SMS König

SMS König at sea
History
German Empire
Namesake:	King William II of Württemberg
Builder:	Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven
Laid down:	October 1911
Launched:	1 March 1913
Commissioned:	10 August 1914
Fate:	Scuttled 21 June 1919 in Gutter Sound, Scapa Flow
General characteristics
Class and type:	König-class battleship
Displacement:	25,390 tonnes (24,990 long tons) normal 28,600 tonnes (28,100 long tons) full load
Length:	175.4 m (575 ft 6 in)
Beam:	29.5 m (96 ft 9 in)
Draft:	9.19 m (30 ft 2 in)
Propulsion:	3 shaft Parsons turbines 3-bladed 3.8 m screw propellers, 42,708 shp (31,847 kW)
Speed:	21.2 knots (39.3 km/h)
Range:	8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement:	1,136
Armament:	10 × 30.5 cm (12.0 in) guns 14 × 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 10 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns 5 × 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 350 mm (14 in) Turrets and conning tower: 300 mm (12 in) Deck: 30 mm (1.2 in)
Service record
Part of:	Third Battle Squadron
Operations:	Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft Battle of Jutland Battle of Moon Sound

SMS König was the first of four König-class dreadnought battleships of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. König (Eng: "King") was named in honor of King William II of Württemberg. Laid down in October 1911, the ship was launched on 1 March 1913. Final construction on König was completed shortly after the outbreak of World War I; she was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 9 August 1914.

Along with her three sister ships, Grosser Kurfürst, Markgraf, and Kronprinz, König took part in most of the fleet actions during the war. As the leading ship in the German line on 31 May 1916 in the Battle of Jutland, König was heavily engaged by several British battleships and suffered ten large-caliber shell hits. In October 1917, she forced the Russian pre-dreadnought battleship Slava to scuttle herself in the Battle of Moon Sound, which followed Germany's successful Operation Albion.

König was interned, along with the majority of the High Seas Fleet, in Scapa Flow in November 1918 following the Armistice. On 21 June 1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter gave the order to scuttle the fleet, including König, while the British guard ships were out of the harbor on exercises. Unlike most of the scuttled ships, König was never raised for scrapping; the wreck is still on the bottom of the bay.

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Wikipedia