Deutschland - class battleship The " Deutschland " class was a group of five pre - dreadnought battleship s built for the German Kaiserliche Marine . The class comprised , , , , and . Built between 1903 and 1908 , the ships closely resembled those of the preceding , though they had stronger armor protection . They were made obsolete before they were even completed by the launch of the revolutionary Royal Navy battleship in 1906 . As a result , they were the last ships of that type built for the German Navy . They were followed by the s , Germany ' s first dreadnought battleship s . With the commissioning of the " Deutschland " class , the fleet had enough battleships to form two full battle squadrons ; the fleet was then reorganized into the High Seas Fleet , which saw combat during World War I . Despite their obsolescence , all five of these ships were present at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916 . In the confused night actions , " Pommern " was torpedoed and sunk . After the battle , the four surviving ships were removed from the front - line fleet and employed in secondary tasks . The Treaty of Versailles permitted Germany to retain several old battleships for coastal defense , including the four " Deutschland " - class ships . However , instead of being used as a coastal defense ship , " Deutschland " was broken up in 1920 – 1922 . " Hannover " was to be converted into a target vessel , although this was never done . She was eventually broken up in 1944 – 1946 . " Schlesien " and " Schleswig - Holstein " were the only two vessels of the class to see continued front - line service in the Reichsmarine and later the Kriegsmarine . Both ships saw limited duty during World War II , which was inaugurated by the firing of " Schleswig - Holstein " s main guns at the Polish fortress at Westerplatte . Near the end of the war the two ships were both sunk . Design . The five " Deutschland " - class battleships were the last pre - dreadnoughts built by the German Navy . They were similar to the preceding " Braunschweig " - class ships — " Deutschland " was nearly identical , though the design was modified slightly after the lead ship was laid down . The four subsequent ships had a somewhat different boiler arrangement and slightly thicker armor compared to the " Braunschweig " - class ships . All five vessels of the " Deutschland " class dispensed with the turret mountings for the secondary guns ; all of these guns were mounted in casemate s in the hull . The ships were built despite rumors of the capabilities of the revolutionary then under construction . Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz insisted on their construction , since larger ships would have necessitated widening the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal . This would have put a prohibitive strain on the naval budget for the year . General characteristics . The " Deutschland " - class ships were long at the waterline and overall . They had a beam of and a draft of forward . The ships were designed to displace with a standard load , and displaced up to at full load . The " Deutschland " - class ships ' hulls were built with transverse and longitudinal steel frames . Steel hull plates were riveted to the structure created by the frames . The hull was split into twelve watertight compartments , although " Pommern " had thirteen compartments . The hull included a double bottom that ran for 84 percent of the length of the ship . The ships handled less easily than the preceding " Braunschweig " - class ships , though they suffered less marked weather helm . Their metacentric height was . The ships ' crews numbered 35 officers and 708 enlisted men . When one of them was a squadron flagship , the crew was augmented by 13 officers and 66 enlisted men ; while serving as a second command ship , 2 officers and 23 enlisted men were added to her standard crew . After she became a training ship in 1935 , " Schlesien " s crew consisted of 29 officers and 559 enlisted men , plus up to 214 cadets . " Schleswig - Holstein " differed somewhat ; her crew as a training ship numbered 31 officers and 565 men and up to 175 cadets . " Deutschland " and her sisters carried a number of smaller vessels , including two picket boats , one admiral ' s barge , two launches , one pinnace , two cutters , two yawls , and two dinghies . Machinery . " Deutschland " and her sisters were equipped with three - shaft triple expansion steam engines . The ships had a single rudder and three screw propellers . The two outer propellers were three - bladed , and 4 . 8 m ( 5 . 24 yd ) in diameter . The center screw had four blades and was 4 . 5 m ( 4 . 92 yd ) in diameter . Steam was supplied to the engines by twelve marine - type boilers , four for each engine , with the exception of " Deutschland " . This ship was boilered as in " Braunschweig " , with eight marine - type boilers and six cylindrical boilers . " Deutschland " s engines were rated at , while the other four ships ' engines were rated at . The design speed for all of the ships was , though on trials all five ships exceeded the figure . The ships were designed to carry of coal , though additional spaces could be utilized as fuel storage , which increased fuel capacity to . This provided a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . Electrical power was supplied four turbo - generators that supplied each at 110 volts . Armament . The armament of the " Deutschland " class was nearly identical to that of the preceding " Braunschweig " class , although it was rearranged slightly and increased in number . The primary armament consisted of four SK L / 40 quick - firing guns in two twin turrets , one forward and one to the rear of the main superstructure . The turrets were the Drh . L . C / 01 model , which allowed elevation to 30° and depression to −5° . At maximum elevation , the guns could hit targets out to . The guns fired shells in both high - explosive and armor - piercing ( AP ) types . Muzzle velocity for both types of shells was 820 m / s ( 2 , 690 f / s ) . At a range of , the AP shells could penetrate armor plating up to thick . The secondary battery consisted of fourteen guns mounted in casemates amidships . Five were emplaced in the top deck and two one deck higher in the superstructure on either side . The casemates allowed elevation to 22° and depression to −5° . At 22° , the guns could engage targets . Each gun was supplied with 130 armor - piercing shells , and fired at a rate of approximately 5 per minute . The guns had an arc of train of 160° . The ships were armed with twenty - two quick - firing guns in single mounts , which were manually operated . The guns fired high - explosive shells at up to 12 rounds per minute . They were supplied with 140 shells each . The guns could hit targets out to . Armor . The " Deutschland " - class ships were equipped with Krupp cemented armor . " Deutschland " had a slightly different arrangement in the belt armor and the citadel in the superstructure . " Deutschland " s belt was at the waterline and tapered to on the lower edge . Her sister ships ' belts was increased in thickness to at the waterline and down to on the bottom edge . In " Deutschland " , the citadel armor was thick , while on the other four ships the armor was 170 mm thick . All five ships had an armored deck that was thick . The main battery gun turrets had armored sides that were thick and roofs that were thick . The barbette s that held the turrets were armored with thick steel . The casemate guns were protected by thick armor plating . Their forward conning tower s were protected by on the sides , while the rear conning towers had worth of armor . Construction . " Deutschland " was ordered for the German fleet under the contract designation " N . " She was laid down at the Germaniawerft dockyard in 1903 , under construction number 109 . She was launched on 20 November 1904 ; once she left the stocks fitting out work commenced . This included the installation of the ship ' s armament , completion of the interior compartments , and the finishing of the superstructure . By mid 1906 work on the ship was finished . " Deutschland " was commissioned into the fleet on 3 August of that year . " Hannover " was ordered as " O " and laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven in 1904 . She was launched on 29 September 1905 and commissioned on 1 October 1907 . " Pommern " was laid down at the AG Vulcan dockyard in Stettin under the provisional name " P " in 1904 . She was launched on 2 December 1905 and commissioned into the fleet on 1 October 1907 . In 1904 , " Schlesien " was laid down at the Schichau - Werke in Danzig under the provisional name " R . " She was launched on 28 May 1906 and commissioned on 5 May 1908 . " Schleswig - Holstein " was ordered from the Germaniawerft dockyard under the contract name " Q . " Her keel was laid there in 1905 . Launched on 17 December 1906 , " Schleswig - Holstein " was completed by July 1908 and commissioned on the 6th , the last ship of the five to join the fleet . Service history . Following their commissioning beginning in 1906 , the ships joined the II Battle Squadron of the " Heimatflotte " ( Home Fleet ) , which also included the " Braunschweig " - class ships . " Deutschland " replaced as the flagship of the fleet . Once the II Battle Squadron was complete , the fleet was reorganized as the " Hochseeflotte " ( High Seas Fleet ) . The five ships conducted several training cruises and fleet maneuvers every year until 1914 ; these included cruises into the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea and annual tours of Norway . In 1913 , " Deutschland " was replaced as fleet flagship by the new dreadnought . The five ships were in Norway for the annual fleet visit in July 1914 . The threat of war forced the cruise to be cut short , and all of the ships were back in German ports by the end of the month . World War I . The ships of the " Deutschland " class continued to serve in the II Battle Squadron during World War I . The ships conducted patrols in the mouth of the Elbe River in the first weeks of the war while the rest of the fleet was still being mobilized . They also took part in most of the major fleet actions in the first two years of the war . This primarily included acting as a support force for the battlecruisers that bombarded the English coast in the hopes of luring out a portion of the British fleet . The five ships participated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916 under the command of Admiral von Mauve . Towards the end of the fleet battle on the evening of 31 May , the five " Deutschland " - class ships came to the aid of the mauled battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group . The " Deutschland " s intervened and prevented the British battlecruisers under Admiral David Beatty from pursuing the German ships . In the darkness , the Germans had difficulty making out their targets and failed to score any hits ; the British , however , managed to hit three of the " Deutschland " s . " Pommern " was forced briefly to haul out of line . During the night actions , " Pommern " was torpedoed . The torpedo detonated an ammunition magazine and destroyed the ship , killing all hands on board . The German fleet reached Wilhelmshaven by mid - day of 1 June , where the undamaged dreadnoughts of the and es took up defensive positions . By the end of 1916 , the four remaining ships were withdrawn from service with the fleet . They were placed into reserve on 15 August 1917 . " Deutschland " and " Schleswig - Holstein " became barracks ships in Wilhelmshaven and Kiel , respectively . " Hannover " was used as a guard ship in the Danish belt , and " Schlesien " became a training ship in Kiel . Inter - war years . Following the German defeat in World War I , three of the " Deutschland " - class battleships were allowed to be retained in the German Navy , which was reorganized as the Reichsmarine : " Hannover " , " Schleswig - Holstein " and " Schlesien " , along with several of the " Braunschweig " - class battleships . " Deutschland " was instead scrapped in 1922 . The three remaining pre - dreadnought battleships were modernized in the 1920s , which included the replacement of the ships ' 17 cm guns with pieces . " Hannover " was the first of all the old battleships to come in service with the Reichsmarine in February 1921 as fleet flagship in the Baltic . Her first homeport was Swinemünde but she was transferred to Kiel in 1922 . In 1923 the German Navy adopted a new command structure and became flagship of the Fleet . In October 1925 , " Hannover " was moved to the North Sea station . She was decommissioned in March 1927 when " Schlesien " returned to active service . With newly built masts but still three funnels she entered service again replacing in February 1930 until September 1931 . In 1932 , " Schleswig - Holstein " was re - boilered and converted into a cadet training ship . One of the most significant changes visually was the trunking of the two forward funnels into a single larger smoke stack . " Schlesien " was made the flagship of the battleship squadron in January 1933 . In May 1935 , the Reichsmarine was again reorganized as the Kriegsmarine . By this time , only " Schlesien " and " Schleswig - Holstein " were still operating as warships ; the four " Braunschweig " - class ships had been disposed of or converted into auxiliary ships . " Hannover " was struck from the navy list in 1936 and destined for the scrapyard . There were ideas to rebuilt her as a target ship especially for aircraft , although this never occurred . " Schlesien " was re - boilered and converted into a training ship as well in 1936 . The following year , " Schlesien " toured South America , including a stop in Argentina in December . By 1939 , both ships had been replaced in front - line service by newer ships , and were instead relegated to training duties . World War II . In August 1939 , " Schleswig - Holstein " conducted what was purported to be a ceremonial tour of the Baltic to commemorate the sinking of the light cruiser in August 1914 . At the conclusion of the tour , the ship was towed into the port of Danzig opposite the Polish military depot at Westerplatte . At 04 : 47 on 1 September , " Schleswig - Holstein " fired the first shots of World War II , when she opened fire on the base in Westerplatte . A detachment of marines then stormed the fortress , which resisted for seven days . Throughout the battle , " Schleswig - Holstein " provided artillery support . During the operation " Schlesien " remained in her training ship role , though she briefly acted as an icebreaker for U - boat s . " Schleswig - Holstein " and " Schlesien " then participated in the occupation of Denmark and invasion of Norway , respectively , in April 1940 . Afterward , " Schleswig - Holstein " was again removed from front - line service and used as a training ship , while " Schlesien " resumed her ice - breaking duties . In March 1941 , " Schlesien " escorted mine - layers in the Baltic . After returning from this operation , she became a barracks ship in Gotenhafen . In mid - 1944 , " Schlesien " s and " Schleswig - Holstein " s anti - aircraft armament was considerably strengthened to allow them to be used as an air defense ships in the port of Gotenhafen . " Schleswig - Holstein " was attacked by RAF bombers in December 1944 , and although she was sunk in shallow water , her weapons could still be used . After a fire permanently disabled the ship , her crew was sent ashore to assist in the defense of Marienburg . Starting in 1944 , " Hannover " was broken up for scrap ; work lasted until 1945 . Schlesien provided fire support for German troops in the vicinity of Gotenhafen between 15 and 21 March 1945 . In April , " Schlesien " was moved to Swinemünde to restock her ammunition supply as well as evacuate 1 , 000 wounded soldiers from the front . On 3 May she struck a mine outside Swinemünde ; the following day she was scuttled by her crew in shallow water . Both ships were broken up in situ after the war . References . Online sources