Jutland 2e:
Tirpitz’s Battleships, Part Four
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
March 2025

With the Braunschweig class, the German Navy finally had a battleship design comparable to those of other nations. German Navy State Secretary (effectively, the Navy Minister) Alfred von Tirpitz chose to repeat the Braunschweig design for the next class. Tirpitz had initially planned ten battleships of the class, built at a rate of two per year, and had no wish to slow the rate of production and give the Reichstag a chance to re-consider the Second Naval Law which authorized the ships.

Four ships would be contracted with private shipyards, with one going to the Imperial Dockyard at Wilhelmshaven. The first, Deutschland, was laid down in June 1903. The second ship, Pommern, would not be laid down until March 1904 (the final ship, Schleswig-Holstein, was laid down in August 1905). During the months in which work on only Deutschland had been begun, Kaiser Wilhelm II began to have second thoughts about his Navy’s new battleship.

In December 1903, he asked the Navy to provide sketches for a larger ship armed with heavier guns. A month later, Johannes Rudloff of the Construction Department presented several alternatives, with the most favored ship one with four 280mm guns in two twin turrets like Deutschland, and eight 240mm (9.4-inch) guns in twin turrets placed in the “corner” positions.

Tirpitz scuttled the idea; though Rudloff had dutifully listed the new ship at 13,000 tons like Deutschland, the State Secretary knew that the heavier armament would inevitably require a larger ship both to accommodate the extra guns and turrets, and increase her power plant to offset the added weight and maintain the designed fleet speed of 18 knots (though the Kaiser had asked for 20 knots).

That would increase the cost of the ship, meaning a return to the Reichstag for more money. And it would also mean that the new battleship could not transit the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal between the North Sea and the Baltic: Deutschland had been very deliberately designed to fit the canal’s maximum dimensions. Tirpitz did not relish a fresh funding fight over the canal just when he’d obtained his goal of maximum fleet expansion. And so the next four battleships would retain the Deutschland design, but Tirpitz agreed to allow some of the improvements foreseen in Rudloff’s sketch to be incorporated in them.

All five ships displaced 13,200 tons, and carried a main armament of four 280mm SK L/4- rifles, the same weapon that armed the previous Braunschweig class. Like Braunschweig, they also had a secondary armament of fourteen 170mm SK L/40 guns, but where Braunschweig had four of these guns in turrets at the “corner” positions, all fourteen were located in casemates for the Deutschland class. The shortcomings of the 170mm gun had not yet become apparent, and so this did not change even for the last ship, Schleswig-Holstein, laid down after the first ships of the Braunschweig class had been in full commission for nearly a year.

All five ships of the class in line-ahead formation, seen in 1908.

Deleting the 170mm turrets saved some weight, which could be applied instead to improved protection; Deutschland had belt armor of 225mm, while her sisters had 240mm. Like all German capital ships of their time the “honeycomb” concept included extensive internal subdivision. All of them were divided into 12 watertight compartments except Pommern, which had thirteen.

Deutschland retained the mix of fire-tube and water-tube boilers of the Braunschweig class; the next four ships switched to only water-tube boilers. This meant that the latter four ships made 19,000 horsepower, good for 19 knots, while Deutschland herself generated only 17,000 horsepower and topped out at 18 knots.

Upon completing trials in September 1906, Deutschland immediately became flagship of the Battle Fleet, re-named the High Seas Fleet a year later. Her sisters joined more slowly, with Schleswig-Holstein finally reaching full commission in September 1908. All five ships joined the fleet’s II Squadron, with Deutschland retaining her status as fleet flagship and also her spot in the squadron lineup; this would change in 1911 when the Reichstag authorized an additional battleship slot for the fleet flagship. The new dreadnought Friedrich der Grosse, authorized for the role, took over as flagship in March 1913 and Deutschland reverted to squadron flagship.

A fanciful 1914 painting of Pommern in action, by Wilhelm Malchin.

All five ships remained in commission until the outbreak of war, which allowed Deutschland to retain the crack gun crews that the former fleet commander, Prince Heinrich, had collected for his flagship (and keep them away from newer, more effective dreadnoughts). Deutschland repeatedly won the Kaiser’s Cup presented to the best gunnery performance among the fleet’s battleships during annual exercises.

The II Squadron took part in all of the fleet deployments made during the war’s first years, up until the Battle of Jutland. Fleet commander Reinhard Scheer initially planned to leave them behind, as they were so notably slower than his dreadnoughts and would be doomed if the pending action with the British Grand Fleet devolved into a stern chase. Scheer had commanded the squadron before taking over the High Seas Fleet, and current squadron commander Franz Mauve appealed to his sense of honor. Scheer override his own common sense to allow his former captains and crews to participate, thereby dooming 844 of them to death.

During the night phase of the battle, Mauve contemplated a suicidal, slow-speed torpedo run by his pre-dreadnoughts to allow the beleaguered German battle cruisers to break contact with the enemy. This turned out to be unnecessary, and his ships exchanged fire a few times with the British, but rarely had a clear view of the enemy. At the very end of the action, British destroyers of the 12th Flotilla struck Pommern with one or two torpedoes; one of these detonated one of her 170mm magazines and the ship exploded, taking all of her crew with her.

A more realistic view of the doomed Pommern.

That resulted in the surviving ships first being left behind during the fleet’s August 1916 probe into the North Sea, followed by their formal removal from front-line service. At first used as guard ships, their status steadily devolved into training duties and barracks hulks. Their weapons went ashore for use as railroad artillery.

The Versailles Treaty revived their prospects, as the German Navy would be allowed to retain six pre-dreadnoughts, no more than four of which could be active at any one time. Deutschland would be scrapped in 1922, Hannover eventually became a radio-controlled target ship and the final two ships, Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein, soldiered on as training ships through the 1920’s and 1930’s to see limited action in the Second World War. Schleswig-Holstein fired the war’s first shot, bombarding the Polish fortifications at Westerplatte in Gdansk, after entering the port on an ostensibly friendly visit.

Tirpitz had made a good purchase with the preceding Braunschweig class, but repeating the design at a time of rapid technological change was probably not the best decision. But building more effective ships in place of the last four units of the class would also mean a funding fight over the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and the added expense of larger ships. That would require political preparation, something he already had underway to assure that Germany would meet the implicit challenge of the new British Dreadnought.

All five ships appear in Great War at Sea: Jutland, and see action in the Jutland: North Sea 1914 scenario book.

Order Jutland second edition here.

The Jutland Saga
Jutland Second Edition
Jutland: North Sea 1914
Jutland: Dogger Bank
Jutland: Risk Fleet
Retail Price: $233.96
Package Price: $190.00
Gold Club Price: $152.00

You can order the Jutland Saga right here.

Sign up for our newsletter right here. Your info will never be sold or transferred; we'll just use it to update you on new games and new offers.

Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children, and his new puppy. His Iron Dog, Leopold,would have fitted flash baffles on his ships.

Daily Content includes no AI-generated content or third-party ads. We work hard to keep it that way, and that’s a lot of work. You can help us keep things that way with your gift through this link right here.