L 20 α-class battleship
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | L 20 α class |
| Operators: |
 Kaiserliche Marine
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| Preceded by: | Bayern class |
| Succeeded by: | Scharnhorst class |
| Planned: | Unknown |
| Completed: | None |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Battleship |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 238 m (781 ft) |
| Beam: | 33.5 m (110 ft) |
| Draft: |
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| Installed power: | 100,000 shp (75,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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L 20 α was a design plan for a class of battleships to be built in 1918 for the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I. The design was selected on 2 October 1917, and construction was to have started 11 September 1918. The ships would have been significantly larger than the preceding Bayern-class battleships, at 238 m (780 ft 10 in) long, compared to 180 m (590 ft 7 in) for the preceding ships. The ships would have been the first German warship to have mounted guns larger than 40.6 cm (16 in). However, Germany's declining war situation and the transfer of emphasis within the Navy from capital ships to submarines meant that the ships would never be constructed.
In January 1916, Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer became commander in chief of the High Seas Fleet. Following the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, Scheer pushed for new, more powerful battleships. He demanded the new ships have guns of 42 cm (16.5 in) caliber, an armored belt 350 mm (14 in) thick, and be capable of speeds of up to 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), all on a displacement of up to 50,000 metric tons (49,000 long tons). The new 42 cm gun was designed by 29 December 1916, and was approved on 11 September 1918, though none were actually built. After the outbreak of unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917, Admiral von Capelle argued that capital ship construction should not be halted in favor of U-boat construction. On 21 August 1917, the construction department submitted two design proposals for the new battleship class, L 20 and L 24. The primary difference was the placement of the ships' torpedo armament. The L 20 design placed them in the hull below the waterline, while the L 24 proposal used above-water launchers. Displacement for the designs was fixed at 45,000 t (44,000 long tons). Both ships also had a top speed of only 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph), which was unacceptable to Scheer.
During the design process, it was decided that the utmost concern was that the ships could be built quickly and placed into service. The ships were to discard the use of broadside belt armor below the waterline, the attachment of which was an extremely long process. It was believed that the higher speed of the class—26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph)—would make up for the vulnerability to torpedo attack and make the armor unnecessary.The initial designs called for three main battery turrets, each mounting a pair of new 42 cm guns, though this was later increased to four twin turrets. However, the work that would have been necessary to design and test the new turret clashed with U-boat construction, which had become the priority of the Navy. Krupp, the firm that had been awarded the contract to conduct the testing, informed the Reichsmarineamt (RMA—the Imperial Navy Office) that design work on the new turret would have to wait. Capelle accepted the news without much objection. Nevertheless, the ships were never built. The RMA filed a report dated 1 February 1918, which stated that capital ship construction had ground to a halt, primarily due to the shifting priorities to the U-boat war.
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