- SMS Hessen
SMS "Hessen" was the third of five
pre-dreadnought battleship s of the "Braunschweig" class in the German Imperial Navy laid down in 1902 and commissioned 1905. She was named after the state ofHesse . Her sister ships were "Braunschweig", "Elsaß", "Preußen", and "Lothringen".Design
Dimensions and machinery
"Hessen" was 413ft long at the waterline, and convert|419|ft|m|abbr=on overall. She had a beam of convert|73|ft|m|abbr=on and a draught of 26 ft 7 in. "Hessen" displaced 14,167 tons, had a top speed of convert|18|kn|km/h|0 and a range of convert|5200|nmi|km|-2 at convert|10|kn|km/h|-1.
Armament
"Hessen
' " 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
"Hessen" was launched on 18 September 1903, and commissioned nearly exactly two years later, on 19 September 1905. "Hessen" began service during
World War I as a coastal defense ship alongside her sisterships in the IV Battle Squadron. She participated in theBattle of Jutland in the II Battle Squadron, alongside the five ships of the "Deutschland" class. In 1917, she was removed from front-line service to be used as depot ship until the end of the war.She was one of three old ships of the line, along with the "Deutschland" class battleships "Schleswig-Holstein" and "Schlesien", that Germany was permitted to retain after the end of World War I, under the terms of Versailles Treaty.
"Hessen" was converted into a radio-controlled target ship and served as such during
World War II . She was transferred to theSoviet Union following World War II and renamed "Tsel", and continued to be used as a target ship. "Hessen" was scrapped in 1960.External links
* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/pre-dreadnought/sms-braunschweig.html World War 1 Naval Combat]
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