SMS Hindenburg

Hindenburg at anchor at Scapa Flow
History
German Empire
Name	Hindenburg
Namesake	Paul von Hindenburg
Ordered	1912–1913 Naval Program
Builder	Kaiserliche Werft, Wilhelmshaven
Laid down	1 October 1913
Launched	1 August 1915
Commissioned	10 May 1917
Fate	Scuttled in Scapa Flow on 21 June 1919, wreck raised 1930, scrapped 1930–1932
General characteristics
Class and type	Derfflinger-class battlecruiser
Displacement	26,180 tons normal load 31,200 tons full load
Length	212.8 m (698 ft)
Beam	29 m (95 ft)
Draft	9.57 m (31.4 ft)
Propulsion	4 × Parsons steam turbines 4 × screw propellers
Speed	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range	6,100 nmi (11,300 km; 7,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	44 officers and 1,068 men, 1,390 in wartime
Armament	8 × 30.5 cm (12 in) SK L/50 in 4 twin turrets 14 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 in 14 single turrets 4 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 (4 × 1) in 4 single mounts 4 × single 60 cm torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 300 mm Command Tower: 300 mm Deck: 30 mm Turrets: 270 mm

SMS Hindenburg^[a] was a battlecruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the third ship of the Derfflinger class, built to a slightly modified design. She carried the same battery of eight 30.5 cm (12 in) guns, but in improved turrets that allowed them to fire further. The ship was also slightly larger and faster than her two sister ships. She was named in honor of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the victor of the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of the Masurian Lakes, as well as Supreme Commander of the German armies from 1916. The ship was the last capital ship of any type built for the German navy during World War I.

Hindenburg was commissioned late in the war and as a result had a brief service career. The ship took part in a handful of short fleet operations as the flagship of I Scouting Group in 1917–18, though saw no major action. The proposed final sortie of the fleet in the last weeks of the war came to nothing when the crews of the capital ships mutinied. Hindenburg was subsequently interned with the rest of the German battlecruisers at Scapa Flow in November 1918. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the ships be scuttled on 21 June 1919. Hindenburg was the last of the ships to sink. She was raised in 1930 and broken up for scrap over the following two years.
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