SMS Baden

Baden, with her main battery trained to port
History
German Empire
Name:	SMS Baden
Namesake:	Baden
Builder:	Schichau-Werke
Laid down:	20 December 1913
Launched:	30 October 1915
Commissioned:	14 March 1917
Fate:	Beached in Gutter Sound, Scapa Flow, 21 June 1919 Sunk as target 16 August 1921
General characteristics
Class and type:	Bayern-class battleship
Displacement:	32,200 t (31,700 long tons)
Length:	180 m (590 ft 7 in)
Beam:	30 m (98 ft 5 in)
Draft:	9.4 m (30 ft 10 in)
Installed power:	34,521 shaft horsepower (25,742 kW)
Propulsion:	3 × Schichau steam turbines, three shafts
Speed:	21 kn (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range:	5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	42 officers 1,129 enlisted men
Armament:	8 × 38 cm (15 in) guns 16 × 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 2 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns 5 × 60 cm (24 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 170 to 350 mm (6.7 to 13.8 in) Deck: 60 to 100 mm (2.4 to 3.9 in) Turrets: 350 mm

SMS Baden was a Bayern-class dreadnought battleship of the German Imperial Navy built during World War I. Launched in October 1915 and completed in March 1917, she was the last battleship completed for use in the war; two of her sisters—Sachsen and Württemberg—were incomplete when the war ended. The ship mounted eight 38-centimeter (15 in) guns in four twin turrets, displaced 32,200 metric tons (31,700 long tons; 35,500 short tons) at full combat load, and had a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Along with her sister Bayern, Baden was the largest and most powerfully armed battleship built by the Imperial Navy.

Upon commissioning into the High Seas Fleet, Baden was made the fleet flagship, replacing Friedrich der Grosse. Baden saw little action during her short career; the only major sortie in April 1918 ended without any combat. Following the German collapse in November 1918, Baden was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow by the British Royal Navy. On 21 June 1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the scuttling of the fleet. However, British sailors in the harbor managed to board Baden and beach her to prevent her sinking. The ship was refloated, thoroughly examined, and eventually sunk in extensive gunnery testing by the Royal Navy in 1921.

Baden was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Wörth in 1912, under the fourth and final Naval Law, which was passed that year. Construction began at the Schichau-Werke dockyard in Danzig under construction number 913. The ship was laid down on 20 December 1913 and launched on 30 October 1915. After fitting-out, sea trials were conducted; the ship was commissioned into service on 14 March 1917. She had cost the Imperial German Government 49 million Goldmarks. Baden's two sisterships, Sachsen and Württemberg, both lay incomplete at the end of World War I and were subsequently scrapped, leaving Baden the last battleship built for the Imperial Navy.