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Moltke-class battlecruiser
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Moltke-class battlecruiser
The Moltke class was a class of two "all-big-gun" battlecruisers of the German Imperial Navy built between 1909–1911. Named SMS Moltke and SMS Goeben, they were similar to the previous battlecruiser Von der Tann, but the newer design featured several incremental improvements. The Moltkes were slightly larger, faster, and better armored, and had an additional pair of 28 cm (11 in) guns.
Both ships served during World War I. Moltke participated in several major battles with the rest of the High Seas Fleet, including the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland in the North Sea, and the Battle of the Gulf of Riga and Operation Albion in the Baltic Sea. At the end of the war, Moltke was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow while the ships' fate was being discussed during peace treaty negotiations. The ships were scuttled on 21 June 1919 to prevent their seizure by the Allies.
Goeben was stationed in the Mediterranean at the start of the war; she escaped from pursuing Royal Navy ships to Constantinople. The ship, along with the light cruiser Breslau, was transferred to the Ottoman Navy soon after arrival. Strategically, Goeben played a very important role: she helped bring the Ottoman Empire into the war as a member of the Central Powers, and by acting as a fleet in being the ship prevented Anglo-French attempts to force the Bosporus, and similarly stymied a possible advance by the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Goeben was retained by the new Turkish government after the war. Only slightly modified from her original configuration, the ship remained on active service with the Turkish Navy until being decommissioned on 20 December 1950; she was stricken from the Navy register on 14 November 1954. The ship was unsuccessfully offered for sale to the West German government in 1963. Without a group willing to preserve her as a museum, the ship was sold to M.K.E. Seyman in 1971 for scrapping. She was towed to the breakers on 7 June 1973, and the work was completed in February 1976.
In early 1907, the German naval command began to discuss ideas for the next design for a battlecruiser to follow the preceding vessel Von der Tann (before work on that ship had even begun). The new ship, provisionally titled "G", would be ordered under the terms of the 1906 Naval Law. The question of armament came to the fore, in large part because the corresponding dreadnought battleship design, the Helgoland class, had increased from 28 cm (11 in) to 30.5 cm (12 in). In a meeting on 23 April, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the state secretary of the Reichsmarineamt (RMA—Imperial Navy Office), issued general guidance that the new battlecruiser should be an improvement over Von der Tann, but did not specify requirements. The Construction Department of the RMA presented their ideas in a subsequent meeting on 2 May. They argued that while the available budget would allow the eight 28 cm guns to be replaced by an equal number of 30.5 cm weapons, the fact that the German fleet would likely be outnumbered by its opponents meant that a greater number of guns was more important, since it would make it easier to fight more than one ship at a time. Therefore, they advocated increasing the number of guns to twelve, but keeping the 28 cm caliber.
The next meeting took place on 7 May; there, Admiral August von Heeringen, the head of the General Navy Department, stated that the same logic that drove the navy to increase the caliber of the battleships' armament should apply to the next battlecruiser. From a tactical perspective, the new ship would be needed to fight in the line of battle against battleships, so the increased firepower was necessary. He argued that an armament of ten 30.5 cm guns could be arranged on the ship and remain within budgetary constraints. He requested the design staff investigate the potential for such a ship carrying its armament in the same pattern as the British HMS Dreadnought. He specified that armor protection was to remain as on Von der Tann, and the top speed should be at least 24.5 knots (45.4 km/h; 28.2 mph). Several preliminary designs were prepared with different configurations, including an eight-gun 30.5 cm ship, a ten-gun 28 cm vessel, and an alternative with eight 28 cm guns but improved armor protection. Tirpitz agreed with the Construction Office, and recommended the ten-gun ship, which Kaiser Wilhelm II approved on 28 May 1907.
With the caliber argument settled and general requirements agreed upon, the project was handed over to the Construction Department to take the plan, named "G2i", and produce a finalized design. This work took longer than expected, since the design staff was already busy completing the design for the Helgoland class, and there were not enough naval architects to work on both tasks simultaneously. At the same time, some discussion was still happening over an alternative, "G5", which was in essential respects a repeat of Von der Tann, but with improved armor protection. At a conference on 26 March 1908, Tirpitz informed the other senior naval leaders that "G5" was politically infeasible, since it would increase displacement over the prescribed limit of 22,000 metric tons (21,650 long tons; 24,250 short tons). He ordered the design staff to proceed with "G2i", but to make improvements to the armor if it was possible. Soon thereafter, two of the designers wrote a memorandum to Tirpitz in which they objected to the repeated single-ship classes, citing the excessive workload the practice created. They requested that the next battlecruiser simply repeat the Von der Tann design. Nevertheless, the design staff soon completed work on the "G2i" project, which was in turn approved by Wilhelm II.
During the design process, several refinements to the design for "G" were made. These included adding a pair of 15 cm (5.9 in) guns to the secondary battery, the removal of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns from positions that were deemed to be unworkable, and planned lattice masts were replaced with lighter pole masts. In addition, the citadel was revised, armor thicknesses were increased, and ammunition allotments were reduced to save weight. Internally, the boiler rooms were rearranged into a wider but shorter layout to shorten the area that needed to be protected by heavy side armor. Several significant changes were made to the hull form, including the discontinuation of the old-fashioned ram bow. Lastly, Tirpitz decided to change the traditional side-by-side arrangement of the two rudders to an in-line layout, which reduced speed loss due to hydrodynamic effects, eliminated vibration, and improved handling.
It was originally planned to build only one ship of the new design, but due to the strains being put on the Navy design staff, it was decided to build two ships of the new type. They were assigned under the contract names of "G" and "H". As Blohm & Voss made the lowest bid for "G", the company also secured the contract for "H". The former was assigned to the 1908–1909 building year, while the latter was assigned to 1909–1910. The contract for "G" was awarded on 17 September 1908, under building number 200. The keel was laid on 7 December 1908, and the ship was launched on 7 April 1910. "G" was commissioned on 30 September 1911 as SMS Moltke. The ship's namesake was Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, the Chief of Staff of the Prussian Army in the mid 19th century. "H" was ordered on 8 April 1909 with the building number 201. The ship's keel was laid on 12 August 1909; the hull was launched on 28 March 1911. After fitting-out, "H" was commissioned on 2 July 1912 as SMS Goeben. The ship was named for August Karl von Goeben, a Prussian general who served during the Franco-Prussian War.
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Moltke-class battlecruiser
The Moltke class was a class of two "all-big-gun" battlecruisers of the German Imperial Navy built between 1909–1911. Named SMS Moltke and SMS Goeben, they were similar to the previous battlecruiser Von der Tann, but the newer design featured several incremental improvements. The Moltkes were slightly larger, faster, and better armored, and had an additional pair of 28 cm (11 in) guns.
Both ships served during World War I. Moltke participated in several major battles with the rest of the High Seas Fleet, including the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland in the North Sea, and the Battle of the Gulf of Riga and Operation Albion in the Baltic Sea. At the end of the war, Moltke was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow while the ships' fate was being discussed during peace treaty negotiations. The ships were scuttled on 21 June 1919 to prevent their seizure by the Allies.
Goeben was stationed in the Mediterranean at the start of the war; she escaped from pursuing Royal Navy ships to Constantinople. The ship, along with the light cruiser Breslau, was transferred to the Ottoman Navy soon after arrival. Strategically, Goeben played a very important role: she helped bring the Ottoman Empire into the war as a member of the Central Powers, and by acting as a fleet in being the ship prevented Anglo-French attempts to force the Bosporus, and similarly stymied a possible advance by the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Goeben was retained by the new Turkish government after the war. Only slightly modified from her original configuration, the ship remained on active service with the Turkish Navy until being decommissioned on 20 December 1950; she was stricken from the Navy register on 14 November 1954. The ship was unsuccessfully offered for sale to the West German government in 1963. Without a group willing to preserve her as a museum, the ship was sold to M.K.E. Seyman in 1971 for scrapping. She was towed to the breakers on 7 June 1973, and the work was completed in February 1976.
In early 1907, the German naval command began to discuss ideas for the next design for a battlecruiser to follow the preceding vessel Von der Tann (before work on that ship had even begun). The new ship, provisionally titled "G", would be ordered under the terms of the 1906 Naval Law. The question of armament came to the fore, in large part because the corresponding dreadnought battleship design, the Helgoland class, had increased from 28 cm (11 in) to 30.5 cm (12 in). In a meeting on 23 April, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the state secretary of the Reichsmarineamt (RMA—Imperial Navy Office), issued general guidance that the new battlecruiser should be an improvement over Von der Tann, but did not specify requirements. The Construction Department of the RMA presented their ideas in a subsequent meeting on 2 May. They argued that while the available budget would allow the eight 28 cm guns to be replaced by an equal number of 30.5 cm weapons, the fact that the German fleet would likely be outnumbered by its opponents meant that a greater number of guns was more important, since it would make it easier to fight more than one ship at a time. Therefore, they advocated increasing the number of guns to twelve, but keeping the 28 cm caliber.
The next meeting took place on 7 May; there, Admiral August von Heeringen, the head of the General Navy Department, stated that the same logic that drove the navy to increase the caliber of the battleships' armament should apply to the next battlecruiser. From a tactical perspective, the new ship would be needed to fight in the line of battle against battleships, so the increased firepower was necessary. He argued that an armament of ten 30.5 cm guns could be arranged on the ship and remain within budgetary constraints. He requested the design staff investigate the potential for such a ship carrying its armament in the same pattern as the British HMS Dreadnought. He specified that armor protection was to remain as on Von der Tann, and the top speed should be at least 24.5 knots (45.4 km/h; 28.2 mph). Several preliminary designs were prepared with different configurations, including an eight-gun 30.5 cm ship, a ten-gun 28 cm vessel, and an alternative with eight 28 cm guns but improved armor protection. Tirpitz agreed with the Construction Office, and recommended the ten-gun ship, which Kaiser Wilhelm II approved on 28 May 1907.
With the caliber argument settled and general requirements agreed upon, the project was handed over to the Construction Department to take the plan, named "G2i", and produce a finalized design. This work took longer than expected, since the design staff was already busy completing the design for the Helgoland class, and there were not enough naval architects to work on both tasks simultaneously. At the same time, some discussion was still happening over an alternative, "G5", which was in essential respects a repeat of Von der Tann, but with improved armor protection. At a conference on 26 March 1908, Tirpitz informed the other senior naval leaders that "G5" was politically infeasible, since it would increase displacement over the prescribed limit of 22,000 metric tons (21,650 long tons; 24,250 short tons). He ordered the design staff to proceed with "G2i", but to make improvements to the armor if it was possible. Soon thereafter, two of the designers wrote a memorandum to Tirpitz in which they objected to the repeated single-ship classes, citing the excessive workload the practice created. They requested that the next battlecruiser simply repeat the Von der Tann design. Nevertheless, the design staff soon completed work on the "G2i" project, which was in turn approved by Wilhelm II.
During the design process, several refinements to the design for "G" were made. These included adding a pair of 15 cm (5.9 in) guns to the secondary battery, the removal of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns from positions that were deemed to be unworkable, and planned lattice masts were replaced with lighter pole masts. In addition, the citadel was revised, armor thicknesses were increased, and ammunition allotments were reduced to save weight. Internally, the boiler rooms were rearranged into a wider but shorter layout to shorten the area that needed to be protected by heavy side armor. Several significant changes were made to the hull form, including the discontinuation of the old-fashioned ram bow. Lastly, Tirpitz decided to change the traditional side-by-side arrangement of the two rudders to an in-line layout, which reduced speed loss due to hydrodynamic effects, eliminated vibration, and improved handling.
It was originally planned to build only one ship of the new design, but due to the strains being put on the Navy design staff, it was decided to build two ships of the new type. They were assigned under the contract names of "G" and "H". As Blohm & Voss made the lowest bid for "G", the company also secured the contract for "H". The former was assigned to the 1908–1909 building year, while the latter was assigned to 1909–1910. The contract for "G" was awarded on 17 September 1908, under building number 200. The keel was laid on 7 December 1908, and the ship was launched on 7 April 1910. "G" was commissioned on 30 September 1911 as SMS Moltke. The ship's namesake was Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, the Chief of Staff of the Prussian Army in the mid 19th century. "H" was ordered on 8 April 1909 with the building number 201. The ship's keel was laid on 12 August 1909; the hull was launched on 28 March 1911. After fitting-out, "H" was commissioned on 2 July 1912 as SMS Goeben. The ship was named for August Karl von Goeben, a Prussian general who served during the Franco-Prussian War.
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