SMS Bayern was the lead ship of the Bayern class of battleships in the German Kaiserliche Marine. The vessel was launched in February 1915 and entered service in July 1916. Bayern was commissioned midway through the war, and had a limited service career. She was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in November 1918 following the end of World War I. On 21 June 1919, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the fleet to be scuttled; Bayern sank at 14: 30. In September 1934, the ship was raised, towed to Rosyth, and scrapped.
About SMS Bayern in brief
SMS Bayern was the lead ship of the Bayern class of battleships in the German Kaiserliche Marine. The vessel was launched in February 1915 and entered service in July 1916, too late to take part in the Battle of Jutland. Bayern was commissioned midway through the war, and had a limited service career. She was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in November 1918 following the end of World War I. On 21 June 1919, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the fleet to be scuttled; Bayern sank at 14: 30. In September 1934, the ship was raised, towed to Rosyth, and scrapped. The ship was the first German warship armed with eight 38 cm SK L45 guns. Her secondary armament consisted of sixteen 15 cm SK L 45 guns, four 8.8 cm and five 60 cm underwater torpedo tubes, one in the bow and two on each beam. She had an armored belt that was 170–350 mm thick and an armored deck that was 60–100 mm thick. Her forward conning tower had 400 roofs, and the main battery turrets had 350mm thick sides and 200 mm thick on the sides. The Bayern class was ordered with the fourth and final Naval Law of 1912, which was the Howitzers and Königsgesellschaft. The first ship to be completed was Baden; the other two were canceled later in the war when production requirements shifted to U-boat construction.
The second ship was to have formed the nucleus for a fourth battle squadron in the High seas Fleet, along with three of her sister ships. Of the other ships only one—Baden—was completed; the others were canceled in favor of the U-boats. The third ship, Bayern, was never completed and was scrapped in 1941. The last ship to have been completed was the battleship Kiel, which served in World War II as a training ship for the British Royal Navy. The fourth and last battleship to be built, Bayern was ordered in 1912, and was commissioned in July 1915. She took part in an abortive fleet advance into the North Sea on 18–19 August 1916, a month after she had been commissioned. She also participated in Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga, but shortly after the German attack began on 12 October 1917, she was mined and had to be withdrawn for repairs. Her propulsion system was rated at 35,000 metric horsepower for a maximum speed of 21 knots, and on trials achieved 55,967 metric horsepower for amaximum speed of 22 knots. The ship could carry up to 3,400 t of coal and 620 t of fuel oil, which provided a maximum range of 5,000 nmi at a cruising speed of 12 kn. She was powered by three Parsons steam turbines, with steam provided by three oil-fired and eleven coal-fired Schulz-Thornycroft boilers.
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