German pre dreadnought battleship SMS (ex-‘B’) Kaiser Karl der Grosse 1898-1920

Brandenburg-class

Kaiser Friedrich III-class

Wittelsbach-class

Of the Kaiser Friedrich III-class pre dreadnought battleships consisting of the Kaiser Friedrich III, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Karl der Grosse and Kaiser Barbarossa. Preceded by the Brandenburg-class and succeeded by the Wittelsbach-class. Laid down at the shipyard of Blohm&Voss, Hamburg, Germany under the contracted name ‘B’ with yard number 136 on 17 September 1898, launched on 4 February 1902, completion delayed due to a strike, commissioned on 4 February 1902, coast defence ship in 1914, decommissioned on 19 November 1915, training ship and rest of First World war used as prison ship for prisoners of war stationed at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, stricken on 6 December 1919 and sold and finally broken up at Rönnebeck, Germany in 1920.

General technical class specifications
Displacement 11.097/10.922 long tons (standard)-11.785 tons/11.599 long tons (full load) and as dimension 125,x 2 20,4 x 7,89 metres or 411.1 x 66.11 x 25.11 feet. The 3-3 cylinder vertical triple expansion engines,2 Marine, 2 marine Double and 6 cylindrical boilers supplied 13.000 hp allowing a speed of 17,5 knots and with a speed of 10 knots a range of 3.420 nautical miles. The crew numbered between 658-687 men. The armour consisted of a 14-30cm/5.9-11.8” thick belt, a 56,5cm/2.6” thick deck with the conning tower, gun turrets and casemates protected by respectively 25cm/9.8”, 25cm/9.8” and 15cm/5.9”. The original armament consisted of 2x2-24cm/9.4” 40 cal guns, 18-15cm/5.9” L/40 quick firing guns (6x1 and 12 in casemates), 12-8.8cm/3.5” L/30 quick firing guns, 12-1pd guns and 6-45cm/18” surfaced torpedo tubes.