 | | Career |
 | | Class and type: | Unique battlecruiser | | Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg | | Laid down: | February 4, 1911 | | Launched: | March 30, 1912 | | Commissioned: | May 22, 1913 | | Fate: | Scuttled at Scapa Flow, 21 June 1919
Salvaged in 1928, scrapped | | General Characteristics | | Displacement: | 24,594 tons normal
28,100 tons loaded | | Length: | 657 ft 11 in(200.5 m) | | Beam: | 93 ft 6 in(28.5 m) | | Draft: | 26 ft 11 in(30.3 m) | | Propulsion: | 4 screws, Parsons turbines, 63,000 shp | | Speed: | 26.5 knots | | Range: | 4,700 nm at 14 knots | | Complement: | 1,068 | | Armament: | 10 × 11.2 in (284 mm) / 50 caliber guns (5 × 2)
12 × 5.9 in (150 mm) guns
12 × 3.45 in (88 mm) guns | | Motto: | Always forward | SMS Seydlitz was a 25,000 ton battlecruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned in May 1913. She was named after Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, a Prussian general during the reign of King Frederick the Great SMS Seydlitz Downloaded from [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Germany-Jack-1903. ...
HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ...
On April 5, 1877, Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss founded the Blohm & Voss Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik shipbuilding and engineering works as a general partnership. ...
Hamburg from above Hamburgs motto: May the posterity endeavour with dignity to conserve the freedom, which the forefathers acquired. ...
February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ...
March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in a leap year). ...
1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
May 22 is the 142nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (143rd in leap years). ...
Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...
Aerial Photo of Scapa Flow Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. ...
June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ...
Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...
A Siemens steam turbine with the case opened. ...
A knot is a unit of speed, abbreviated kt or kn. ...
The word calibre (British English) or caliber (American English) designates the interior diameter of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod. ...
HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ...
The Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by Kaiser Wilhelm II between 1871 and 1919; it grew out of the Prussian Navy. ...
Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr von Seydlitz (February 3, 1721 - August 27, 1773), Prussian soldier, one of the greatest cavalry generals of history, was born at Kalkar in the duchy of Cleves, where his father, a major of Prussian cavalry, was stationed. ...
Frederick the Great Frederick II of Prussia (Friedrich der Große, Frederick the Great, January 24, 1712 – August 17, 1786) was the Hohenzollern king of Prussia 1740–86. ...
Design
The Seydlitz was a unique vessel, being a modified version of the previous Moltke class Battlecruisers. As the Moltke was herself basically an enlarged version of Germany's first Battlecruiser, Von der Tann, the Seydlitz can be considered the ultimate evolution of Germany's first generation of Battlecruisers. SMS Moltke was a Moltke-class battlecruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine (German Navy). ...
SMS Von der Tann was the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine as well as Germanys first turbine powered major warship. ...
When she was proposed the German Design board seriously considered a completely new design of ship armed with 12" guns, but the Treasury would not authorise an increase in cost over the previous Moltke class ships. For some time the plan was to build a third sister to the Moltke and Goeben, but Admiral Tirpitz was able to negotiate a discount on Armour plate from Krupps which freed up sufficient funds to make some material improvements to the design. The Principle difference between the Seydlitz and her predecessors was her raised forecastle, giving her greater freeboard at the bow. The intent was to improve the seakeeping qualities of the vessel as the Moltke Class had proved notoriously "wet" in even relatively mild swell. She was also about a knot faster, had slightly thicker armour and a new design of Turret. SMS Moltke was a Moltke-class battlecruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine (German Navy). ...
SMS Goeben was a Moltke-class battlecruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine (German Navy) that was launched in 1911 and named after the Franco-Prussian War general August von Goeben. ...
Service History At the Battle of Dogger Bank (1915), 24 January 1915, in World War I SMS Seydlitz was the flagship of Admiral Franz von Hipper. She was hit by a 13.5 inch shell from HMS Lion which penetrated the working chamber of her after turret. The resulting explosion knocked out the rear turret and, due to an open door to the adjacent turret, knocked out that one as well, with the loss of the 160 men of the two turrets’ crews. Only the prompt action of her executive officer in flooding the magazines saved Seydlitz from a magazine explosion that would have destroyed the ship. Supposedly the sailor Wilhelm Heidkamp saved the ship, when he desparetely opened the glowing valves although he burnt his hands and his lungs. He never recovered from his severe injuries and died a few years later. The Kriegsmarine named a destroyer after him. At the Battle of Jutland, a similar situation befell Lion. The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle fought near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea that took place on 24 January 1915, during the First World War, between squadrons of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet. ...
January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz...
Franz von Hipper Franz Ritter von Hipper (September 13, 1863 in Weilheim - May 25, 1932 in Hamburg-Othmarschen) was a German admiral. ...
HMS Lion was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy launched in 1910, the lead ship of her class. ...
Combatants Royal Navy (Grand Fleet) Kaiserliche Marine (High Seas Fleet) Commanders Sir John Jellicoe, Sir David Beatty Reinhard Scheer, Franz von Hipper Strength 28 battleships, 9 battlecruisers, 8 heavy cruisers, 26 light cruisers, 78 destroyers 16 battleships, 5 battlecruisers, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 11 light cruisers, 61 torpedo-boats Casualties 6...
 Seydlitz was heavily damaged in the battle of Jutland. This picture was taken after she had been lightened so that she be refloated after being beached in the Jade Estuary. At the Battle of Jutland in 1916 she fought third in line in Hipper's battlecruiser squadron. Her gunfire led to the explosion of HMS Queen Mary. Seydlitz was heavily damaged herself, being hit by twenty-one heavy shells and one torpedo and suffering 98 men killed and 55 injured. She shipped over 5,000 tons of water, reducing her freeboard to almost nothing, but made it back to the Jade Estuary, where she was deliberately beached. SMS Seydlitz damaged after the battle of Jutland This image was scanned from a public domain text by the Great War Primary Documents Archive and is made available by them for any purpose provided that they are credited and a link is given to the Photos of the Great War...
SMS Seydlitz damaged after the battle of Jutland This image was scanned from a public domain text by the Great War Primary Documents Archive and is made available by them for any purpose provided that they are credited and a link is given to the Photos of the Great War...
Combatants Royal Navy (Grand Fleet) Kaiserliche Marine (High Seas Fleet) Commanders Sir John Jellicoe, Sir David Beatty Reinhard Scheer, Franz von Hipper Strength 28 battleships, 9 battlecruisers, 8 heavy cruisers, 26 light cruisers, 78 destroyers 16 battleships, 5 battlecruisers, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 11 light cruisers, 61 torpedo-boats Casualties 6...
HMS Queen Mary was a Royal Navy Lion-class battlecruiser, armed with eight 13. ...
Thereafter, the Seydlitz was extensively lightened by removing as much equipment from her as possible, including her guns, and refloated so that she could limp into port. She was immediately taken in hand for repairs - a process that took five months to complete - and was back in service with the High Seas Fleet in November, 1916. She would serve as Hipper's flagship for most of the rest of the war.
Seydlitz survived more damage that any other German capital ship during WWI, a remarkable testament to the incredibly strong basic design of German Battlecruisers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she was always considered a happy ship and was one of the most popular ships of the High Seas Fleet. Her motto was "Always Forward."
After the armistice she was interned at Scapa Flow where she was scuttled by her crew with the rest of the High Seas Fleet on 21 June 1919. She was salvaged in 1928 and scrapped. Aerial Photo of Scapa Flow Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. ...
German battlecruiser Derfflinger scuttled at Scapa Flow. ...
June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ...
Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: SMS Seydlitz Accounts of the battle of Jutland: Image File history File links Commons-logo. ...
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