s had entered service, which provided enough ships to increase the size of the fleet to four divisions of four vessels each.
After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Mecklenburg and the rest of her class were mobilized to serve in the IV Battle Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt. Starting on 3 September, the IV Squadron, assisted by the 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...
, conducted a sweep into the Baltic. The operation lasted until 9 September and failed to bring Russian naval units to battle. In May 1915, IV Squadron, including Mecklenburg, was transferred to support the German Army in the Baltic Sea area. Mecklenburg and her sisters were then based 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...
.
On 6 May, the IV Squadron ships were tasked with providing support to the assault on Libau
Liepaja
Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...
. Mecklenburg and the other ships stood off Gotland
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
in order to intercept any Russian cruisers that might try to intervene in the landings, which the Russians did not attempt. On 10 May, after the invasion force had entered Libau, the British submarines and spotted the IV Squadron, but were too far away to make an attack. Mecklenburg and her sisters were not included in the German fleet that assaulted the Gulf of Riga
Battle of the Gulf of Riga
The Battle of the Gulf of Riga was a World War I naval operation of the German High Seas Fleet against the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea in August 1915...
in August 1915, due to the scarcity of escorts. The increasingly active British submarines forced the Germans to employ more destroyers to protect the capital ships.
By 1916, the increasing threat from British submarines in the Baltic convinced the German navy to withdraw the elderly Wittelsbach class ships from active service. She and her sisters were subsequently disarmed and used in secondary roles. Mecklenburg was initially based in Kiel and used as a floating prison. In 1918, she became a barracks ship for U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
crews stationed in Kiel. The ship was briefly retained after the German defeat at the end of World War I, but on 25 January 1920, Mecklenburg was stricken from the naval register. She was sold to Deutsche-Werke, a ship-breaking firm based in Kiel, on 16 August 1921 for 1,750,000 Marks. The ship was broken up for scrap metal that year in Kiel-Nordmole.