SMS Nassau was the first dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial German Navy. She was the lead ship of her class of four battleships, which included Posen, Rheinland, and Westfalen. Nassau saw service in the North Sea at the beginning of World War I, in II Division of I Battle Squadron of the German High Seas Fleet. She is the only German battleship to have been sunk by a British warship, HMS Spitfire, during the Second World War.
About SMS Nassau in brief
SMS Nassau was the first dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial German Navy. She was the lead ship of her class of four battleships, which included Posen, Rheinland, and Westfalen. Nassau saw service in the North Sea at the beginning of World War I, in II Division of I Battle Squadron of the German High Seas Fleet. After the German fleet was scuttled, Nassau and her three sisters were surrendered to the victorious Allied powers as replacements for the sunken ships. In April 1920, Japan sold her to a British wrecking firm which then scrapped her in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The ship was also used as a training ship for the crew of the Royal Navy’s battleship HMS Dreadnought in the 1930s and 1940s. She is the only German battleship to have been sunk by a British warship, HMS Spitfire, during the Second World War. She has been named after HMS Nassau, a British battleship of the same name, which was built in the early 19th century. The name Nassau is also used to refer to one of Nassau’s sisters, the SMS Ersatz, which also served in the German Navy during the First World War, but was scrapped in the 1920s. Her name comes from the German word for “dreadnoughts”, meaning “big guns” or “big ships” or, in German, “nassau” (meaning “big gun”). She was laid down on 22 July 1907 at the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven, and launched less than a year later on 7 March 1908.
Her propulsion system was rated at 21,699 ihp and provided a top speed of 20 knots. She had a cruising radius of 8,300 nautical miles at a speed of 12 knots. Nassau carried twelve 28 cm SK L45 guns in an unusual hexagonal configuration. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm SK45 guns and eight 8 cm SK L 45 guns, all of which were mounted in casemates. One was mounted in the bow, another in the stern, and two on each broadside of the bulkhead of the hull, and the armored deck was 270mm thick in the central portion. The main battery turrets had 280mm thick sides and the conning tower was protected with 400mm of armor plating. She retained three-shafted triple expansion engines with twelve coal-fired water-tube boilers instead of more advanced turbine engines. This decision was based solely on cost: at the time, Parsons held a monopoly on steam turbines and required a 1 million gold mark royalty fee for every turbine engine made. German firms were not ready to begin production of turbines on a large scale until 1910. She suffered a total of 11 killed and 16 injured during the battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June 1916.
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