SMS Lothringen

SMS "Lothringen" was the fifth of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the "Braunschweig" class in the German Imperial Navy laid down in 1902 and commissioned 1906. She was named after Lorraine (spelled "Lothringen" in German) which is now a region of France, but was a province of Germany at the time. Her sister ships were "Braunschweig", "Elsaß", "Hessen", and "Preußen".

Dimensions and machinery

"Lothringen" 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. "Lothringen" 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

"Lothringen's" 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=on torpedo tubes.

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

"Lothringen" was launched on 27 May 1904, and commissioned into the German Navy on 18 May 1906. "Lothringen" began service during World War I as a coastal defense ship alongside her sisterships in the IV Battle Squadron. In 1917, she was removed from front-line service to be used as training ship until the end of the war. She was scrapped in 1931.

External links

* [http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/pre-dreadnought/sms-braunschweig.html World War 1 Naval Combat]