page_title: Kaiser-class battleship
section_title: Operation Albion
hierarchical_section_title: Kaiser-class battleship / Service history / World War I / Operation Albion
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: bei der Beschießung der Insel Ösel.
context_page_description: The Kaiser class was a class of five battleships that were built in Germany prior to World War I and served in the Imperial German Navy during the war. They were the third class of German dreadnoughts, and the first to feature turbine engines and superfiring turrets. The five ships were Kaiser, Friedrich der Grosse, Kaiserin, Prinzregent Luitpold, and König Albert. As was usual for German battleships of the period, the Kaiser class mounted main guns that were smaller than those of their British rivals: 30.5 cm, compared to the 34.3 cm guns of the British Orion class.
  All five ships saw action in the North Sea during the war; they served together as VI Division of III Battle Squadron. Four were present during the Battle of Jutland; König Albert was in dock at the time. Of the four ships that took part in the battle, only Kaiser was damaged, being struck by two heavy-caliber shells. The ships also took part in Operation Albion in the Baltic Sea; during the operation they were reorganized as IV Battle Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Wilhelm Souchon.
  At the end of the war, all five ships were interned at the British naval base in Scapa Flow.
context_section_description: In early September 1917, following the German conquest of the Russian port of Riga, the German navy decided to expunge the Russian naval forces that still held the Gulf of Riga. To this end, the Admiralstab (the Navy High Command) planned an operation in the Moonsund archipelago, particularly targeting the Russian gun batteries on the Sworbe peninsula of Ösel. On 18 September, the order was issued for a joint Army-Navy operation to capture Ösel and Moon islands; the primary naval component was to comprise the flagship, Moltke, along with III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. V Division included the four Königs, and was by this time augmented with the new battleship Bayern. VI Division consisted of the five Kaiser-class battleships. Along with nine light cruisers, three torpedo boat flotillas, and dozens of mine warfare ships, the entire force numbered some 300 ships, and was supported by over 100 aircraft and six zeppelins. The invasion force amounted to approximately 24,600 officers and enlisted men. Opposing the Germans were the old Russian pre-dreadnoughts Slava and Tsarevitch, the armored cruisers Bayan, Admiral Makarov, and Diana, 26 destroyers, several torpedo boats and gunboats, and a garrison on Ösel of some 14,000 men with shore batteries.
  The operation began on 12 October, when the Kaiser-class battleships engaged the batteries on the Sworbe peninsula. Simultaneously, Moltke, Bayern, and the Königs began firing on the Russian shore batteries at Tagga Bay. Stiff Russian resistance in the Kassar Wick, the entrance to Moon Sound, slowed the German advance. On 14 October, Kaiser was detached from the bombardment force to deal with the Russian destroyers holding up the German minesweepers. Under the cover of Kaiser's 30.5 cm guns, the German torpedo boats dashed into the Sound. During the ensuing clash, the Russian destroyer Grom was disabled and eventually sunk.
  The Russian 30.5 cm shore batteries at Zerel remained a significant problem, and so while Kaiser was disrupting the Russian destroyers, Kaiserin, König Albert, and Friedrich der Grosse bombarded Zerel at ranges of between 7.5 and 12.5 miles. Russian counter-fire proved accurate, and so the German dreadnoughts were forced to continually alter course to avoid being hit. The attack lasted only about an hour, due to fears of mines and submarines. The following morning, two König-class battleships were sent into Moon Sound to destroy the Russian ships stationed there. König sank the pre-dreadnought Slava, while Kronprinz forced the withdrawal of the remaining warships. By 20 October, the naval operations were effectively over; the Russian ships had been destroyed or forced to withdraw, and the German army attained its objectives.
caption: Prinzregent Luitpold bombarding Ösel, October 1917
exif: {}