NAVYPEDIA

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  Preussen  

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Friedrich der Grosse		1	Kiel KW	1869	20.9.1874	22.11.1877	harbour ship 11.1896
Grosser Kurfürst		2	Wilhelmshaven KW	1868	17.9.1875	6.5.1878	collision 31.5.1878
Preussen (ex-Borussia)		66	Vilcan, Stettin	1870	22.11.1873	4.7.1876	harbour ship 11.1896

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	7596
Displacement full, t	7718
Length, m	94.5 wl 96.6 oa
Breadth, m	16.3
Draught, m	7.18
No of shafts	1
Machinery	1 HSE, 6 rectangular boilers
Power, h. p.	5000
Max speed, kts	14
Fuel, t	coal 565
Endurance, nm(kts)	1690(10)
Armour, mm	steel; belt: 229 - 102, citadel: 203, turrets: 254, CT: 50
Armament	4 x 1 - 263/20 RKL/22 C/76, 2 x 1 - 173/22 RKL/24.6 C/72
Complement	500

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

The original 1868 design for this class showed them as central battery ships, and Grosser Kurfürst was laid down as such. However, the design was reworked in the next year, with two turrets replacing the central casemate. Grosser Kurfürst was altered on the stocks, which was one reason why she was so long building. Another was that the Royal, later Imperial, Dockyards which built her and Friedrich der Grosse were still being established. It is not, perhaps, surprising that a longer established commercial yard should begin last and finish first with their sister, even though all three yards were new to the building of ironclads.     In this period of constant change it was most unusual for any navy to build as many as three major warships to the same design.

Ship protection

Main steel belt had 260-234mm wooden back and consisted from upper 203mm belt and lower belt 229mm abreast citadel and 102mm fore and aft. Turrets had 254-203mm side protection on 260mm wooden backing and 25mm roofs. CT had 50mm sides and 30mm roof.

Modernizations

1892, Preussen, Friedrich der Grosse: + (6 - 10) x 1 - 88/27 SKL/30 C/89, 2 x 5 - 37/27 RV L/30, 5 - 350 TT (2 bow, 2 beam, 1 stern)

Naval service

Unfortunately, the advantages the Germans should have gained from a group of ships with the same characteristics were tragically short lived, as an error in helm orders caused the Grosser Kurfürst to be rammed and sunk by the König Wilhelm, with heavy loss of life, on her maiden voyage 31.5.1878 in Dover Straight. Her two sisters served with the fleet until the 1890s. From 1896 both served as harbour ships, with Preussen, which had been heavily refitted in 1892, renamed Saturn in 1903 so that her original name could be used for a new battleship. Both ended their days as coal hulks for torpedo boats since 1906 (Friedrich der Grosse) - 1907 (Saturn).