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SMS Schleswig-Holstein

Laid Down: 1905

Launched: 1906

Completed: July, 1908

Displacement: 13,200 tons

Main Armament: four 11” guns (two twin turrets)

Secondary Armament: fourteen 6.7” guns (casemates)

Speed: 19 knots

Major Actions: Battle of Jutland, Battle of the Danzig Bay

Treaty: Pre-Washington Naval Treaty

Fate: Sunk by British aircraft, December 18, 1944; wreck scuttled, refloated, used as target until 1966

SMS Schleswig-Holstein was the fourth of the Deutschland class, the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by Germany. The Deutschlands were authorized by Admiral Alfred Von Tirpitz’s Fleet Acts, designed to provide Germany with a large, powerful navy capable of challenging the British. The idea of a powerful navy appealed to a wide swath of German society, including not only ideologically minded nationalists, but also labor and big industry. The prospect for a larger overseas empire also excited Kaiser Wilhelm II, who saw colonies as the path to world power. Like many German battleships of the era, Schleswig-Holstein took her name from a province, much of which had belonged to Denmark prior to 1864.

SMS Schleswig-Holstein. Photo taken from USS Arkansas at Kiel, Germany, July 1930.

The commissioning of Dreadnought in late 1906 rendered most battleships in the world obsolete. This helped to obscure the fact that Schleswig-Holstein and her sisters were completely outclassed, upon completion, by foreign competition. The British King Edward VIIIs were much larger and carried a heavier main armament. The same could be said of the American Connecticut class, and even the Japanese Mikasa, completed six years earlier, compared favorably with the German design. Moreover, the German ships were utterly inferior to the last generation of pre-dreadnought warships, mostly completed after Dreadnought, and including the British Lord Nelsons, the French Dantons, and the Austrian Radetzkys. These ships generally carried a more coherent armament, better armor, and could make a higher speed than previous pre-dreadnoughts.

SMS Schleswig-Holstein. Photo taken from USS Arkansas at Kiel, Germany, July 1930.

No one knew quite what to do with pre-dreadnought battleships after the completion of Dreadnought. The USN continued to employ pre-dreadnoughts in front line roles until it operated enough dreadnoughts to push the older battleships into the second line. Some pre-dreadnoughts, like the Radetzky class, had the speed to keep up with their dreadnought cousins, and could stay in a fleet role. The British employed pre-dreadnoughts in any number of different roles, including coastal defense, cruiser hunting, and in the Dardanelles operation. By 1914, Germany had an embarrassment of dreadnoughts for any mission other than fighting the Royal Navy. Most German pre-dreadnoughts were committed to training operations or coastal defense. The Deutschland class, however, were retained as a squadron in the High Seas Fleet, and regularly performed maneuvers with the German dreadnought fleet.

Thus, Schleswig-Holstein was part of the High Seas Fleet in late May of 1916, when the German Navy sortied in an effort to catch and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy. The inclusion of the six pre-dreadnoughts (the five Deutschlands and the earlier Hessian) was controversial; these ships were slower than the German dreadnoughts, and many believed that they didn’t add enough firepower to be of consequence. Scheer included them because of the overwhelming firepower deficit the High Seas Fleet suffered respective to the Grand Fleet. Schleswig-Holstein and her sisters were at the end of the German line, and did not suffer from severe gunfire damage. However, one of their number, Pommern, was hit by a torpedo and sank, taking 839 sailors with her.

After the High Seas Fleet returned to port, Schleswig-Holstein and her sisters were removed from the front line in favor of other duties. At the end of the war, the best of the High Seas Fleet was dispatched to Scapa Flow, where it eventually scuttled itself. The rest of the German dreadnoughts were turned over to other allied powers, which either sank the German ships as targets or sold them as scrap. By the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was allowed to keep only a few pre-dreadnought battleships, including Schleswig-Holstein. The replacements allowed for these ships were even smaller than the pre-dreadnoughts themselves. Thus, the Kriegsmarine retained Schleswig-Holstein as an active unit for the entire interwar period.

In late August 1939, Schleswig-Holstein was dispatched to Gdansk for a “courtesy visit.” On the morning of September 1, 1939 the aging battleship opened fire on a Polish Army barracks, opening World War II. Schleswig-Holstein continued to bombard Polish positions for the next five days, taking some damage from Polish shore batteries in the process. The rest of Schleswig-Holstein’s career was relatively uneventful, although she did participate in the occupation of Denmark in early 1940. The Kriegsmarine used the old battleship as a training ship for the rest of the war.

On December 19, 1944, Schleswig-Holstein was hit by three bombs, caught fire, and sank in shallow water. The crew later set off scuttling charges, causing some additional damage. This damage did not dissuade Russia from refloating Schleswig-Holstein, renaming her Borodino, and turning her into a target ship. She continued in that service until 1948, when the Soviet Navy scuttled her. The wreck remained visible above water for almost two decades, continuing to provide a target for Soviet marksmanship.

Author’s Note

Schleswig-Holstein is notable mainly for an era-spanning career. A contemporary of Dreadnought, Schleswig-Holstein fought at Jutland, survived the Treaty of Versailles, delivered the first shots of World War II, managed to make it almost to the end of the conflict, and even played a useful role in the post-war era. Only a very few ships have experiences as varied.

It’s interesting that the Germans didn’t devote greater resources to modernization in the intewar period. There was obviously a hard limit on what could be done, but Schleswig-Holstein and her sister were the largest platforms available. The Kriegsmarine decided to conserve resources, but a more aggressive modernization strategy might have increased their speed and considerably modified their armament.

Related Entries:

Contemporary of… HMS Dreadnought

Related to… Admiral Scheer

Fought at… Jutland