Kaiserliches Marine – 4 planned: Mackensen, Graf Spee, Prinz Eitel Friedrich, Ersatz Friedrich Carl (+ Ersatz Yorck class) The Mackensen were the penultimate German battlecruiser design, following the Derfflinger class and in particular, the third ship in class, SMS Hindenburg. They were far more than paper projects, as SMS Mackensen had been launched on 21 … Read more
German Pre-dreadnoughts (1890-94) – Brandenburg, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm, Weissenburg, Wörth Germany’s first pre-dreadnoughts Certainly the oldest battleships of the German Navy in 1914, two were left (two others sold, see later) in active service. Originally the class was composed of Brandenburg, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm, Weissenburg, and Wörth. They were approved in 1889, laid down at … Read more
Germany (1892) – Protected Cruiser 1892-1918 The second German protected cruiser: The design of this wooden-headed protected cruiser started in 1887 based on the Irene class, but with an emphasis on speed, swapping on three shafts. A first time for a German warship and a configuration that was found convenient and repeated on further vessels. … Read more
Germany (1913-1919) U-31 to U-41, launched/commissioned 1914-15 The U31 class were a continuation of previous diesel boats, a serie started with U19 and continued with the U23 and U27 classes, made by either Germaniawerft or Kaiserliche Werft Danzig. This was the same basic design, incrementally improved, increased in size and tonnage and becoming the standard … Read more
Germany (1912) Helgoland, Ostfriesland, Thüringen, Oldenburg The Helgoland class Battleships were very similar to the previous Nassau, first generation of Imperial German dreadnoughts. But they were a bite more: They were a breakthrough in German battleships design, the main artillery was scaled up to 12 inches (305 mm). When these ships were completed in 1911-1912 … Read more
German Empire (1906-1919, preserved 1921) Experimental U-Boat The first U-Boat The path towards 1914 U-Boats started somewhat later than other nations, which is odd for a country which at some point relied so much of this new weapon to win both world wars (and gained a long-lasting reputation a credibility for this type). As shown … Read more
German Empire (1896) Victoria Luise, Freya, Vineta, Herta, Hansa The first Class of German Protected cruisers: The second class of proper German “Kreuzer” appeared after SMS Kaiserin Augusta, later used as a training ship. These were more compact and more agile than the latter but heavier, rolling and rocking more while specs varied among shipyards. … Read more
German Empire – 200 submarines, 96 comp. UB-48 to UB-155 The UB-III became the mainstay of the the German submarine force in WWI. They were also arguably the best of the whole lineage, albeit not coming from 1st class boats from from a coastal type lineage. If the UB-I and UB-II had been successful on … Read more
UB-2 class (1915-18) German Empire – 30 submarines, UB-18 to UB-47 UB-45 underway in 1916 The UB-II class. Second part of out tryptich on the WWI German UB type submarines (the coastal ones), the UB-II were an all-improvement of the criticitzed “tiny tadpoles” designed to operated from the Flanders in 1914. Built in 1945-16, almost … Read more
UB-1 class (1914-18) German Empire – 20 submarines, UB-1 to UB-17, Austro U-10 to U-17, SM UB-3 to UB-14 The Type UB I submarine (or “UB-1 class”) were small coastal submarines or “Küsten U-boats” built from the start of the First World War for patrol and defensive purposes. Twenty of the UB-I type were built … Read more
