SMS König

SMS "König" was the first of four "König" class battleships of the Deutsche Kaiserliche Marine (German Imperial Navy) during World War I. She was named in honour 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 ("König" in German) of Prussia, as well as the Markgraf of Brandenburg.

Construction

Built at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven dockyards in Wilhelmshaven, her keel was laid in October 1911 and she was launched on 1 March 1913. Officially completed on 10 August 1914, she was commissioned thereafter. She had cost the Imperial German Government 45 million "Goldmarks".

The first of what were eventually four ships in her class, the "König" would later be joined in service by the SMS "Großer Kurfürst", the SMS "Markgraf", and the SMS "Kronprinz", later to be renamed the "Kronprinz Wilhelm". The "König" displaced convert|25390|LT|t as built and convert|28600|LT|t 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 Parsons turbines developing 43,300 hp (32.3 MW) each, yielding a maximum speed of convert|21|kn|km/h.

She was armed with ten 305-millimetre (12 in) 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 "König" and her sisters could bring all of her main guns to bear on either side. Her secondary armament were fourteen 150-millimetre (5.9 in) guns, six convert|88|mm|adj=on guns and five convert|500|mm|adj=on 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.

ervice

Upon commissioning the "König" was attached to the Third Battle Squadron of the German High Seas Fleet, where she would later be joined by her sister-ships. On 25 April 1916, together with the other "König"-class battleships, she provided distant cover for shore bombardment of Lowestoft and Yarmouth.

As part of the Third Battle Squadron under Rear-Admiral Paul Behncke, she was at the Battle of Jütland on 31 May 1916, where she sustained ten hits. The resulting damage required seven weeks to repair, completing by 21 July 1916. During Operation Albion the "König" saw action at the Battle of Moon Sound on 17 October 1917 where she heavily damaged the Russian pre-dreadnought "Slava".

Under the terms of the Armistice, the "König" was interned in Scapa Flow in the Orkneys on 26 November 1918. Her finale occurred there on 21 June 1919 when, upon orders from Rear-Admiral Ludwig von Reuter to prevent its falling into British hands, the entire High Seas Fleet including the "König" were scuttled by their crews. On 21 June 1919 at 2:00 pm, the "König" vanished under the surface.

Fate

Sold by the German government to the United Kingdom in 1962, the wreck of the "König" still lies in the waters of Scapa Flow, beside her sisters the "Markgraf" and the "Kronprinz Wilhelm". All are popular dive spots today.

See 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/konig/index.html SMS König 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_König SMS König on the German-language Wikipedia]

External links

* [http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/jralston/rk/scapa/wrecks/konig.html Details on the submerged wreck]
* [http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/bb/sms/konig-350-jb/konig-index.html Scale model of SMS König]
* [http://www.frankwu.com/Konig.html Fanciful painting by Frank Wu of SMS König battling a sea dragon]
* [http://www.scubadoo.at/seite%20wracks/daten%20wrack%20scapa%20flow.htm#SMS%20K%F6nig Information on underwater wreckage of SMS König (in German)]