SMS Elsaß

Elsass underway c. 1904–1908
History
German Empire
Name:	Elsass
Namesake:	Alsace
Builder:	Schichau-Werke, Danzig
Laid down:	1901
Launched:	26 May 1903
Commissioned:	29 November 1904
Fate:	Scrapped in 1936
General characteristics
Class and type:	Braunschweig-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	14,394 t (14,167 long tons; 15,867 short tons)
Length:	127.7 m (419 ft 0 in)
Beam:	22.2 m (72 ft 10 in)
Draft:	8.1 m (26 ft 7 in)
Propulsion:	3 shafts triple expansion 17,000 ihp (13,000 kW)
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range:	5,200 nmi (9,600 km; 6,000 mi); 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	35 officers 708 enlisted men
Armament:	2 × 2 – 28 cm (11 in) SK L/40 guns 14 × 17 cm (6.7 in) SK L/40 guns 18 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/35 guns 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 100 to 255 mm (3.9 to 10.0 in) Turrets: 250 mm (9.8 in) Deck: 40 mm (1.6 in)

SMS Elsass was the second of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the Braunschweig class in the German Imperial Navy, laid down in 1901 and commissioned 1904. She was named for the German province of Elsass, now the French region of Alsace. Her sister ships were Braunschweig, Hessen, Preussen and Lothringen.

The ship served in the II Squadron of the German fleet after commissioning, though by the outbreak of World War I, she had been moved to the IV Squadron. Elsass saw action in the Baltic Sea against the Russian Navy. In August 1915, she participated in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga, during which she engaged the Russian battleship Slava. In 1916 she was placed in reserve because of crew shortages, and spent the remainder of the war as a training ship.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, she was retained after the end of the war and was modernized in 1923–24. Elsass served in the Reichsmarine with the surface fleet until 1930, when she was again placed in reserve. She was stricken in 1931 and used for a short time as a hulk in Wilhelmshaven. The out-dated battleship was sold to Norddeutscher Lloyd in late 1935 and was broken up for scrap the following year.

Elsass was 127.7 m (419 ft 0 in) long overall and had a beam of 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in) and a draft of 8.1 m (26 ft 7 in) forward. At full load, she displaced 14,394 t (14,167 long tons; 15,867 short tons). Her crew consisted of 35 officers and 708 enlisted men. The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that drove three screws. Steam was provided by eight naval and six cylindrical boilers, all of which burned coal. Elsass's powerplant was rated at 16,000 indicated horsepower (12,000 kW), which generated a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).