SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
The SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was a battleship of the Imperial Navy. The ship was designated as the replacement of King William I. class battleship in 1898 at the Friedrich Krupp Germania Werft in Kiel under the hull number 79 on Kiel. In 1899, the reclassification was made to the liner.
History
The launch was originally scheduled for April 29, 1899, but delayed a fire at the shipyard this so that the ship could be released until June 1, 1899 water. After sea trials on 17 February 1901, the subsequent decrease ride from the Navy, the SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was made at the First Squadron on May 5, 1901 service. In this association, the ship provided his fleet service and took part in maneuvers and training trips. After an accident in 1905, the rudder was rebuilt and now had no skeg. In 1908, the ship was decommissioned and rebuilt and modernized between 1908 until 1910. After that, it belonged to the reserve formation of the North Sea.
With the outbreak of war in 1914 was the reactivation and assigned to V. squadron. The use was initially restricted to coastal protection in the North Sea and sporadic expeditions in the Baltic Sea. As of March 1915, the ship was pulled ( along with the other ships of the Kaiser- Friedrich- III.- class ) from the front and reduces the crew. The final decommissioning on November 20, 1915 where the ship immediately disarmed ( the 24 -inch guns came as a railroad battery to the Western Front ) and as Beischiff the torpedo school was assigned in Kiel. Demolition work began after the removal from the fleet list 1920 in Kiel- North Mole.
Rebuilding
During the great conversion, appearance was significantly changed. The two decks high midship superstructure was removed, limits the chimney shrouds on the bottom half. In place of the martial -style combat masts were slim Fockmasten with topmast. The four 15 - cm - Kasemattgeschütze the central artillery on the battery deck were expanded, strengthened the Light Artillery by two 88-mm guns and their lineup changed, whereas the present twelve machine guns were dropped. Similarly, the pivotal 45 -cm above water torpedo tube was removed in the rear. The formerly plump and topp heavy ships made a rather bare impression after reconstruction.