SMS Helgoland

Helgoland-class battleship

SMS Helgoland, the lead ship of her class, was a dreadnought battleship of the German Imperial Navy. Helgoland's design was an improvement on the earlier Nassau class. One change was adding bigger main guns. Construction began on 11 November 1908 at the Howaldtswerke shipyards in Kiel. Helgoland was launched on 25 September 1909 [1] and was commissioned on 23 August 1911.

SMS Helgoland c. 1911–1917
History
German Empire
Name:

Helgoland

Builder:

Howaldtswerke, Kiel

Laid down:

11 November 1908

Launched:

25 September 1909

Commissioned:

23 August 1911

Fate:

Scrapped in 1921

General characteristics
Class and type:

Helgoland-class battleship

Displacement:
  • 22,808 metric tons (22,448 long tons) (designed)
  • 24,700 t (24,300 long tons) (full load)
Length:

167.20 m (548 ft 7 in)

Beam:

28.50 m (93 ft 6 in)

Draft:

8.94 m (29 ft 4 in)

Installed power:

27,617 ihp (20,594 kW)

Propulsion:
  • 3 shaft
  • 4-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines
  • 15 boilers
Speed:

20.8 knots (38.5 km/h; 23.9 mph)

Range:

5,500 nautical miles (10,190 km; 6,330 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)

Complement:
  • 42 officers
  • 1027 enlisted
Armament:
  • 12 × 30.5 cm (12.0 in) SK L/50 guns
  • 14 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns
  • 14 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns
  • 6 × 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:
  • Belt: 300 mm (12 in)
  • Turrets: 300 mm
  • Deck: 63.5 mm (2.50 in)

Helgoland saw some action against Britain's Royal Navy during World War I. The ship was part of the I Scouting Group in the North Sea. She also served in the Baltic Sea against the Russian Navy, including the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915. Helgoland was at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. She was given to Great Britain at the end of the war and broken up for scrap in the early 1920s. Her coat of arms is now in the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.

Other websites

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  Media related to Helgoland (ship, 1911) at Wikimedia Commons

References

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  1. Sturton, Ian; Budzbon, Przemyslaw (1 January 1996). Conway's all the world's battleships : 1906 to the present (Reprint ed.). London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-448-0.