Kaiser Friedrich III was the lead ship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class of pre-dreadnought battleships. She was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven in March 1895, launched in July 1896, and finished in October 1898. In 1901, the ship was severely damaged after striking submerged rocks in the Baltic. She served in a limited capacity as coastal defense ships in V Battle Squadron in the early months of the war, tasked with defending Germany’s North Sea coastline. By February 1915, Kaiser Friedrich was withdrawn from service and eventually decommissioned in November, thereafter being employed as a prison ship and later as a barracks ship.
About SMS Kaiser Friedrich III in brief
Kaiser Friedrich III was the lead ship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class of pre-dreadnought battleships. She was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven in March 1895, launched in July 1896, and finished in October 1898. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter guns in two twin gun turrets supported by a secondary battery of eighteen 15 cm guns. In 1901, the ship was severely damaged after striking submerged rocks in the Baltic; the incident contributed to design changes in later German battleships to make them more resistant to underwater damage. She served in a limited capacity as coastal defense ships in V Battle Squadron in the early months of the war, tasked with defending Germany’s North Sea coastline. By February 1915, Kaiser Friedrich was withdrawn from service and eventually decommissioned in November, thereafter being employed as a prison ship and later as a barracks ship. Her armament was rounded out with six 45cm torpedo tubes, all in above-water swivel mounts, and the main armor was 65mm thick. The new ship abandoned the six-gun arrangement of the Brandenburgs for four large-caliber pieces, the standard arrangement of other navies at the time. The Kaiser Friedrich’s keel was laid on March 5, 1895, and she was finally laid down on March 6, 1895.
She had a crew that ranged from 658 to 687 officers and enlisted men, and had a cruising radius of 3,420 nmi at a speed of 10 knots. The ship’s powerplant was rated at 13,000 PS, which generated a top speed of 17. 5 knots. She was scrapped in 1920. She was one of the four Brandenburg-class battleships ordered by the German Kaiserliches Marine in 1889, along with two other ships, the other two being the battleships Kriegsmarine and Krieg Marine and the Krieg marine Sleeping Stadtgeschloss Breslau (KMS or KMS sleeping stadt gauge). The ship had a beam of 20. 4 m and a draft of 7. 89 m forward and 8. 25 m aft. She displaced 11,097 t as designed and up to 11,785 t at full load. She also carried twelve 3.7-cm quick-firing machine cannon, but these were later removed. The main battery and conning tower were protected with 250mm of armor plating and the secondary casemates received 150mm of plating. The ships were all armed with four 24 cm SK L40 guns in twin turrets, one fore and one aft of the central superstructure, and twelve 8.40cm SK L30 guns and twelve 7 cm L30 quick-fire machine cannon.
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