Career
Shipyard:	Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Ordered:
Laid down:	March 25 1908
Launched:	March 20, 1909
Commissioned:	February 20, 1911
Fate:	scuttled at Scapa flow June 21,1919
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	19,370 tonnes planned, 21,300 tonnes full load
Length:	171.7 m
Beam:	26.6 m
Draught:	8.91 m
Propulsion:	4 screws, Parsons Turbines, 43,600 hp (39 MW)
Speed:	24.8 knots
armour:	10 inch belt, 9 inch turrets,
Range:	4400 nm at 14 knots
Complement:	1174
Armament:	8-11.2 in (284 mm) 50-calibre guns (4x2) 10-5.9 in (150 mm) guns 16-3.45 in (88 mm) guns

SMS Von der Tann was the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine as well as Germany's first turbine powered major warship. Built by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg. Von der Tann was to be the workhorse of the Scouting Squadron. The vessel had relatively small guns (11 in) when compared to her British counterparts (12 in) but was far better armoured. Jack of the German Kaiserliche Marine and Kriegsmarine. ... 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 is Germanys second largest city (after Berlin) and, with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. ... WWII era steam turbine used for ship propulsion. ... A knot is a unit of speed. ... The word caliber (American English) or calibre (British English) comes from the Italian calibro, itself from the Arabic quâlib, meaning mould. ... The Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by the formation of the German Empire and existed between 1871 and 1919; it grew out of the Prussian Navy and the Norddeutsche Bundesmarine. ...

SMS Von der Tann was named after Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, a Bavarian general who fought in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Ludwig Samson Arthur Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen (June 18, 1815 - April 26, 1881), Bavarian general, was born at Darmstadt, on the day of Waterloo. ... The Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870 – May 10, 1871) was fought between France and Prussia (backed by the North German Confederation) allied with the south German states of Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg. ...

Von der Tann took part in the unsuccessful search for British Battlecruisers after the Battle of Helgoland Bight in 1914. Later that year she was prersent at the bombardment of Yarmouth and Scarborough. 1915 the ship was took part in operations in the North and Baltic Seas. Early 1916 she took part in the bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowesoft. At the battle of Jutland she recieved four heavy hits but in battle sunk HMS Indefatigable after a heavy gun action. Her casualties after battle amounted to 11 dead and 35 wounded. The Battle of Jutland, known in Germany as the Battle of the Skagerrak (Skagerrakschlacht), was the largest naval battle of World War I, and the only full-scale clash of battleships in that war. ... HMS Indefatigable was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class. ...

After Jutland she underwent repairs and took part in several, but unsuccessful raids into the North Sea. The vessel surrendered with the rest of the High Seas Fleet on 24 November 1918 and interned at Scapa Flow. Scuttled there on 21 June 1919, she was later raised in 1930 and scrapped at Rosyth, which was completed by 1934. Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. ... Rosyth (pronounced Ross-sythe) (Scottish Gaelic: Ros Saoithe) is located on the Firth of Forth on Scotlands east coast, a mile (1. ...

Sources

• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921

External Links

• [1] Specifications, Pictures, and line Drawings
• [2] Info, History, Operations, and Specs.