SMS Fürst Bismarck (1915)

SMS "Fürst Bismarck" was the fourth ship of "Mackensen" class battlecruisers built for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. Construction of "Fürst Bismarck" and her sisterships was stopped towards the end of the war, with the ships in various stages of construction. "Fürst Bismarck" was named for German statesman Otto von Bismarck. "Fürst Bismarck" was initially named "Ersatz Friedrich Carl" for the earlier armored cruiser "Friedrich Carl" which had been sunk by Russian mines in 1915.

Design

The "Mackensen" class was initially to have seven ships armed with 35cm main guns, but reports of the construction of the British HMS "Renown" and HMS "Repulse", both mounting 38cm guns, the last three ships of the class were redesigned to carry 38cm guns as well, and came to be known as the "Ersatz Yorck" class.

"Fürst Bismarck" was the fourth ship of the "Mackensen" class, and was laid down in Wilhelmshaven on 4 November 1915. She had a length of 223 m (732 ft), a beam of 30.4 m, a draught of 9.3 m, and a designed displacement of 35,300 tons. The armament consisted of eight 35 cm guns, fourteen 15 cm guns and eight 8.8 cm guns as well as five torpedo tubes. Four engines were to give her a maximum speed of convert|28.8|knot|km/h|1 and a range of convert|8000|nmi|km|-3 at convert|14|knot|km/h|0. The crew was to number 1,186 men.

Fate

The war ended before any of these ships were completed. "Fürst Bismarck" was never launched and scrapped in the shipyard in 1920-1922.Work on "Mackensen" was stopped 14 months before completion and the ship was broken up in 1921. Construction of "Graf Spee" was stopped shortly after the end of World War I on 17 November 1918, more than a year before completion, and she was scrapped in Kiel from 1921 to 1923. "Prinz Eitel Friedrich" was about 21 months from completion when construction was stopped; she was launched after the war and scrapped immediately thereafter.