The Schleswig-Holstein was one of a class of five pre-dreadnought battleships, laid down in 1902–04. She was launched in December 1906, completed in July 1908 and subsequently served with the German High Seas Fleet, seeing action in the Battle of Jutland. In the last two years of the war she served in turn as a depot ship at Bremerhaven and an accommodation ship at Kiel, and was one of the small force of warships that Germany was permitted to retain by the Versailles Treaty for coastal defence in the post-war years.
After substantial reconstruction, she was used as a cadet training ship. In August 1939 she was brought back into firstline service to provide fire support for German forces invading Poland, and on 1 September her four 280mm (11in) guns fired the opening shots of World War II when she shelled the Polish fortress of Westerplatte (she was in the area on a goodwill visit. She continued the bombardment for a week, until the Polish garrison surrendered on 7 September. She later led a battle group covering troop transports in the invasion of Norway in 1940, before returning to the Baltic to reassume her role as a training vessel. On 18 December 1944 she was severely damaged in an RAF bombing raid on Gdynia, and was finally scuttled on 21 March 1945.
Specifications
- Type
- Pre-Dreadnought
- Length
- 127.55m (418.5ft)
- Beam
- 22.12m (72.6ft)
- Draught
- 8.22m (27ft)
- Displacement (normal)
- 13,400tnes (13,190t)
- Displacement (full load)
- 14,441tnes (14,220t)
- Machinery
- Boilers
- Armour (belt)
- 228.6mm (9in)
- Armour (deck)
- 38.1mm (1.5in)
- Armour (turrets)
- 279.4mm (11in)
- Guns
- 4x11in; 14x6.7in; 20x3.5in
- AA guns
- None
- Aircraft
- None
- Crew
- 745
- Launched
- December 1906
- Speed
- 18 knots