SMS Posen
Encyclopedia
SMS Posen ("His Majesty's ship Posen
")"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff
", or "His Majesty's Ship" was one of four battleship
s in the , the first dreadnought
s built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). The ship was laid down at the Germaniawerft
shipyard in Kiel
on 11 June 1907, launched on 13 December 1908, and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet
on 31 May 1910. She was equipped with a main battery of twelve 28 cm (11 in) guns in six twin turret
s in an unusual hexagonal arrangement.
The ship served with her three sister ships for the majority of the war. She saw extensive service in the North Sea
, where she took part in several fleet sorties. These culminated in the Battle of Jutland
on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where Posen was heavily engaged in night-fighting against British light forces. In the confused night actions, the ship accidentally rammed the light cruiser , which suffered serious damage and was scuttled
later in the night.
The ship also conducted several deployments to the Baltic Sea
against the Russian Navy. In the first of these, Posen supported a German naval assault in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga
. Posen was sent back to the Baltic in 1918 to support the White Finns
in the Finnish Civil War
. At the end of the war, Posen remained in Germany while the majority of the fleet was interned in Scapa Flow
. In 1919, following the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow
, Posen was ceded to the British as a replacement for the ships that had been sunk. She was then sent to ship-breakers
in the Netherlands and scrapped in 1922.
. As with her sister , construction proceeded under absolute secrecy; detachments of soldiers guarded the shipyard and also guarded contractors that supplied building materials, such as Krupp
. The ship was launched a year and a half later, on 13 December 1908. Initial trials were conducted through April 1910, followed by final fitting-out
in May. The ship was commissioned into the fleet on 31 May. Sea trials were conducted afterward and completed by 27 August.
Posen was 146.1 m (479.3 ft) long, 26.9 m (88.3 ft) wide, and had a draft of 8.9 m (29.2 ft). She displaced 18570 MT (18,276.7 LT) with a standard load, and 21000 MT (20,668.3 LT) fully laden. The ship retained 3-shaft triple expansion engines instead of more advanced turbine
engines. This type of machinery was chosen at the request of both Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz
and the Navy's construction department; the latter stated in 1905 that the "use of turbines in heavy warships does not recommend itself".
Posen carried 28 cm (11 in) SK L/45
guns in an unusual hexagonal configuration. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns and sixteen 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45
guns, all of which were mounted in casemate
s. The ship was also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) submerged torpedo tube
s. One tube was mounted in the bow, another in the stern, and two on each broadside, on both ends of the torpedo bulkhead
s.
, where she arrived on 7 September. As the German Imperial Navy had chronic shortages of trained sailors, many of the crew were then assigned to other ships.Of the problem, Admiral Oldekop stated in November 1912: "There is almost no more personnel on land. Garrison watch duty can no longer be conducted according to regulations...The Navy units [in Kiel] are equally exhausted as in Wilhelmshaven. Complaints concerning lack of personnel on land are the same." See: Herwig, p. 90 These crewmembers were replaced with personnel from the old pre-dreadnought
, which was decommissioned on 20 September. After their commissioning, all four Nassau-class ships served as a unit, the II Division of I Battle Squadron, with Posen as the flagship
.
Posen participated in several training exercises with the rest of the fleet before the outbreak of war. In late 1910 the fleet conducted a training cruise into the Baltic Sea
. The following year the fleet conducted maneuvers in May; the annual summer cruise to Norway followed in July. The fleet participated in another round of fleet exercises in the Baltic in September, followed by another set at the end of the year. The next year followed a similar pattern, though the summer cruise to Norway was interrupted by the Agadir crisis
; as a result, the summer cruise only went into the Baltic. The September exercises were conducted off Helgoland in the North Sea
; another winter cruise into the Baltic followed at the end of the year. The training schedule returned to normal for 1913 and 1914, and the summer cruises again went to Norway. However, for the 1914 cruise, the fleet departed for Norwegian waters on 14 July, some two weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo
. The probability of war cut the cruise short; Posen and the rest of the fleet were back in Wilhelmshaven by 29 July.
's I Scouting Group
battlecruiser
s. The battlecruisers raided British coastal towns in an attempt to lure out portions of the Grand Fleet where they could be destroyed by the High Seas Fleet. The first such operation was the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby
on 15–16 December 1914. On the evening of 15 December, the German battle fleet of some 12 dreadnoughts—including Posen and her three sisters—and eight pre-dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi (18.5 km) of an isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer
screens in the darkness convinced the German fleet commander, Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl
, that he was faced with the Grand Fleet, now deployed in its battle formation. Under orders from Kaiser Wilhelm II to avoid risking the fleet unnecessarily, von Ingenohl broke off the engagement and turned the battlefleet back toward Germany.
in order to assist the German army, which was planning an assault on Riga
. To do so, the German planners intended to drive off or destroy the Russian naval forces in the Gulf, which included the pre-dreadnought
battleship Slava
and a number of smaller gunboat
s and destroyer
s. The German battle fleet was accompanied by several mine-warfare vessels. These ships were tasked with clearing Russian minefields and laying a series of their own minefields in the northern entrance to the gulf, to prevent Russian naval reinforcements from reaching the area. The assembled German flotilla included Posen and her three sister ships, the four s, the battlecruisers , , and , and several pre-dreadnoughts, operating under the command of von Hipper, now a Vice Admiral. The eight battleships were to provide cover for the forces engaging the Russian flotilla. The first attempt on 8 August was unsuccessful, as it had taken too long to clear the Russian minefields to allow the minelayer to lay a minefield of her own.
On 16 August 1915, Posen and led a second attempt to breach the defenses of the gulf, with Posen as Admiral Schmidt's flagship. The two dreadnoughts were accompanied by 4 light cruisers and 31 torpedo boats. On the first day of the assault the Germans broke through the Russian forces, but two German light craft—the minesweeper T 46 and the destroyer V 99—were sunk. Posen and Nassau engaged a pair of Russian gunboat
s, Sivuch and Koreets. Sivuch was sunk that day and Koreets was severely damaged; the ship managed to limp away but had to be scuttled the following day. On the 17th, Posen and Nassau engaged Slava at long range; they scored three hits on the Russian ship and forced her to return to port. By 19 August, the Russian minefields had been cleared and the flotilla entered the Gulf. However, reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted the Germans to call off the operation the following day. Admiral Hipper later remarked, "To keep valuable ships for a considerable time in a limited area in which enemy submarines were increasingly active, with the corresponding risk of damage and loss, was to indulge in a gamble out of all proportion to the advantage to be derived from the occupation of the Gulf before the capture of Riga from the land side." In fact, the battlecruiser Moltke had been torpedoed that morning. On 21 August, Schmidt had his flag hauled down from Posen and disbanded the special unit.
By the end of August Posen and the rest of the High Seas Fleet had returned to their anchorages in the North Sea. The next operation conducted was a sweep into the North Sea on 11–12 September, though it ended without any action. Another fleet sortie followed on 23–24 October without encountering any British forces. On 4 March 1916, Posen, Nassau, Westfalen, and Von der Tann steamed out to the Amrumbank to receive the auxiliary cruiser , which was returning from a raiding mission.
Another uneventful advance into the North Sea took place on 21–22 April. A bombardment mission followed two days later; Posen joined the battleship support for Hipper's battlecruisers while they attacked Yarmouth and Lowestoft
on 24–25 April. During this operation, the battlecruiser was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely. Due to the poor visibility, the operation was soon called off, leaving the British fleet no time to intercept the raiders.
, who had succeeded Admirals von Ingenohl and Hugo von Pohl
as the fleet commander, immediately planned another attack on the British coast. However, the damage to Seydlitz and condenser
trouble on several of the III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts delayed the plan until the end of May. The German battlefleet departed the Jade
at 03:30 on 31 May. Posen was assigned to the II Division of the I Battle Squadron as the flagship of Rear Admiral W. Engelhardt. Posen was the first ship in the division, ahead of her three sisters. The II Division was the last unit of dreadnoughts in the fleet; they were followed by only the elderly pre-dreadnoughts of the II Battle Squadron.
Between 17:48 and 17:52, Posen and ten other German battleships engaged the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, though the range and poor visibility prevented effective fire. Shortly thereafter, two British destroyers— and —came under intense fire from the German line. Posen fired at Nestor with both her main battery and secondary guns. At 18:35, Nestor exploded and sank under the combined fire of eight battleships. By 20:15, the German fleet had faced the Grand Fleet for a second time and was forced to turn away; in doing so, the order of the German line was reversed. Posen was now the fourth ship in the line, astern of her three sisters.
At around 21:20, Posen and her sister ships were engaged by the battlecruisers of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron
. Posen was the only ship on the I Battle Squadron to be able to make out a target, which turned out to be the battlecruisers and . Posen opened fire at 21:28 at a range of 10000 m (10,936.1 yd); she scored one hit on Princess Royal at 21:32 and straddled Indomitable several times, surrounding her with a salvo of shells, before ceasing fire at 21:35.
At about 00:30, the leading units of the German line encountered British destroyers and cruisers. A violent firefight at close range ensued; the leading German battleships, including Posen, opened fire on several British warships. In the confusion, the light cruiser passed through the German line directly in front of Posen and was rammed. Posen was undamaged, but both of Elbings engine rooms were flooded and the ship came to a halt. Two and a half hours later, Elbing spotted several approaching British destroyers, and her captain gave the order to scuttle the ship.
Shortly before 01:00, the German line engaged a flotilla of British destroyers. Posen spotted the destroyers , , and at very close range; she opened fire on the first two ships at ranges between 800 and 1600 m (874.9 and 1,749.8 yd), seriously damaging Porpoise. Fortune quickly sank under fire from Posen and several other battleships, but not before firing two torpedoes which Posen had to evade. At 01:25, Westfalen illuminated the destroyer and opened fire; Posen joined her shortly thereafter and reported several hits at ranges of 1000 to 1200 m (1,093.6 to 1,312.3 yd).
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. The German fleet reached Wilhelmshaven a few hours later, where Posen and several other battleships from the I Battle Squadron took up defensive positions in the outer roadstead
. Over the course of the battle, the ship had fired fifty-three 28 cm shells, sixty-four 15 cm rounds, and thirty-two 8.8 cm shells. The ship and her crew emerged from the battle completely unscathed by enemy fire.
sought a conservative government free from the influence of the newly created Soviet Union
, while the Red Guards
preferred Soviet-style communism. On 23 February, two of Posens sister ships—Westfalen and Rheinland—were assigned as the core of the Sonderverband Ostsee (Special Unit Baltic Sea). The two ships embarked the 14th Jäger
Battalion. They departed for the Åland Islands
on the following morning. Åland was to be a forward operating base, from which the port of Hanko would be secured. From Hanko, the German expedition would assault the capital of Helsingfors. The task force reached the Åland Islands on 5 March, where they encountered the Swedish coastal defense ships , , and . Negotiations ensued, which resulted in the landing of the German troops on Åland on 7 March; Westfalen then returned to Danzig, where Posen was stationed.
On 31 March Posen and Westfalen left Danzig; the ships arrived at Russarö
, which was the outer defense for Hanko, by 3 April. The German army quickly took the port. The task force then proceeded to Helsingfors; on 11 April the ship passed into the harbor at Helsingfors and landed the soldiers. This included a detachment from the ship which was landed two days later on 13 April. During the operation, Posens crew suffered four men killed and twelve wounded. From 18 to 20 April, Posen assisted with the efforts to free Rheinland, which had been grounded. Two days later, Posen struck a sunken wreck in Helsingfors harbor, which caused minor damage. On 30 April the ship was detached from the Sonderverband Ostsee. The ship returned to Germany, reaching Kiel by 3 May, where she entered drydock. Repair work lasted until 5 May.
. On 2 October, Posen moved out into the outer roadstead
s of Jade
to provide cover for the returning U-boat
s of the Flanders Flotilla. Posen was to have taken part in the last fleet operation of the war, planned for 30 October. The operation was intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to retain a better bargaining position for Germany, whatever the cost to the fleet. However, war-weary sailors mutinied
, which led to the operation being canceled. In an attempt to suppress the spread of mutinous sentiments, Admiral Hipper ordered the fleet dispersed. Posen and the other ships of the I Battle Squadron were sent out into the roadstead on 3 November, then returned to Wilhelmshaven on 6 November.
for the duration of negotiations for the peace treaty. Posen was not among the ships interned, and she was instead decommissioned on 16 December. The ships in Scapa Flow were eventually scuttled on 21 June 1919
, and as a result, Posen and the other battleships not interned were seized as replacements for the ships that had been lost. On 5 November, Posen was stricken from the German navy list to be handed over to Great Britain. The ship was transferred on 13 May 1920; the British subsequently sold her to ship-breakers in the Netherlands. Posen was eventually broken up in Dordrecht
in 1922.
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
")"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff
Seiner Majestät Schiff
Seiner Majestät Schiff was the ship prefix used by the Prussian Maritime Enterprise , the Prussian Navy, the Imperial German Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy...
", or "His Majesty's Ship" was one of four 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 in the , the first dreadnought
Dreadnought
The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...
s built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). The ship was laid down at the Germaniawerft
Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft
Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft was a German shipbuilding company, located in the harbour at Kiel, and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boats for the Kaiserliche Marine in World War I and the Kriegsmarine in World War II.-History:The company was founded in 1867 by Lloyd Foster, as...
shipyard 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 11 June 1907, launched on 13 December 1908, and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
on 31 May 1910. She was equipped with a main battery of twelve 28 cm (11 in) guns in six twin 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 an unusual hexagonal arrangement.
The ship served with her three sister ships for the majority of the war. She saw extensive service in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, where she took part in several fleet sorties. These culminated in the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where Posen was heavily engaged in night-fighting against British light forces. In the confused night actions, the ship accidentally rammed the light cruiser , which suffered serious damage and was scuttled
Scuttling
Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...
later in the night.
The ship also conducted several deployments to the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
against the Russian Navy. In the first of these, Posen supported a German naval assault in the Battle of 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...
. Posen was sent back to the Baltic in 1918 to support the White Finns
White Guard (Finland)
The White Guard was a voluntary militia that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard as part of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918...
in the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...
. At the end of the war, Posen remained in Germany while the majority of the fleet was interned in Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
. In 1919, following the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow
Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow
The scuttling of the German fleet took place at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, in Scotland, after the end of the First World War. The High Seas Fleet had been interned there under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships...
, Posen was ceded to the British as a replacement for the ships that had been sunk. She was then sent to ship-breakers
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
in the Netherlands and scrapped in 1922.
Construction
Posen was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Sachsen, as a replacement for the , one of the elderly s. She was laid down on 11 June 1907 at the Germaniawerft shipyard in KielKiel
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...
. As with her sister , construction proceeded under absolute secrecy; detachments of soldiers guarded the shipyard and also guarded contractors that supplied building materials, such as Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
. The ship was launched a year and a half later, on 13 December 1908. Initial trials were conducted through April 1910, followed by final fitting-out
Fitting-out
Fitting-out, or "outfitting”, is the process in modern shipbuilding that follows the float-out of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her owners...
in May. The ship was commissioned into the fleet on 31 May. Sea trials were conducted afterward and completed by 27 August.
Posen was 146.1 m (479.3 ft) long, 26.9 m (88.3 ft) wide, and had a draft of 8.9 m (29.2 ft). She displaced 18570 MT (18,276.7 LT) with a standard load, and 21000 MT (20,668.3 LT) fully laden. The ship retained 3-shaft triple expansion engines instead of more advanced turbine
Turbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...
engines. This type of machinery was chosen at the request of both 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...
and the Navy's construction department; the latter stated in 1905 that the "use of turbines in heavy warships does not recommend itself".
Posen carried 28 cm (11 in) SK L/45
28 cm SK L/45 gun
The 28 cm SK L/45 The 28 cm SK L/45 The 28 cm SK L/45 (SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon) L - Länge (with a 45 caliber barrel) was a German naval gun that was used in World War I and World War II. Originally a naval gun, it was adapted for land service after World War I....
guns in an unusual hexagonal configuration. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns and sixteen 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45
8.8 cm SK L/45 naval gun
The 8.8 cm SK L/45 The 8.8 cm SK L/45 The 8.8 cm SK L/45 (SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon) L - Länge (with a 45-caliber barrel) was a German naval gun that was used in World War I on a variety of mounts.-Description:...
guns, all of which were mounted in 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:...
s. The ship was also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) submerged torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s. One tube was mounted in the bow, another in the stern, and two on each broadside, on both ends of the torpedo bulkhead
Torpedo bulkhead
A torpedo bulkhead is a type of armor common on the more heavily armored warships, especially battleships and battlecruisers of the early 20th century. It is designed to keep the ship afloat even if the hull was struck underneath the belt armor by a shell or by a torpedo...
s.
Service history
After completing her trials in August 1910, Posen left Kiel for WilhelmshavenWilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...
, where she arrived on 7 September. As the German Imperial Navy had chronic shortages of trained sailors, many of the crew were then assigned to other ships.Of the problem, Admiral Oldekop stated in November 1912: "There is almost no more personnel on land. Garrison watch duty can no longer be conducted according to regulations...The Navy units [in Kiel] are equally exhausted as in Wilhelmshaven. Complaints concerning lack of personnel on land are the same." See: Herwig, p. 90 These crewmembers were replaced with personnel from the old 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...
, which was decommissioned on 20 September. After their commissioning, all four Nassau-class ships served as a unit, the II Division of I Battle Squadron, with Posen as the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
.
Posen participated in several training exercises with the rest of the fleet before the outbreak of war. In late 1910 the fleet conducted a training cruise into the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. The following year the fleet conducted maneuvers in May; the annual summer cruise to Norway followed in July. The fleet participated in another round of fleet exercises in the Baltic in September, followed by another set at the end of the year. The next year followed a similar pattern, though the summer cruise to Norway was interrupted by the Agadir crisis
Agadir Crisis
The Agadir Crisis, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, or the Panthersprung, was the international tension sparked by the deployment of the German gunboat Panther, to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1, 1911.-Background:...
; as a result, the summer cruise only went into the Baltic. The September exercises were conducted off Helgoland in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
; another winter cruise into the Baltic followed at the end of the year. The training schedule returned to normal for 1913 and 1914, and the summer cruises again went to Norway. However, for the 1914 cruise, the fleet departed for Norwegian waters on 14 July, some two weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
. The probability of war cut the cruise short; Posen and the rest of the fleet were back in Wilhelmshaven by 29 July.
World War I
At midnight on 4 August, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. Posen and the rest of the fleet conducted a number of advances into the North Sea to support Rear Admiral Franz von HipperFranz von Hipper
Franz Ritter von Hipper was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy . Franz von Hipper joined the German Navy in 1881 as an officer cadet. He commanded several torpedo boat units and served as watch officer aboard several warships, as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht Hohenzollern...
's I Scouting Group
I Scouting Group
The I Scouting Group was a special reconnaissance unit within the German Kaiserliche Marine. The unit was famously commanded by Admiral Franz von Hipper during World War I. The I Scouting Group was one of the most active formations in the High Seas Fleet during the war; the unit took part in every...
battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
s. The battlecruisers raided British coastal towns in an attempt to lure out portions of the Grand Fleet where they could be destroyed by the High Seas Fleet. The first such operation was the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby
Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby
The raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, which took place on 16 December 1914, was an attack by the Imperial German Navy on the British seaport towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool, West Hartlepool, and Whitby. The attack resulted in 137 fatalities and 592 casualties, many of which were civilians...
on 15–16 December 1914. On the evening of 15 December, the German battle fleet of some 12 dreadnoughts—including Posen and her three sisters—and eight pre-dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi (18.5 km) of an isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
screens in the darkness convinced the German fleet commander, Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl
Friedrich von Ingenohl
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Friedrich von Ingenohl was a German admiral from Neuwied best known for his command of the German High Seas Fleet at the beginning of World War I....
, that he was faced with the Grand Fleet, now deployed in its battle formation. Under orders from Kaiser Wilhelm II to avoid risking the fleet unnecessarily, von Ingenohl broke off the engagement and turned the battlefleet back toward Germany.
Battle of the Gulf of Riga
In August, a special unit from the German fleet attempted to clear the Russian-held Gulf of RigaGulf of Riga
The Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. According to C.Michael Hogan, a saline stratification layer is found at a depth of approximately seventy metres....
in order to assist the German army, which was planning an assault on Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
. To do so, the German planners intended to drive off or destroy the Russian naval forces in the Gulf, which included the 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 Slava
Russian battleship Slava
Slava was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy, the last of the five s. Commissioned too late to participate in the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War, she survived while all of her sister ships were either sunk during the battle or surrendered to the Imperial...
and a number of smaller gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
s and destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s. The German battle fleet was accompanied by several mine-warfare vessels. These ships were tasked with clearing Russian minefields and laying a series of their own minefields in the northern entrance to the gulf, to prevent Russian naval reinforcements from reaching the area. The assembled German flotilla included Posen and her three sister ships, the four s, the battlecruisers , , and , and several pre-dreadnoughts, operating under the command of von Hipper, now a Vice Admiral. The eight battleships were to provide cover for the forces engaging the Russian flotilla. The first attempt on 8 August was unsuccessful, as it had taken too long to clear the Russian minefields to allow the minelayer to lay a minefield of her own.
On 16 August 1915, Posen and led a second attempt to breach the defenses of the gulf, with Posen as Admiral Schmidt's flagship. The two dreadnoughts were accompanied by 4 light cruisers and 31 torpedo boats. On the first day of the assault the Germans broke through the Russian forces, but two German light craft—the minesweeper T 46 and the destroyer V 99—were sunk. Posen and Nassau engaged a pair of Russian gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
s, Sivuch and Koreets. Sivuch was sunk that day and Koreets was severely damaged; the ship managed to limp away but had to be scuttled the following day. On the 17th, Posen and Nassau engaged Slava at long range; they scored three hits on the Russian ship and forced her to return to port. By 19 August, the Russian minefields had been cleared and the flotilla entered the Gulf. However, reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted the Germans to call off the operation the following day. Admiral Hipper later remarked, "To keep valuable ships for a considerable time in a limited area in which enemy submarines were increasingly active, with the corresponding risk of damage and loss, was to indulge in a gamble out of all proportion to the advantage to be derived from the occupation of the Gulf before the capture of Riga from the land side." In fact, the battlecruiser Moltke had been torpedoed that morning. On 21 August, Schmidt had his flag hauled down from Posen and disbanded the special unit.
Return to the North Sea
Another uneventful advance into the North Sea took place on 21–22 April. A bombardment mission followed two days later; Posen joined the battleship support for Hipper's battlecruisers while they attacked Yarmouth and Lowestoft
Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft
The Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft was a naval battle fought during the First World War between the German Empire and the British Empire in the North Sea....
on 24–25 April. During this operation, the battlecruiser was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely. Due to the poor visibility, the operation was soon called off, leaving the British fleet no time to intercept the raiders.
Battle of Jutland
Admiral Reinhard ScheerReinhard Scheer
Reinhard Scheer was an Admiral in the German Kaiserliche Marine. Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet; he progressed through the ranks, commanding cruisers and battleships, as well as major staff positions on land. At the outbreak of World War I, Scheer was the commander of the II...
, who had succeeded Admirals von Ingenohl and Hugo von Pohl
Hugo von Pohl
Hugo von Pohl was a German admiral who during the First World War commanded the German High Seas Fleet from 1915 until shortly before his death from illness in 1916....
as the fleet commander, immediately planned another attack on the British coast. However, the damage to Seydlitz and condenser
Condenser (heat transfer)
In systems involving heat transfer, a condenser is a device or unit used to condense a substance from its gaseous to its liquid state, typically by cooling it. In so doing, the latent heat is given up by the substance, and will transfer to the condenser coolant...
trouble on several of the III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts delayed the plan until the end of May. The German battlefleet departed the Jade
Jadebusen
The Jade Bight, is a bay on the North Sea coast of Germany. It was formerly known simply as Jade or Jahde.About 180 km² in area, the Jade was largely created by storm floods during the 12th and 16th centuries. During this period it was connected in the East to the river Weser...
at 03:30 on 31 May. Posen was assigned to the II Division of the I Battle Squadron as the flagship of Rear Admiral W. Engelhardt. Posen was the first ship in the division, ahead of her three sisters. The II Division was the last unit of dreadnoughts in the fleet; they were followed by only the elderly pre-dreadnoughts of the II Battle Squadron.
Between 17:48 and 17:52, Posen and ten other German battleships engaged the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, though the range and poor visibility prevented effective fire. Shortly thereafter, two British destroyers— and —came under intense fire from the German line. Posen fired at Nestor with both her main battery and secondary guns. At 18:35, Nestor exploded and sank under the combined fire of eight battleships. By 20:15, the German fleet had faced the Grand Fleet for a second time and was forced to turn away; in doing so, the order of the German line was reversed. Posen was now the fourth ship in the line, astern of her three sisters.
At around 21:20, Posen and her sister ships were engaged by the battlecruisers of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron
3rd Battlecruiser Squadron (United Kingdom)
The 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron was a short-lived Royal Navy squadron of battlecruisers that saw service as part of the Grand Fleet during the First World War.-Creation:...
. Posen was the only ship on the I Battle Squadron to be able to make out a target, which turned out to be the battlecruisers and . Posen opened fire at 21:28 at a range of 10000 m (10,936.1 yd); she scored one hit on Princess Royal at 21:32 and straddled Indomitable several times, surrounding her with a salvo of shells, before ceasing fire at 21:35.
At about 00:30, the leading units of the German line encountered British destroyers and cruisers. A violent firefight at close range ensued; the leading German battleships, including Posen, opened fire on several British warships. In the confusion, the light cruiser passed through the German line directly in front of Posen and was rammed. Posen was undamaged, but both of Elbings engine rooms were flooded and the ship came to a halt. Two and a half hours later, Elbing spotted several approaching British destroyers, and her captain gave the order to scuttle the ship.
Shortly before 01:00, the German line engaged a flotilla of British destroyers. Posen spotted the destroyers , , and at very close range; she opened fire on the first two ships at ranges between 800 and 1600 m (874.9 and 1,749.8 yd), seriously damaging Porpoise. Fortune quickly sank under fire from Posen and several other battleships, but not before firing two torpedoes which Posen had to evade. At 01:25, Westfalen illuminated the destroyer and opened fire; Posen joined her shortly thereafter and reported several hits at ranges of 1000 to 1200 m (1,093.6 to 1,312.3 yd).
Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached Horns Reef
Horns Reef
Horns Rev is a shallow area in the eastern North Sea, about 15 km / 10 miles off the westernmost point of Denmark, Blåvands Huk...
by 04:00 on 1 June. The German fleet reached Wilhelmshaven a few hours later, where Posen and several other battleships from the I Battle Squadron took up defensive positions in the outer roadstead
Roadstead
A roadstead is a place outside a harbor where a ship can lie at anchor. It is an enclosed area with an opening to the sea, narrower than a bay or gulf. It has a surface that cannot be confused with an estuary. It can be created artificially by jetties or dikes...
. Over the course of the battle, the ship had fired fifty-three 28 cm shells, sixty-four 15 cm rounds, and thirty-two 8.8 cm shells. The ship and her crew emerged from the battle completely unscathed by enemy fire.
Expedition to Finland
In February 1918, the German navy decided to send an expedition to Finland to support German army units to be deployed there. The Finns were engaged in a civil war; the White FinnsWhite Guard (Finland)
The White Guard was a voluntary militia that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard as part of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918...
sought a conservative government free from the influence of the newly created Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, while the Red Guards
Red Guards (Finland)
The Red Guards formed the army of Red Finland during the Finnish Civil War in 1918. The combined strength of the Red Guard was about 30,000 at the beginning of the Civil War, and peaked at 90,000-120,000 during the course of the conflict....
preferred Soviet-style communism. On 23 February, two of Posens sister ships—Westfalen and Rheinland—were assigned as the core of the Sonderverband Ostsee (Special Unit Baltic Sea). The two ships embarked the 14th Jäger
Jäger (military)
Jäger is a term that was adopted in the Enlightenment era in German-speaking states and others influenced by German military practice to describe a kind of light infantry, and it has continued in that use since then....
Battalion. They departed for the Åland Islands
Åland Islands
The Åland Islands form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. They are situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and form an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland...
on the following morning. Åland was to be a forward operating base, from which the port of Hanko would be secured. From Hanko, the German expedition would assault the capital of Helsingfors. The task force reached the Åland Islands on 5 March, where they encountered the Swedish coastal defense ships , , and . Negotiations ensued, which resulted in the landing of the German troops on Åland on 7 March; Westfalen then returned to Danzig, where Posen was stationed.
On 31 March Posen and Westfalen left Danzig; the ships arrived at Russarö
Russarö
Russarö is an island south of Hanko. The island is closed to the public as it is military area of the Finnish Defence Forces. The island has a five-story stone lighthouse built in 1863 and a Finnish Meteorological Institute weather station.- External links :...
, which was the outer defense for Hanko, by 3 April. The German army quickly took the port. The task force then proceeded to Helsingfors; on 11 April the ship passed into the harbor at Helsingfors and landed the soldiers. This included a detachment from the ship which was landed two days later on 13 April. During the operation, Posens crew suffered four men killed and twelve wounded. From 18 to 20 April, Posen assisted with the efforts to free Rheinland, which had been grounded. Two days later, Posen struck a sunken wreck in Helsingfors harbor, which caused minor damage. On 30 April the ship was detached from the Sonderverband Ostsee. The ship returned to Germany, reaching Kiel by 3 May, where she entered drydock. Repair work lasted until 5 May.
Later actions in the North Sea
On 11 August 1918, Posen, Westfalen, , and sortied from Wilhelmshaven to support torpedo boats on patrol off TerschellingTerschelling
Terschelling is a municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands.Waddenislanders are known for their resourcefulness in using anything and everything that washes ashore. With few trees to use for timber, most of the farms and barns are built with masts...
. On 2 October, Posen moved out into the outer roadstead
Roadstead
A roadstead is a place outside a harbor where a ship can lie at anchor. It is an enclosed area with an opening to the sea, narrower than a bay or gulf. It has a surface that cannot be confused with an estuary. It can be created artificially by jetties or dikes...
s of Jade
Jadebusen
The Jade Bight, is a bay on the North Sea coast of Germany. It was formerly known simply as Jade or Jahde.About 180 km² in area, the Jade was largely created by storm floods during the 12th and 16th centuries. During this period it was connected in the East to the river Weser...
to provide cover for the returning 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...
s of the Flanders Flotilla. Posen was to have taken part in the last fleet operation of the war, planned for 30 October. The operation was intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to retain a better bargaining position for Germany, whatever the cost to the fleet. However, war-weary sailors mutinied
Wilhelmshaven mutiny
The Kiel mutiny was a major revolt by sailors of the German High Seas Fleet on 3 November 1918. The revolt triggered the German revolution which was to sweep aside the monarchy within a few days. It ultimately led to the end of the First World War and to the establishment of the Weimar Republic.-...
, which led to the operation being canceled. In an attempt to suppress the spread of mutinous sentiments, Admiral Hipper ordered the fleet dispersed. Posen and the other ships of the I Battle Squadron were sent out into the roadstead on 3 November, then returned to Wilhelmshaven on 6 November.
Fate
On 11 November 1918, the Armistice took effect; according to its terms, eleven battleships and five battlecruisers were to be interned in Scapa FlowScapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
for the duration of negotiations for the peace treaty. Posen was not among the ships interned, and she was instead decommissioned on 16 December. The ships in Scapa Flow were eventually scuttled on 21 June 1919
Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow
The scuttling of the German fleet took place at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, in Scotland, after the end of the First World War. The High Seas Fleet had been interned there under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships...
, and as a result, Posen and the other battleships not interned were seized as replacements for the ships that had been lost. On 5 November, Posen was stricken from the German navy list to be handed over to Great Britain. The ship was transferred on 13 May 1920; the British subsequently sold her to ship-breakers in the Netherlands. Posen was eventually broken up in Dordrecht
Dordrecht
Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...
in 1922.