SMS Helgoland Dreadnought Battleship (Improved Dreadnought)
Improved German Dreadnought - 1911 Larger Guns, STILL Hexagonal! - 4 ships: SMS HELGOLAND, SMS OSTFRIESLAND (Billy Mitchell tests!), SMS Thüringen, SMS Oldenburg. FIRST GERMAN 12-INCH GUNS! (30.5cm SK L/50, +25% larger than Nassau!). 22,808 tons, 20.5 kts, 12× 30.5cm guns in STILL HEXAGONAL LAYOUT (rejected superfiring despite experiments with USS South Carolina-style!). Improved engines (28,000 ihp, +27% power!). ALL 4 FOUGHT JUTLAND, all survived. SMS OSTFRIESLAND FAMOUS: Ceded to US 1920, Billy Mitchell bombing tests July 21, 1921 - US Army bombers PROVED AIRCRAFT COULD SINK BATTLESHIPS! (sunk in 21.5 minutes with 2000-lb bombs). AIRPOWER REVOLUTION! Vindicated Mitchell's advocacy, changed naval warfare forever! Conservative design kept inefficient hexagonal layout. Scrapped 1921-1924.
Specifications
- Displacement (std)
- 22808 t
- Displacement (full)
- 24700 t
- Length
- 548.6 ft
- Beam
- 93.5 ft
- Crew
- 1113
- Ships built
- 4
- Commissioned
- 1911-1912
- Decommissioned
- 1919-1924 (Ostfriesland sunk 1921 in Mitchell tests!)
Performance
- Top speed
- 20.5 kn
- Range
- 5500 nm at 10 knots
Armament
- Main guns
- "12× 30.5cm SK L/50 guns" (6× twin turrets - 12-INCH UPGRADE!)
- Secondary guns
- 14× 15cm SK L/45 guns
- Torpedoes
- "6× 50cm torpedo tubes" (larger than Nassau's 45cm!)
Armor & Systems
- Belt
- 300mm (11.8 inches)
- Deck
- 63mm
- Fire control
- Improved optical rangefinders, centralized fire control
In-Game
- Tier
- T2
- Game power
- 32.48
- Research cost
- 2,858
- Credit cost
- 22,736
Notable
- FIRST GERMAN 12-INCH GUNS! (30.5cm SK L/50!)
- SMS OSTFRIESLAND: Billy Mitchell bombing tests (July 21, 1921!)
- PROVED AIRCRAFT COULD SINK BATTLESHIPS! (revolutionary!)
- 22,808 tons standard (+21% over Nassau!)
- 20.5 knots maximum speed (+1 kt improvement)
- 4 ships built (Helgoland, Ostfriesland, Thüringen, Oldenburg)
- 12× 30.5cm guns (vs Nassau's 12× 28cm) - larger shells!
- STILL hexagonal layout (rejected superfiring despite experiments!)
- Experimented with USS South Carolina-style superfiring, but conservative design prevailed
- Triple expansion engines (28,000 ihp, +27% power!)
- Larger torpedo tubes (50cm vs 45cm)
- Commissioned 1911-1912 (Helgoland first: August 23, 1911)
- All 4 fought at Battle of Jutland (III Battle Squadron)
- Helgoland hit once, all survived Jutland
- Ostfriesland ceded to US as war prize (1920)
- Mitchell tests: July 21, 1921 - Army bombers sank Ostfriesland in 21.5 minutes
- 2000-lb bombs proved fatal to battleship (airpower revolution!)
- Controversy: Navy disputed tests (stationary target, no crew, no countermeasures)
- Vindicated Billy Mitchell's airpower advocacy (court-martialed 1925 for this advocacy!)
- Helgoland scrapped 1924, Thüringen scrapped 1923, Oldenburg scrapped 1921
- Last German dreadnoughts with hexagonal layout (Kaiser class adopted superfiring!)