German Pre-Dreadnought Battleship SMS Lothringen

SMS Lothringen was the fifth and final unit of the Braunschweig-class battleships (along with her sister ships Braunschweig, Hessen, Elsass and Preussen) of the Imperial German Navy. She was named after the province of Lorraine (Lothringen in German), then part of the German Empire. Laid down at the Arsenal in Danzig in 1902, launched on 18 May 1904, and commissioned on 18 May 1906, she entered service at a time when battleship design was undergoing a rapid revolution.

Operational Career

Commissioned just as the dreadnought era began, Lothringen’s active service as a front-line unit was short. She served with the High Seas Fleet in training cruises and manoeuvres before the First World War, and was present at the fleet sortie of 15–16 December 1914, conducted in support of the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby. Like her sisters, she saw no combat during this operation.

By 1916, the older Braunschweig and Wittelsbach classes were deemed too vulnerable to face the British Grand Fleet and were withdrawn from battle service. Lothringen was reassigned as a training vessel and later as a depot ship.

Post-War Service and Fate

Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was permitted to retain eight pre-dreadnought battleships for coastal defence. Lothringen was among those kept and converted into a depot ship for F-type minesweepers from 1919 to 1920. After the task of clearing the wartime minefields in the North Sea was completed, she was placed in reserve in March 1920. The ship remained inactive for the next decade and was stricken from the naval register in March 1931 and sold to ship breakers later that year.

Specifications (as built):

• Class: Braunschweig-class battleship
• Displacement: 13,200 t (full load)
• Length: 127.7 m
• Beam: 22.2 m
• Draught: 8.1 m
• Propulsion: 3-shaft vertical triple-expansion steam engines, 16 boilers
• Power: 16,000 ihp
• Speed: 18 knots
• Range: approx. 5,200 nmi at 10 knots
• Crew: 35 officers, 708 men
• Armament:
  • 4 × 28 cm (11 in) guns (2 × twin turrets)
  • 14 × 17 cm (6.7 in) casemate guns
  • 18 × 8.8 cm (3.45 in) quick-firing guns
  • 6 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
• Armour:
  • Belt: up to 225 mm
  • Deck: 40 mm
  • Turrets: up to 250 mm
  • Conning tower: 250 mm