SMS Derfflinger
| |
| Career | KLM ensign |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Blohm & Voß, Hamburg |
| Ordered: | 1912-1913 Naval Programme |
| Laid down: | 30 March 1912 |
| Launched: | 17 July 1913 |
| Commissioned: | 1 September 1914 |
| Fate: | Scuttled in Scapa Flow on 21 June 1919, wreck raised 1939, broken down after 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 26,180 tons normal load 31,200 tons full load |
| Length: | 210.4 meters (690.32 feet) |
| Beam: | 29.0 meters (95.14 feet) |
| Draft: | 9,20 meters (30.18 feet) |
| Propulsion: | 4 shaft Parsons turbines; 18 boiler; 76,634 shp |
| Speed: | 25.5 knots |
| Range: | 5600 nm at 12 kn |
| Complement: | 44 officers and 1068 men |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: |
Belt
Command Tower
Deck
Turrets
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SMS Derfflinger was a World War I battlecruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship was named after Brandenburg Field Marshal Reichsfreiherr Georg von Derfflinger who fought in the Thirty Years' War. She was the lead ship of her class, her sister ships being SMS Lützow and SMS Hindenburg.
She was to be launched 14 June 1913, but due to a mishap the ship got stuck after only a few centimeters. A second attempt was successful on 17 July 1913.
Upon commissioning she was attached to the 1st Scouting Group commanded by Vice Admiral Franz Hipper. After the outbreak of World War I she took part in the bombardment of Scarborough, Yorkshire on 14 December 1914. Subsequently, she fought at the Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) in 1915 where she was hit by 3 shells. At the Battle of Jutland she sank the British battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary on 31 May 1916, but was herself heavily damaged by 21 heavy shell hits, with the repairs taking 4 months.
After the end of World War I, she was interned at Scapa Flow where her crew scuttled her on 21 June 1919. The wreck was raised in 1939 but was not scrapped until after the war.
External links
- SMS Derfflinger at the German Navy History website
- SMS Derfflinger photo gallery at MaritimeQuest.com