Battlecruisers: Moltke Class

[designeraccd]

Here is MOLTKE's sister: GOEBEN, arguably the most influential warship ever built given her role in the Med....dragging Turkey into WW1. That had ramifications upon history that no other warship ever caused.

Also, 2 pics of her as Turkish YAVUZ. She survived until early 70s when she was unfortunately scrapped to become Italian razor blades... I have a Turkish book about her, kindly given to me by a Polish merchant marine officer (old Forum).....many, many pics. Some late closeups showed cracked paint that looked over a inch thick. DFO

[ivorthediver]

I stand before you ignorant of these facts Dennis , and grateful for the information missed .

[Brian James]

Moltke Class Battlecruiser SMS Goeben pictured at Genoa in 1913.

[designeraccd]

Probably the MOST history changing warship ever built! See THE SHIP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (1985, 2000) ISBN 1 84158 062 7. Her sister fought at Jutland, and this one survived as YAVUZ until cut up in early 70s. I have a Turkish volume about her with many photos I can "read". Her paint, by the end, was so thick it looked like ice floes cracking....


The Turks offered her back to W. Germany but unfortunately they refused. A waste of a truly historic ship.... DFO

[Brian James]

Moltke Class Battlecruiser SMS Goeben pictured at La Spezia in 1914.prior to her handing over to the Ottoman Empire.
She was built by Blohm & Voss Shipyards at Hamburg in 1911.Several months after her commissioning in 1912, Goeben, with the Light Cruiser SMS Breslau, formed the German Mediterranean Division and patrolled there during the Balkan Wars. After the outbreak of World War I on July 28th 1914, Goeben and Breslau bombarded French positions in North Africa and then evaded British naval forces in the Mediterranean and reached Constantinople. The two ships were transferred to the Ottoman Empire on August 16th 1914, and Goeben became the flagship of the Ottoman Navy as Yavuz Sultan Selim, usually shortened to Yavuz. By bombarding Russian facilities in the Black Sea, she brought Turkey into World War I on the German side.She operated primarily against Russian forces in the Black Sea during the war, including several inconclusive engagements with Russian Battleships. She made a sortie into the Aegean in January 1918 that resulted in the Battle of Imbros, where Yavuz sank a pair of British Monitors but was herself badly damaged by mines.
In 1936 she was officially renamed TCG Yavuz; she carried the remains of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk from Istanbul to İzmit in 1938. Yavuz remained the flagship of the Turkish Navy until she was decommissioned in 1950. She was scrapped in 1973, after the West German government declined an invitation to buy her back from Turkey. She was the last surviving ship built by the Imperial German Navy, and the longest-serving Dreadnought-type ship in any navy.

[designeraccd]

The GOEBEN fought in the Med and Black Sea. Here are some more views of her. Repairing damage inflicted upon GOEBEN was a real challenge as the Turks had no dry dock that could fit her!

Specs:

"Class and type: Moltke-class battlecruiser
Displacement: Design: 22,979 t (22,616 long tons)
Full load: 25,400 t (25,000 long tons)[1]

Length: 186.6 m (612 ft 2 in)[1]
Beam: 30 m (98 ft 5 in)[1]
Draft: 9.2 m (30 ft 2 in)[1]
Installed power: Design: 51,289 shp (38,246 kW)
Maximum: 84,490 shp (63,004 kW)[2]

Propulsion: 4 screws, Parsons steam turbines
Speed: Design: 25.5 kn (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph)
Maximum: 28.4 kn (52.6 km/h; 32.7 mph)[1]

Range: 4,120 nmi (7,630 km; 4,740 mi) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)[1]
Complement: 43 officers
1,010 men[1]

Armament: 10 × 28 cm (11 in) SK L/50 guns (5 × 2)
12 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns
12 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns[1]

Armor: Belt: 280–100 mm (11.0–3.9 in)
Barbettes: 230 mm (9.1 in)
Turrets: 230 mm
Deck: 76.2–25.4 mm (3–1 in)
Conning tower: 350 mm (14 in)"

Like all the German battle cruisers, she was more of a "fast" battleship than a battle cruiser, by RN standards. The pair were a bit faster than most of the first 6 USN 3rd gen. fast battleships!! The second photo, with clouds of smoke pouring from her funnels, must have been taken at full speed. Surely would have been an impressive sight! DFO

[designeraccd]

Following these 2 "large cruisers" a improved design, the SEYDLITZ, was built. Famous for the amazing amount of damage at Dogger Bank and Jutland, she certainly proved how tough these ships were. DFO

[Brian James]

Lead Ship,Battlecruiser SMS Moltke pictured at Hampton Roads in 1912.
Moltke, along with her sister ship Goeben, was an enlarged version of the previous German Battlecruiser design, Von der Tann, with increased armor protection and two more main guns in an additional turret. Compared to her British rivals—the Indefatigable Class—Moltke and her sister Goeben were significantly larger and better armored.
She participated in most of the major fleet actions conducted by the German Navy during the First World War, including the Battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland in the North Sea, and the Battle of the Gulf of Riga and Operation Albion in the Baltic. Moltke was damaged several times during the war: the ship was hit by heavy-caliber gunfire at Jutland, and torpedoed twice by British Submarines while on fleet advances.
Following the end of the war in 1918, Moltke, along with most of the High Seas Fleet, was interned at Scapa Flow pending a decision by the Allies as to the fate of the fleet. She met her end when she was scuttled, along with the rest of the High Seas Fleet in 1919 to prevent them from falling into British hands. The wreck of Moltke was raised in 1927 and scrapped at Rosyth from 1927 to 1929.

[designeraccd]

Here is a colorized pic, plus in NYC! DFO

[designeraccd]

A nice pic of MOLTKE at speed! DFO