SMS Wittelsbach Battleship
Improved Pre-Dreadnought - 1902 Better Armor! - 5 ships: SMS WITTELSBACH, SMS Wettin, SMS Zähringen, SMS Schwaben, SMS Mecklenburg. IMPROVED ARMOR PROTECTION! 11,774 tons, 18 kts (+0.5 kts!), 4× 24cm guns + 18× 15cm rapid-fire guns (continued "hail of fire" doctrine). Krupp cemented armor (225mm belt, superior to Harvey nickel-steel!), 250mm turret sides, 150mm secondary turret protection. 3-shaft triple expansion engines (15,000 HP, +2000 HP improvement!). Named after House of Wittelsbach (Bavarian royal dynasty). Better balanced design between firepower and protection. Commissioned 1902-1904, served WWI in training/coastal defense, all 5 ships survived war and were scrapped 1919-1921. Contemporary with British London-class (1902).
Specifications
- Displacement (std)
- 11774 t
- Displacement (full)
- 12798 t
- Length
- 416 ft
- Beam
- 74.8 ft
- Crew
- 683
- Ships built
- 5
- Commissioned
- 1902-1904
- Decommissioned
- 1919-1921
Performance
- Top speed
- 18 kn
- Range
- 5000 nm at 10 knots
Armament
- Main guns
- "4× 24cm SK L/40 guns" (2× twin turrets)
- Secondary guns
- "18× 15cm SK L/40 guns" (single turrets + casemates)
- Torpedoes
- 6× 45cm torpedo tubes
Armor & Systems
- Belt
- 225mm main belt (100mm lower edge)
- Deck
- 40mm
- Fire control
- Optical rangefinders, rapid-fire doctrine continued
In-Game
- Tier
- T1
- Game power
- 12.11
- Research cost
- 266
- Credit cost
- 8,477
Notable
- IMPROVED ARMOR PROTECTION! (Krupp cemented armor!)
- 11,774 tons standard (larger than Kaiser Friedrich III!)
- 18 knots maximum speed (+0.5 kts improvement!)
- 5 ships built (Wittelsbach, Wettin, Zähringen, Schwaben, Mecklenburg)
- Named after Bavarian royal House of Wittelsbach
- 4× 24cm main guns + 18× 15cm secondary (continued rapid-fire doctrine)
- Krupp cemented armor (225mm main belt, superior to Harvey)
- 3-shaft triple expansion engines (15,000 ihp, +2000 HP!)
- Improved secondary turret protection (150mm vs casemates)
- Commissioned 1902-1904 (Wittelsbach first: October 15, 1902)
- Laid down at Wilhelmshaven Navy Dockyard (1899)
- Served in WWI (training, coastal defense, Baltic operations)
- Decommissioned 1919-1921 after Treaty of Versailles
- Better balanced design (armor + firepower + speed)
- Transition toward more heavily armored pre-dreadnoughts
- SMS Wettin served as training ship until 1921
- SMS Zähringen conducted gunnery training
- All 5 ships survived WWI (scrapped post-war)