SMS Hannover SMS " Hannover " ( " His Majesty ' s Ship Hannover " ) was the second of five pre - dreadnought s of the German Imperial Navy ( " Kaiserliche Marine " ) . " Hannover " and the three subsequently constructed ships differed slightly in both design and construction from the lead ship in their propulsion systems and slightly thicker armor . " Hannover " was laid down in November 1904 and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in October 1907 ; this was ten months after the revolutionary " all - big - gun " was commissioned into the Royal Navy . As a result , " Hannover " was obsolete as a capital ship before she was even completed ; " Dreadnought " s more powerful main battery and higher speed would have made it unwise for a ship like " Hannover " to engage her in the line of battle . The ship was named after the Prussian province of Hannover , now in Lower Saxony . " Hannover " and her sisters saw extensive service with the fleet . The ship took part in all major training maneuvers until World War I broke out in July 1914 . " Hannover " and her sisters were immediately pressed into guard duties in the mouth of the Elbe River while the rest of the fleet mobilized . The ship took part in a number of fleet advances , which culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916 . During the battle , " Hannover " served as the flagship for the IV Division of the II Battle Squadron . After Jutland , " Hannover " and her three surviving sisters were removed from active duty with the fleet to serve as guard ships . In 1917 , " Hannover " was briefly used as a target ship before being returned to guard duties in the Baltic Sea . The ship was decommissioned in December 1918 , shortly after the end of the war . " Hannover " was brought back to active service in the Reichsmarine , the post - war Germany navy . She served with the fleet for ten years , from 1921 to 1931 , before she was again decommissioned . The navy planned to convert the ship into a radio - controlled target ship for aircraft , but this was never carried out . The ship was ultimately broken up for scrap between 1944 and 1946 in Bremerhaven . Her bell is preserved at the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden . Construction . " Hannover " was intended to fight in the German battle line with the other battleships of the High Seas Fleet . The ship was laid down on 7 November 1904 at the Kaiserliche Werft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven . She was launched on 29 May 1905 and commissioned for trials on 1 October 1907 , but the fleet exercises in the Skagerrak in November interrupted the trials . Trials resumed after the maneuvers were completed , and by 13 February 1908 " Hannover " was ready to join the active fleet . She was assigned to the II Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet , joining her sisters and . However , the new British battleship — armed with ten 12 - inch ( 30 . 5 cm ) guns — was commissioned in December 1906 , well before " Hannover " entered service . " Dreadnought " s revolutionary design rendered obsolete every ship of the German navy , including the brand - new " Hannover " . " Hannover " was long , had a beam of , and a draft of . She had a full - load displacement of . The ship was equipped with triple expansion engines that produced a rated and a top speed of . At a cruising speed of , she could steam for . The ship ' s primary armament consisted of four SK L / 40 guns in two twin turrets . She was also equipped with fourteen guns mounted in casemates and twenty guns in pivot mounts . The ship was also armed with six torpedo tube s , all of which were submerged in the hull . Service . Upon her commissioning , " Hannover " joined the II Battle Squadron . From May to June 1908 , " Hannover " took part in maneuvers in the North Sea . From the following month until August , the fleet conducted a training cruise into the Atlantic . During the cruise , " Hannover " stopped in Punta Delgado in the Azores from 23 July to 1 August . The annual autumn exercises began in September ; after these were completed " Hannover " was transferred to the I Squadron , where she served as the flagship for two years . In November , fleet and unit exercises were conducted in the Baltic Sea . The training regimen in which " Hannover " participated followed a similar pattern over the next five years . This included another cruise into the Atlantic , from 7 July to 1 August 1909 . February 1910 saw the I Squadron conduct individual training in the Baltic . The unit was subsequently transferred from Kiel to the base in Wilhelmshaven on 1 April . Fleet maneuvers were conducted shortly thereafter , followed by a summer cruise to Norway , and additional fleet training in the fall . On 3 October 1911 , the ship was transferred back to the II Squadron . Due to the Agadir Crisis in July , the summer cruise only went into the Baltic . On 14 July 1914 , the annual summer cruise to Norway began , but the threat of war in Europe caused the excursion to be cut short ; within two weeks " Hannover " and the rest of the II Squadron had returned to Wilhelmshaven . World War I . Following the outbreak of World War I , " Hannover " was tasked with guard duty in the Altenbruch roadstead in the mouth of the Elbe River during the period of mobilization for the rest of the fleet . In late October , the ships were sent to Kiel to have modifications made to their underwater protection systems to make them more resilient . " Hannover " then joined the battleship support for the battlecruisers that bombarded Scarborough , Hartlepool , and Whitby on 15 – 16 December 1914 . During the operation , the German battle fleet of some 12 dreadnoughts and eight pre - dreadnoughts came to within of an isolated squadron of six British battleships . However , skirmishes between the rival destroyer screens convinced the German commander , Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl , that he was confronted with the entire Grand Fleet , and so he broke off the engagement and turned for home . " Hannover " put to sea during the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915 to support the beleaguered German battlecruisers , but quickly returned to port . On 17 – 18 April , " Hannover " supported a minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank by the light cruiser s of the II Reconnaissance Group . A fleet advance to the Dogger Bank followed on 21 – 22 April . On 16 May , " Hannover " was sent to Kiel to have one of her 28 cm guns replaced . The ship returned to Kiel on 28 June to have supplemental oil firing installed for her boilers ; work lasted until 12 July . On 11 – 12 September , II Reconnaissance Group conducted another minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank with " Hannover " and the rest of II Squadron in support . This was followed by another resultless sweep by the fleet on 23 – 24 October . During the fleet advance of 5 – 7 March 1916 , " Hannover " and the rest of II Squadron remained in the German Bight , ready to sail in support . They then rejoined the fleet during the operation to bombard Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24 – 25 April . During this operation , the battlecruiser was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely . Visibility was poor , so the operation was quickly called off before the British fleet could intervene . Battle of Jutland . Admiral Reinhard Scheer , the commander of the German fleet , immediately planned another advance into the North Sea , but the damage to " Seydlitz " delayed the operation until the end of May . " Hannover " was the flagship in the IV Division of the II Battle Squadron , which was positioned at the rear of the German line . The II Battle Squadron was commanded by Rear Admiral Franz Mauve . During the " Run to the North " , Admiral Scheer ordered the fleet to pursue the retreating battleships of the British V Battle Squadron at top speed . " Hannover " and her sisters were significantly slower than the faster dreadnoughts and quickly fell behind . During this period , Admiral Scheer directed " Hannover " to place itself at the rear of the German line , so he would have a flagship on either end of the formation . By 19 : 30 , the Grand Fleet had arrived on the scene and confronted Admiral Scheer with significant numerical superiority . The German fleet was severely hampered by the presence of the slower " Deutschland " - class ships ; if Scheer ordered an immediate turn towards Germany , he would have to sacrifice the slower ships to make good his escape . Admiral Scheer decided to reverse the course of the fleet with the " Gefechtskehrtwendung " , a maneuver that required every unit in the German line to turn 180° simultaneously . As a result of their having fallen behind , the ships of the II Battle Squadron could not conform to the new course following the turn . " Hannover " and the other five ships of the squadron therefore were located on the disengaged side of the German line . Admiral Mauve considered moving his ships to the rear of the line , astern of the III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts , but decided against it when he realized the movement would interfere with the maneuvering of Admiral Franz von Hipper ' s battlecruisers . Instead , he attempted to place his ships at the head of the line . Later on the first day of the battle , the hard - pressed battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group were being pursued by their British opponents . " Hannover " and the other so - called " five - minute ships " came to their aid by steaming in between the opposing battlecruiser squadrons . The ships were very briefly engaged , owing in large part to the poor visibility . " Hannover " fired eight rounds from her 28 cm guns during this period . The British battlecruiser fired on " Hannover " several times until the latter was obscured by smoke . " Hannover " was struck once by fragments from one of the shells fired by " Princess Royal " . Admiral Mauve decided it would be inadvisable to continue the fight against the much more powerful battlecruisers , and so ordered an 8 - point turn to starboard . Late on the 31st , the fleet organized for the night march back to Germany ; " Deutschland " , " Pommern " , and " Hannover " fell in behind and the other dreadnoughts of the III Battle Squadron towards the rear of the line . " Hannover " was then joined by the , , and . " Hessen " situated itself between " Hannover " and " Pommern " , while the other two ships fell in at the rear of the line . Shortly after 01 : 00 , the leading ships of the German line came into contact with the armored cruiser ; " Black Prince " was quickly destroyed in a hail of gunfire from the German dreadnoughts . was forced to heel out of line to avoid the sinking British ship , and an hour later rejoined the formation directly ahead of " Hannover " . At around 03 : 00 , British destroyers conducted a series of attacks against the fleet , some of which targeted " Hannover " . Shortly thereafter , " Pommern " was struck by at least one torpedo from the destroyer ; the hit detonated an ammunition magazine which destroyed the ship in a tremendous explosion . " Hannover " was astern of " Pommern " and was forced to turn hard to starboard in order to avoid the wreck . Simultaneously , a third torpedo from " Onslaught " passed closely astern of " Hannover " , which forced the ship to turn away . Shortly after 04 : 00 , " Hannover " and several other ships fired repeatedly at what were thought to be submarines ; in one instance , the firing from " Hannover " and " Hessen " nearly damaged the light cruiser s and , which prompted Admiral Scheer to order them to cease firing . " Hannover " and several other ships again fired at imaginary submarines shortly before 06 : 00 . Despite the ferocity of the night fighting , the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached Horns Reef by 04 : 00 on 1 June . The German fleet reached Wilhelmshaven a few hours later , where the undamaged dreadnoughts of the and es took up defensive positions . Over the course of the battle , " Hannover " had fired eight 28 cm shells , twenty - one 17 cm rounds , and forty - four shells from her 8 . 8 cm guns . She emerged from the battle completely unscathed . Later actions . After Jutland , " Hannover " went into dock for periodic maintenance on 4 November . " Hannover " and the rest of II Battle Squadron were then detached from the High Seas Fleet on 30 November and reassigned to picket duty in the mouth of the Elbe . In early 1917 , " Hannover " was used as a target ship in the Baltic . On 21 March , " Hannover " had some of her guns removed ; the ship was then converted into a guard ship from 25 June to 16 September . During this period , on 15 August , the II Battle Squadron was officially disbanded . On 27 September , " Hessen " was assigned to guard duties in the Baltic , where she replaced the older battleship . Postwar service . On 11 November 1918 , Germany entered into the Armistice with the Western Allies . According to the terms of the Armistice , the most modern components of Germany ' s surface fleet were interned in the British naval base at Scapa Flow , while the rest of the fleet was demilitarized . On the day the armistice took effect , " Hannover " was sent briefly to Swinemünde , before returning to Kiel on 14 – 15 November along with " Schlesien " . " Hannover " was decommissioned a month later on 17 December in accordance with the terms of the Armistice . The terms of the Treaty of Versailles , signed on 21 June 1919 , permitted Germany to retain a surface fleet of eight obsolete battleships . This amounted to three of the " Deutschland " - class battleships , " Hannover " , " Schleswig - Holstein " and " Schlesien " , as well as the five s . " 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 . The ship was struck from the naval register in 1936 , after which the navy intended to rebuild " Hannover " for use as a target ship . The conversion , however , never occurred . Ultimately , the ship was broken up between May 1944 and October 1946 in Bremerhaven . Her bell now resides in the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden . Footnotes . Notes Citations