Wittelsbach - class battleship The " Wittelsbach " - class battleships were a group of five pre - dreadnought battleship s of the German Kaiserliche Marine ( Imperial Navy ) . They were the first battleships produced under the Navy Law of 1898 . The class was composed of the lead ship , , , , and . All five ships were laid down between 1899 and 1900 , and finished by 1904 . The ships of the " Wittelsbach " class were similar in appearance to their predecessors of the , however , they had a flush main deck , as opposed to the lower quarterdeck of the " Kaiser Friedrich " class , and had a more extensive armor belt . Their armament was almost identical , though more efficiently arranged . The ships were commissioned into the German fleet between 1902 and 1904 , where they joined the I Squadron of the battle fleet . They were rapidly made obsolete by the launch of in 1906 . By the outbreak of World War I in 1914 , they were no longer fit for front - line service , though they saw some limited duty in the Baltic Sea against the Russian Navy . In 1916 the five ships were disarmed and employed in secondary roles . " Wittelsbach " , " Wettin " , and " Schwaben " became training ships , " Mecklenburg " was used as a prison ship and later as a floating barracks , and " Zähringen " became a target ship . All of the ships save " Zähringen " were broken up in 1921 – 22 . " Zähringen " was rebuilt as a radio - controlled target ship in the mid - 1920s . During World War II , she was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1944 and scuttled in the final days of the war . She was eventually broken up " in situ " in 1949 – 50 . Design . The ships of the " Wittelsbach " class were the first battleships built under the first Naval Law of 1898 . The ships represented an incremental improvement over the preceding " Kaiser Friedrich III " class . They were equipped with the same armament of 24 cm guns , but were given an additional torpedo tube . They also had improved defensive capabilities , as they were protected by a more extensive armored belt . They also differed from the preceding ships in their main deck , the entire length of which was flush ; in the " Kaiser Friedrich III " - class ships , the quarterdeck was cut down . General characteristics . The ships of the " Wittlesbach " class were long at the waterline and overall . They had a beam of and a draft of forward . The " Wittelsbach " s were designed to displace with a standard load , and displaced up to at full combat weight . The " Wittelsbach " - 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 14 watertight compartments and included a double bottom that ran for 70 percent of the length of the ship . The ships were regarded in the German Navy as excellent sea boats with an easy roll ; the ships rolled up to 30° with a period of 10 seconds . They maneuvered easily ; at hard rudder the ships lost up to 60 percent speed and heeled over 9° . However , they suffered from severe vibration , particularly at the stern , at high speeds . They also had very wet bows , even in moderate seas . The ships had a crew of 33 officers and 650 enlisted men . However , when serving as a squadron flagship , the crew was augmented by an additional 13 officers and 66 enlisted men . While acting as a second command ship , 9 officers and 44 enlisted men were added to the standard crew . " Wittelsbach " and her sisters carried a number of smaller vessels , including two picket boats , two launches , one pinnace , two cutters , two yawls , and two dinghies . Propulsion . The five ships of the " Wittelsbach " class each had three three - cylinder triple expansion steam engines . The outer engines drove a three - bladed screw that was in diameter ; the central shaft drove a four - bladed screw that was slightly smaller , at in diameter . To produce steam to power the engines , each ship had six marine - type boilers , with the exception of " Wettin " and " Mecklenburg " , which had six Thornycroft boilers , along with six transverse cylindrical boilers . Steering was controlled by a single large rudder . The propulsion system was rated at , which produced a top speed of . On trials , however , the five ships had significantly varied performances . " Schwaben " , the slowest ship , reached for a top speed of only . " Wettin " , the fastest , managed and a top speed of . They carried in their holds , but fuel capacity could be nearly tripled to with the usage of additional spaces in the ships . This provided a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . Electrical power was supplied by four generators that each produced at 74 volts , although in " Wittelsbach " the generators were rated at . Armament . The ships ' armament was nearly identical to the preceding " Kaiser Friedrich III " class . The primary armament consisted of a battery of four 24 cm ( 9 . 4 in ) SK L / 40 guns in twin gun turret s , one fore and one aft of the central superstructure . The guns were mounted in Drh . L . C / 98 turrets , which allowed elevation to 30° and depression to −5° . At maximum elevation , the guns could hit targets out to . The guns fired shells at a muzzle velocity of 690 m / s ( 2 , 263 ft / s ) . They had a rate of fire of three to four shots per minute . Each gun was supplied with 85 shells , for a total of 340 . Secondary armament included eighteen 15 cm ( 5 . 9 inch ) SK L / 40 guns ; four were emplaced in single turrets amidships and the rest were mounted in MPL casemate s . These guns had a fired armor - piercing shells at a rate of 4 – 5 per minute . The ships carried 120 shells per gun , for a total of 2 , 160 rounds total . The guns could depress to −7 degrees and elevate to 20 degrees , for a maximum range of 13 , 700 m ( 14 , 990 yd ) . They were manually elevated and trained . The ships also carried twelve 8 . 8 cm ( 3 . 45 in ) SK L / 30 quick - firing guns , also mounted in casemates and pivot mounts . These guns were supplied with between 170 and 250 shells per gun . These guns fired 13 . 8 kg ( 30 . 4 lb ) at a muzzle velocity of 590 mps ( 1 , 936 fps ) . Their rate of fire was approximately 15 shells per minute ; the guns could engage targets out to 10 , 500 m ( 11 , 480 yd ) . The gun mounts were manually operated . The ships ' gun armament was rounded out by twelve machine gun s . The ships were also armed with six torpedo tubes , all in above - water swivel mounts . Four tubes were mounted on the sides of the ship , another in the bow , and the last in the stern . These weapons were 5 . 1 m ( 201 in ) long and carried a 87 . 5 kg ( 193 lb ) TNT warhead . They could be set at two speeds for different ranges . At , the torpedoes had a range of 800 m ( 870 yd ) . At an increased speed of , the range was reduced to 500 m ( 550 yb ) . Armor . The five " Wittelsbach " class battleships were armored with Krupp steel . Their armored decks were thick , with sloped sides that ranged in thickness from . The sloped section of the deck connected it to the main armored belt , which was in the central citadel , where the ship ' s vitals were . This included ammunition magazines and the propulsion system . The belt was reduced to on either end of the central citadel ; the bow and stern were not protected with any armor . The entire length of belt was backed by 100 mm of teak planking . Directly above the main belt , the 15 cm casemate guns were protected with thick steel plating . The 15 cm guns in turrets were more exposed and therefore slightly better protected : their side armor was increased to , with thick gun shields . The 24 cm gun turrets had the heaviest armor aboard ship : thick sides and 50 mm thick roofs . The forward conning tower also had 250 mm thick sides , though its roof was only thick . The rear conning tower was much less protected . Its sides were only 140 mm thick ; the roof was 30 mm thick . Construction . " Wittelsbach " was ordered for the German fleet under the contract designation " C . " She was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven in 1899 , under construction number 25 . She was launched on 3 July 1900 ; 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 late 1902 work on the ship was finished . " Wittelsbach " was commissioned into the fleet on 15 October of that year . " Wettin " was ordered as " D " and laid down at the Schichau - Werke in Danzig in 1899 . Although she was launched on 6 June 1901 — nearly a full year after " Wittelsbach " — she was commissioned on 1 October 1902 , two weeks earlier than her sister ship . " Zähringen " was laid down at the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel under the provisional name " E " in 1899 . She was launched on 12 June 1901 and commissioned into the fleet on 25 October 1902 . In 1900 , " Schwaben " followed " Wittelsbach " at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven , under the provisional name " G . " She was launched on 19 August 1901 and commissioned on 13 April 1904 , the last ship of the five to join the fleet . " Mecklenburg " was ordered from the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin under the contract name " F . " Her keel was laid there in 1900 . Launched on 9 November 1901 , " Mecklenburg " was completed by May 1903 and commissioned on the 25th . Service history . In the early 1900s , the German fleet was organized as the " Home Fleet " ( ) . After joining the fleet , the " Wittelsbach " - class ships were assigned to the I Battle Squadron , where they replaced the older s . By 1907 , the and es had come into service . With two full battle squadrons , the fleet was reorganized as the High Seas Fleet . Like the " Kaiser Friedrich III " - class ships , the " Wittelsbach " s were withdrawn from active service after the advent of the dreadnought s . The five ships were recalled to active service at the outbreak of war in 1914 . They were assigned to the IV Battle Squadron and deployed to the Baltic . The ships were based in Kiel and placed under the command of Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt . In early September 1914 , the ships conducted a result - less sweep into the Baltic against the Russian navy operating there . In May 1915 , four of the " Wittelsbach " s sailed into the Baltic and bombarded Libau , which was subsequently captured by the German army . The five ships of the class were moved to Libau during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915 , though they did not see any combat during the operation . British submarines were becoming increasingly active in the Baltic by late 1915 ; several cruisers had been sunk and the elderly " Wittelsbach " - class ships could no longer be risked there . Therefore , due to their age and vulnerability , they were withdrawn from active service and disarmed by 1916 . They were used as training ships , with the exception of " Mecklenburg " , which was used as a prison ship . In 1919 , " Wittelsbach " and " Schwaben " were converted into depot ships for minesweepers . The entire class , with the exception of " Zähringen " , were struck from the navy list after the end of World War I . " Mecklenburg " was struck on 27 January 1920 , " Wettin " followed on 11 March 1920 , and " Wittelsbach " and " Schwaben " were struck on 8 March 1921 . The four ships were broken up between 1921 – 22 . " Zähringen " was converted into a radio - controlled target ship in 1926 – 27 . Royal Air Force bombers sank the ship in Gotenhafen in 1944 ; the wreck was broken up in 1949 – 50 . References . Online sources