SMS Wittelsbach

SMS Wittlesbach
History
German Empire
Name:	Wittlesbach
Namesake:	House of Wittelsbach
Builder:	Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven
Laid down:	September 1899
Launched:	3 July 1900
Commissioned:	15 October 1902
Fate:	Scrapped in 1921
General characteristics
Class and type:	Wittelsbach-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	12,798 t (12,596 long tons)
Length:	126.8 m (416 ft 0 in)
Beam:	22.8 m (74 ft 10 in)
Draft:	7.95 m (26 ft 1 in)
Installed power:	14,000 PS (13,810 ihp; 10,300 kW) 12 water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	3 shafts, triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range:	5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi); 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	30 officers 650 enlisted men
Armament:	4 × 24 cm (9.4 in) guns (40 cal.) 18 × 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 12 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns 6 × 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 100 to 225 mm (3.9 to 8.9 in) Turrets: 250 mm (9.8 in) Deck: 50 mm (2.0 in)

SMS Wittelsbach ("His Majesty's Ship Wittelsbach") was the lead ship of the Wittelsbach class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the Kaiserliche Marine. Wittelsbach was built at Wilhelmshaven Navy Dockyard. She was laid down in 1899 and completed in October 1902, at the cost of 22,740,000 marks. Wittelsbach was the first capital ship built under the Navy Law of 1898, brought about by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.

The ship served in the I Squadron of the German fleet for the majority of her career. Wittelsbach was rapidly superseded by new "all-big-gun" warships, and as a result served for less than eight years before being decommissioned on 20 September 1910. After the start of World War I in August 1914, Wittelsbach was brought back to active duty in the IV Battle Squadron. The ship saw limited duty in the Baltic Sea against Russian forces, though the threat from British submarines forced the ship to withdraw by 1916. The ship then saw service in a number of auxiliary roles, ultimately as a tender for minesweepers after 1919. In July 1921, however, the ship was sold and broken up for scrap metal.

Wittelsbach was 126.8 m (416 ft 0 in) long overall and had a beam of 22.8 m (74 ft 10 in) and a draft of 7.95 m (26 ft 1 in) forward. The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that drove three screws. Steam was provided by six cylindrical and six water-tube boilers, all coal-fired. Wittelsbach's powerplant was rated at 14,000 metric horsepower (13,808 ihp; 10,297 kW), which generated a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). She had a crew of 30 officers and 650 enlisted men.

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