When it comes to the German "Bismarck"-class battleship, most netizens know that this is a type of super battleship named after the German "iron-blooded prime minister", which has a legendary experience in World War II. However, some netizens may not know that in the history of the German Navy, there is also a type of battleship named after the "iron-blooded prime minister", which is the "Bismarck" class armored cruiser, which was in service at the beginning of the last century. These two types of warships share a common name, but also have a common disadvantage of an irrational design.
The "Bismarck" class battleship was the first modern large battleship built in Germany, with no experience to follow, and followed part of the design of the battleships of the First World War, so it had great shortcomings, especially in terms of armor protection. And the Bismarck-class armored cruiser, which was the first large armored cruiser built in Germany, also had a noticeable lack in design. The sacrifice of speed for the sake of increased armor protection of the Bismarck-class armored cruisers led to an embarrassment for the class - it was too slow to perform sabotage and reconnaissance missions as a cruiser;As a capital ship to participate in the fleet duel, its armor protection is slightly thin, although it has been strengthened, but it is still not as good as the battleships of the same period.
First, the development background.
After the Franco-Prussian War and by the end of the 19th century, Germany (Second Reich) had developed into a military power, and its army strength was second to none in Europe. In order to compete with the British Empire for world hegemony, the Second Empire vigorously developed its navy while maintaining a strong army, and designed and built a number of large warships, including the "Bismarck" class armored cruiser. The Bismarck-class armored cruisers were designed to raid the British Empire's sea lines and carry out the task of breaking diplomatic relations.
Due to the fact that Germany was building such a large armored cruiser for the first time, the lack of experience was taken into account in the design of the battleships of the "Caesar Frederick III" class. In terms of appearance, the appearance and armament of the "Bismarck" class armored cruisers were very similar to the "Caesar Frederick III" class battleships equipped by the German Navy at that time, including the model and layout of the first class. The lack of experience led to a slow pace of construction, which began in April 1896 and was not completed until April 1900, which lasted 4 years. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, shipbuilding technology was changing with each passing day, and the result of the slow construction was that there were no follow-up ships - because there was a better design scheme, there was only one "Bismarck" class armored cruiser, that is, "Bismarck".
2. Performance data.
The main performance of the "Bismarck" class armored cruiser: captain 1271 meter, width 204 meters, draft 85 meters, the frontal armor of the main turret is 200 mm thick, the conning tower armor is 200 mm thick, the broadside armor belt is 200 mm thick (a layer of 50 mm thick dome armor is also laid near the waterline), the deck armor is 50 mm thick, the standard displacement is 10690 tons, the full load displacement is 11461 tons, the crew is 625 people. It is powered by a steam turbine with 13,500 horsepower, 3 axles, a speed of 18 knots, and a cruising range of 4,200 nautical miles at 12 knots.
It is equipped with 4 240 mm 40 x guns (203 mm guns to suppress the British armored cruisers), 2 twin guns, and one main gun turret in the bow and stern. 12 x 150mm 40x secondary guns, 10 x 88mm 30x rapid-fire guns, 6 x 450mm torpedo tubes.
In order to enhance the defense capability, the Germans took into account the characteristics of armored cruisers and protective cruisers when designing the "Bismarck" class armored cruisers, and adopted the defensive structure of "ironclad fort + dome armor", and there is even a saying that the Germans followed the armor protection design of the Beiyang Naval Division's "Jingyuan" class armored cruisers (the difference in tonnage between the two is too great, and the difference in construction time is 10 years, which seems unlikely).
3. Service status.
The "Bismarck" class armored cruisers were actually in an awkward position when they were put into service, and they were originally positioned to break diplomatic relations with British sea transportation lines in wartime, but because of their slow speed, they did not have an obvious advantage in confrontation with British armored cruisers. In addition, there is only one ship "Bismarck", and it is not easy to marshal while staying in the High Seas Fleet (usually at least 2 ships are grouped), so it is simply sent to the Far Eastern Fleet as a flagship.
On March 6, 1898, Germany forced the Qing Dynasty to sign the unequal "Jiaoao Concession Treaty", and Qingdao became a German colony, so the German Far East Fleet was stationed in Qingdao. On August 13, 1900, the armored cruiser "Bismarck" arrived in Qingdao after a voyage of 10,000 miles, and soon threw itself into the war to suppress the Chinese people's resistance to imperialist aggression against China (the Boxer Rebellion). In 1903, Bismarck became the flagship of the German Far East Cruiser, and was stationed in the Far East for a long time until it was replaced by the Scharnhorst, the most advanced armored cruiser of the German Navy at the time.
After returning to Germany, the armored cruiser Bismarck was quickly transferred to the reserve because of old problems. At the outbreak of the First World War, the armored cruiser "Bismarck" was re-entered from reserve and used as a coastal defense ship. However, the backward design and poor mechanical condition made it gradually difficult to be able to carry out cruising tasks, so it was disarmed in 1916 and converted into a training ship and then a miscellaneous ship. After the defeat of Germany in World War I, the armored cruiser "Bismarck" avoided the fate of sinking itself and was dismantled in 1919.