SMS Helgoland (1909)

Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristics

SMS ,Template:Efn the lead ship of her class, was a dreadnought battleship of the German Imperial Navy. Template:'s design represented an incremental improvement over the preceding Template:Sclass, including an increase in the caliber of the main guns, from 28 cm (11 in) to Template:Cvt. Her keel was laid down on 11 November 1908 at the Howaldtswerke shipyards in Kiel. was launched on 25 September 1909 and was commissioned on 23 August 1911.

Like most battleships of the High Seas Fleet, saw limited action against Britain's Royal Navy during World War I. The ship participated in several fruitless sweeps into the North Sea as the covering force for the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group. She saw some limited duty in the Baltic Sea against the Russian Navy, including serving as part of a support force during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915. was present at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, though she was located in the center of the German line of battle and not as heavily engaged as the Template:Sclass- and Template:Sclass ships in the lead. was ceded to Great Britain at the end of the war and broken up for scrap in the early 1920s. Her coat of arms is preserved in the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.

Design

Many senior officers in the German (Imperial Navy) acknowledged that the Template:Sclasss, armed with Template:Cvt guns, were inferior to their British counterparts that carried Template:Cvt guns. They sought to incorporate guns of the latter caliber in the next battleship design, though the significant increase in cost from the pre-dreadnought Template:Sclasss to the dreadnought class precluded another major qualitative increase until the 1908 budget year, two years after the first s were ordered. The design staff experimented with a variety of gun turret arrangements, including superfiring layouts like the American Template:Sclass, but they ultimately settled on the same hexagonal arrangement of the s.Template:Sfn

Characteristics

File:Helgoland-class plan and profile.png

Plan and profile drawing of the class

The ship was Template:Convert long, had a beam of Template:Convert and a draft of Template:Convert, and displaced Template:Convert at full load. had a flush deck and minimal superstructure that consisted primarily of a large, armored conning tower forward and a smaller, secondary conning position further aft. The ship was fitted with a pair of pole masts, which held spotting tops and positions for searchlights. She had a crew of 42 officers and 1,071 enlisted men.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

She was powered by three triple-expansion steam engines, which produced a top speed of Template:Convert. Steam was provided by fifteen water-tube boilers, which were vented through three closely spaced funnels placed amidships. stored up to Template:Convert of coal, which allowed her to steam for Template:Convert at a speed of Template:Convert. After 1915 the boilers were modified to burn oil; the ship could carry up to Template:Convert of fuel oil.Template:Sfn

was armed with a main battery of twelve [[30.5 cm SK L/50 gun|Template:Cvt SK L/50]]Template:Efn guns in six twin gun turrets, with one turret fore, one aft, and two on each flank of the ship.Template:Sfn The ship's secondary battery consisted of fourteen [[15 cm SK L/45|Template:Cvt SK L/45 guns]], all of which were mounted in casemates in the side of the upper deck. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried fourteen [[8.8 cm SK L/45 naval gun|Template:Cvt SK L/45]] guns.Template:Sfn After 1914, two of the 8.8 cm guns were removed and replaced by 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns. was also armed with six Template:Cvt submerged torpedo tubes; one was in the bow, one in the stern, and two on each broadside.Template:Sfn

Her main armored belt was Template:Cvt thick in the central citadel, and was composed of Krupp cemented armor (KCA). Her main battery gun turrets were protected by the same thickness of KCA on the sides and faces, as well as the barbettes that supported the turrets. Template:'s deck was Template:Convert thick.Template:Sfn

Service history

A large gray warship steams at high speed in choppy water; thick black smoke pours from three tall smoke stacks in the middle of the ship

Recognition drawing of a -class battleship

was ordered by the German Imperial Navy () under the provisional name ,Template:Efn as a replacement for the old coastal defense ship Template:SMS. The contract for the ship was awarded to Howaldtswerke in Kiel under construction number 500.Template:Sfn Work began on 24 December 1908 with the laying of her keel, and the ship was launched less than a year later, on 25 September 1909.Template:Sfn Ernst Günther II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, gave a speech at the launching ceremony, and his wife, Princess Dorothea, christened the ship ,Template:Sfn named for the offshore islands seen as vital to the defense of the Kiel Canal.Template:Sfn Fitting out, including completion of the superstructure and the installation of armament, lasted until August 1911. Builder's trials began early that month, and were completed satisfactorily by 23 August, when was commissioned into active service to begin sea trials on 23 August 1911, just under three years from when work commenced. Her first commander was (KzS—Captain at Sea) Friedrich Gädeke, though the following month, he was replaced by KzS Gottfried von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels. The ship's activation was initially kept secret to avoid increasing tensions over the on-going Agadir Crisis. Trials were concluded on 19 December, and the following day, she arrived in Wilhelmshaven, where she joined I Battle Squadron,Template:Sfn replacing the pre-dreadnought Template:SMS.Template:Sfn

On 9 February 1912, Template:'s crew beat the German record for loading coal, taking 1,100 tons of coal on board in two hours; the record was previously held by the crew of the -class battleship Template:SMS. Kaiser Wilhelm II congratulated the crew through a Cabinet order.Template:Sfn In March, fleet training maneuvers were conducted in the North Sea, followed by a cruise along the German Baltic Sea coast. A routine voyage to Norwegian waters was cancelled that year due to political tensions in Europe, which remained high even after the conclusion of the Agadir crisis. Another round of exercises in the North Sea, Skagerrak, and Kattegat took place in November. The next year followed a similar training pattern, though a summer cruise to Norway was instituted. On 23 May 1913, was present for the dedication of a memorial stone to German sailors who had died in the area in recent years, including men from the torpedo boats Template:SMS and Template:SMS, the salvage ship , and the zeppelin L1. In September, KzS Ulrich Lübbert took command of the ship.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

On 10 July 1914, left the Jade Estuary to take part in the annual summer training cruise to Norway. The fleet, along with several German U-boats, assembled at Skagen on 12 July to practice torpedo boat attacks, individual ship maneuvers, and searchlight techniques. The fleet arrived at the Fjord of Songe by 18 July, but had to wait until after midnight for a harbor pilot to guide her into the confined waters of the fjord.Template:Sfn joined Template:SMS, the light cruiser Template:SMS, and the Kaiser's yacht in Balholm.Template:Sfn That same day, took on 1250 tons of coal from a Norwegian collier.Template:Sfn The following morning was joined by her sister Template:SMS, and the two ships sailed back to Germany, arriving on the morning of 22 July.Template:Sfn On the evening of 1 August, the captain announced to the crew that the Kaiser had ordered the navy to prepare for hostilities with the Russian Navy.Template:Sfn

World War I

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2007-0101, Kaiserliche Werft Kiel, Linienschiff "Helgoland".jpg

in a floating dry dock

1914

At the start of World War I, was assigned to I Division, I Battle Squadron.Template:Sfn was stationed off the heavily fortified island of Wangerooge on 9 August. Minefields and picket lines of cruisers, torpedo boats, and submarines were also emplaced there to defend Wilhelmshaven. Template:'s engines were kept running for the entirety of her deployment, so that she would be ready to respond at a moment's notice.Template:Sfn Four days later, on 13 August, returned to Wilhelmshaven to refuel.Template:Sfn The following day, naval reservists began arriving to fill out the wartime complements for the German battleships.Template:Sfn

The first major naval action in the North Sea, the Battle of Helgoland Bight, took place on 28 August 1914. was again stationed off Wangerooge. Despite her proximity to the battle, was not sent to aid the beleaguered German cruisers, as she could not be risked in an unsupported attack against possibly superior British forces.Template:Sfn Instead, the ship was ordered to drop anchor and await relief by Template:SMS.Template:Sfn By 04:30, received the order to join Template:SMS and sail out of the harbor. At 05:00, the two battleships met the battered cruisers Template:SMS and Template:SMS.Template:Sfn By 07:30, the ships had returned to port for the night.Template:Sfn Three days later, on 31 August, was put into drydock for maintenance.Template:Sfn On the afternoon of 7 September, and the rest of the High Seas Fleet conducted a training cruise to the main island of Helgoland.Template:Sfn and the rest of the High Seas Fleet sortied to support the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group during their raid on Yarmouth on 2–3 November, though the battleships did not take direct part in the operation.Template:Sfn

Map showing the locations of the British and German fleets; the German light cruisers pass between the British battleship and battlecruiser forces while the German battlecruisers steam to the northeast. The German battleships lie to the east of the other ships.

The High Seas Fleet's disposition on the morning of 16 December

The first major operation of the war in which took part was the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 15–16 December 1914. The raid was conducted by the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group; and the other dreadnoughts of the High Seas Fleet steamed in distant support of Franz von Hipper's battlecruisers. Friedrich von Ingenohl, the commander of the High Seas Fleet, decided to take up station in the middle of the North Sea, about 130 miles east of Scarborough. The Royal Navy, which had recently received the German code books recovered from the beached cruiser , was aware that an operation was taking place, but was not sure where the Germans would strike. Therefore, the Admiralty ordered David Beatty's 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, the six battleships of the 2nd Battle Squadron, and several cruisers and destroyers to intercept the German battlecruisers.Template:Sfn

Instead, on the morning of 16 December, Beatty's task force nearly ran headlong into the entire High Seas Fleet. At 06:20, Beatty's destroyer screen came into contact with the German torpedo boat Template:SMS. This began a confused, 2-hour battle between the British destroyers and the German cruiser and destroyer screen, often at very close range. At the time of the first encounter, the -class battleships were less than Template:Convert away from the six British dreadnoughts; this was nearly within firing range, but in the darkness, neither British nor German admirals were aware of the composition of their opponents' fleets. Ingenohl, aware of the Kaiser's order not to risk the battle fleet without his express approval, concluded that his forces were engaging the screen of the entire Grand Fleet, and so, 10 minutes after the first contact, he ordered a turn to the southeast. Continued attacks delayed the turn, but by 06:42, it had been carried out.Template:Sfn For about 40 minutes, the two fleets were steaming on a parallel course. At 07:20, Ingenohl ordered a further turn to port, which put his ships on a course for the safety of German bases.Template:Sfn

1915–1916

A large warship's bridge and two gun turrets

Template:'s bridge and forward main battery turrets

On 17 January 1915, Ingenohl ordered to go back to the docks for more maintenance, but she did not enter the drydock until three days later, owing to difficulties getting through the canal locks.Template:Sfn By the middle of the month, left dock; her berth was then filled by the armored cruiser Template:SMS.Template:Sfn While the ship was in the shipyard, the Germans had been defeated at the Battle of Dogger Bank, which saw the sinking of the large armored cruiser Template:SMS. The Kaiser removed Ingenohl from his post on 2 February and Admiral Hugo von Pohl replaced him as commander of the fleet.Template:Sfn

On 10 February, and the rest of I Squadron sailed out of Wilhelmshaven towards Cuxhaven, but heavy fog impeded movement for two days. The ships then anchored off Brunsbüttel before proceeding through the Kiel Canal to Kiel.Template:Sfn The crews conducted gunnery training with the main and secondary guns and torpedo firing practice on 1 March.Template:Sfn The following night the crews conducted night-fighting training. On 10 March the squadron again passed through the locks to return to Wilhelmshaven.Template:Sfn Fog again slowed progress, and the ships did not reach port until 15 March.Template:Sfn The High Seas Fleet carried out a sweep into the North Sea on 29–30 March, which failed to locate any enemy warships. Further such fleet operations were performed on 17–18 and 21–22 April and 17–18 and 29–30 May, all of which similarly ended without contact with British naval forces.Template:Sfn

, her three sister ships, and the four -class battleships were assigned to the task force that was to cover the foray into the Gulf of Riga in August 1915. The German flotilla, which was under the command of Hipper, also included the battlecruisers Template:SMS, Template:SMS, and Template:SMS, several light cruisers, 32 destroyers and 13 minesweepers. The plan for the Battle of the Gulf of Riga called for channels in Russian minefields to be swept so that the Russian naval presence, which included the pre-dreadnought battleship , could be eliminated. The Germans would then lay minefields of their own to prevent Russian ships from returning to the gulf.Template:Sfn and the majority of the other big ships of the High Seas Fleet remained outside the gulf for the entirety of the operation. The dreadnoughts Template:SMS and were detached on 16 August to escort the minesweepers and to destroy , though they failed to sink the old battleship. After three days, the Russian minefields had been cleared, and the flotilla entered the gulf on 19 August, but reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted a German withdrawal from the gulf the following day.Template:Sfn

and the rest of the main fleet units then returned to the North Sea, where they resumed the fleet operations carried out under Pohl. These included sorties on 11–12 September, 23–24 October, and 16 December. Once again, the Germans could not locate British naval forces. During this period, in October, KzS Friedrich von Kameke replaced Lübbert as the ship's commander. Fleet operations continued from the Spring on 1916, beginning with a sortie to cover the return of the auxiliary cruiser Template:SMS on 4 March. The High Seas Fleet carried out patrols in the North Sea on 5–7 and 25–26 March and 21–22 April. Another battlecruiser operation, the bombardment of Yarmouth, took place on 24–25 April; once again, and the rest of the High Seas Fleet cruised in support.Template:Sfn

Battle of Jutland

The British fleet sailed from northern Britain to the east while the Germans sailed from Germany in the south; the opposing fleets met off the Danish coast

Maps showing the maneuvers of the British (blue) and German (red) fleets on 31 May – 1 June 1916

next went to sea on 31 May during a fleet operation that resulted in the Battle of Jutland later that day. She fought alongside her sister ships in I Battle Squadron. For the majority of the battle, I Battle Squadron formed the center of the line of battle, behind (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Paul Behncke's III Battle Squadron, and followed by KAdm Franz Mauve's elderly pre-dreadnoughts of II Battle Squadron.Template:Sfn

and her sisters first entered direct combat shortly after 18:00. The German line was steaming northward and encountered the destroyers Template:HMS and Template:HMS, which had been disabled earlier in the battle. Nomad, which had been attacked by the Template:Sclass ships at the head of the line, exploded and sank at 18:30, followed five minutes later by the Nestor, sunk by main and secondary gunfire from , and several other German battleships.Template:Sfn At 19:20, and several other battleships began firing on Template:HMS, which, along with the other Template:Sclasss of the 5th Battle Squadron, had been pursuing the German battlecruiser force. The shooting stopped quickly though, as the Germans lost sight of their target; had fired only about 20 shells from her main guns.Template:Sfn

At 20:15, during the third ,Template:Efn was struck by a Template:Convert armor-piercing (AP) shell, from either Template:HMS or Template:HMS, in the forward part of the ship. The shell hit the armored belt about 0.8 m (32 in) above the waterline, where the armor was only 15 cm thick. The 15-inch shell broke up on impact, but it still managed to tear a Template:Convert hole in the hull.Template:Sfn It rained splinters on the foremost port side 15 cm gun, though it could still be fired.Template:Sfn Approximately 80 tons of water entered the ship.Template:Sfn

By 23:30, the High Seas Fleet had entered its night cruising formation. The order had largely been inverted, with the four -class ships in the lead, followed directly by the s, with the s and s astern of them. The rear was again brought up by the elderly pre-dreadnoughts; the mauled German battlecruisers were by this time scattered.Template:Sfn At around midnight on 1 June, the - and -class ships in the center of the German line came into contact with the British 4th Destroyer Flotilla. The 4th Flotilla broke off the action temporarily to regroup, but at around 01:00, unwittingly stumbled into the German dreadnoughts a second time.Template:Sfn and opened fire on the two leading British destroyers.Template:Sfn fired six salvos from her secondary guns at the destroyer Fortune before she succumbed to the tremendous battering.Template:Sfn Shortly after, shifted fire to an unidentified destroyer; fired five salvos from her 15 cm guns to unknown effect.Template:Sfn The British destroyers launched torpedoes at the German ships, but they managed to successfully evade them with a turn to starboard.Template:Sfn

Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached Horns Reef by 04:00 on 1 June.Template:Sfn A few hours later, the fleet arrived in the Jade; and , along with the -class battleships , , and Template:SMS took up defensive positions in the outer roadstead and four undamaged III Squadron ships anchored just outside the entrance locks to Wilhelmshaven. The remaining eight dreadnoughts entered port, where those that were still in fighting condition restocked ammunition and fuel.Template:Sfn During the battle, the ship suffered only minor damage; was hit by a single 15-inch shell, but sustained minimal damage.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, dry-docking was required to repair the hole in the belt armor. Work was completed by 16 June.Template:Sfn In the course of the battle, had fired 63 main battery shells,Template:Sfn and 61 rounds from her 15 cm guns.Template:Sfn was repaired in Wilhelmshaven form 3 to 16 June, after which she returned to local defensive patrols in the North Sea.Template:Sfn

Later career

Another fleet advance followed on 18–22 August, during which the I Scouting Group battlecruisers were to bombard the coastal town of Sunderland in an attempt to draw out and destroy Beatty's battlecruisers. As only two of the four German battlecruisers were still in fighting condition, three dreadnoughts were assigned to the Scouting Group for the operation: Template:SMS, Template:SMS, and the newly commissioned Template:SMS. The High Seas Fleet, including ,Template:Sfn would trail behind and provide cover.Template:Sfn At 06:00 on 19 August, was torpedoed by the British submarine Template:HMS Template:Convert north of Terschelling; the ship remained afloat and was detached to return to port.Template:Sfn The British were aware of the German plans and sortied the Grand Fleet to meet them. By 14:35, Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet's approach and, unwilling to engage the whole of the Grand Fleet just 11 weeks after the close call at Jutland, turned his forces around and retreated to German ports.Template:Sfn The ship participated in another major fleet operation on 18–20 October. The operation led to a brief action on 19 October, during which a British submarine torpedoed the cruiser Template:SMS. The failure of the operation (coupled with the action of 19 August) convinced the German naval command to abandon its aggressive fleet strategy in favor of a resumption of the unrestricted submarine warfare campaign.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In April 1917, accidentally rammed the new battlecruiser Template:SMS, which was in the process of fitting-out, as she left her berth. The ships were only lightly damaged in the incident. In October 1917 , in company with , went to Amrum to receive the light cruisers Template:SMS and Template:SMS, which were returning from a raid on a British convoy to Norway. On 27 November the ship traversed the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal into the Baltic, but did not participate in Operation Albion, the occupation of the islands in the Gulf of Riga. She instead remained in the Putziger Wiek in eastern Germany until early November, when she was ordered back to Kiel. She then passed back to the North Sea, arriving in the German Bight on 8 November. There, she resumed local defensive operations; she spent the rest of the year and into 1918 with these activities, particularly guarding minesweepers keeping channels open in the North Sea.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

On 23–24 April, the ship participated in an abortive fleet operation to attack British convoys to Norway.Template:Sfn German attacks on shipping between Britain and Norway, which had begun in late 1917, prompted the Grand Fleet to begin escorting convoys with a detached battle squadron. This decision presented the Germans with the opportunity for which they had been waiting the entire war: a portion of the numerically stronger Grand Fleet was separated and could be isolated and destroyed. I Scouting Group, II Scouting Group, and II Torpedo-Boat Flotilla, would attack one of the large convoys while the rest of the High Seas Fleet would stand by, ready to attack the British battle squadron when it intervened. The Germans failed to locate the convoy, which had in fact sailed the day before the fleet left port. As a result, the Germans broke off the operation and returned to port.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Kameke briefly served as the deputy commander of I Battle Squadron twice, from 3 to 7 August, and then again from 10 to 23 August, as he was the senior-most captain in the unit at that time. Later that month, KzS Eberhard Heydel became the ship's captain, though he remained aboard for just a month, before he was replaced by KzS Luppe, who was the ship's final commander.Template:Sfn

and her three sisters were to have taken part in a final fleet action days before the Armistice was to take effect. The bulk of the High Seas Fleet was to have sortied from their base in Wilhelmshaven to engage the British Grand Fleet; Scheer—by now the Grand Admiral () of the fleet—intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to retain a better bargaining position for Germany, despite the expected casualties. However, many of the war-weary sailors felt the operation would disrupt the peace process and prolong the war.Template:Sfn On the morning of 29 October 1918, the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven the following day. Starting on the night of 29 October, sailors on and then on several other battleships mutinied.Template:Sfn

File:SMS Helgoland steams home with crews from Scapa Flow.png

underway with crews from German ships interned at Scapa Flow after the end of the war

Early on the 30th, the crew of , which was directly behind in the harbor, joined in the mutiny. The I Squadron commander sent boats to and to take off the ships' officers, who were allowed to leave unharmed. He then informed the rebellious crews that if they failed to stand down, both ships would be torpedoed. After two torpedo boats arrived on the scene, both ships surrendered; their crews were taken ashore and incarcerated.Template:Sfn The rebellion then spread ashore; on 3 November, an estimated 20,000 sailors, dock workers, and civilians fought a battle in Kiel in an attempt to secure the release of the jailed mutineers.Template:Sfn By 5 November, the red flag of the Socialists flew above every capital ship in Wilhelmshaven save Template:SMS. The following day, a sailors' council took control of the base, and a train carrying the mutineers from and was stopped in Cuxhaven, where the men escaped.Template:Sfn

Fate

Under the terms of the armistice with Germany that ended the fighting in World War I on 11 November, most of the High Seas Fleet was to be interned in Scapa Flow, though , her sisters, and the s were permitted to remain in Germany. They were nevertheless to have their guns disabled and placed out of service. Soon thereafter, embarked a delegation and took them to Harwich to begin preparations for the surrender of Germany's U-boats there, arriving on 20 November. The following day, she escorted a group of U-boats to internment, and then carried their crews back to Germany.Template:Sfn was then removed from active service on 16 December.Template:Sfn

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles that formally ended the war in June 1919, Helgoland and the other dreadnoughts that had remained in Germany were to be surrendered to the Allies under Article 185 as prizes of war. Negotiations between the Allies over which country received what vessels, and what those ships could be used for began in November. was struck from the German naval list on 5 November. While final decisions were still being made, the Allies decided that the ships in question were to sail to either a British or French port, and accordingly, on 31 July 1920, Helgoland, Westfalen, and twelve torpedo boats sailed for Rosyth, Britain, arriving on 5 August.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn She was sold to be scrapped at Thos. W. Ward on 3 March 1921; she arrived in Birkenhead on 29 January 1922 and then moved to Morecambe on 19 November, where she was dismantled. Template:'s coat of arms is currently preserved in the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn