SMS Preussen (1903)

Preussen in 1907
History
Germany
Name	Preussen
Namesake	Prussia
Builder	AG Vulcan Stettin
Laid down	April 1902
Launched	30 October 1903
Commissioned	12 July 1905
Stricken	5 April 1929
Fate	Scrapped, 1931
General characteristics
Class and type	Braunschweig-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	Normal: 13,208 t (12,999 long tons) Full load: 14,394 t (14,167 long tons)
Length	127.7 m (419 ft)
Beam	22.2 m (72 ft 10 in)
Draft	8.1 m (26 ft 7 in)
Installed power	16,000 PS (16,000 ihp; 12,000 kW) 8 × water-tube boilers 6 × cylindrical boilers
Propulsion	3 × triple-expansion steam engines 3 × screw propellers
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range	5,200 nautical miles (9,600 km; 6,000 mi); 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	35 officers 708 enlisted men
Armament	2 × 2 – 28 cm (11 in) SK L/40 guns 14 × 17 cm (6.7 in) SK L/40 guns 18 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/35 guns 6 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 110 to 250 mm (4.3 to 9.8 in) Turrets: 250 mm (9.8 in) Deck: 40 mm (1.6 in)

SMS Preussen^[a] was the fourth of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the Braunschweig class, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). She was laid down in April 1902, was launched in October 1903, and was commissioned in July 1905. Named for the state of Prussia,^[b] the ship was armed with a battery of four 28 cm (11 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Like all pre-dreadnoughts built at the turn of the century, Preussen was quickly made obsolete by the launching of the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought in 1906; as a result, she saw only limited service with the German fleet.

Preussen's peacetime career centered on squadron and fleet exercises and training cruises to foreign ports. The ship served as the flagship of II Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career. During World War I, she served as a guard ship in the German Bight and later in the Danish straits. She participated in a fleet sortie in December 1914 in support of the Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby during which the German fleet briefly clashed with a detachment of the British Grand Fleet. Preussen had been temporarily assigned to guard ship duties in the Baltic in May 1916, and so missed the Battle of Jutland. Due to her age, she did not rejoin the fleet, and instead continued to serve as a guard ship until 1917, when she became a tender for U-boats based in Wilhelmshaven.

After the war, Preussen was retained by the re-formed Reichsmarine and converted into a depot ship for F-type minesweepers. She was stricken from the naval register in April 1929 and sold to ship breakers in 1931. A 63-meter (207 ft) section of her hull was retained as a target; it was bombed and sunk in 1945 by Allied bombers at the end of World War II, and was scrapped in 1954.
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