SMS Fürst Bismarck (1896)

Seiner Majestät Schiff "Fürst Bismarck" was Germany's first armored cruiser, built for the Kaiserliche Marine before the turn of the 20th century. She was named for the German statesman Otto von Bismarck. The design for the "Fürst Bismarck" was an improvement over the previous "Victoria Louise"-class protected cruiser.

Design

Dimensions

"Fürst Bismarck" was laid down in April 1896 at the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel, and completed in April 1900, at a cost of 18,945,000 Marks. She was convert|412|ft|9|in|m at the waterline, with an overall length of convert|417|ft|m|0. "Fürst Bismarck" had a beam of convert|67|ft|m|0, and a draught of convert|27|ft|9|in|m She displaced 10,690 tons at normal load, and 11,461 tons at full load.

Machinery

"Fürst Bismarck" was powered by three four-cylinder, triple-expansion reciprocating engines. They produced convert|13500|ihp|abbr=on and a top speed of convert|18.7|kn|km/h|1. On trials, the engines were pushed to convert|13622|ihp|abbr=on, but still only provided a top speed of convert|18.7|kn|km/h|1.

Armor

"Fürst Bismarck" had much thicker armor protection than even subsequent designs. The armor belt, though quite narrow, was convert|8|in|mm thick, while the turret faces were also convert|8|in|mm thick. She had a convert|2|in|mm|sing=on armored deck. By contrast, the following armored cruiser design, "Prinz Heinrich", had only had a convert|4|in|mm|sing=on armor belt and convert|6|in|mm of turret armor. Even "Blücher", Germany's last armored cruiser, only had a convert|7|in|mm|sing=on belt and convert|7|in|mm|sing=on 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 convert|9.4|in|mm|0|sing=on guns in twin turrets fore and aft. The secondary armament consisted of twelve convert|5.9|in|mm|0|sing=on guns in a combination of single turrets and casemates, and ten convert|3.4|in|mm|0|sing=on guns in a combination of casemates and shielded mounts. Six convert|17.7|in|mm|0|sing=on torpedo tubes were also fitted.

ervice history

Upon commissioning, "Fürst Bismarck" was assigned to the German East Asia Squadron. She arrived at Tsingtao in August 1900. In 1903, she became the squadron flagship.

SMS "Scharnhorst" arrived at Tsingtao in April 1909, replacing "Fürst Bismarck" as flagship. [http://projekt-bismarck.gotter.net/page.php?4] Because "Fürst Bismarck" was in poor condition, she was ordered back to Kiel. Upon arriving in June 1909, she was decommissioned and laid up in the reserve fleet.

At the outbreak of World War I, the ship was reactivated for coast defense duties, but was found unsuitable due to her deteriorated condition. Attempts to use the ship for torpedo target duties failed for the same reason. "Fürst Bismarck" therefore spent the remainder of the war as a stationary accommodation and engineering training ship, though she sailed for a short time in 1917 as a training ship for U-boat and airship officers. "Fürst Bismarck" was sold for scrap in 1919 and broken up the following year.

References

External links

* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/armoured-cruiser/sms-furst-bismark.html World War 1 Naval Combat]