- SMS Elsaß
SMS "Elsaß" (SMS Elsass) was the second of five
pre-dreadnought battleship s of the "Braunschweig" class in the German Imperial Navy laid down in 1901 and commissioned 1904. She was named after theAlsace , a current region of France that at the time belonged to Germany. Her sister ships were "Braunschweig", "Hessen", "Preußen" (Preussen), and "Lothringen".Design
Dimensions and machinery
"Elsaß" was 413ft long at the waterline, and 419 ft overall. She had a beam of 73 ft and a draught of 26 ft 7 in. "Elsaß" displaced 14,167 tons, had a top speed of convert|18|knot|km/h|0 and a range of convert|5200|nmi|km|-2 at convert|10|knot|km/h|-1.
Armament
"Elsaß
' " main armament consisted of four convert|28|cm|in|abbr=on guns in twin turrets, one fore and one aft of the superstructure. The secondary armament was comprised of fourteen convert|17|cm|in|abbr=on guns, fourteen convert|8.8|cm|in|abbr=on guns, and four machine guns. She was also armed with six convert|45|cm|in|abbr=ontorpedo tube s.Armor
The ship had an armored belt that was convert|22.8|cm|in|abbr=on thick at its strongest point, and tapered to convert|10.1|cm|in|abbr=on at the thinnest. The turrets had convert|25.4|cm|in|abbr=on of armor plate. The decks were covered with convert|7.62|cm|in|abbr=on of armor.
ervice history
"Elsaß" was launched on 26 May 1903, and commissioned into the German Navy on 29 November 1904. "Elsaß" began service during
World War I as acoastal defence ship alongside her sisterships in the IV Battle Squadron. On 26 August 1914, "Elsaß" attempted to aid the grounded cruiser "Magdeburg". In July 1916, she was removed from front-line service to be used as training ship until the end of the war.She served in the Reichsmarine from 1924 to 1930. "Elsaß" was withdrawn from service on 25 February 1930 and struck from the Navy list on 31 March 1931. She was used as a hulk in Wilhelmshaven until she was scrapped in 1936.
External links
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/pre-dreadnought/sms-braunschweig.html World War 1 Naval Combat]
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