Featured Article Summary #268

The Kaiser class consisted of five German dreadnought battleships built in the 1910s for the Imperial German Navy, with ships including SMS Kaiser and SMS König Albert. They entered service just before World War I and were involved in major fighting during the war. The ships improved on earlier German designs by using steam turbines for propulsion, adding a more efficient gun layout, and offering better speed and armor than the Nassau and Helgoland classes, though they carried fewer guns than many British battleships. After joining the High Seas Fleet, they took part in many fleet operations, leading up to the Battle of Jutland in 1916, where four ships were present and Kaiser was the only one damaged. Later, they were moved to other squadrons and took part in the Baltic operation in 1917. After the war, the ships were interned at Scapa Flow and then deliberately sunk by their crews in 1919 to stop the British from taking them, before being scrapped years later. Work on the Kaiser-class began in early 1908 as Germany faced rising costs and political doubts about expanding the navy. Although Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz pushed for a successor to the Helgoland class, arguments about spending led to design changes, including keeping costs similar to earlier ships by considering fewer main guns and ultimately creating a new version (“1c2”) that saved weight through a revised secondary-gun layout. Later, concerns about a rumored larger British 34.3 cm gun forced new designs (“1c3” and “1c4”) that adjusted armor protection, and by late 1908 ten-gun variants were again being evaluated after renewed political pressure. In late 1908, the German Construction Department created nine different layouts for a 10-gun main battery, but in January 1909 Tirpitz secured Kaiser Wilhelm II’s approval to reduce armament from 12 to 10 while improving defense. Two leading designs, “8” and “16,” were refined into “8a” and “16a,” and “16a” was approved despite concerns about its angled (asymmetrical) turret arrangement. After further changes to improve handling and armor, propulsion choices and other details were repeatedly debated, and by October a decision was made to use a three-shaft system; the shipyards were then asked for bids. Tirpitz also later investigated changing the next battleship to use triple gun turrets, but since that would be difficult and expensive, Ersatz Odin was ordered as a fifth Kaiser-class ship. MAN proposed using diesel engines on future battleships, and Admiral Rollmann said they would save weight and crew and reduce exhaust, allowing fewer funnels and a smaller, harder-to-hit ship. However, planners saw major problems: diesel engines required design changes and weakened protection because coal bunkers were part of the defensive layout, and the engines were tall enough to require armor alterations. While a first attempt was planned for the last ship, Ersatz Odin, test-engine failures and later the start of World War I delayed development and forced a switch from diesel fuel to tar oil, so the final engine was not ready until mid-1918 and could not be retrofitted. The Kaiser-class battleships were about 172 m long, 29 m wide, and had a deep draft, displacing roughly 24,724 tons and up to about 27,000 tons at full load. Their hulls used steel framing, a double bottom covering most of the length, and seventeen watertight compartments, along with a raised forecastle deck and armored conning towers for command and signaling. They carried a crew of 41 officers and 1,043 sailors, with additional personnel when used as flagship ships. Overall, they were good seagoing vessels but were stiff in heavy swells and handled steering sharply poorly at full rudder, where speed could drop dramatically and the ship could heel noticeably.