Derfflinger (1913) Derfflinger (1913)Germany’s battlecruisers, built in response to Britain’s, were better armoured than their British counterparts, though not as fast. With the three ships of the Derfflinger class, the Imperial German Navy also first made use of the 305mm (12in) gun.
Plans for the class were completed in mid-1911. Their appearance was different from that of any previous German capital ship, with a flush deck rising gently towards a straight bow, and they were generally considered to be among the most handsome warships of their time. Derfflinger was laid down at the Blohm & Voss yard in Hamburg in January 1912, launched on 12 July 1913 (after sticking on the slipway for a month) and commissioned soon after the outbreak of war, on 1 September 1914. Total cost was 56 million Goldmarks. Its sister ships were Lützow (commissioned August 1915) and Hindenburg (May 1917).
With its very slightly raked bow and long flush deck, Derfflinger had a very ‘modern’ look for a warship designed in 1911. Its boilers were partially oil-fired.
The heavy guns were placed fore and aft, with superfiring turrets. With a barrel length of 15.2m (50ft) and weight of 61 tonnes (67 tons), they fired shells of 405kg (893lb) for a distance of 16,200m (17,716yd) at an elevation of 13.5 degrees; this was later extended to 20,400m (22,310yd) and 16 degrees. Rate of fire was one round per minute. A secondary armament of 12 150mm (5.9in) quick-firing guns was fitted in casemates at deck level along the superstructure, and eight 88mm (3.4in) QF guns mounted at upper levels. Four of these were removed in 1916 and four AA guns of the same calibre mounted. Four underwater tubes for 500mm (19.6in) torpedoes were fitted, two on each beam, one each bow and stern.
Armour extended up to deck level between the main turrets and at the full length at waterline level, though there was a vulnerable area with no anti-torpedo bulkhead between the beam-mounted torpedo tubes. Overall, the German battlecruisers proved to have significantly more staying-power than their British counterparts.
This aerial view from 1917 shows the fine lines of Derfflinger’s hull design. Location is the Jade River, Kiel Naval Base.
A mix of coal and oil was used as fuel, with 14 twin naval boilers burning coal and four double-ended oil-fired boilers supplying steam to two turbines that drove four propellers. On Derfflinger the fore-funnel was mounted slightly higher than the after-funnel, and on both the caps rose above the outer casing. The ship fulfilled the battlecruiser’s requirement for speed, making 47.8km/h (25.8 knots) on wartime trials. Power developed on that occasion was 57,121kW (76,600hp). Anti-rolling tanks were fitted to Derfflinger as an experiment, placed between the funnels in the central superstructure. Originally fitted with two pole-type masts, after Jutland a broad tripod mast replaced the forward pole mast with large viewing and direction-finding stations and a bridge-platform between its aft pillars.
Specification
Dimensions |
Length 210.4m (690ft 3in), Beam 29m (95ft 2in), Draught 9.2m (30ft 3in), Displacement 23,750 tonnes (26,180 tons); 27,857 tonnes (30,707 tons) full load |
Propulsion |
18 boilers, Parsons turbines, 4 screws |
Armament |
(1916) 8 305mm (12in) guns, 12 150mm (5.9in) guns, 4 88mm (3.4in) guns, 4 88mm (3.4in) AA guns, 4 500mm (19.6in) torpedo tubes |
Armour |
Side belt 300–150mm (12–6in), Bulkhead 250–100mm (9.8–3.9in), Conning tower forward 300mm (11.8in), aft 200mm (7.8in), Barbettes 260mm (10.2in), Turrets 270mm (11in), Deck 30mm (1.2in), Funnels 165mm (6.5in), Conning tower 305mm (12in) |
Range |
9816km (5300nm) at 14 knots |
Speed |
26.5 knots |
Complement |
1112–1182 |
Derfflinger was attached to Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper’s First Reconnaissance Squadron. It took part in the bombardment of the English coastal town of Scarborough on 16 December 1914, an operation in which it was hoped to draw units of the British Grand Fleet into battle. It was at the Battle of the Dogger Bank, 24 January 1915, where it took a shell hit that caused localised flooding in protective coal bunkers. In August 1915 it was in action in the Gulf of Riga against Russian ships.
Back in the North Sea it made a sortie on 5–6 March 1916 into the ‘Hoofden’, the southern North Sea off the Dutch coast; it then joined in bombarding Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24 April. It was with the High Seas Fleet at Jutland on 31 May. Hipper’s battlecruisers were first to open fire in the battle and were heavily engaged until the end. With the battlecruiser Seydlitz, Derfflinger sank the British battleship Queen Mary, and, with Lützow, sank HMS Invincible.
Derfflinger took a considerable pounding, with 17 heavy hits and four lesser ones, and by the end of the battle it had only two guns still operational. But it returned to Wilhelmshaven naval base under its own steam, with around 2721 tonnes (3000 tons) of water inside the hull. Repairs were completed at Kiel by mid-October, but it remained in port except for a sortie into the northern North Sea, with Hindenburg and other ships, on 23 April 1918 in the hope of encountering a squadron of the Grand Fleet on convoy escort.
After the German surrender it went to Scapa Flow, 24 November 1918, and was scuttled there on Admiral Reuter’s orders with the other German ships on 21 June 1919. Raised in 1939, it remained upside-down until 1948, when it was towed to Faslane for breaking up.
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland, fought on 31 May–1 June 1916, was the only large-scale sea battle of World War I. It began as an encounter between battlecruisers, with the German battlecruisers of Hipper’s 1st Reconnaissance Squadron first to encounter the British ships of Beatty’s 1st and 2nd Squadrons, before the battleships of the High Seas Fleet and Grand Fleet came within range of one another. Derfflinger was in action from around 15:38 on 31 May until the last moments of the battle in the early hours of 1 June, firing 385 shells from the main guns, 235 rounds from the secondary armament and a single torpedo. In total 157 of the crew were killed and 26 wounded. By 03:00 on 1 June, Hipper had to report that his squadron was no longer in fit condition to fight, and Admiral Scheer, commander in chief, ordered him to return to harbour with his surviving ships. Derfflinger was hit 17 times by heavy caliber shells and nine times by secondary guns (see picture).
