- Bayern class battleship
The Bayern class of battleships were the last and best German
Kaiserliche Marine battleships ofWorld War I .Design
The class had a displacement of 32,000 tons and mounted eight convert|38|cm|in|abbr=on guns in four twin turrets. The secondary guns were placed in casemates just below the deckline. They were comparable to British battleships developed at the same time also using 15-inch guns. However the guns for the Bayern class used a lighter shell which gave higher velocity but poorer accuracy at long range. Also they were slower because Germany had no secure wartime supply of oil and therefore continued using coal.
hips
The class was planned to include four ships:
* SMS "Bayern" - Built byHowaldtswerke ,Kiel , launched18 February 1915 , completed30 June 1916 .
* SMS "Baden" - Built bySchichau ,Danzig , launched30 October 1915 , completed February 1917.
* SMS "Sachsen" - Built byAG Vulcan ,Hamburg , launched20 June 1917 , not completed.
* SMS "Württemberg" - Built byGermaniawerft ,Kiel , launched21 September 1917 , not completed.All were laid down by 1913, the "Baden" in late 1912. The last two were launched but never completed before the end of the First World War and were scrapped at their dockyards in 1920/21.
The "Bayern" and "Baden" were launched in 1915, missing the
Battle of Jutland and seeing little action during the war. "Bayern" was damaged by a mine in theGulf of Riga on12 October 1917 duringOperation Albion while bombarding Russian shore batteries on the Sworbe Peninsula. She was heavily flooded and brought into Kiel with great difficulty after 19 days. After the armistice the "Bayern" and "Baden" were taken toScapa Flow and scuttled with the rest of the German fleet on21 June 1919 . Only the "Baden" was saved from sinking and it was carefully examined by the British. She was sunk as a target by the British in August 1921.*The basic design of the "Bayern" class was carried over into the "Bismarck" class twenty years later.
*The "Bayern" class strongly resembled the "Revenge" class.References
* [http://www.german-navy.de/hochseeflotte/ships/battleships/bayern/tech.html German-navy.de SMS Bayern]
See also
*
List of German Imperial Navy ships
*List of naval ships of Germany External links
* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/germany/battleships/bayern/sms_bayern.htm Maritimequest SMS Bayern Photo Gallery]
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