SMS Blucher 1909576 viewsSMS Blücher was the last armoured cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine and was considered an intermediate stage toward the future German battlecruiser.
This ship was constructed in the Kiel dockyard, between 1907 and 1909, being completed in October of that year.
During World War I, on January 24, 1915, the obsolete SMS Blücher was sunk during the Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) by more modern British battlecruisers.
The World War II German heavy cruiser Blucher was named after her.
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IJN Ibuki 1904705 viewsThe Japanese cruiser Ibuki was a late-generation that was almost a Dreadnought-type battleship in stature, it was the lead ship in the Ibuki class of 1st class heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The Ibuki had one sister ship, the IJN Kurama. The Ibuki is named after Mount Ibuki located between Gifu prefecture and Shiga prefecture in Honshu. The class was planned during the Russo-Japanese War and was authorized under the 1904 Supplemental Naval Budget, at the same time has the IJN Tsukuba, but with heavier guns and with the new geared turbine engines which promised more power and hence, more speed. However, problems with the turbine engines delayed the construction of the Ibuki, and in the end, construction began almost two years later than her sister ship, the Kurama, which used standard reciprocating engines.
Shortly after commissioning, the Ibuki was sent on a voyage to Thailand for the coronation ceremony of the Thai king Rama VI.
On 28 August 1912, the Tsukuba was re-classified as a battlecruiser by the Japanese navy.
It subsequently played an important role in World War I, in protecting British merchant shipping in the South Pacific and in the Indian Ocean, and participating in the hunt for the German East Asiatic Squadron and the SMS Emden. After the war, it felt victim to the Washington Naval Treaty and was scrapped after a short service life of only 15 years.
Afterwards, its guns were salvaged, and used in the shore batteries at Hakodate in Hokkaido and along the Tsugaru Strait separating Honshu and Hokkaido..
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German Battlecruiser Scharnhorst845 viewsScharnhorst was a 31,100-ton Gneisenau-class battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, named to commemorate the World War I armoured cruiser SMS Scharnhorst, which was in turn named after the Prussian general Gerhard von Scharnhorst
The ship was built at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, launched in October 1936 under the Hitler regime's massive rearmament program, and commissioned in January 1939.
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SMS Seydlitz 1912724 viewsSMS Seydlitz was a 25,000 ton battlecruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned in May 1913.
At the battle of Dogger Bank, 24 January 1915, in World War I she was the flagship of Admiral Franz von Hipper. In heavy fighting two gun turrets were destroyed and 160 sailors were killed.
At the battle of Jutland she fought in Hipper's battlecruiser squadron where she destroyed HMS Queen Mary with her accurate shellfire. In the battle she was heavily damaged, being hit by twenty-one heavy shells and one torpedo, and suffering 98 men killed and 55 injured. Four turrets were destroyed and she shipped 5,000 tons of water, reducing her freeboard almost to nothing. She made it back to port with great difficulty. After the armistice she was escorted to Scapa Flow where she was scuttled with the rest of the High Seas Fleet on 21 June 1919. She was salvaged in 1928 and scrapped.
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SMS Baden 1915806 viewsSMS Baden was a Bayern-class battleship launched in 1915. She was saved from scuttling in Scapa Flow by beaching and later sunk in extensive gunnery testing by the Royal Navy in 1921. The Baden was one of four planned Bayern battleships, the other three were the Bayern, Wurttemberg and Sachsen.
The Baden was not originally intended to be surrended under the terms of the Armistice, but was substitued for the Mackensen which could not put to sea.
After the scuttling of the fleet at Scapa Flow, the Bayern was raised and scrapped, but the Baden was carefully examined by the British. It was exensively measured stripped and compared to existing British ships. The effects of various guns were tested on her. First of all the British 15" guns of the Erebus and Terror, two monitors, were fired into selected parts of the hull and superstructure. Various bombs were detonated on her decks and finally the battleships of the Atlantic fleet used their main guns on her and she sank southwest of Portsmouth on the 16th August 1921.
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SMS Westfalen 1908584 viewsSMS Westfalen, launched 1908 at AG Weser in Bremen was one of the first dreadnought battleships (ship of the line) built for the Imperial German Navy. There were three other ships in her class: SMS Nassau (launched in 1908 at the Imperial shipyards in Wilhelmshaven), SMS Posen (launched in 1908 at Germania shipyards in Kiel) and SMS Rheinland (launched 1908 at Vulcan in Stettin). The ships were armed with twelve 28 cm guns in double turrets -- one forward, one aft, and two on each side. In addition, they carried twelve 15 cm guns, sixteen 8.8 cm guns and six torpedo tubes. SMS Nassau was 146 m long, displaced 18,873 tons, carried a crew of 1008, and had a top speed of 20 knots. All four ships took part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June 1916.
Following the end of World War I, the ships were surrendered to the victorious powers as war booty. Westfalen was surrendered in 1920 to Great Britain and scrapped in 1924. The other three ships were surrendered to Japan, which sold them to a British wrecking firm which then scrapped them in Dordrecht (Netherlands).
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1908 SMS Rheinland513 viewsLaunched in 1908 at Vulcan in Stettin, SMS Rheinland was was one of four Nassau class battleships that were the first dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial German Navy. There were three other ships in her class: SMS Nassau (launched in 1908 at the Imperial shipyards in Wilhelmshaven), SMS Posen (launched in 1908 at Germania shipyards in Kiel) and SMS Westfalen (launched 1908 at AG Weser in Bremen). The ships were armed with twelve 28 cm guns in double turrets -- one forward, one aft, and two on each side. In addition, they carried twelve 15 cm guns, sixteen 8.8 cm guns and six torpedo tubes. SMS Nassau was 146 m long, displaced 18,873 tons, carried a crew of 1008, and had a top speed of 20 knots. All four ships took part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June 1916. On April 11, 1918, Rheinland ran aground, forcing the removal of the belt armor and all of the guns in order to refloat the ship; it was never repaired.
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Viribus Unitis in 1912541 viewsSMS Viribus Unitis was an Austro-Hungarian dreadnought battleship of the Viribus Unitis class.
Viribus Unitis was built at Stabilmento Tecnico Tristino yard, Trieste.
After Austria-Hungary was defeated in World War I, and it became apparent that the coastal areas will be controlled by the newly-formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the Austrian government decided to give the ship, along with much of the fleet, to the Croatians.
Viribus Unitis and the rest of the former Austrian fleet was soon targetted by the Italians. She was sunk at anchor at Pola on 1 November 1918 by a mignatta carried by an Italian human torpedo.
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