SMS Rheinland

Rheinland shortly after entering service in 1910
History
German Empire
Namesake:	Rhineland
Builder:	Vulcan AG, Stettin
Laid down:	1 June 1907
Launched:	26 September 1908
Commissioned:	30 April 1910
Fate:	Scrapped 1921
General characteristics
Class and type:	Nassau-class battleship
Displacement:	Designed: 18,873 t (18,575 long tons) Full load: 20,535 t (20,211 long tons)
Length:	146.1 m (479 ft 4 in)
Beam:	26.9 m (88 ft 3 in)
Draft:	8.9 m (29 ft 2 in)
Propulsion:	3-shaft vertical triple expansion 21,699 ihp (16,181 kW)
Speed:	Designed: 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) Maximum: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range:	At 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph): 8,300 nmi (15,400 km; 9,600 mi)
Boats & landing craft carried:	10
Complement:	Standard: 40 officers, 968 men Squadron flagship: 53 officers, 1,034 men 2nd command flagship: 42 officers, 991 men
Armament:	12 × 28 cm (11 in) SK L/45 guns 12 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns 16 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns 5 × 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 300 mm (12 in) Turrets: 280 mm (11 in) Battery: 160 mm (6.3 in) Conning Tower: 300 mm (12 in) Torpedo bulkhead: 30 mm (1.2 in)
Notes:	Double bottom: 88% Watertight compartments: 16

SMS Rheinland was one of four Nassau-class battleships, the first dreadnoughts built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). Rheinland mounted twelve 28 cm (11 in) main guns in six twin turrets in an unusual hexagonal arrangement. The navy built Rheinland and her sister ships in response to the revolutionary British HMS Dreadnought, which had been launched in 1906. Rheinland was laid down in June 1907, launched the following year in October, and commissioned in April 1910.

Rheinland's extensive service with the High Seas Fleet during World War I included several fleet advances into the North Sea, some in support of raids against the English coast conducted by the German battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group. These sorties culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, in which Rheinland was heavily engaged by British destroyers in close-range night fighting.

The ship also saw duty in the Baltic Sea, as part of the support force for the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in 1915. She returned to the Baltic as the core of an expeditionary force to aid the White Finns in the Finnish Civil War in 1918, but ran aground shortly after arriving in the area. Significant portions of her armor and all her main guns had to be removed before she could be refloated. The damage done by the grounding was deemed too severe to justify repairs and Rheinland was decommissioned to be used as a barracks ship for the remainder of the war. In 1919, following the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Rheinland was ceded to the Allies who, in turn, sold the vessel to ship-breakers in the Netherlands. The ship was eventually broken up for scrap metal starting in 1920. Her bell is on display at the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.