Quiz

[Sam H.]

What ship is this?

[Christoph Awender]

Hello!

It is Linienschiff Schleswig Holstein after redesigned from three to two chimneys.

\Christoph

[Aufklarung]

Sam H
From the funnels in the top shot, I would say either the Schlesien or Schleswig-Holstein. These two old "Coastal" Battleships were all the heavies that the Versaille treaty allowed Germany after WW1. They took part in the invasion of Poland in 1939 by shelling shore targets. These photos of yours may be of that operation. Schlesien was beached after striking a mine outside of Swinemunde in 1945. Try this link.
http://www.german-navy.de/marine_main.htm
Regards
A

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

Quite interresting - I was just looking through Ospreys Campaign book on Poland, and was on a page wih a picture of Schleswig-Holstein when I entered this thred

Christian

[Polynike]

second pic is in many books and is often captioned as the Schleswig-Holstein firing on the Westerplatte

[Sam H.]

You guys are fast ... I'll have to find something more obscure for the next challenge.

[Mark V]

These two old "Coastal" Battleships were all the heavies that the Versaille treaty allowed Germany after WW1.

To be exact Germany was allowed to keep several of pre-dreadnought battleships of Braunschweig and Deutschland classes - but only these two were left for service at time of WW2 because others were retired earlier (when they were old enough to be allowed to be replaced with new vessels according to Versailles Treaty regulations).

And these new vessels were of course the pocket-battleships of "new" Deutschland-class.

Mark V

[Aufklarung]

Mark V
You are, of course, correct. My apologies for not being clear. Can you confirm what happened to Schleswig-Holstein?
Thanx
A

[Mark V]

Copy&paste from warships1.com;

fought at Battle of Jutland (Battle of Skagerak) May.31/16
from 1917 depot ship at Bremerhaven
from 1918 barrack ship at Kiel
reconstructed 1925-26 and again 1930-31
in service as Fleet Flagship
used after Aug.1/36 as a Cadet School ship
returned to active service through W.W.II
Sep.1/39 fired on Polish fortifications on the Westerplatte near Danzig. this hostile action was the first of WWII
severely damaged and burned out by 3 bombs from British A/C at Gotenhaven
sank later in 12 meters of water
awarded to the USSR as war reparation
wreck was raised and transferred to to the Soviet's at Tallin.
served until 1956 as a target vessel
scuttled/sunk in the Finnish Sea.
wreck remains there.

[Ike_FI]

Mark V,

A bit off-topic question: First impression look suggested some similarities with these ships and later-built Finnish Väinämöinen class, like the ships having rather heavy caliber main armament compared to their around-100m size.


from http://www.hut.fi/~jaromaa/Navygallery/ ... oastal.htm

Close examination however revealed that the German ships were couple of decades older and significantly heavier. What would be the true "forefather" of Väinämöinen class?

[Christian Ankerstjerne]

Next time, make a quiz with a Panzer, please 8)

Christian

[Mark V]

Close examination however revealed that the German ships were couple of decades older and significantly heavier. What would be the true "forefather" of Väinämöinen class?

Hi,

There is no direct forefather, at least not technically speaking. But definately the concept was common with Swedish armoured cruisers, like Sverige-class vessels built during and after WW1.


picture: http://www.warships1.com

But Finnish vessels were much later design incorporating comparable armament on much smaller hull, modern diesel-electric machinery (very suitable for operations in confined, dangerous waters littered with small islets) and very effective heavy AA-battery (8 x 105mm Bofors). They were very capable vessels for battles inside archipelago, and were not intented for open sea operations.

Main reason for building these 2 armoured cruisers was peacetime demilitarization of Åland Islands. These vessels were designed to beef up the protection these strategically important islands in case of war.

For outside looker who think ships in context of battles in open oceans these armoured cruisers may look strange, but these vessels were well suited for confined waters of Baltic Sea. During mid-30s 3 Sverige-class and 2 Väinämöinen-class armoured cruisers were perfectly capable to repel attack of any country in region that would have threatened Åland Islands (why count Swedish vessels also ?? - Åland Islands are just outside the Swedish coast and their capital Stockholm, so the protection of Islands is as important to Sweden as it is to Finland - for us it is mainly about securing traiding routes across Baltic Sea), they were capable of giving serious run for the money even to battleships of Soviet Baltic Fleet if they would have deared to enter the archipelago.

Mark V