SMS Markgraf

SMS "Markgraf" was a "König" class battleship of the Deutschen Kaiserliche Marine (German Imperial Navy) of World War I. She was named in honor of one of the titles of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, since in addition to being the Emperor of Germany he was also the King of Prussia and the Margrave ("Markgraf" in German) of Brandenburg.

Construction

SMS "Markgraf" was built at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen. Her keel was laid in November 1911 and she was launched on 4 June 1913. After completion she was commissioned on 1 October 1914, and cost Germany 45 million "Goldmarks".

She was the third of four ships in her class, the others being the SMS "König", the SMS "Großer Kurfürst", and the SMS "Kronprinz". The "Markgraf" displaced 28,600 tons fully loaded, with a length of 175.4 m, a beam of 29.5 m and a draft of 9.19 m. She was powered by three Bergmann turbines developing 41,400 hp (30.8 MW) each, yielding a maximum speed of 21 knots.

She was armed with ten 30.5 cm (12-inch) guns arranged in five double gun turrets: two superfiring turrets fore and aft with one turret amidships between the two funnels. Like the earlier "Kaiser" class battleships, the "Markgraf" and her sisters could deliver a full broadside using all of her main guns. Her secondary armament were fourteen 15 cm (5.9-inch) guns, six 88 mm guns and five 50 cm underwater torpedo tubes, one in the bow and two on each beam. On commissioning she carried a crew of 41 officers and 1,095 enlisted men.

Service

The outbreak of World War I saw the "Markgraf" undertake operations in the North Sea and cover the battlecruiser bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 25 April 1916.

As part of the German High Seas Fleet's Third Battle Squadron under Rear-Admiral Paul Behncke, she took part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where she received five hits that slightly damaged her and killed 11 of her crew. Repairs took a month in Hamburg and afterwards the "Markgraf" went on several operations in both the North Sea and the Baltic.

In October 1917 during Operation Albion, a naval operation against the Imperial Russian Navy near the Baltic Islands of Osel and Dagö (now Saaremaa and Hiiumaa), the "Markgraf" struck a mine and was slightly damaged. It was during this action that her sister ship SMS "König" sank the Russian pre-dreadnought "Slava".

Interned after the end of World War I at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, she was scuttled there by her crew on 21 June 1919, together with the entire German High Seas Fleet. The "Markgraf" sank at 1645 hrs. A group of Royal Marines, while trying to prevent the scuttling killed her captain, Walter Schumann, and the First Officer, Hermann Dittman. They were among the last German casualties of the First World War.

Fate

Sold by the German government to the United Kingdom in 1962, the wreck of SMS "Markgraf" still lies in Scapa Flow, near the island of Cava, at coord|58|53|31|N|3|9|55|W|, and today is a popular diving attraction.

ee also

* List of German Imperial Navy ships
* List of naval ships of Germany
* List of ship launches in 1913
* List of ship commissionings in 1914
* List of shipwrecks in 1919

References

* [http://www.german-navy.de/hochseeflotte/ships/battleships/markgraf/ SMS Markgraf at http://www.german-navy.de]
* [http://german-navy.tripod.com/sms_bb_konig.htm Konig-class battleships at http://german-navy.tripod.com]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/1185/konig.html Konig-class battleships at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/1185]
* [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Markgraf SMS Markgraf on the German-language Wikipedia]